Part 2

PALACE AND GARDENS " 136

NOTE FROM F. LISZT " 152

AALHOLM. BUILT IN 1100 " 168

INSCRIPTIONS IN ONE OF THE ROOMS AT AALHOLM, BEARING THE DATE 1585 " 168

FRANCESCO CRISPI " 198

KING OSCAR " 212

THE KING OF SWEDEN " 220

THE RIKSDAG OF SWEDEN " 224

FACSIMILE OF LETTER FROM GRIEG " 230

A LETTER IN ENGLISH FROM KING OSCAR " 234

JULES MASSENET AT THE HEIGHT OF HIS CAREER " 246

A NOTE FROM MASSENET " 248

FÉLIX FAURE WHEN PRESIDENT OF FRANCE " 252

LINES FROM "LA PRINCESSE LOINTAINE" WITH ROSTAND'S AUTOGRAPH " 260

BJÖRNSON " 270

THE EMPRESS OF GERMANY ON HER FAVORITE MOUNT " 280

EMPEROR WILLIAM IN THE UNIFORM OF THE GUARDS " 280

TWO VIEWS OF ROYALTY " 282

THE THRONE-ROOM OF THE ROYAL PALACE, BERLIN " 290

QUEEN LOUISE OF DENMARK " 296

THE ROYAL PALACE AND LUSTGARTEN, BERLIN " 306

COUNT HATZFELDT " 326

THE EMPEROR IN 1905 " 332

NOTE

MADAME DE HEGERMANN-LINDENCRONE, the writer of these letters, is the wife of the recently retired Danish Minister to Germany. She was formerly Miss Lillie Greenough, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she lived with her grandfather, Judge Fay, in the fine old Fay mansion, now the property of Radcliffe College.

As a child Miss Greenough developed the remarkable voice which later was to make her well known, and when only fifteen years of age her mother took her to London to study under Garcia. Two years later Miss Greenough became the wife of Charles Moulton, the son of a well-known American banker, who had been a resident in Paris since the days of Louis Philippe. As Madame Charles Moulton the charming American became an appreciated guest at the court of Napoleon III. Upon the fall of the Empire Mrs. Moulton returned to America, where Mr. Moulton died, and a few years afterward she married M. de Hegermann-Lindencrone, at that time Danish Minister to the United States, and later periods his country's representative at Stockholm, Rome, Paris, Washington and Berlin.

THE ALPHABET OF A DIPLOMAT

Ambassador A man, just a little below God. Attaché The lowest rung of the ladder. Blunder How absurd! Why, never!... Chancellery The barn-yard where he is plucked. Chief The cock of the walk. Colleagues A question merely of time and place. Court Where one learns to make courtesies. Decorations The balm for all woes. Dinners The surest road to success. Disponsibility The Styx, whence no one returns. Esprit (de corps) The corps is there, but where is the esprit? Etiquette The Ten Commandments. Finesse A narrow lane where two can walk abreast. Friendships Ships that pass in the night. Gotha (almanack) The Bible of a Diplomat. Highness His, Her, make a deep courtesy. Ignoramus A person who does not agree with you. Innuendo An obscure side-light of truth. Joke Something beneath the dignity of a diplomat to notice. Knowledge (private) News which every one already knows. Legation Apartments to let. Letters (de créance) The first impression. Letters (de rappel) The last illusion. Majesté (lèse) Too awful to think of. Majesties Human beings with royal faults. Nobodies People to be avoided like poison. Opulence When in service. Pension Too small to be seen with the naked eye. Poverty When out of service. Quo (status) Diplomatic expression, meaning in French, Une jambe en l'air. Ruse A carefully disguised thought as transparent as a soap-bubble. Secretary Furniture easily moved. Traditions A door always open for refuge. Traités (de paix) A series of dinners paid for by a lavish government. Uniform A bestarred and beribboned livery. Visits The most important duty of a diplomat. Wisdom Good to have, but easily dispensed with. Xpectations A tree which seldom bears fruit. Yawn What a diplomat does over his rapports. Zeal Something a diplomat ought never to have too much of.