t when a witness takes
the oath.

In the intervening space is a large and comfortable easy-chair, or
perhaps it would be more correct and dignified to call it a throne. It
is occupied by Prince Nicolas whenever he comes in, as he often does,
for an hour or so, for he takes a keen interest in the law cases of
his subjects. When he is present the proceedings are in no way
altered, but the Prince himself puts now and then a pertinent question
to the witnesses. Furthermore, it is here that the Prince every
Saturday, when he is in residence in Cetinje, holds public audience
and receives petitions and complaints from his lowliest subjects.
Every petition must be committed to writing, and in the appointed
order each man or woman steps forward while the document is read aloud
by the clerk. The Prince puts a question or two to the petitioner and
then gives his answer to the request, which is duly noted, and the
next person called.

It is all so simple and quick that it is hard to realise the
importance of this commendable institution. In the olden days the
Prince dispensed justice and favours, seated under the shade of an
enormous tree, which has now, however, been destroyed. But in the
height of summer, a shady spot in the open air is still found.

We listened to one case, that of a woman who had amassed a large sum
of money--for Montenegro--by fetching water from a distance at so much
a gallon. Cetinje is almost waterless in summer, and water-carriers
can earn small fortunes, particularly if equipped with a donkey or
two, as was this woman. Having saved a few hundred guldens, she
proceeded to lend it to needy friends--people are foolish in this
respect, even in Montenegro. It would have been all right if she had
not neglected the simple precaution of insisting on an I.O.U. for each
loan. Her money gone, she not unnaturally asked that some of it should
be returned, for she had fallen on evil days. But all knowledge of
such loans was denied by the ungrateful borrowers.

It was a knotty point to decide. Should the judges believe the woman's
word, or the emphatic denials of the debtors that they had ever
received a kreutzer? The seven looked hopelessly at each other, and
then wisely retired to the seclusion of a private room, awaiting
divine inspiration.

As of yore, the little prison, or rather house of detention, had a
great attraction for us. Many afternoons we wended our way thither to
while away an hour in the genial c