Poppa decided that we had better go to Versailles by Cook's four-in-hand.

There were other ways of going, but he thought we might as well take the most distinguished.

He was careful to explain that the mere grandeur of this method of transportation had no weight with him; he was compelled to submit to the ostentation of it for another purpose which he had in view.
"I am not a person," said poppa, "nor is any member of my family, to thrust myself into aristocratic circles in foreign lands; but when an opportunity like this occurs for observing them without prejudice, so to speak, I believe in taking it." We went to the starting place early, so as to get good seats, for, as momma said, the whole of the Parisian _elite_ with the President thrown in wouldn't induce her to ride with her back to the horses.

In that position she would be incapable of observation.
The coaches were not there when we arrived, and presently the Senator discovered why.

He told us with a slightly depressed air that they had gone round to the hotels.