Mont Park had once been a gypsum and limestone quarry. Later, the Directory turned it into a park.
This park was not a geometrically flat French garden. It had rises and dips; some said it was Chinese in style, others said English. In any case, it was very distinctive among Paris's many gardens.
The French people's knowledge of China surprised Georgiana. After changing into common clothes, the First Consul of France, who had seemed to reek of gunpowder, became refined and scholarly again. She found it immensely amusing. How could a change of clothes make such a difference in a person?
The topic they discussed this time was still related to water. The water supply system of ancient Rome had been a vast undertaking. If canals were the main arteries, then carrying clean water into every household was like guiding it through capillaries to every limb and organ.
Paris's terrain made it impossible to build skyscrapers. With proper planning, a running-water system could last for many years even without pumps. The ancient Chinese had already made use of differences in water level to supply water.
It was an interesting topic for both of them. Carolan was as flamboyantly dressed as ever. She did not walk with Napoleon's male servants, nor did she walk beside her "master." She strolled about freely by herself. The last time they had gone out onto the streets of Paris, she had refused to go because she thought the roads were too dirty. Yet she had come along for this walk in the park, with no awareness at all of her duties as a guard.
Georgiana remembered that Monet had often come to Mont Park to paint from life before he became famous. If history were rewritten just like that and there were no Monet water