, as a personal attendant, strode an enormous
East-Indian in full native costume, and closely surrounding her were
gentlemen of her household, each in uniform.

By this time my thoughts were on my courtesy, which I desired to make
conventional if not graceful; but nature has not made it easy for me to
double to the earth as Lady Aberdeen and the Indian women were doing,
and I fear I accomplished little save an exhibition of good intentions.
The Queen, however, was getting into the spirit of the occasion. She
stopped to speak to a Canadian representative, and she would, I think,
have ended by talking to many others; but, just at the psychological
moment, a woman rushed out of the line, seized Her Majesty's hand
and kissed it--and Victoria, startled and possibly fearing a general
onslaught, hurriedly passed on.

Another picture I recall was made by the Duchess of Sutherland, the
Countess of Aberdeen, and the Countess of Warwick standing together to
receive us at the foot of the marble stairway in Sutherland House. All
of them literally blazed with jewels, and the Countess of Aberdeen wore
the famous Aberdeen emerald. At Lady Battersea's reception I had my
first memorial meeting with Mary Anderson Navarro, and was able to thank
her for the pleasure she had given me in Boston so long ago. Then I
reproached her mildly for taking herself away from us, pointing out that
a great gift had been given her which she should have continued to share
with the world.

"Come and see my baby," laughed Madame Navarro. "That's the best
argument I can offer to refute yours."

At the same reception I had an interesting talk with James Bryce. He had
recently written his American Commonwealth, and I had just read it. It
was, therefore, the first subject I introduced in our conversation. Mr.
Bryce's comment amused me. He told me he had quite changed his opinion
toward the suffrage aspirations of women, because so many women had read
his book that he really believed they were intelligent, and he had come
to feel much more kindly toward them. These were not his exact words,
but his meaning was unmistakable and his mental attitude artlessly
sincere. And, on reflection, I agree with him that the American
Commonwealth is something of an intellectual hurdle for the average
human mind.

In 1908 the International Council was held in Geneva, and here, for
the first time, we were shown, as entertainment, the dances of a
country--the scene being an e