At last came the hour of farewells, and the Emperor departed with his
pretty, tearful wife--the band playing his mother's air, _Partant pour
la Syrie_, and his heart full of pride and gratitude. In a letter
which he addressed to the Queen, soon after reaching home, is revealed
one cause of his gratitude. After saying many pleasant things about the
kind and gracious reception which had been accorded him, and the
impression which the sight of the happy home-life of Windsor had made
upon him, he says: "Your Majesty has also touched me to the heart by the
delicacy of the consideration shown to the Empress; for nothing pleases
more than to see the person one loves become the object of such
flattering attention."
That summer there appeared among the royal children at Osborne a sudden
illness, which soon put on royal livery, and was recognized as scarlet
fever. There was, of course, great alarm--but nothing very serious came
of it. The two elder children escaped the infection, and were allowed to
go to Paris with their parents, who in July returned the visit of the
Emperor and Empress. They went in their yacht to Boulogne, where the
Emperor met them and escorted them to the railway on horseback.
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