her out, and they had a nice laughing
French talk, though he admitted he and Miss Recompense had missed her
very much. She told him about Betty, and what Mrs. Webb had said, and
seemed quite happy.

Just at the last of the month they were all very much interested in a
grand affair to which Uncle Winthrop was an invited guest. It was at the
great Exchange Coffee House, and really in honor of the gallant struggle
Spain had been making against the man who bid fair then to be the
dictator of all Europe. On one throne after another he had placed the
different members of his family. Joseph Bonaparte, who had been King of
Naples, was summarily transferred to the throne of Spain, with small
regard for the desires of her people. He found himself quite unable to
cope with the insurgents rising on every hand. And America sent Spain
her warmest sympathy.

Uncle Leverett read the account aloud from his weekly paper. Now and
then there appeared a daily paper for a brief while, and a tolerably
successful semi-weekly, but the real substantial paper was the weekly.
How they would have found time then to read a morning and an evening
paper--two or three, perhaps--is beyond comprehension. And to have heard
news from every quarter of the globe before it was more than a few hours
old would have seemed witchcraft.

Napoleon was now at the zenith of his fame. But the feeling of the
country at his divorcing Josephine, who loved him deeply, was a thrill
of indignation, for the tie of marriage was now considered irrevocable
save for the gravest cause. That he should marry an Austrian princess
for the sake of allying himself to a royal house and having an heir to
the throne, which was nearly half of Europe now, was causing people even
then to draw a parallel between him and our own hero, Washington. Both
had started with an endeavor to free their respective countries from an
intolerable yoke, and when this was achieved Washington had grandly and
calmly laid down the burdens of state and retired to private life, while
Napoleon was still bent upon conquest. The sympathies of America went
out to all struggling nations.

There had been an ode read, and toasts and songs; indeed, it had called
together the notable men of the city, who had partaken of a grand feast.
It was much talked of for weeks; and Doris questioned Uncle Winthrop and
began to be interested in matters pertaining to her new country.

She was learning a good deal about the city.