, and we were all weighed. Our kilos were
written in a book, and each person was asked to write his name under
his kilo. This took a long time. The Queen weighs twenty kilos less
than Johan. There was a twinkle in the eye of the King when General
Pasi got on the scales. General Pasi is enormously tall, and big in
proportion, being a good deal more than six feet and very stout. They
piled on all the weights they had, but nothing sufficed. Pasi looked
aghast (Could the royal board be so fattening?) ... and wondered if it
were not time for heroic action. And when it was found that the King
had had his foot on the scales all the time every one was convulsed
with laughter, especially the King, who enjoyed his little joke. The
Queen's drive to-day was to the Marquise Dadda's (one of her ladies in
waiting), who has a pretty villa and park near here.

We had thought of leaving Monza to-day, but the Queen wished us to stay
longer, and of course we did not refuse, though my toilets were at a
rather low ebb, having thought to remain only a few days.

I sat to the left of the King at dinner. He seemed very melancholy, and
told me that never in his life had he had such a painful experience as
he had this afternoon. A few days ago a quite young soldier had struck
his superior officer and had been sentenced to death. The King said:
"He is to be shot to-morrow in the barracks near the park, and this
afternoon his poor mother, accompanied by the priest, came to the
palace to make a last and supreme effort to obtain pardon. His mother
clung to my knees and wept her soul out: 'He is my only child and only
nineteen years old--too young to die. Take me instead. _Sono vecchia,
egli tanto giovine!_' ['I am old, and he so young!'] The priest added
that the boy had always been such a good son--kind and gentle to his
mother--and begged that he should be pardoned." The King repeated all
this with tears in his good eyes.

"I am sure that your Majesty did pardon him. Did you not?"

"No," he said, "though it broke my heart to refuse. In military affairs
one must not interfere with the discipline."

"But this one," I urged, tearfully; "could there not be extenuating
circumstances? Do pardon him, your Majesty. Just think what that would
mean for the poor mother."

But the King, true to his ideas of military discipline, said: "No! He
is condemned to die. He must die."

The King could not shake off the impression this interview had made on
him,