ABSTRACT
It once happened to me to ask an elderly French gentleman of the most exquisite manners to pay any attention she might need to a charming young lady who was intending to travel by the same train from London to Paris. M. de – wrote such a brilliant little note in reply that I was tempted to preserve it as an autograph; and I observe that, after a profusion of thanks, he assured me he should be ‘trop heureux de se mettre au service’ of my young friend. Practically, as I afterwards learned, M. de – did make himself quite delightful, till, unluckily, on arriving at Boulogne, it appeared that there was some imbroglio about Miss -’s luggage and she was in a serious difficulty. Needless to say, on such an occasion the intervention of a French gentleman with a ribbon at his button-hole would have been of the greatest possible service; but to render it M. de – would have been obliged to miss the train to Paris; and this was a sacrifice for which his politeness was by no means prepared. Expressing himself as utterly au desespoir, he took his seat, and was whirled away, leaving my poor young friend alone on the platform to fight her battles as best she might with the impracticable officials. The results might have been annoying had not a homely English stranger stepped in and proferred his aid; and, having recovered the missing property, simply lifted his hat and escaped from the lady’s expressions of gratitude.
