e
keynote for his treatment by the whole court. After the general
reception, General von M---- was invited to go into a more private room
with several more gentlemen. This promised well, as it was in this room
that the Kaiser talked more intimately with the guests of his choosing.

The General held his helmet with its _Feder-busch_, or crest of white
feathers on his arm, and felt the eyes of all assembled on him as the
Kaiser came quickly into the room, and made his way to him. Now was the
critical moment that might have everlasting consequences. Onkle Geo
confessed to nervousness, but His Majesty guessed the situation, and
said, "Hum! _You_ need a new helmet, that _Feder-busch_ is shabby," in a
bantering tone. The courtiers knew this was meant for friendly, humorous
comment, and was intended to be laughed at, so they laughed accordingly
at Onkle Geo's confusion, and the ice was broken. "And my helmet was
quite new!" said Onkle Geo, half indignantly, half laughing.

The court was very simple, and we heard stories of this through other
friends who had the _entree_. A Graefin D----, returning one evening
from a court ball given in honor of the then Regent of Bavaria, gave me
a bon-bon done up in silver paper, with a little photo of the Kaiserin
on it. The bon-bon was white, and the Graefin said as long as any one
could remember, these had been the official souvenirs of court dinners:
only the photo varied.

One charming girl we knew, a great favourite of the Empress, came back
from the Palace one Christmas day, and told us what she had received
from Her Majesty as a Christmas greeting--a small, old-fashioned tippet
and muff of woolly white Angora, and two small, cheap Japanese vases,
that some one had given the Empress the year before. The Royal
magnificence one would expect gave way to--extreme simplicity let us
call it.

The Kaiser took a keen interest in the opera, and gave wonderful
presents to his favourite singers. We saw a spectacle at the opera house
that he was supposed to have inspired, and which was carried out under
his direction. It was a sort of panorama of scenes in Corfu, where he
spent much time. It must have been horribly expensive, for I never saw
so much scenery at any performance, and it really was exquisite to see
those beautifully reproduced scenes unfold before one.

Such things, however, as painted castles and woods and flowers always
seem to me excessively naive. The Russian idea of a wonder