"And you had to go in and get luncheon because you felt so faint," she said, in a tone of gentle sarcasm.
"Well, you confessed to a fearful sense of goneness yourself."
"I should think not!" I retorted, with dignity. "I hope I have _some_ pride."
"Have you presented your letter to the ambassador?" she asked.
"Yes, but it's so near Christmas that I suppose he won't bother about two waifs like us until after it's over."
"My! but you _are_ blue," she said. "I never heard you refer to yourself as a waif before."
"I am a worm of the dust. I wish there wasn't such a thing as Christmas! I wonder what Billy will say when he sees his tree."
"You might cable and find out," she said. "It only costs about three marks a word. 'What did Billy say when he saw his tree?'--nine words--it would cost you about eight dollars, without counting the address."
Dead silence. I didn't think she was at all funny.
"Don't you think we ought to have champagne to-morrow?" she asked.
"What for? I hate the stuff. It makes me ill. Do _you_ want it?"
"No, only I thought that, being Christmas, and very expensive, perhaps it would do you good to spend--"
"His Excellency the Ambassador of the United States to see the American ladies!"
It was, indeed, Mr. White and Mrs. White, and Lieutenant Allen, the Military Attaché!
"Oh, those blessed angels!" I cried, buckling my belt and dashing for the wash-stand, thereby knocking the comb and hand-glass from the grasp of my companion.
They had come within an hour of the presentation of my letter, and they brought with them an invitation from Mrs. Allen for us to join them at Christmas dinner the next day, as Mrs. White said they could not bear to think of our dining alone.
I had many beautiful things done for me during my thirty thousand miles travel in Europe, but nothing stands out in my mind with more distinctness than the affectionate welcome I received into the homes of our representatives in Berlin. And, in passing, let me say this, I am distinctly proud of them, one and all. I say this because one hears many humiliating anecdotes of the mistakes made by the men and women sent to foreign Courts, appointed because they had earned some recognition for political services. Those of us who have strong national pride and a sense of the eternal fitness of things, are obliged to hear such things in shamed silence, and offer no retort, for there can be no possible excuse for mortifying lapses of etiquette. And these things will continue until our government establishes a school of diplomacy and makes a diplomatic career possible to a man.