Mme. Adam’s widowhood was still young when people began to speak of her re-marriage. “Several times over,” she writes, “rumour had married me to Gambetta.” Of another charming and wealthy Republican widow, Mme. Arnaud de l’Ariège, the same report was circulated. “_Chacune son tour_,” said Mme. Adam, laughing, to her supposed rival. And Mme. Arnaud replied: “Yes, but we know too well where Gambetta’s affections are fixed to believe any gossip about his marriage unless it should be to Mlle. L——”[285] Far from becoming more intimate, as we shall see in the next chapter, Juliette Adam and Gambetta were now beginning to disagree. These differences and other reasons made her think of leaving Paris before her accustomed time. “As I emerge from my mourning,” she writes, “more than one among my friends begins to regard me rather as a woman than a widow.”[286] She was planning a new novel, _Grecque_; and in order to study a suitable background she resolved to visit Naples. How strained her relations with Gambetta were becoming was proved by their farewell. “It would have been better for me had you started a few weeks earlier,” said her friend. “Ah! if you had been able to play Napoléon, you would have been delighted to give me _un petit air de Mme. de Staël_,” she retorted.[287] FOOTNOTES: [254] _Souvenirs_, IV. 286-7. [255] _Souvenirs_, V. 276. [256] p. 140. [257] _Souvenirs_, V. 163. [258] The extremists were led by Ranc, who was a much more sincere admirer of the Great Tribune. [259] _Souvenirs_, V. 165. [260] _Souvenirs_, V. 166. [261] I am greatly indebted to Sir Sidney Colvin for having taken the trouble to send me these reminiscences, and for permitting me to use them. [262] _Souvenirs_, V. 144-269. [263] _Ibid._, I. 169. [264] _Souvenirs_, V. 183. [265] _Souvenirs_, V. 185. [266] _Ibid._, 283. [267] _Ibid._, 383. [268] Gambetta’s speech at Havre. See Hanotaux, _Hist. Contemporaine_, I. 406. [269] _Souvenirs_, I. 278. [270] _Souvenirs_, V. 173. [271] _Ibid._, 167. [272] Here are published to-day the _Echo de Paris_, _L’Intransigeant_ and many other well-known journals. It was in a café at the corner of this street that Jaurès was assassinated in 1914. [273] _Souvenirs_, V. 214. [274] _Souvenirs_, V. 304. [275] _Souvenirs_, V. 76. [276] _Ibid._, VI. 212. [277] MacMahon had succeeded Thiers as President of the French Republic in May 1873. [278] _Souvenirs_, VI. 92. [279] _Souvenirs_, VI. 473. [280] _Ibid._, VII. 5. [281] _Ibid._, 49. [282] _Souvenirs_, VII. 6-7. [283] _Ibid._, VII. 78. [284] M. de Freycinet’s two volumes of Mémoires should be read by all who are interested in this period. [285] _Souvenirs_, VII. 245. [286] _Ibid._, 185. [287] _Souvenirs_, VII. 187. CHAPTER XIV “LA REVANCHE” 1870-1914