nd of December -- The dinner at Count Walewski's put off at the
last moment -- Illuminations at the French Embassy a few hours
later -- Palmerston at the Embassy -- Some traits of De
Persigny's character -- His personal affection for Louis-Napoleon
-- Madame de Persigny -- Her parsimony -- Her cooking of the
household accounts -- Chevet and Madame de Persigny -- What the
Empire might have been with a Von Moltke by the side of the
Emperor instead of Vaillant, Niel, and Leboeuf -- Colonel
(afterwards General) Fleury the only modest man among the
Emperor's entourage -- De Persigny's pretensions as a Heaven-born
statesman -- Mgr. de Merode -- De Morny -- His first meeting with
his half-brother -- De Morny as a grand seigneur -- The origin of
the Mexican campaign -- Walewski -- His fads -- Rouher -- My
first sight of him in the Quartier-Latin -- The Emperor's opinion
of him at the beginning of his career -- Rouher in his native
home, Auvergne -- His marriage -- Madame Rouher -- His
father-in-law 261

CHAPTER XIV.

Society during the Second Empire -- The Court at Compiegne -- The
English element -- Their opinion of Louis-Napoleon -- The
difference between the court of Louis-Philippe and that of
Napoleon III. -- The luggage of M. Villemain -- The hunts in
Louis-Philippe's time -- Louis-Napoleon's advent -- Would have
made a better poet than an Emperor -- Looks for a La Valliere or
Montespan, and finds Mdlle. Eugenie de Montijo -- The latter
determined not to be a La Valliere or even a Pompadour -- Has her
great destiny foretold in her youth -- Makes up her mind that it
shall be realized by a right-handed and not a left-handed
marriage -- Queen Victoria stands her sponsor among the
sovereigns of Europe -- Mdlle. de Montijo's mother -- The
Comtesse de Montijo and Halevy's "Madame Cardinal" -- The first
invitations to Compiegne -- Mdlle. de Montijo's backers for the
Imperial stakes -- No other entries -- Louis-Napoleon utters the
word "marriage" -- What led up to it -- The Emperor officially
announces his betrothal -- The effect it produced -- The Faubourg
St.-Germain -- Dupin the elder gives his views -- The engaged
couple feel very uncomfortable -- Negotiations to organize the
Empress's future househ