re
marching upon the palace.--For the love of God, return at once. Your
Imperial Highness must take a seat in this inconspicuous carriage. We
will change to the first _Droschke_ we meet, going through
side-streets."

"My dear Baroness," I answered, "it's not in my nature to shirk peril.
If I were to be hanged and quartered and could avoid that unpleasantness
by changing from my carriage to a cab--I would be hanged and quartered.
Take the children and return to the palace any way you like.

"As for me, I'll go back as Her Imperial Highness, the Crown Princess of
Saxony, and my coachman will drive slowly."

I kissed the children, and the _coupe_ rolled away at a sharp clip.

Calling the coachman by name, I commanded him: "You heard what my Grand
Mistress said. Riot or no riot, I am solely responsible for my own
safety. You will take orders from no one but me, neither from the mob
nor the police."

The coachman lifted his hat respectfully and bowed a submissive "At Your
Imperial Highness's orders." The groom, a young, good-looking fellow,
struck the broadsword at his side.

"There is some good steel in this, Your Imperial Highness," he said with
sparkling eyes. I believe this poor fellow would have died for a single
look from me.

Among royal servants, the most devoted are those connected with the
_Marstall_. No wonder so many of my sisters born on the steps of the
throne, fell in love with their Master of Horse or equerries; some with
mere hostlers, like Queen Christina of Spain, the mother of my aunt
Isabelle, of amorous memory. Her lover, Munoz, of the Body Guards, was
a famous equestrian and two years younger than Christina. He managed
horses so well, she thought it would be great fun to boss this giant.
But it ended by the brute lording it over her, the "Catholic Majesty."
By the way, I wonder what became of Christina's and Munoz's several
children. While they lived together from 1833 to 1844 without the
sanction of either law or church, they were "regularly married" in the
end, the hostler, Munoz, metamorphosing into Duke Rianzares. Yet the
_Almanach de Gotha_ knows not their progeny when, as "love children,"
they should live long and happily.

Another "hostler-marriage" occurred in the family of the proud Kaiser,
the contracting parties being Princess Albrecht of Prussia and a groom,
whose name I forget. This Princess, Marianne of the Netherlands, brought
the first "real" money into the Hohenzollern family