Rantzau had brought it with her from Hamburg for him, and we drank a glass of it to the health of the honest and excellent lady who had always been a friend to him. “And not forgetting our old master,” I added. “How is he getting on?” “Our old lion is well,” he replied, “and is always in good humour at table; eats and drinks heartily, cracks a joke, and is equal to the youngest of them in paying court to the fair ones.” In the course of his remarks Bucher mentioned as “not inconceivable” that the Prince might return one day to his old place in Berlin.--He did not give his reasons for thinking so. In the absence of such reasons, and they would have to be very good ones, I cannot believe in such a possibility, so far as he personally is concerned. It is not impossible, after the ill-success of the present _régime_, that the spirit of his policy may return to the palace in the Wilhelmstrasse. We were not destined to meet again. Bucher died on the 12th of October, 1892, after he had lived away from the Prince for a few months. I gave a sketch of his life and character in the _Illustrirte Zeitung_ of the 29th of October, which was accompanied by a good portrait. Next spring I could find no rest until I greeted the Prince once more; and I was permitted to do so. I arrived at Friedrichsruh at 1.30 P.M. on the 1st of May. Chrysander and a servant waited for me at the station, and conducted me to the house where I was lodged in room No. 4. After a snack, which took the place of lunch, I went for a walk with Chrysander, who then showed me in one of the ground floor rooms a number of presents and beautiful addresses from Costa Rica and California, which had come to the Prince on his birthday a month previously. Before dinner I met the old gentleman in the coffee-room, where hung the portraits of his ancestors. He has changed very little. I must sit down with him on the sofa, and am “Büschlein” as before. Had I written anything lately, and what about? Complained of faceache, “which, however, comes no doubt from the sharp atmosphere out of doors during my walk this morning.”--At dinner, at which we were joined by the Princess, Countess Rantzau, Dr. Schweninger, Count Herbert and von Kardorff, member of the Reichstag, my place is again next the Prince on his right. As is almost invariably the case on such occasions, he is amiable, lively and good-humoured. (...)