After lunch we went to see the games and all sorts of public amusements on the square: rocking-horses, targets, foot-runs and what not! A slight railing divided the fashionable world from the world that works, only the local aristocracy, ultra-provincial I must say, was admitted within the enclosure. The prizes for the most part consisted of different foods. The crowd gathered around the chief attraction, a climbing post with a gigantic leg of mutton at the top of it. The native lads could not succeed in reaching it; taking toss after toss they slipped from the pole to the ecstatic joy of the onlookers. At last a young fellow had nearly attained the tempting prize, but he could not keep up on the pole and fell to the ground weakened by the strain of his position, without his leg of mutton. We stopped before a stall with brass medals bearing the inscription _Vive la France!_ When I asked if there were any medals with _Vive la République_ the woman who sold them answered in a voice full of indignation that she did not keep such horrors. For some days the bad weather kept us indoors, it came on to rain as if it never meant to stop. Warmly wrapped up in a shawl I passed many dull hours lolling rather disconsolately in an easy chair, listening to the monotonous song of the wind in the chimney—a lively way to pass the time! We were growing very weary of Dieppe; I am absolutely sick of the place, and the best thing we can do is to pack up and go. As there was nothing to keep us here we decided, one wet, gloomy afternoon, to fling Dieppe to the winds and start for Paris, thence to travel right out to Switzerland. CHAPTER XXIII PARIS When our train stopped at the Gare St. Lazarre, we got a fiacre and drove to the Hôtel de la Paix, a large, ponderous edifice, one of the most stylish hotels in Paris. I waited in the cab whilst my husband went with inquiries for an apartment, hoping all the time that Sergy would not find one to his taste, for I hate these stiff and grand hotels. It turned out as I wanted, there was no room to our disposal, and so we betook ourselves to the Hôtel de Calais, an unpretending house situated in one of the most elegant quarters. We spent a whole fortnight in Paris, which is a lively and beautiful city, the jolliest place in the universe. I was quite in raptures with the French Metropolis and the numberless attractions it offers. I woke the next morning in high spirits, pleased with the idea of being in Paris. The street-vendors and news-boys awoke me early, shouting each their wares. Here goes a woman wearing a hat with the inscription “I shave dogs,” who is leading a beautifully shaven poodle by the chain. The poor animal seems quite worn out, and lies down on the pavement at every two steps. I was overcome with pity for that unfortunate living advertisement and felt still more sorry for a young woman turning a barrel-organ with one hand, and rocking her baby, laid down in a sort of cradle, with the other one.