oming?" It is so strange that the Swedish
language has no word for _you_. One must either address people by their
title, which is sometimes very awkward, or else say _thou_.

I was dreadfully puzzled when I first came here. Right opposite my
window was a sign, "_Dam Bad Rum!_" I said: "How queer! People
generally cry up their wares, not down. Who ever heard of a seller
saying that his rum was as bad as that?" I found out afterward that the
sign was merely to let people know that a ladies' bath-room was to be
found there.

The next excitement was my audience with the Queen, and thereby hangs,
if not a tale, a teapot with a tempest in it. I must tell you all about
it. I hope you will appreciate the tremendously complicated position in
which I was placed.

It seems that in the time of Queen Christina of Sweden, one hundred and
fifty years ago, the ladies of her court wore black silk or satin
dresses and sleeves of a certain pattern. The court has seen no reason
to make any change of dress since that time. To-day it wears the same
style of dress and the same _sleeves_--the cause of the tempest!

In answer to my request for an audience I received a letter from the
_grande maitresse_, saying that the Queen would receive me on Thursday
next; the _doyenne_ of the _Corps Diplomatique_ would present me. Then
followed instructions: my dress was to be a black satin ball-dress, a
train of four meters, lined with black silk, _decollete_, white _glace_
gloves, _et les manches de cour_. I had no idea what _les manches de
cour_ were, and, naturally, I went to the _doyenne_ to find out.

If I had announced that I intended to throw a bomb under the King's
nose the effect could not have been more startling than when I said
those fatal words, "_Les manches de cour_."

_Madame la doyenne_ was so overcome that for a moment speech left her.
She proceeded to tell me that in order to keep on the right side of the
colleagues it would be advisable _not_ to wear the sleeves.

"Why not?" I asked, perplexed. "My husband says it is only on this one
occasion that a foreign minister's wife is required to wear the
sleeves."

She acknowledged that this was true, but the diplomatic ladies had
refused to wear them, and it was as much as peace and happiness were
worth to displease the colleagues.

"How can they refuse?" I asked.

She explained that the idea of wearing the sleeves was disagreeable to
them; therefore the court had passed over the p