Another work of art in the room also evoked strange memories. On the wall opposite the windows in a niche between the two stoves, a bright-coloured porcelain vase on a pedestal draped in red attracts the eye. It is about four or five feet high. The front shows a seated female figure, a Germania, perhaps, and the back some trophies in gold. As the Prince himself explained, this figure has a history with a certain symbolic significance. It was presented to the Chancellor in 1870, having been at first intended for Hardenberg, for some reason or through some dispensation of fate to whom it was never given. Looked at more closely, the trophies turned out to be French arms captured in the war of liberation from 1813 to 1815. The female figure at that time represented Borussia. Near the second stove against the wall by which this historic vase stands, and opposite one end of the billiard table, begins a large recess, three sides of which are occupied by a rather lengthy divan, while opposite to it stands a piano of the Princess, who has the reputation of being an excellent player. During my stay the Chancellor was accustomed to seat himself in a large easy chair when taking his coffee, which was served immediately after dinner, and lighting one of his long student’s pipes, while another was held ready in reserve, he smoked and conversed with his guests, making--as was almost always the case on such occasions--many memorable remarks and statements. I will here reproduce some of these which I noted down before going to bed on the evenings upon which they were made. On the 18th of October, on my remarking that one of his first services had been to keep the King from attending the Congress of Princes at Frankfurt, the Chancellor’s reply agreed in all important particulars with the statement he made to us during the campaign in France. “Yes,” he said, “that was a difficult task. The Most Gracious insisted on going (to Frankfurt) at any cost; a crowned head, the King of Saxony, had come to him as a messenger, and there was now no help for it. I managed to talk him out of the idea, but with the greatest difficulty, and he was quite nervous about it. I said to Beust, however, ‘If you do not leave us in peace now, I will send to Rastatt for a detachment and post a sentry outside the King’s door, who will let no one in.’”