We shortly afterwards turned into a broad paved highway where a Bavarian picket was stationed to watch a road which crossed it at this point and led towards Paris. To the left an extensive plain, and on the right a continuation of the chain of wooded heights. A white town half way up the slope, then, lower down, two other villages, and we finally pass through an iron gateway partially gilt, traverse some busy streets, and a straight avenue with old trees, and then find ourselves in front of our quarters in Versailles. On the 6th of October, the day after our arrival in the old royal town of France, Keudell remarked that we might possibly remain here for some three weeks. Nor did I think it improbable, as the course of the war up to that time had accustomed us to speedy success. We remained however five long months. But, as will be seen later on, the Minister must have suspected that our stay would not be a short one. For this reason, and as our lodging was the scene of very important events, a fuller description of it will probably be welcome. The house which was occupied by the Chancellor of the Confederation belonged to one Madame Jesse, widow of a wealthy cloth manufacturer, who shortly before our arrival fled to Picardy with her two sons, leaving her property to the care of her gardener and his wife. It is No. 14 in Rue de Provence, which connects the Avenue de St. Cloud with the Boulevard de la Reine. The Rue de Provence is one of the quietest in Versailles. Many of the houses are surrounded by gardens. Ours is a slate-roofed house of three stories, the third of these being a garret. From the entrance in the courtyard a flight of stone steps leads up to the hall door. On the right of this hall is the principal staircase, and the following rooms open on to it; the dining-room looking out on the garden, the salon, a billiard-room, a conservatory, and the library of the deceased M. Jesse. On the table in the salon stood an old-fashioned chimney clock with a fiendish figure in bronze biting his thumb. This demon grinned sarcastically at all the negotiations which led to the treaties with the South German States, the proclamation of the German Emperor and Empire, and afterwards to the surrender of Paris and the preliminaries of peace, all of which were signed in this salon, thus securing it a place in the world’s history. The billiard-room was arranged as an office for the councillors, secretaries, and decipherers. In January, when there was a severe frost, a portion of the winter garden was assigned to the officers on guard. The library was occupied by orderlies and Chancery attendants.