. He complimented me upon it. I told him it was
principally owing to himself and to Mlle. Fontaine. This brought out the
object of his visit. He was going to be married. He had been in America,
which emboldened him to consider himself in some sort my countryman, and
to request the honor of my presence at the ceremony.

"And the lady?"

"_Monsieur_," he said, "_peut-on douter_? (can you doubt?) Mlle.
Fontaine! You are to come to the French church at 3. You will, then,
will you not, do us the honor to dine at our lodgings, Friedrich
strasse, No. 30?"

I returned his own answer:

"Monsieur, peut-on douter?"

At the hour appointed I was at the church. I found quite an
assembly--artists, painters, sculptors, actors, critics, poets,
newspaper writers, several members of the corps diplomatique, some
officers, a few gentlemen of the court, etc.

The bride and groom appeared very simply attired. Their deportment was
perfect. The ceremony was impressive. In a short time the holy bands had
made them one. There was no acting about either of them. M. Delille was
pale; Mademoiselle still paler. Their emotion was obviously genuine.
Some folks think when actors tremble or shed tears, it must be only
acting; and that they can get married or die as easily in the world as
on the stage. This is a mistake. Getting really married is as serious a
step to them as to you; and they know that real dying is a very
different thing from those exits which they make at the end of the
tragedy. They struggle with life, and walk forward toward death just as
do their fellow-creatures, who preach from the pulpit, speak in the
Senate, or congregate on the exchange. The rich banker; the
self-important diplomat; the general, covered with orders; the minister,
who holds the helm of state; the emperor, the queen, who deign to honor
the representation with their presence, smile when they behold
themselves reflected on the stage. But there is not so much difference,
as they are pleased to suppose, between themselves and their theatre
colleagues. Shakespeare says:

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.

The question is, which of these men and women are the best? Perhaps the
theatre statesman would have administered the affairs of his country
with more wisdom; the dramatic banker would have made his money more
honestly and used it with greater discretion; the stage general would
have conducted the war with mor