s. I think our apartment is the most beautifully situated in
all Berlin.

[3] Now King and Queen of Albania.

_March, 1908._

Dear L.,--The King of Spain is in Berlin now on a visit of a few days
to the Emperor. We only saw him at the gala performance at the Opera.
The Kaiser had chosen "The Huguenots." It was beautifully put on.
Madame Hempel sang the part of Marguerite de Valois, and Madame
Destinn sang Valentine. The house was decorated in the usual manner,
with carpets hanging from the balconies and flowers in great profusion
everywhere. The King of Spain sat between the Kaiser and the Kaiserin.
He looks very young and very manly. After the first act, when we all
met in the foyer, the Emperor stood by him, and sometimes would take
him by the arm and walk about in order to present people to him. I was
presented to him, but I did not get more than a smile and a shake of
the hand--I could not expect more. Johan was more favored, for the
King asked him how long he had been in Berlin. You must confess that
even that was not much.

I was compensated by having quite a long talk with the Kaiser--long
for him, as he has so many people to talk to, and he feels, I am sure,
every eye of the hoping-to-speak-to-him person in the room. He said:

"I have just been reading the memoirs of General von Moltke. Did you
ever know him?"

"No," I said, "I never saw him, but I have a letter from him, written
in 1856 to my father-in-law, dated from the Tuileries."

"He often speaks in his letters of your husband's grandparents' home
in Copenhagen--how he always felt at home and happy there, and was
always sure to find a charming circle of interesting and literary
people. You must read it; it would interest your husband, too."

"Did your Majesty ever hear about Moltke's visit to some grand-ducal
court? Moltke thought, of course, that as he had all the grand cordons
and decorations in creation, he had also that of this court. When he
was going to visit the Grand Duke he said to his servant, 'Don't
forget my decoration,' The servant looked high and low, but could not
find it, and, thinking that he had mislaid it, went and bought one.
Moltke put on his uniform, the decoration being in place on his
breast. When the Grand Duke entered he had in his hand an _etui_
containing the decoration, intending to hang it around Moltke's neck
himself. Imagine his surprise at seeing it there already!"

BERLIN, _November, 1908_.

Dear L.,