256 MEMOIRS OF
second daughter, smaller and very blonde, was in green; the charming little girl, only four, I think, was in velvet of violet colour with a big lace collar; and the heir to the throne, a handsome boy with fine dark eyes, was in black velvet with a lace collar. They were grouped in a sort of solarium at the back of the house, with the Italian sunshine illuminating a scene that should have been immortalized by a Vandyke. Near the family stood a great Russian wolfhound such as I always associate with portraits.
The only other guests were the old Duke of Genoa, uncle of the King, and an English governess who was responsible for the fluent use of our language by all the children. All there spoke English but the Queen, who used French. She presented each of us with a lovely souvenir. The President's was a charming painting of a church in Rome. To me she gave a silver reproduction of a pitcher which she herself had excavated at Pompeii, and to Margaret another rather interesting piece of silver on the order of a small loving cup. Miss Benham was given a very handsome ring with a ruby, a diamond and an emerald, reproducing the Italian colours.
Then His Majesty asked if we would like to see his apartments. He conducted us to a room on the main floor. For the bedroom of a king it was indeed a surprise. The floor was bare. A row of shelves ran round three sides. On these were war relics of every kind—muskets, shells, helmets, bullets, sabres, etc., each tagged with its history. A low flat-top desk, on which, in a silver frame, was a picture of the Queen —the one concession to ornamentation—an army cot, two chairs and a few toilet articles completed the furnishings of this democratic ruler's sleeping room. The King laughed when we exclaimed at his cot. He said he liked it, and therefore did not mind when he had to exchange it for one in the field.
We came away with a very vivid impression, not that of a king and queen living in state, but husband and wife with mutual interests in a real home made doubly dear by the