Que vous etes des
gourmands!'
Till the finish, she and the rest walked with the shooters.
By four it was over. The total score was 1,387 head. Mine
was 182, which included thirty-six partridges, two woodcocks,
and four roedeer. This, in three and a half hours' shooting,
with two muzzle-loaders (breech-loaders were not then in
use), was an unusually good bag.
Fashion is capricious. When lunch was over I went to one of
the charcoal fires, quite in the background, to light a
cigarette. An aide-de-camp immediately pounced upon me, with
the information that this was not permitted in company with
the Empress. It reminded one at once of the ejaculation at
Oliver Twist's bedside, 'Ladies is present, Mr. Giles.'
After the shooting, I was told to go to tea with the Empress
- a terrible ordeal, for one had to face the entire feminine
force of the palace, nearly every one of whom, from the
highest to the lowest, was provided with her own CAVALIERE
SERVENTE.
The following night, when we assembled for dinner, I received
orders to sit next to the Empress. This was still more
embarrassing. It is true, one does not speak to a sovereign
unless one is spoken to; but still one is permitted to make
the initiative easy. I found that I was expected to take my
share of the task; and by a happy inspiration, introduced the
subject of the Prince Imperial, then a child of eight years
old.
