“General Sherman seems to have a strong personal regard for you, general,” remarked one of the party.

“Yes,” responded General Grant, “there has always been the best of feeling between Sherman and myself, although attempts have not been wanting to make it appear otherwise.”

“I have noticed such attempts,” replied the person addressed, “but for my part I have never needed any proof that they were wholly uncalled-for and impertinent.

“Possibly you have never heard, general,” continued the speaker, “how heartily General Sherman rejoiced over your conquest and capture of Lee’s army.  He was particularly gratified that he had not been obliged to make any movement that would have given a pretext for saying that your success was due in part to him.  To those about him he exclaimed, in his energetic way,—­

“’I knew Grant would do it, for I knew the man.  And I’m glad that he accomplished it without my help.  Nobody can say now that I have divided with him the credit of this success.  He has deserved it all, he has gained it all, and I’m glad that he will have it all.’”

About noon the party arrived at Wiesbaden, where nobody seemed to expect them except the people at the hotel where General Grant’s courier had engaged rooms.  After dinner Mr. Seligman desired to tender a drive to the general and Mrs. Grant, but they had disappeared.  After a short search, they were found sitting together alone in one of the arboreal retreats of the Kurgarten.  The general remarked that it was his custom when he visited a city to explore it on foot, and that in this way he had already made himself tolerably familiar, he thought, with the general plan and situation of Wiesbaden.  Mr. Seligman’s invitation was readily accepted, however, and half an hour later the party set out, in a carriage, for the Russian Chapel.

Wiesbaden is one of the most ancient watering-places on the Continent.  It was a Roman military station, and upon the Heidenberg—­a neighboring eminence—­are seen the traces of a Roman fortress.  The remains of Roman baths and a temple have also been found there, and its waters are mentioned by Pliny.  At a later period the Carlovingian monarchs established at Wiesbaden an imperial residence.  The city lies under the southern slope of the Taunus Mountains, the rocky recesses of which conceal the mysteries of its thermal springs.  The hilly country for miles around abounds in charming pleasure-grounds, drives, and promenades.  The gilded palaces which were formerly used as fashionable gambling-houses are now devoted to the social and musical recreation of visitors who come to take the waters.

The drive to the Russian Chapel ascends the Taunus Mountain by a winding road, amidst stately, well-kept forests of beech and chestnut.  The chapel, whose gilded domes can be seen from afar, stands upon one of the most salient mountain-spurs, and overlooks the country as far as Mayence and the Odenwald.  It was erected by the Duke of Nassau as a memorial to his deceased first wife, who was a beautiful young Russian princess.  Upon her tomb, which adorns the interior, her life-size effigy reclines, in pure white marble.