There was very little room for the footmen to pass round behind the chairs, especially for those unfortunate men who, in the course of their service at court, had acquired a certain rotundity of figure; and as the train jerked and swayed along it was all that some of them could do to avoid being flung, soup and all, over the people they were serving. The consommé was handed round in little bowls with curved-in rims, but at the best it was a very elusive liquid, and most of it evaded pursuit and was taken back to the kitchen.
After the soup came mutton cutlets with purée of potatoes, and this dish the Emperor ordered to be set in front of him, for he obviously objected to the possibility of having an avalanche of chops on his head. At German meals every dish, even a joint, is always offered to the guests to help themselves; there is no carving at the sideboard. The meat is previously cut up in the kitchen, and then the slices laid together again to look as though the joint were whole, so that only a fork is needed to serve oneself; but it always impressed me, especially after once seeing a servant, owing to a sudden paroxysm of the train, fling a whole leg of mutton over a lady’s shoulder into her lap, as a custom which places too much responsibility on the waiter. So the gentleman and the Empress held the plates while the Emperor slapped chops into them as fast as possible, so that they had, as he observed, “no time to grow cold,” and the dish was soon empty.
He was laughing and chatting all the time, evidently in most exuberant spirits, and introduced one gentleman to me, who had newly arrived at court, giving a short biography of his life—as for instance, “He’s been to America and got scalped there by Indians.” The gentleman in question, raising his hat, ran his hand over his smooth and hairless cranium as though in corroboration of His Majesty’s statement.
“Speaks wonderful English,” went on the Emperor—“wonderful English, all learnt in America. You can talk to him as much as you like.”
As my energies were at that time concentrated on keeping my knife and fork out of my features, I did not talk very much to the gentleman from America, though I afterwards found that he did speak very good English indeed.
The train began slowly to ascend the beautiful mountains of the Black Forest. It was the month of May, and against the dark background of pine-forest ran the vivid green of the larches breaking into leaf. Little streams and waterfalls continually came into view as we rose higher and higher, and often a sudden shower fell and a rainbow spanned the valley below us. The train passed through more than thirty tunnels.
When luncheon was finished we still stayed some time at the table, and one of the generals in the Emperor’s suite who had recently begun to study the English language took the opportunity to practise what he knew of it upon me. He was a very delightful, handsome old gentleman, and had fought in the Franco-Prussian War. He told me all the books he was reading in English, and quoted sentimentally, apropos of nothing, “Let me Dream again.” I wondered where he had learned that Early-Victorian melody.
“That is all Lowther Castle,” laughed the Emperor: “started them all learning English; they’ve been taking lessons ever since.”
When they accompanied the Emperor to stay with Lord Lonsdale, all the German gentlemen found themselves so dreadfully “out of it” for want of English, that as soon as they returned to their native land they one and all, regardless of age or possible ridicule, immediately sought out a teacher and studied hard, with, at least in the case of the old general, most satisfactory results, for he was able to talk quite fluently with me. I recommended him to read “The Visits of Elizabeth,” which had just appeared in Tauchnitz, and the Emperor remarked that he had read it, and was sure it was all true, especially the part about France. He was very kind in pointing out pretty bits of scenery, and kept the table in a perpetual roar with his jokes, which he always laughed at most heartily himself.
When the train arrived at Donau-Eschingen a large party, composed of the Prince and Princess Fürstenburg with their eldest daughter, a girl about the same age as the Princess, and sundry head-foresters, Land-Rats, and other officials in black coats and white ties, was on the platform to receive the Emperor and Empress.