e and his _fiancee_ sat in the middle seats, the
Emperor to the right of his daughter.

The overture was a composition made for the occasion, and played while
all the lights were blazing, in order that every one could have a good
look at the Princess.

Then gradually the theater became dark, and the opera commenced. It
was "Orphee," by Glueck. Madame Destinn sang the principal part. Her
voice is very beautiful, but she is so small, and somewhat dumpy, that
she did not look much like an Orphee. To make the opera shorter they
combined the first and second acts, and to allow Orphee to go from
hell to heaven without letting down the curtain they had invented a
sort of treadmill on which Orphee and Eurydice should walk while the
landscape behind them moved. It was a very ungraceful way of walking.
They looked as if they were struggling up a hill over rough and stony
ground.

We went into the foyer after the performance and were presented to the
Princess. I had known her as a young girl in Cannes, where her parents
lived, therefore we had something to talk about. She is very charming,
tall and willowy, and has a pleasant word and smile for every one.

The wedding-day dawned in a relentless haze. We were invited to be at
the chapel of the _Schloss_ at five o'clock. The regulations about our
court dress were the same as for the _Schleppenkur_, only we were
begged _not_ to wear _white_. My dress was yellow, with a yellow
_manteau de cour_. Frederikke wore a light-green _pailletted_ dress
with a light-green train. We were a little late in starting; our
_Schutzmann_ had waited patiently in the courtyard for a long time. We
drove through the crowded streets, lined with spectators. Each clock
we passed pointed in an exasperating way to the fact that we were
late. J.'s sword seemed always to be in the way; every time he spoke
out of the window to urge on the already goaded coachman the sword
would catch on something. The air was more than suffocating, and there
was evidently a storm brewing.

We arrived before the portal of the _Schloss_ at the last moment. Ours
was the last carriage to arrive. The pompous _Suisse_ pounded his mace
on the ground and said, warningly, "You must hurry; the Kaiser is just
behind you." And we _did_ hurry.

The staircase makes three turns for each flight, and the chapel is the
highest place in the palace, meaning seven turns for us. I grasped the
tail of my ball dress in one hand and my heavy court