a
day later! The next morning Johan was called on the telephone. The
message was from Hamburg, to say that our King (Frederick VIII) had
died there, suddenly in the night. Johan, of course, took the first
train for Hamburg.

This was dreadful news.

The King was traveling with the Queen, Princess Thyra, Prince Gustave,
and the usual suite. His Majesty had bade them good-night and
retired--alas! not to his room, for he wished to take a stroll through
the streets of the town. It was only at two o'clock that the valet
noticed that the King had not been in his room. Then he alarmed the
_Hof-Marshale_, who, with the other gentlemen, commenced a search. At
five o'clock they found his Majesty in the _Krankenhaus_. He had
fainted in the street and had been put into a cab, in which he died.
Johan stayed all the next day in Hamburg, accompanying the Queen on
board the _Daneborg_ (the royal yacht), which had been sent to take
the King's body back to Denmark.

[Illustration:
THE EMPEROR IN 1905
From an autographed photograph given to Madame de Hegermann-Lindencrone.]

The Queen was overwhelmed with grief, but showed the greatest
self-control.

It has been a distressing time indeed for the Duchess of Cumberland.
She has lost her eldest son (killed in an automobile accident on the
way to Schwerin to see his sister, the Grand Duchess) and now it is
her brother who is taken so tragically. The young duke was very unwise
to take that particular road. We had passed over the same route, or
tried to, on our way to pay a visit to the grand-ducal pair not more
than two weeks before. Our chauffeur was appalled at the dreadful
condition of the road and advised turning back. We made a great
_detour_ and avoided an accident. The Duke was driving himself, and
the ruts in the road made the car jump so that the wheel struck him
under the chin, he lost control, and the machine struck a tree,
killing the Duke instantly. The chauffeur was saved.

BERLIN.

Mr. Roosevelt and family arrived in Berlin three days ago. Society was
on tiptoe with expectation. They talked of giving Arthur Nevin's
Indian opera, "Poia," in order that the ex-President should have the
thrill of seeing his compatriots in a German setting. This idea was
abandoned, though Count Huelsen had accepted the opera and at an
enormous expense had had it mounted at the Grand Opera.

The Kaiser received Mr. Roosevelt and was charmed with him, just as
Mr. Roosevelt was charmed w