Village books

I, of
course, could not refuse, but forgot the warning of my predecessors
and put out my hand, which the King ostentatiously neglected to
take. A few moments later the wife of the Turkish Ambassador was
presented to the King of Saxony and received a similar rebuff;
but, as she was a daughter of the Khedive of Egypt, and therefore
a Royal Highness in her own right, she went around the King of
Saxony, seized his hand, which he had put behind him, brought
it around to the front and shook it warmly, a fine example of
great presence of mind.
Writing of all these things and looking out from a sky-scraper
in New York, these details of court life seem very frivolous
and far away. But an Ambassador is compelled to become part of
this system. The most important conversations with the Emperor
sometimes take place at court functions, and the Ambassador and
his secretaries often gather their most useful bits of information
over tea cups or with the cigars after dinner.
Aside from the short season, Berlin is rather dull; Bismarck
characterised it as a "desert of bricks and newspapers.


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