_May 9th._--We got up pretty early, glad enough to leave our dirty,
disagreeable beds. The servants began to clean the kitchen, but the
smell was so bad that it made them sick; they therefore got two men in
to clean it; and when they came to the pipe that carried away the dirt,
they were also unable to proceed till they got a glass of brandy. The
oven was an inch thick with dirt; when it was a little cleaned they
discovered a looking-glass at the back of the oven. All the egg-shells,
stalks of vegetables, etc., had been thrown under the charcoal fires;
the rolling-pin was covered with dirt. Indeed, a dirtier place could
not have been imagined. The meat chopper was also an inch thick of
dirt. The cellar was overrun with lizards, and the closets with ants,
etc. It was rather more agreeable out of doors. The front of the house
was turned from the street, and before it were two terraces, one above
the other, which were covered with vines, and at the end were some fine
Judas trees. From the terrace we had a view of the Seine and Paris.
The weather was fine, but we none of us were in a humour to enjoy this
view. The porter that lived at the end of the terrace had a little boy
of five or six years old. François was a nice boy, but, like most of
the French children, rather forward. We walked through the village as
far as the Bois de Boulogne. There are streets in Passy like a town,
but very few shops; the people who live there get all their things from
Paris. We picked up several cantheræ.
_May 10th._--We now found the dirt so intolerable that mamma determined
to speak to Madame Gautier, the lady from whom we had taken the house.
She said that she would have the house cleaned and painted; but that
if we wished to leave it, not to consider that any agreement had been
made. (Our house had been taken for a year.) On hearing this papa went
immediately to Versailles to look after a house; when he returned he
told us that he had taken one, to which we were to go next day. We went
to bed in rather better spirits, comforting ourselves that it was the
last night we should sleep here.
_May 11 th._--This morning we were busy packing and settling our
things. We were rather at a loss about some clothes which we had at the
wash, not knowing how we could get them. The porter, however, told us
that we might be easy, as he knew a coachman who passed constantly by
the door, with whom he would send the things. That we might be sure,
we again asked him if he was certain of being able to send the things;
but he repeated his answer so often that we had not the least doubt of
his being as good as his promise. Soon after breakfast we set off in
a cabriolet, which is rather a curious conveyance, but very roomy. It
has two seats, one before the other, and it opens in front where the
man sits. It jogged very much going downhill. There is only one horse.
The man drove so close behind the cabriolet in which the servants were
that we could not see anything; on asking him to go to one side he
went straight before. Presently he stopped and took up another man,
which they call a 'lapin,' and they chatted and laughed all the way,
frequently stopping to get little glasses of brandy, as all the French
drivers do. They stopt for a long while at a post-house, where the men
got some bread out of a bin in the corner, and some wine. The people at
the inn brought us out a few little cakes, for which they afterwards
charged several francs. It was about the middle of the day when we got
to Versailles.
[Illustration: CABRIOLET]
It is a nice-looking town. There are three avenues up the middle. The
soldiers were exercising in the Avenue de Sceaux when we passed; they
exercised there several times a week. We used to like to hear their
music, but they spoilt it with drumming. Our house was near the end of
the Avenue de Sceaux, No. 6. Before the door was what they called 'Deux
jolis jardins,' which turned out to be a small garden with a walk, and
two hedges up the middle which divided it. We had not the upper story
of the house. We paid 300 francs a month. The rooms were all round a
court, so that one had to pass from one room to get to another. The
drawing-room was furnished quite after the French fashion: there was
a round table with two large pieces of marble on it; another table
supported by bronze sphinxes; a beautiful piece of furniture that had
belonged to the palace, which contained fourteen secret drawers and
several mirrors. But besides this there were two clocks, neither of
which would go; linen curtains hung on common iron rods; common painted
frames round the glasses. Instead of a carpet there was a very little
shabby piece of green cloth; and no grate; and such fire-irons as you
would not see in an English kitchen. The furniture was stamped blue
cotton-velvet. On the floor of the dining-room there was a little
ragged piece of old tapestry; this and the green cloth were the only
pretensions to carpet in the house, so that what with the want of
grates and the red stone floors, it looked very cold and comfortless.
But that we did not much mind, as the heat was what we always dreaded.
The locks of the doors hurt all our fingers, they were so stiff.
After we had thoroughly looked through the house, we went out to walk
through the town. The trees in the avenues are kept cut, which is very
formal-looking. We passed before the King's stables. They are in the
form of a half moon; before the court is a railing with gilt tops.
The great and the little stable are separated by the Avenue de Paris.
Nearly opposite is the palace. Higher up the avenue, on the side of the
Grande Ecurie, is the kennel. It looks pretty, and I think very large
for a dog-kennel; it was, however, found too small. After walking as
far as the Place d'Armes (which separates the old from the new town) we
returned, and spent the evening in condoling with one another.