ccess she has won. Thus it happened
that the sudden interest in grand opera manifested by the Crown
Prince was made the baseless pretext of a wild rumor of the romantic
attachment of the youthful heir for a certain American prima donna
singing at the Royal Opera. As I happened to be the only prima donna to
conform to the description, I was the unconscious victim of many
canards.

The truth of the matter is that the Crown Prince, just out of college,
fond of music at all times, was enjoying his first season of opera. That
I happened to be the only young prima donna at the opera house may be
one reason why he attended every time I sang, and ignored other
performances. At any rate, it annoyed the other singers greatly, but it
created no end of interest in my performances and in no way disturbed my
equanimity. I felt it was all part of the career.

I was young, triumphant, happy in my singing, and making rapid strides
toward an international reputation, and at the back of my brain was
written, with determination, the ultimate goal: the Metropolitan Opera
House at New York. So I pursued my studies with zest and unabated
enthusiasm.

Soon afterward I realized from vague storm-clouds and distant mutterings
that trouble was brewing. Certain minor officials of the Royal Opera
put their heads together with certain singers; rumors that too much
attention was paid to the American singer by royalty were printed in one
of the papers; whereupon my father (remember he was once a ball-player
and is still a great athlete) retaliated by a physical reminder to one
editor that such slanders are not circulated with impunity about young
American women. The press caught the romance of the situation, and
highly colored stories were the result.

The climax of a series of petty annoyances came one night when my mother
was denied permission to accompany me behind the scenes, as she had been
doing at every performance for almost two years.

In my anger at these sensational reports, and at the sudden discourtesy
to my mother at the opera house, I determined to write to the Kaiser a
personal letter of explanation. This letter was entrusted to my devoted
friend, Herr von Rath, to be delivered by him personally to the
Hofmarshal, who would see that it reached the Kaiser.

[Illustration: THE CROWN PRINCESS OF GERMANY

WITH TWO CHILDREN SEATED ON HER LAP

SIGNED, CECILE]

Those well-wishers who had been freely predicting that I would soon be