petty local affair of royalty. For some such affair I judged to be
the dilemma of the house of Mecklenburg-Schwerein.

Within two days there came another communication from Wedel asking me
to be at Mecklenburg-Schwerein on a certain immediate day. Taking
leave of my friends, and thanking them for their hospitality, I left
for Schwerein. Upon my arrival at the seat of the dukedom I was met
by a quiet landau of the Grand Ducal stables. Two flunkies in the
Grand Duke's livery took my luggage, escorted me to the carriage and I
was driven up to the old castle. The landau took me to a side
entrance and I was promptly shown into an austere and unpretentious
chamber. Scarcely had I entered when a quiet, elderly,
benevolent-looking gentleman dressed in a shooting jacket appeared in
another doorway, evidently much perturbed. I at once recognized him
as the old Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerein. He appraised me for
fully a minute; then as if to himself he said:

"You're only a boy, but I suppose they know," shaking his great gray
head. "Strange times. Strange times." Then suddenly realizing his
inhospitality, he urged me to be seated. "Take a seat, take a seat."

Unlike the gentlemen of the Wilhelmstrasse, he did not plunge
immediately into the subject at hand. He began a chat with me about
purely personal affairs. Finally the conversation drifting around to
the cause of my visit, he said:

"Can you fulfill this mission?"

I told him I could not say until I had learned what it was. I
requested that he give me the privilege of refusal should I find