Paris herself again in 1878-9 . b, impassible of mien, stately of figure,symmetrical of calf, undeniably stately, but slightly supercilious—and the French valet de pied; & stalwart fellow enough of hisinches, but clean-shaven, sallow, somewhat cadaverous of coun-tenance, apt to look too rigid, as though he were half-strangled inhis high, stiff, white collar, and altogether wearing a half-militaryhalf-clerical expression. IN THE KUE DE LA PAIX. 331 But, after five oclock, the gay equipages, with their the valets de pied, disappear. The demoiselles de magasin, Itake it, are dismissed
Paris herself again in 1878-9 . b, impassible of mien, stately of figure,symmetrical of calf, undeniably stately, but slightly supercilious—and the French valet de pied; & stalwart fellow enough of hisinches, but clean-shaven, sallow, somewhat cadaverous of coun-tenance, apt to look too rigid, as though he were half-strangled inhis high, stiff, white collar, and altogether wearing a half-militaryhalf-clerical expression. IN THE KUE DE LA PAIX. 331 But, after five oclock, the gay equipages, with their the valets de pied, disappear. The demoiselles de magasin, Itake it, are dismissed about nine, and hurry away to their belovedboulevards; and, altogether, the Rue de la Paix would be all butdeserted but for the English, whose appearance after the dinner-hour—say from eight to close upon ten —can in general beconfidently reckoned upon. They have, to most intents and pur-poses, the Rue de la Paix to themselves. They have dined, say,at the Cafe de la Paix, or at the table dhote of the Grand Then, instead of repairing to a cafe or mingling with the flaneurson the boulevards, as the native Parisians do, they tranquilly walkas far as the Rue Scribe, and have a good long stare at the dia-monds and pearls at Otterbourgs, hard by the porte-cochere of theJockey Club. This is a kind of vorsmack or relish for the ban-quet of jewelry which is to follow. Then they cross the jnor-mous and, to pedestrians, somewhat perilous Place de lOpera, andpassing the Bazar du Voyage, where French ingenuity has con-trived to infuse the picturesqueand the tasteful element into suchprosaic things as portmanteaus, travelling-bags, indiarubber air-cushions, and waterproof sheets, they turn down the cruelly-trun-cated but still glorious Rue de la Paix. For them, and for themexclusively, so it would seem, are the great jewellers and gold- 332 PARIS HERSELF AGAIN. smiths shops kept open so very late. For them do the diamondsand the rubies, the emeralds and the pearls, the ame
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