tol."

"They put too much in," he said, "and such a lot of people! Dear me! I
shall never forget it. Didn't I look bored?"

"No, your Majesty looked very serious and as handsome as a Lohengrin"
I answered.

"Lohengrin, really! I did not see any Elsa I wanted to save."

"Oh, I meant only a Lohengrin _de passage_," I replied.

The Emperor laughed. "That is good."

"I recollect what your Majesty wrote on the photograph you gave
Monsieur Crispi."

"Really? What was it? I don't remember."

"You wrote: '_Gentilhomme, gentilhomme; corsaire, corsaire et demi_'."

"What a good memory you have!" he said, and added, very kindly, "I am
very glad to have you and your husband here, and I hope you will like
Berlin. But"--holding a finger warningly--"don't look for many
Lohengrins."

In case, my dear, you don't understand this, I will tell you what it
means: If you are nice to me I will be equally nice to you, _but_ if
you are horrid I will (pokerly speaking) see you and go you one
better.

BERLIN, _January, 1903_.

Dear ----,--Every diplomatic lady has a reception-day. Mine is
Thursday. Last Thursday there were one hundred and sixty people.

My first receptions in January were very perplexing, because so many
people came whom I did not know and who did not know me. Our two
secretaries, Frederikke and I have a code of signals which help me
over many a rough place. Visitors leave their cards in the
antechamber. The secretary stands in the first _salon_ and waves them
into the large _salon_ where I am. If I raise my eyebrows the
secretary knows that I depend upon him to find out who the person is,
and the name, if possible. He, therefore, gets the card and shows it
to me by some magical twist. Sometimes he manages to whisper the name.
Often I fail to grasp either the whisper or the card; then I am lost,
and flounder hopelessly about without bearings of any kind, asking
leading-questions, cautiously feeling my way, not knowing whether I am
talking to a person of great importance or the contrary. When at last
my extreme wariness and diplomacy get hold of a clue, then I swim
along beautifully on the top of the wave.

Frederikke helps me by taking odds and ends off my hands and sorting
them out behind her teacups. All the young people flock about her, and
with their laughter and flutterings add a gay note to the official
element around me.

The Emperor desires that all his officers should be accustomed to
society, and