A small canvas case, skilfully rolled and fastened, caught Her Majesty’s attention.  She opened it herself and revealed with evident pride its numerous contents.  Many thousands of such cases had already been sent to the army.

This one was a model of packing.  It contained in its small compass an extraordinary number of things—­changes of under flannels, extra socks, an abdominal belt, and, in an inclosure, towel, soap, toothbrush, nailbrush and tooth powder.  I am not certain, but I believe there was also a pack of cards.

“I am afraid I should never be able to get it all back again!” said Her Majesty.  So one of the ladies took it in charge, and the Queen went on.

My audience was over.  As Her Majesty passed me she held out her hand.  I took it and curtsied.

“Were you not frightened the night you were in the Belgian trenches?” she inquired.

“Not half so frightened as I was this afternoon, Your Majesty,” I replied.

She passed on, smiling.

* * * * *

And now, when enough time has elapsed to give perspective to my first impression of Queen Mary of England, I find that it loses nothing by this supreme test.  I find that I remember her, not as a great Queen but as a gracious and kindly woman, greatly beloved by those of her immediate circle, totally without arrogance, and of a simplicity of speech and manner that must put to shame at times those lesser lights that group themselves about a throne.

I find another impression also—­that the Queen of England is intensely and alertly mental—­alive to her finger tips, we should say in America.  She has always been active.  Her days are crowded.  A different type of royal woman would be content to be the honoured head of the Queen’s Guild.  But she is in close touch with it at all times.  It is she who dictates its policy, and so competently that the ladies who are associated with the work that is being done speak of her with admiration not unmixed with awe.

From a close and devoted friend of Queen Mary I obtained other characteristics to add to my picture:  That the Queen is acutely sensitive to pain or distress in others—­it hurts her; that she is punctual—­and this not because of any particular sense of time but because she does not like to keep other people waiting.  It is all a part of an overwhelming sense of that responsibility to others that has its origin in true kindliness.

The work of the Queen’s Guild is surprising in its scope.  In a way it is a vast clearing house.  Supplies come in from every part of the world, from India, Ceylon, Java, Alaska, South America, from the most remote places.  I saw the record book.  I saw that a woman from my home city had sent cigarettes to the soldiers through the Guild, that Africa had sent flannels!  Coming from a land where the sending, as regards Africa, is all the other way, I found this exciting.  Indeed, the whole record seems to show how very small the earth is, and how the tragedy of a great war has overcome the barriers of distance and time and language.