The sovereigns are working themselves to death, and almost killing their
attendants. Prince Radzivill said, speaking of the King of Prussia: "I
would have liked him better if he had stayed at home. He has to be ready
every morning at half-past eight, and is often up till three in the
morning." Radzivill and the others not only have to go to all the balls,
but they must attend all the various civil, military, and charitable
functions, and then the Exposition takes a lot of time and energy.
Prince Umberto is here from Italy. When Princess Metternich asked him how
long he was going to stay he answered, with a toss of his head toward
Italy, "Cela dépend des circonstances. Les affaires vont très mal là-bas."
Aunt M---- says she wishes you had been at a matinée which Baroness
Nathaniel Rothschild gave this afternoon at her beautiful new palace in
the Faubourg St.-Honoré. At the entrance there were ten servants in
gorgeous livery, and a _huissier_ who rattled his mace down on the
pavement as each guest passed. There was, besides all the élite of Paris,
an Archduke of Austria. I sang the "Ave Maria" of Gounod, accompanied by
Madame Norman Neruda, an Austrian violiniste, the best woman violinist in
the world. Baroness Rothschild played the piano part.