It is a pretty, graceful, and rational idea,
no doubt, to combine the ball room with the sanatorium, and the opera
with any amount of ozone; and we may well be thankful to Dumas for
inventing a seaside resort at once so pleasant and so gay.
Of the daily life at Trouville and Deauville there is literally nothing
new to be told; they are the best, the most fashionable, and the most
extravagant of French watering-places; and there is the usual round of
bathing in the early morning, breakfast at half-past ten, donkey-riding,
velocipede racing, and driving in the country until the afternoon,
promenade concerts and in-door games at four, dinner at six or seven
(table-d'hote, if you please, where new comers are stared at with that
solid, stony stare, of which only the politest nation in the world, is
capable)--casino afterwards, with pleasant, mixed society, concert again
and '_la danse_.'
Of the fashion and extravagance at Trouville a moralist might feel
inclined to say much, but we are here for a summer holiday, and we
_must_ be gay both in manner and attire. It is our business to be
delighted with the varied scene of summer costume, and with all the
bizarre combinations of colour that the beautiful Parisians try upon us;
but it is impossible altogether to ignore the aspect of anxiety which
the majority of people bring with them from Paris.
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