On the thirtieth addresses were presented to the young couple from all the large towns and cities, many of them accompanied by rare and costly presents. Then there was a drawing-room, which was unusually brilliant, and lasted four hours." On Monday, February 1, the queen wrote in her diary:-- "The last day of our dear child's being with us, which is incredible, and makes me at times quite sick at heart. "I clasped her in my arms and blessed her, and knew not what to say. I kissed good Fritz, and pressed his hand again and again. He was unable to speak, and the tears were in his eyes. I embraced them both again at the carriage door, and Albert got into the carriage with them, and Bertie. Alfred and George (Duke of Cambridge) in the next; the band struck up. I pressed the hand of General Schreckenstein and the good Dean of Windsor, and then went quickly up stairs. "A dreadful moment and a dreadful day. Such sickness came over me, real heartache, when I thought of our dearest child being gone, and for so long--all, all being over! It began to snow before Vicky went, and continued {439}to do so without intermission all day. At times I could be quite cheerful, but my tears began to flow afresh frequently, and I could not go near Vicky's corridor. Everything recalled the time now passed. "At four my beloved Albert returned with the two boys, _very_ sad, and my grief again burst forth. The separation had been dreadful. Albert seemed much impressed by it. Nothing could exceed the loyalty, enthusiasm, and feeling shown by the countless thousands in the city, and again at Gravesend, where the decorations were beautiful. Young girls with wreaths, in spite of the snow, walked on the pier strewing flowers. "Albert had waited to see the ships leave,--what a moment it must have been!--but Vicky did not come on deck. The sight of the darling baby (Princess Beatrice) even made me sad, as dear Vicky loved her so much, and only yesterday played with her!" The young princess made a most favorable impression among the Berliners; for her manners were charming, and she had the rare gift of being able to say the right thing at the right time and in the right place. From the moment when her engagement to the Prince of Prussia was thought of, her father had given her daily instruction in the studies that would be of the greatest service in the position she was to fill. A prominent statesman of Germany wrote of her a few weeks after her arrival in her new home: "She sees more clearly and more correctly than many a man of commanding intellect, because, while possessing an acute mind and the purest heart, she does not know the word 'prejudice.'" {440} CHAPTER XIV