who, of course, was too young to take
his father's place. The young barrister, therefore, stepped into a
capital ready-made practice, and being exceedingly amiable, bright,
hard-working, and essentially honest, soon made a host of friends.

[Footnote 55: Before that it bore the name of the Rue des
Trois-Hautbois, and in the heyday of the Second Empire it was
changed into the Rue Eugene-Rouher. But at the fall of Sedan
the indignation against the Emperor's powerful minister was so
great that his carriages had to be removed from Riom lest they
should be burned by the mob, and the street resumed its old
appellation. In November, 1887, three years after Rouher's
death, I happened to be at Clermont-Ferrand waiting for General
Boulanger to go to Paris. I went over to Riom and had a look at
the house. It was occupied by a carpenter or joiner, to whose
father it had been sold years previously by the express wish of
one of Eugene Rouher's daughters. I got into conversation with
an intelligent inhabitant of the town, who told me that on the
4th of September, 1870, the feeling against Rouher was much
stronger than against Louis-Napoleon himself, yet that feeling
was an implied compliment to Rouher. "He was the cleverer of
the two," the people shouted; "he ought not to have allowed the
Emperor to engage in this war. He could have prevented it with
one word." Nevertheless, in a little while it abated, and
Rouher was elected a member of the National Assembly.--EDITOR.]

"I have frequently found myself opposed to Rouher," said De Morny; "but
his unswerving loyalty to the Empire and the Emperor is beyond question.
I should not wonder but what he died poor.[56]

[Footnote 56: De Morny's prophecy turned out correct. M. Eugene
Rouher died a poor man. There is a comic story connected with
this poverty. At the beginning of the Republic, and during the
presidency of Thiers, Rouher's house was constantly watched by
detectives. The weather was abominably bad; it rained
constantly. Madame Rouher sent them some cotton umbrellas,
excusing herself for not sending silk ones, because she could
not afford it.--EDITOR.]

"As you know, Eugene Rouher was really very handsome. Mdlle.
Conchon--that is Mad