Bismarck-Bohlen, who seemed to be particularly communicative to-day, told the following anecdote about the Chief. At Commercy a woman came to him to complain that her husband, who had tried to strike a hussar with a spade, had been arrested. “The Minister listened to her very amiably, and when she had done he replied in the kindliest manner possible, ‘Well, my good woman, you can be quite sure that your husband’ (drawing a line round his neck with his finger) ‘will be presently hanged.’” _Saturday, November 12th._--While we were at lunch the Chief was out. He shortly afterwards passed through the dining-room into the saloon, accompanied by a bearded officer in a Prussian uniform, the Grand Duke of Baden. In about ten minutes the Chief returned to table. He was very angry and indignant, and said: “This is really too bad! No peace from these Grand Dukes even at one’s meals. They will eventually force their way into one’s bedroom. That must be put a stop to. It is not so in Berlin. There the people who want something from me announce their visits in writing, and I fix a suitable time for them to call. Why should it not be the same here?” After a while the Chief said to one of the attendants who was waiting upon us, “Remember in future in such cases to say that I am not at home. Whoever brings any visitor to me unannounced will be put under arrest and sent off to Berlin;” and after eating a few mouthfuls more, he went on: “As if it were anything of importance! But merely curiosity and a desire to kill time. He shall see, however, I will shortly pay him a surprise visit on some official matter, so that he cannot send me away....” The conversation then turned on Roon’s asthma, which according to Lauer is now improving. His rage at the appearance of the Grand Duke during the dinner hour still visibly affected the Chief, who asked Lauer, “What should one drink with marena when in a bad temper?” and on Lauer recommending something the name of which I could not catch, the Minister continued: “It upsets my digestion when anything exasperates me at meals; and here I have had good reason to be angry. They think that one is only made for their use.” Then addressing the servant again the Chief said: “Mind you send away the red lackeys, and say that I am not at home. Remember that! And you, Karl (to Bohlen), must take care that this is done.” The name of Arnim Boitzenburg, the former Minister, then came up. The Chancellor said he had been his chief at Aix-la-Chapelle, and he went on to describe him as “amiable, clever, but unstable and incapable of persistent or energetic action. He was like an india-rubber ball that bounces again and again, but each time with diminishing force until at length it ceases to move. He first had an opinion, then weakened it by arguing against it himself, and went on criticising his own criticism, until at last there was nothing left and nothing done.”