d, heroically. "I'll _lend_ it to
you whenever you want it."

I thanked her, dressed, and then humbly trailed down to dinner in the
wake of my gorgeous party.

Jimmie had engaged a table on the piazza, nearest the street and
commanding the best view of all the other diners. I very willingly sat
with my back to all the people, with the panorama of the Lichtenthaler
Strasse passing before my eyes, and in quiet moments the sounds of the
great military band playing on the promenade in front of the
_Conversationshaus_ coming to our ears.

A great deal of grandeur always makes me homesick. It isn't envy. I
don't want to be a princess and have the bother of winding a horn for my
outriders when I want to run to the drug-store for postage stamps, but
pomp depresses me. Everybody was strange, foreign languages were pelting
me from the rear, noiseless flunkies were carrying pampered lap-dogs
with crests on their nasty little embroidered blankets, fat old women
with epilepsy and gouty old men with scrofula, representing the
aristocracy at its best, were being half carried to and from tables, and
the degeneracy of noble Europe was being borne in upon my soul with a
sickening force.

The purple twilight was turning black on the distant hills, and the
silent stars were slowly coming into view. Clean, health-giving
Baden-Baden, in the Valley of the Oos, with its beauty and its pure air,
was holding out her arms to all the disease and filth that degenerate
riches produce.

I wasn't exactly blue, but I was gently melancholy. Jimmie was smoking,
and Bee and Mrs. Jimmie had their heads together, casting politely
furtive glances at a table which held royalty. I certainly _was_ feeling
neglected.

Suddenly a voice in English at my elbow said:

"Pardon me, madame, but were not you at the Grand Hotel at Rome last
winter?"

"Yes," I said.

"I mean no impertinence in addressing you. I am the head waiter there in
winter, here in summer. I remembered you at once, and I came to say that
if anything goes wrong with any of your distinguished party during your
stay, I shall count it a favour if you will permit me to remedy it. The
hotel is at your disposal. I will send a private maid to attend you
during your stay. I hope you will be happy here, madame."

Then with a bow he was gone.

I was in a state of exhilaration inside which threatened to break
through at the sudden attentions of my party.

"Who's your friend?" said Jimmie.

"H