r daughters L---- and E----, were often at our house, and
were very fond of my mother who lived with us then. The old General
finally died, and the girls were worn and bent with grief from his long
illness and the trials of nursing him. Their brother was with his
regiment, and for some reason could not get to them in time to make
arrangements for the funeral. The girls were left badly off, and could
not afford a pretentious ceremony. When they tried to explain this to
the undertaker, he was incredulous, but finally said with a brutal
sneering laugh: "Of course you can have a _pauper's_ funeral if you want
one." Everything was done in a way to make it all as hard as possible
for the poor girls by these brutes, and they used to come and tell us
with floods of tears of the insults they had to swallow. At last the
brother arrived, and of course as soon as he appeared in _uniform_ he
was bowed down to and served as only a uniform is served in Germany by
such brutal types.

During the second year in October word came to us that the Czar of
Russia was coming to rest with his family at the Grand Duke's hunting
lodge, just outside Darmstadt. We were nervous at the thought of all the
Russian students who always throng the Technical School at Darmstadt. It
seemed such an easy thing to bomb a man in such a small quiet town. They
took great precautions, however, and nothing happened.

I sang many times for the Czar, in "command performances" of _Dalila_,
etc. When he left he was good enough to send me a brooch "as a
remembrance of his wife." It is the Imperial crown, with sapphire eyes,
surrounded by a laurel wreath. He used to sit in a box nearest the stage
with the Grand Duke. In the next box were the little Grand Duchesses,
Olga, Tatiana and Marie, and sometimes Anastasia, the littlest one of
all. They would call in the intervals, "Papa, come in here; _do_ Papa
dear." They always spoke English together. He would go to them and they
would climb all over him, petting him and playing with his hair. It was
rather charming to watch.

Prince Henry of Prussia was there too, as these three, the Grand Duke,
Czar, and Prince Henry are, or were, fast friends. When they left the
theatre a curious crowd always gathered to see them, but we never had so
much as a glimpse of them, for five black, mysterious motors, closely
hooded, left in a procession, and no one ever knew which one the Czar
was in. The Czarina never came to the theatre; she w