Then , having settled me at Madame 's , he went blithely away to what I afterwards discovered were very poor lodgings , across the river . Next day began the pleasantest fortnight in all my year of travel . Laddie appeared early , elegant to behold , in a new hat and buff gloves , and was immensely amused because the servant informed me that my big son had arrived . I believe the first thing a woman does in Paris is to buy a new bonnet . I did , or rather stood by and let ` my son ' do it in the best of French , only whispering when he proposed gorgeous chapeaus full of flowers and feathers , that I could not afford it . ` Ah ! we must make our economies , must we ? See , then , this modest , pearl-colored one , with the crape rose . Yes , we will have that , and be most elegant for the Sunday promenade . ' I fear I should have bought a pea-green hat with a yellow plume if he had urged it , so wheedlesome and droll were his ways and words . His good taste saved me , however , and the modest one was sent home for the morrow , when we were to meet Joseph and Napoleon and go to the concert in the Tuileries garden . Then we set off on our day of sight-seeing , and Laddie proved himself an excellent guide . We had a charming trip about the enchanted city , a gay lunch at a café , and a first brief glimpse of the Louvre . At dinner-time I found a posy at my place ; and afterward Laddie came and spent the evening in my little salon , playing to me , and having what he called ` babblings and pleasantries . ' I found that he was translating ` Vanity Fair ' into Polish , and intended to sell it at home . He convulsed me with his struggles to put cockney English and slang into good Polish , for he had saved up a list of words for me to explain to him . Hay-stack and bean-pot were among them , I remember ; and when he had mastered the meanings he fell upon the sofa exhausted . Other days like this followed , and we led a happy life together : for my twelve years ' seniority made our adventures quite proper , and I fearlessly went anywhere on the arm of my big son . Not to theatres or balls , however , for heated rooms were bad for Laddie , but pleasant trips out of the city in the bright spring weather , quiet strolls in the gardens , moonlight concerts in the Champs Elysées ; or , best of all , long talks with music in the little red salon , with the gas turned low , and the ever-changing scenes of the Rue de Rivoli under the balcony . Never were pleasures more cheaply purchased or more thoroughly enjoyed , for our hearts were as light as our purses , and our ` little economies ' gave zest to our amusements .
Joseph and Napoleon sometimes joined us , and I felt in my element with the three invalid soldier boys , for Napoleon still limped with a wound received in the war , Joseph had never recovered from his two XXXXX ' imprisonment in an Austrian dungeon , and Laddie 's loyalty might yet cost him his life .
Hay-stack Joseph Laddie Napoleon Polish chapeaus crape first garden years