166 STRAY-AWAYS 



my cousin's right was a matron with an inky chignon 

 and dazzhng false teeth, all about us the EngHsh 

 elbows- were decorously close and square to the 

 sides, the wary English eye took note of the new- 

 comers. Sliced ham and a smoking dish of cauli- 

 flower opened the feast, and were eaten by us with 

 reserve as a hors d'ceuvre ; the other guests made the 

 most of their opportunities, and as the dish was 

 proffered to me for the second time, my grey-haired 

 neighbour informed me in a bronchial whisper that 

 there would be no more meat that day, that when 

 things began with ham and cauliflower every one 

 prepared for the worst. I felt that I had lighted 

 on a true friend, and continued on the ham. The 

 English picked at it with veiled discontent, the Danes 

 preserved a better cheer, and some unknown foreigners 

 of Jewish appearance called for wine, and became 

 merged in oily mirth and health-drinking. A vast 

 platter of boiled fish followed, excellently cooked, 

 and silence fell while fish-bones were being assidu- 

 ously sought out. The conversation of the English 

 was almost exclusively of the Royal Families of 

 England and Russia, both of whom were then repre- 

 sented in Copenhagen; the intimacy displayed with 

 their movements, manners and motives was pheno- 

 menal, and even a very exclusive lady with a greenish 

 grey fringe, who had spoken to nobody except the 

 hostess, was moved to contribute some special 

 information between the pancakes and the dessert. 

 The hostess smiled unfailingly upon all, but with an 

 eye that communed with the servants, and foreknew 

 the weak places of her menu. Second only to Royalty 

 as a topic was the cholera — ^the chances of encounter- 

 ing it in Germany, the chances of taking it if encoun- 

 tered, the chances of recovery if taken. The young 

 lady who was obviously the life and' soul of the 



