“No,” cried Queen Alexandra gaily, pulling me in the opposite direction; “come and see my writing-table.” How we all laughed! “This is my chair,” said the Empress, showing me one in her corner of the room. “And this is my chair,” echoed the Queen, calling my attention to the favourite chair in her corner. I had to see everything and admire everything. The two sisters seemed particularly proud of their kitchen garden, and seemed to be delighted to find that I knew something about growing vegetables. I have a kitchen garden of my own in Normandy, where I have a little house, and we were able to compare notes. And after we had inspected flowers and vegetables we went through an underground passage, which their Majesties have had cut beneath the road that divides the garden of the cottage and the sea-shore, a tiny stretch of which has been walled off, so that the Empress and the Queen may enjoy it undisturbed. When we were inside the cottage the Empress offered me a thin Russian cigarette, and lit one herself. Then Queen Alexandra showed me their tea-kettle and the little kitchen in which they make their own cakes and brew their own tea. “This is where I make my tea,” cried the Queen. “And this is where I cut the bread-and-butter,” said the Empress. They were as happy as two schoolgirls, revelling in the simple life of a home where they can live like two ordinary women, untrammelled by Court etiquette and without even a single lady-in-waiting to attend them. After visiting the Norwegian cottage I had to see a new marvel. We went down to the beach, and the two sisters explained to me that it was a splendid place for picking up bits of amber. I had seen so much amber in the Castle of Rosenberg and in the shops of Copenhagen that it seemed improbable that there could be any more in the Baltic. Nevertheless, there appears to be plenty left, for both the Empress and the Queen showed me the boxes in which they store the treasure they find on the shore. The Empress is luckier in finding amber than the Queen, and her box contained more than her sister’s. “It is most unfair,” said the Queen gaily. “I always pick up more than you do,” said the Empress triumphantly. We searched for amber until it was time for me to go, and we enjoyed ourselves like children. Both the Empress and the Queen have played the great parts they have had to fill on the stage of life with dignity and distinction, but they are Danes, and they have never lost the love of simplicity which is the most notable characteristic of the peoples of Scandinavia. Now that they can live their lives as they like, they deliberately leave their palaces and spend a great part of their time more simply than many commoners. To see their happiness made me happier myself, and, indeed, my tour in Scandinavia has given me new courage. All that I saw and heard made me feel that the time will come when democracy will make many of the crooked things of this life straight. CHAPTER XI