[Note: The work in question was entitled "The Court of the Tuileries, 1852-1870," by "Le Petit Homme Rouge"--a pseudonym which I have since used when producing other books. "The Court of the Tuileries" was founded in part on previously published works, on a quantity of notes and memoranda made by my father, other relatives, and myself, and on some of the private papers of one of my wife's kinsmen, General Mollard, who after greatly distinguishing himself at the Tchernaya and Magenta, became for a time an aide-de-camp to Napoleon III.] In the autumn of 1869, I fell rather ill from over-study--I had already begun to read up Roman law--and, on securing a holiday, I accompanied my father to Compiegne, where the Imperial Court was then staying. We were not among the invited guests, but it had been arranged that every facility should be given to the _Illustrated London News_ representatives in order that the Court _villegiatura_ might be fully depicted in that journal. I need not recapitulate my experiences on this occasion. There is an account of our visit in my father's "Glances Back," and I inserted many additional particulars in my "Court of the Tuileries." I may mention, however, that it was at Compiegne that I first exchanged a few words with Napoleon III. One day, my father being unwell (the weather was intensely cold), I proceeded to the chateau [We slept at the Hotel de la Cloche, but had the _entree_ to the chateau at virtually any time.] accompanied only by our artist, young M. Montbard, who was currently known as "Apollo" in the Quartier Latin, where he delighted the _habitues_ of the Bal Bullier by a style of choregraphy in comparison with which the achievements subsequently witnessed at the notorious Moulin Rouge would have sunk into insignificance. Montbard had to make a couple of drawings on the day I have mentioned, and it so happened that, whilst we were going about with M. de la Ferriere, the chamberlain on duty, Napoleon III suddenly appeared before us. Directly I was presented to him he spoke to me in English, telling me that he often saw the _Illustrated London News_, and that the illustrations of French life and Paris improvements (in which he took so keen an interest) were very ably executed. He asked me also how long I had been in France, and where I had learnt the language. Then, remarking that it was near the _dejeuner_ hour, he told M. de la Ferriere to see that Montbard and myself were suitably entertained.