Part 15 (1/2)

I was appalled when I was ready to occupy my royal bed. It seemed to have become more imposing and more majestic than when I last saw it. I tried to put a chair on the platform, but the platform was too narrow.

The only way was to climb on a chair near the bed and from it make a desperate jump. So I put the chair, said, ”_One, two, three_,” and jumped. The white-satin hangings, fringes, and ta.s.sels swung and jingled from the rebound. Once in bed, I cuddled down under the scented linen. I brought the sachet up to the level of my nose, where it hovered for just a little moment before it slid off me and off the bed.

Then commenced a series of pulling up and slipping down which lasted until I was thoroughly waked up for the night. The only way I got the better of the sachet was to balance it warily and pretend I slept.

In the morning we were served a real Italian breakfast in our room: thin Pekoe tea, a little cream, and much powdered sugar, and an a.s.sortment of sweet cakes replacing the customary English b.u.t.tered toast.

MONZA, _November 4, 1884_.

Dear Mother,--I want to tell you what we did, though we did not do anything of great interest. It was such horrible weather that we could not drive out, as is the Queen's custom every day. After luncheon Signor Vera (the Queen's singing-master who accompanied us in Rome) was called in, and her Majesty and I sang our duets.

All the music from the Quirinal seems to have been transported here, and Vera knows exactly where to put his hand upon everything as it is needed. There is a new edition of Marcello's psalms which are very amusing to _dechiffrer_. Sometimes the Queen takes the soprano part, at others she takes the contralto.

At three o'clock the Queen went to her apartment, and I took that occasion to pay some visits to the other ladies in their different _salons_. We met in the _grande salle_ for tea. M. and Mme. Minghetti arrived from Milan by the same train we came on Monday, and came straight from the carriage into the _salon_. The Queen seemed enchanted to see them. They are charming people. He is as delightful as he is unpretentious, which is rare in a man so celebrated as he is, and she has lost none of her fascinations, although she is a grandmother. They brought the last news from Rome, and the conversation was on politics and war; they talked so rapidly that neither my brain nor my Italian could keep pace with them. I might have told you something of interest if I had been able to understand what they said.

At seven o'clock there was a military dinner. As there were about sixty people present, the dinner was served in the large dining room. The King and the gentlemen of the household were, as usual, in _redingotes_ and black ties, but the generals and the officers were in all their war-paint, most gorgeous to behold. I sat on the left of the King (Madame Minghetti was on his right), and next to the dearest old general in the world, who was politeness itself, and, though I suppose we shall never see each other again, he gave himself much trouble to entertain me. He told me that he had been with the King when he fought in the battle of Custozza (in the Austrian war), where the King had shown so much bravery and courage. The King, hearing what my neighbor was saying (he probably raised his voice a trifle), leaned across me, and, laughingly holding up a warning finger, said:

”If you go on like that I shall leave the table.”

”Oh, your Majesty! that would never do,” said my general. ”Now, madame,” turning to me, ”shall we talk of the weather?”

After dinner there was _le cercle_. Their Majesties went about and talked to everybody. The King seemed in the best of spirits, laughing continually, and familiarly clapping the officer to whom he was talking on the back. Every one stayed in the _salon_ until it was time for the military guests to take their leave.

_November 5, 1884._

Dear ----,--This morning I received a little word from the Marquise Villamarina: ”Please put on a warm dress, as her Majesty intends taking a long drive after luncheon, and it will be chilly and damp before we get back.”

We came into the _salon_ just in time not to be too late, for their Majesties entered almost immediately.

The Prince of Naples (they call him the _Principino_) sat next to me at luncheon. He is very clever--unusually clever--and has a memory that some day ought to stand him in good stead. Mine by the side of it felt like a babe in arms. The questions he asked, _a brule-point_, would have startled a person cleverer than I am. He is very military and knows all about the different wars that have been fought since the time of Moses, and when he wished to know how many officers were killed in the battle of Chattanooga I had to confess that, if I had ever known, I had forgotten. But he knew everything concerning Chattanooga and all other battles.

When the white truffles were served (they were temptingly buried in a nest of b.u.t.ter) the Prince said, ”How can you eat those things?”

”You mean, your Highness, these delicious truffles?”

”Yes,” he answered; ”they don't taste bad, but they stink so.”

”Oh, Monseigneur,” I cried, ”you must not say that word. It is a dreadful word.”

”Oh no, it is not. It is in the Bible.”

I could not contradict him. I hope he will find out later that there are some words in the Bible that are not used in general conversation.

After luncheon the Queen said: ”We are going to take a very long drive.

You must dress very warmly.” I went to my room. I had a little time before the rendezvous in the _salon_, and I thought perhaps I could finish my letter begun yesterday, but, alas! I could not.... I returned to the _salon_ with everything I owned in the way of furs and wraps, and found all the guests waiting for the Queen.

The equipages here are always _a la Daumon_--that is, open landaus--seats for four people inside, a rumble behind, and a seat for the coachman, if there Is a coachman, but the two postilions on the four horses are seemingly all that are required. In front of the garden-side _perron_ were the two landaus waiting. The Queen, Madame Minghetti, and Johan sat inside of the first landau. General Garadaglia and I sat on the coachman's box and manoeuvered the brake. It happened rather often that we forgot to manoeuver. Then we would get a very reproachful glance from the postilions, and we would turn the brake on to the last wrench; then we would get another look because the wheels could not move. Somehow we never got the right tension. The Queen enjoyed our confusion.

When we pa.s.sed through the small villages the whole populace would run out into the streets to gaze at us.