The Emperor said to me, “Do you know Mr. Carnegie?”

I said that I did not.

“He is a clever gentleman,” continued the Emperor.  “Can you guess what he said to me?”

I shook my head.

The Emperor then quoted Mr. Carnegie:  “You and Mr. Roosevelt would make a nice tandem.”

“That shows tact and discrimination,” I remarked.

The Emperor laughed.  “I asked him which he thought would be the wheel-horse?”

“What did he answer to that?” said I.

“I am afraid Mr. Carnegie did not find anything to answer just then.  He has not your talent for repartee.”

“In this case,” I assured his Majesty, “I should not have answered at all, for I have no idea what a wheel-horse is.  If it is the horse which makes all the wheels turn, then it must be your Majesty.”

“You see!” said the Emperor, shaking his finger and laughing.

We had the great pleasure of welcoming Prince Hans (King Christian’s brother).  Johan was with him in Greece many years ago and has never ceased to love him.  He is the most polite gentleman I ever saw; he almost begs your pardon for being kind to you.  He dined with us yesterday.  We invited to meet him Prince Albert Schleswig-Holstein (his nephew) and Prince and Princess Wied[3].  This young couple are delightfully charming.  The Prince has the most catching smile.  It is impossible not to be in good spirits when you are with him.  We sat out on the balcony after dinner and took our coffee and looked out into the brilliantly lighted square of Brandenburger Tor with its network of trams.  I think our apartment is the most beautifully situated in all Berlin.

      [3] Now King and Queen of Albania.

March, 1908.

Dear L.,—­The King of Spain is in Berlin now on a visit of a few days to the Emperor.  We only saw him at the gala performance at the Opera.  The Kaiser had chosen “The Huguenots.”  It was beautifully put on.  Madame Hempel sang the part of Marguerite de Valois, and Madame Destinn sang Valentine.  The house was decorated in the usual manner, with carpets hanging from the balconies and flowers in great profusion everywhere.  The King of Spain sat between the Kaiser and the Kaiserin.  He looks very young and very manly.  After the first act, when we all met in the foyer, the Emperor stood by him, and sometimes would take him by the arm and walk about in order to present people to him.  I was presented to him, but I did not get more than a smile and a shake of the hand—­I could not expect more.  Johan was more favored, for the King asked him how long he had been in Berlin.  You must confess that even that was not much.

I was compensated by having quite a long talk with the Kaiser—­long for him, as he has so many people to talk to, and he feels, I am sure, every eye of the hoping-to-speak-to-him person in the room.  He said: 

“I have just been reading the memoirs of General von Moltke.  Did you ever know him?”