Letters of a Diplomat's Wife, 1883-1900Waddington, Mary King
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Letters of a Diplomat's Wife, 1883-1900
Waddington, Mary King
Europe -- Social life and customs
Yesterday was the last Drawing-room of this season. I rather feel as if
it were my last in London, but one never knows. We (Corps Diplomatique)
were still all in black, the English in colours. It was long and tiring.
We dined at Lord Sudeley's--I rather wishing I had no engagement. I am
always tired after those hours of standing, and the diadem is heavy, and
the train, too, held over one's arm; however, I was quite repaid, as I
had a charming neighbour. I didn't know at all who he was, as they
rarely introduce in England, so we embarked on one of those banal, inane
conversations one has with a stranger of whom one knows nothing, and
were talking on smoothly about nothing at all, when he remarked,
casually, "I suppose you never go to church." This I at once resented
vehemently, so he explained that he didn't know, as I was a Frenchwoman,
probably a Catholic (as if they didn't go to church), etc. He turned out
to be Canon Rogers, a charming, intelligent, well-known man, most
independent in his words and actions. He is rector of St. Botolph's, a
church in Bishopsgate, the most disreputable part of London. We became
great friends, and he asked me if I would go and lunch with him one
Sunday, and he would show me Petticoat Lane. I agreed of course, and we
decided for next Sunday. He said he had never had a French lady and an
Ambassadress as a guest, and didn't quite know what to do. Should he ask
the Prince of Wales and order champagne? I told him my tastes were very
simple, and if I might bring my cousin Hilda, and one of the
Secretaries, I should be quite happy--also I liked apple-pie, which he
says his cook makes very well. I haven't had such a pleasant dinner for
a long time.
Monday, June 3d.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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