Ambassador and Mrs. Hill gave a large and all-comprising reception at the Embassy in honor of their distinguished guest, which is much too small to contain the entire society of Berlin and _embrace_ (I like that word) all the American colony.
To gain a little more space they very practically turned the _porte-cochère_ into a _vestiaire_, where we took off our mantles before crossing the carpet-covered carriage-drive.
Mr. Roosevelt was most amiable. He greeted people with a cordiality which bordered on _épanchement_--giving their hands a shaking the like of which they had never had before. Mr. Roosevelt remained by Mrs. Hill's side and smiled kindly at the guests as they poured in and out of the _salon_. That was about all the guests did--pour in and pour out. One could not expect even the most favored to exchange more than a few words with the great man.
Our conversations were in the style of the reception, short and quickly done with.
MRS. HILL: "This is Madame de Hegermann. She is American, from Cambridge, Massachusetts."
MR. ROOSEVELT: "Ah!... I am a Harvard man."
ME: "So am I! I mean I am a Harvard woman! I was born and brought up in Radcliffe College."
MR. R.: "Ah!" (_Puzzled, trying to match the possible date of my birth with the birth of Radcliffe College._)
ME: "Radcliffe College was my grandparents' home."
MR. R.: "Oh, I see! Well, madame, I am delighted to shake hands with any one from Cambridge."
MRS. HILL: "Monsieur de Hegermann was Danish Minister in Washington some years ago."
MR. R.: "I am sorry I was not President then. Ha! ha! Pleased to have met you, sir!"
We were told that there would be speeches under the flag, but we poured out without anything of the kind occurring.
Dear L.,--It is not only the unexpected that arrives: the expected arrives also.
The news we have been expecting these last years arrived yesterday.
Johan ought to have left the service four years ago. According to the _protocole_ in Denmark, a Minister must retire when he reaches the _d'age limite_--the Ambassador retiring at the age of seventy.
The Prime Minister asked him to remain, and he did. But now it seems that the powers that be have decided.
Countess Brockdorf came to make me a visit of condolence. She said that her Majesty had begged her to express her regrets. In the course of the visit she asked me when my book[4] would come out, and when I told her that I thought in October she said, "I know that the Emperor is counting on your giving him a copy." I promised that I would not forget it.