|In August the queen and prince consort went to Germany on a visit. They arrived at Antwerp on the eleventh, and drove at once to the railway station. At Malines they were met by King Leopold and his second son, and at Aix-la-Chapelle by the Prince of Prussia, who had come to accompany them for the rest of their journey. The weather was intensely hot, and marred much of their pleasure; but they were everywhere met with a hearty welcome. On the twelfth news reached them of the sudden death of Cart, who had been Prince Albert's valet for twenty-nine years. "He was invaluable," writes the queen in her diary: "Well educated, thoroughly trustworthy, devoted to the prince, the best of nurses, superior in every sense of the word, a proud, independent Swiss, who might be trusted with anything. He was the only link my loved one had about him which connected him with his childhood,--the only one with whom he could talk over old times. I cannot think of my dear husband without Cart! Albert felt the loss so much that we had to choke our grief down all day." After breakfast the royal couple travelled to Hanover, and were met by the king and queen, with princes and princesses, and a guard of honor, and conducted to the Herrenhausen,--the country palace where George I. was living when called to the English throne. After luncheon {441} [Illustration: 0447] {443}many people were presented, and at four in the afternoon the queen and prince proceeded on their journey. It was evening when they reached Wildpark Station, and "there on the platform," says the queen's diary, "stood our darling child with a nosegay in her hand. She got into the carriage, and long and warm was the embrace as she clasped me in her arms. So much to say, and to tell, and to ask, yet so unaltered, looking well--quite the old Vicky still! It was a happy moment, for which I thanked God! "Another five or six minutes brought us to the Potsdam station, where were a band and a guard of honor of gigantic guardsmen with pointed caps, and all the princes and princesses. After a few minutes we got into open carriages and drove up to Babelsburg. The castle was beautifully lit up. The Princess of Prussia and Vicky took us to our rooms, which are very comfortable. It was eleven. Many well-known faces appeared among the servants, and I felt quite at home. We supped with our children, and the prince and princess, and then went up to bed, wishing our dear child, as of old, good-night." The next morning was passed quietly at the castle, and in the evening the royal party drove through Potsdam to the beautiful gardens of Sans-Souci, and visited the palace built by Frederick the Great, in which he lived and died. The queen was charmed with the splendid orange trees at Sans-Souci, some of them two hundred years old, all festooned with vines, reaching from one to another.