"I shall always be glad to see English gentlemen in my country; tell them, when you go back, that if they are fond of shooting, they shall have their choice of game, from an eagle to a blackbird, and from a bear to a squirrel; if they prefer fishing, I promise them trout such as they have never dreamt of,[8] and they shall have every assistance that I can afford them in the way of tents to camp out, and men to guide and help them."
In appearance, the Prince is tall and remarkably handsome; his hair is black, he wears both beard and moustachios, contrary to the fashion of his country, where only the latter are worn, often of immense size and length. With a commanding appearance, he still has a most benevolent expression of countenance, due to the softness of a very fine pair of eyes, and his manners are most captivating. He is very dignified, but at the same time most kind, without being in the least patronizing, and I was told by those who knew him best that he has a most equable temper, and that an angry word seldom was heard from him.
I had been careful before leaving the Palace to set my watch exactly to their time, so as to ensure my punctuality in the evening; and at eight P.M. to the minute, I found myself in the saloon of the Palace. The Russian Consul was there already; he was showing me the different portraits which hung round it, when the Prince walked in, in full Montenegrin costume, but without any ceremony; and a few minutes after a door was thrown open from the opposite side, when in walked the Princess, accompanied by the widow of Prince Mirko and attended by her lady-in-waiting, Mademoiselle Neukomm, all in full native costume.
Pero Pejovich had so often extolled the beauty of the Princess, that I was quite prepared to be disappointed, as is almost always the case, for anticipation seems invariably to exaggerate the reality; but on this occasion it was just the reverse. I don't think I ever saw a more beautiful creature than the lady to whom I was then introduced; tall, pale, neither thin nor stout, but beautifully formed, and with exquisite hands and arms. She wore a diamond ornament on her head, half hidden by the masses of black hair among which it was nestled, and though it shone at times like a star from among a mass of stormy clouds, it could not subdue the light which shone from her glorious dark eyes.