ress and the great ladies of the
aristocracy can only treat them as friends, so long as they live up
to the same standard of respectability as that which prevails in the
highest circles of society, and at court.

One of the most valuable qualities of Empress Augusta-Victoria is her
extraordinary tact. It is due to this, more than anything else, that
she has been able to retain, not only a hold upon the affection and
regard of her impulsive and brilliant husband, but also an influence
over him without his being aware of the fact. By the leading members
of his court, and by his principal ministerial advisers, she is
regarded not merely in the light of his guardian angel, but as his
most sensible counsellor. She may be relied upon at all times to
soothe his anger, soften any bitterness which he may entertain towards
this or that person, and call forth at critical moments the most
generous and chivalrous phases of his, on the whole, very attractive
character.

She is claimed by those who know the true state of affairs to act in
the capacity of a brake and a safety-valve to her husband, and it
is no secret that both the classes and the masses feel an additional
sense of security when they know their popular empress to be by the
emperor's side; for every mistake that he has made since he ascended
the throne has taken place during her absence, and he himself is the
first to acknowledge that she is largely responsible for every success
that he has achieved.

The sentiments of the empress towards Bismarck have been much
misunderstood and misconstrued. It is perfectly true that she was
brought up from her earliest childhood to regard him as the enemy
of her house, the prince having, as I have already related, been the
author of the indefensible act of spoliation, by means of which her
father had been deprived of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, now
forming part of the kingdom of Prussia. The manner in which the Iron
Chancellor was viewed in the home of the empress when a young girl,
may best be gathered from the fact that whenever her nurses and
governesses were desirous of putting a stop to her naughtiness and
of frightening her into obedience, they would exclaim: "_Bismarck's
coming! wow! wow!_" This childhood impression has continued so
deep that even to this day, whenever the empress shows any signs of
reluctance to comply with her husband's wishes, or betrays irritation,
the kaiser is in the habit of springing upon