ght, is very fair, with blue eyes,
and seemed full of kindness and good cheer.

As we were leaving, word came from the Dowager Empress that she would
see us, and we drove a mile or two further through the royal park to her
palace. She greeted Dr. Talmage with both hands outstretched, like an
old friend. Though much smaller in stature than the Empress of Russia,
the Dowager Empress was quite as impressive and stately. She was dressed
in mourning. Her room was like a corner in Paradise set apart from the
grim arrogance of Imperial Russia. It was filled with exquisite
paintings, sweet with a profusion of flowers and plants. She seemed
genuinely happy to see the Doctor, and her eyes filled with tears when
he spoke of the late Emperor, her husband. At her neck she was wearing a
miniature portrait of him set in diamonds. Very simply she took it off
to show to us, saying, "This is the best picture ever taken of my
husband. It is such a pleasure to see you, Dr. Talmage, I heard of your
being in Europe from my brother in Denmark."

The Dowager Empress was full of remembrances of the Doctor's previous
visit to Russia, eight years before.

"How did you like the tea service which my husband sent you?" she asked
Dr. Talmage; "I selected it myself. It is exactly like a set we use
ourselves."

The informal charm of the Empress's manner was most friendly and kind.

"Do you remember the handful of flowers I picked for you, and asked you
to send them to your family?" she said.

"You stood here, my husband there, and I with my smaller children stood
here. How well I remember that day; but, oh, what changes!"

The Dowager Empress invited us to come to her palace next day and meet
the Queen of Greece, her niece by marriage, and her sister-in-law who
was visiting Russia just then, but we were obliged to decline because of
previous plans. Very graciously she wrote her autograph for us and
promised to send me her photograph, which later on I received. We were
driven back to the station in the Imperial carriage, where a
representative of the American Embassy met us and rode back to St.
Petersburg with us.

So ended a day of absorbing interest such as I shall never experience
again. There is a touch of humour always to the most important events in
life. I shall never forget Dr. Talmage's real distress when he found
that the sword which he had borrowed from Mr. Pierce, the Charge
d'Affaires of the American Embassy, had become slightly be