y at a milliner's saw a hat which was exactly
what she wanted. With eager enthusiasm she waited until it was trimmed,
and then exclaimed, "Oh, I will take it with me!" and was soon seen
hurrying towards Kensington with the precious hat in her hand. And this
was a real flesh and blood Princess, heir to the throne of England!

The monotony of life at Kensington was broken by frequent trips to
various parts of England, and visits to friends and relations, but the
Duchess felt her responsibility to the English people in bringing up the
future Queen, so keenly that she never took the risk of a trip to the
continent with Victoria, because of the long journey and the change of
climate. But the Princess thoroughly enjoyed what visits she did make,
and evidently was an attractive guest, even as a child, for when she and
her mother visited King George, her grandmother wrote to the Duchess:
"The little monkey must have pleased and amused his Majesty. She is such
a pretty, clever child!"

At another time when visiting at Wentworth House, Yorkshire, Victoria
amused herself by running around the big garden with its tangle of
shrubberies. One wet morning when the ground was very slippery, she
ventured to run down a treacherous bit of ground from the terrace, and
the gardener, who did not know who she was then, called out, "Be
careful, Miss, it's slape!" a Yorkshire word for slippery. But the
Princess had no intention of being stopped, so she merely turned her
head as she ran, and asked, "What's slape?" As she spoke, her feet flew
from under her and she came down with a thud. The gardener as he helped
her to her feet said, "_That's slape_, Miss!"

At another time she rebelled against the hours of practise insisted on
by her music teacher, who stood her ground firmly, saying that there was
no royal road to art, that only by conscientious and continued practise
could she become a musician, whereupon with a gleam of mischief in her
blue eyes, Victoria jumped up, closed the piano, locked it, put the key
in her pocket and remarked to the surprised teacher, "Now you see there
_is_ a royal way of becoming mistress of the piano!" This incident shows
that she was by no means the young prig painted by so many historians,
but a girl full of fire and spirit, merry, unaffected and with a keen
delight in all sorts of girlish amusements and pranks.

At that time the education of young ladies was more superficial than
that of poorer girls, but the