I told W. I had spent a very cold and uncomfortable hour at the house, and I was worried about the cold, thought I might, perhaps, send the boy to mother, but he had taken his precautions and arranged with the Minister of War to have a certain amount of wood delivered at the house.  They always had reserves of wood at the various ministries.  We had ours directly from our own woods in the country, and it was en route, but a flotilla of boats was frozen up in the Canal de l’Ourcq, and it might be weeks before the wood could be delivered.

We dined one night at the British Embassy, while all these pourparlers were going on, en petit comite, all English, Lord and Lady Reay, Lord Edmond Fitz-Maurice, and one or two members of Parliament whose names I have forgotten.  Both Lord and Lady Reay were very keen about politics, knew France well, and were much interested in the phase she was passing through.  Lord Lyons was charming, so friendly and sensible, said he wasn’t surprised at W.’s wanting to go—­still hoped this crisis would pass like so many others he had seen in France; that certainly W.’s presence at the Foreign Office during the last year had been a help to the Republic—­said also he didn’t believe his retirement would last very long.  It was frightfully cold when we came out of the embassy—­very few carriages out, all the coachmen wrapped up in mufflers and fur caps, and the Place de la Concorde a sea of ice so slippery I thought we should never get across and over the bridge.  I went to the opera one night that week, got there in an entr’acte, when people were walking about and reading the papers.  As I passed several groups of men, I heard W.’s name mentioned, also that of Leon Say and Freycinet, but just in passing by quickly I could not hear any comments.  I fancy they were not favourable in that milieu.  It was very cold in the house—­almost all the women had their cloaks on—­and the coming out was something awful, crossing that broad perron in the face of a biting wind.

I began my packing seriously this time, as W.’s mind was quite made up.  He had thought the matter well over, and had a final talk with Freycinet, who would have liked to keep both W. and Leon Say, but it wasn’t easy to manage the new element that Freycinet brought with him.  The new members were much more advanced in their opinions.  W. couldn’t have worked with them, and they certainly didn’t want to work with him.  The autumn session came to a turbulent end on the 26th of December, and the next day the papers announced that the ministers had given their resignations to the President, who had accepted them and had charged M. de Freycinet to form a cabinet.  We dined with mother on Christmas day, a family party, with the addition of Comte de P. and one or two stray Americans who were at hotels and were of course delighted not to dine on Christmas day at a table d’hote or cafe.  W. was rather tired; the constant talking and seeing so many people of all kinds was very fatiguing, for, as long as his