“What! You asked your——”
“Yes, and he asked me how I’d heard of it, and then said it was a very strong word which must not be repeated, though in the mouth of that general it was the finest word in the French language.”
A few hours later I met the Czar when I was out walking in the park. He took me on one side and said in a very serious tone:
“You are teaching my daughters a very curious vocabulary, monsieur....”
I floundered in a most involved explanation. But the Czar burst out laughing, and interrupted:
“Don’t worry, monsieur. I quite realised what happened,
THE CZARINA AND THE CZAREVITCH IN THE COURT OF THE PALACE AT LIVADIA. AUTUMN, 1913.