I HAVE SPENT a bit more than three years in the company of a remarkable American, the dentist Thomas W. Evans, celebrated in his own time throughout Europe, almost unknown in his native land. Highly competent and innovative in his profession, a born diplomat with a genial personality that charmed the courts of Europe when royalties were still in flower, Dr. Evans figures twice in mainstream history, through his unshakable loyalty to Napoleon III and the beautiful Empress Eugenie, and through his considerable diplomatic services to the United States during the American Civil War.

Dr. Evans also had a very good time during the brilliant if shaky years of France's Second Empire, an era when life in Paris was illuminated by wit and gaslight, in step with the rhythm of the waltz, faintly perfumed by the aroma of Parma violets. I have tried to do justice both to the man and his social environment. For most of my material I am indebted to those who have gone before me and to other persons and institutions gratefully named in the acknowledgments. I have corrected some errors and possibly made a few new ones.

And now, would you like to meet Evans, American dentist, diplomat, boulevardier, Commander of the Legion of Honor, of Paris, France?

G.C.
NEWTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA

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