Letters of a Diplomat's Wife, 1883-1900Waddington, Mary King
History
Letters of a Diplomat's Wife, 1883-1900
Waddington, Mary King
Europe -- Social life and customs
It is still frightfully hot. I did not go out all morning, though they
sent a notice of services at the English Church. We shall leave
to-morrow night for Hamburg. W. says two days more of medals will give
him all he wants. After breakfast I went to see Mrs. Baldwin, whom I
found gasping, sitting with open doors and windows; also Madame Appert,
who looked quite cool and comfortable, as did her two daughters, pretty
girls; however, they said they didn't feel cool. When I got back to our
rooms I found several cards, and then Mrs. Hoffman appeared. She was
very nice and friendly, sent all sorts of messages to you and Anne, and
wished Anne would come and stay with her at Elsinore. She likes
Copenhagen very much, says the people are friendly and hospitable and
invite the diplomats; also that some of the country places are very
fine, quite in the English style. She made a great appeal to me to come
to Elsinore with her this afternoon, I could come back to-morrow in
plenty of time for the night train, but I couldn't manage. W. was still
at the Museum, and would have been in a great state of mind if he had
come home and found not me but a note saying I had departed for
Elsinore. While she was still here, young Moltke appeared, our compagnon
de voyage from Helsingfors to Stockholm. He hopes to be sent to Paris or
London. I told him if it was Paris he must look us up. He is a very nice
young fellow, very good-looking, tall, and fair.
We have had our usual drive. We dined at 5 and started out rather
earlier. If possible there were more people than we had ever seen
before, as it was Sunday and fete. All Copenhagen, high and low, were on
their way to the Deer Park. A stream of conveyances of all descriptions,
some peasants' carts with straw at the bottom filled with women and
children, everybody in a good humour. There were fewer officers riding,
and fewer big boats on the sea, but endless little pleasure yachts. As
we came back it was really a pretty sight, all the cafes, casinos, etc.,
brilliantly lighted, all the villas, too, and people sitting on the
verandas, some playing cards, some at tea tables, some walking about in
the gardens, we could see the light dresses fluttering about in the
shrubberies; animation, laughter, voices, music everywhere. We stopped
as usual for tea at one of the high casinos--the sea blue and calm at
our feet some distance down, and the whole summer out-door life of
Copenhagen behind in the woods and hills. It was delicious driving back,
and even the streets were pretty to-night, so many people, and the cool
air such a relief after the terrible heat of the day. We have decided to
start at 8.30 to-morrow evening.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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