_July 26th._--We drove out in the carriage this afternoon with
Catherine, who was getting better, and who frequently drove out. We
went round by the Trianons; in the forest we saw some pretty roebucks,
which bounded through the wood. We passed a field full of lilac
poppies. In returning we stopped at the Boulevard de St. Antoine, where
there was a _bal champêtre_. There were lamps hung on the trees. The
music was very dull. We saw them dance two quadrilles. One _garde du
corps_ danced in a most extraordinary manner: he jumped and hopped,
and kicked and bounced, as if he had learned off a bear at the North
Pole. His partner, a little girl of ten or eleven years old, danced
very well. One lady in a pink silk bonnet seemed as if she had learned
in the French style, but wanted to dance lighter, for she walked two
or three steps and then jumped up. They all kept bad time, walked and
hopped. The three Miss Williams and their father were there. In the
middle of their dance a heavy shower of rain came on; everybody ran
into a house or went home. We saw the Miss Williams standing under a
tree, like three white graces, half-way home.