family physician at the house of the so-called "Silver King," Mr.
Dumany, the father of the little "Silver Prince." After learning that I
did not smoke, and had no objection to children, he inquired my
nationality. My astrachan fur cap and coat-collar made him take me for a
Russian, but, thanking him for his good opinion, I stated that as yet I
was merely a Hungarian. He did not object; but asked if we were free
from small-pox, diphtheritis, croup, measles, scarlet-fever,
whooping-cough, and such like maladies in our country at present. After
I had satisfied him that even the foot-and-mouth disease had by this
time ceased, he finally quitted me, but immediately returned, assisting
a lady with both hands full of travelling necessaries to climb up into
the carriage. After the lady came a grand stately-looking negro servant,
with gold-braided cap and overcoat of white bear's fur, and on his arm,
bundled up in rich velvet and costly fur, he carried a beautiful
five-year-old boy, who looked like some waxen image or big doll.

The lady seemed very lively and talkative, and had a host of languages
at command. With the doctor she conversed in German; to the guide she
spoke French; the negro she questioned in English, and to a maid who
brought in some rugs and air-pillows she spoke Italian. All these
languages she spoke excellently, and I am certain that if a dozen
persons of different nationalities had been present she could have
talked to them in their various dialects with the same ease and fluency.
Of her beauty I could not judge, for she wore a bonnet with a thick
veil, which covered her face to the chin.

Taking her seat at the opposite window, she placed the child between
us. He was a pale, quiet little boy, with very red, thin,
tightly-compressed lips, and great, melancholy dark-blue eyes. As long
as the negro was occupied in arranging the rugs and pillows, he looked