After the soup came mutton cutlets with _purée_ of potatoes, and this dish the Emperor ordered to be set in front of him, for he obviously objected to the possibility of having an avalanche of chops on his head. At German meals every dish, even a joint, is always offered to the guests to help themselves; there is no carving at the sideboard. The meat is previously cut up in the kitchen, and then the slices laid together again to look as though the joint were whole, so that only a fork is needed to serve oneself; but it always impressed me, especially after once seeing a servant, owing to a sudden paroxysm of the train, fling a whole leg of mutton over a lady’s shoulder into her lap, as a custom which places too much responsibility on the waiter. So the gentleman and the Empress held the plates while the Emperor slapped chops into them as fast as possible, so that they had, as he observed, “no time to grow cold,” and the dish was soon empty. He was laughing and chatting all the time, evidently in most exuberant spirits, and introduced one gentleman to me, who had newly arrived at court, giving a short biography of his life--as for instance, “He’s been to America and got scalped there by Indians.” The gentleman in question, raising his hat, ran his hand over his smooth and hairless cranium as though in corroboration of His Majesty’s statement. “Speaks wonderful English,” went on the Emperor--“wonderful English, all learnt in America. You can talk to him as much as you like.” As my energies were at that time concentrated on keeping my knife and fork out of my features, I did not talk very much to the gentleman from America, though I afterwards found that he did speak very good English indeed. The train began slowly to ascend the beautiful mountains of the Black Forest. It was the month of May, and against the dark background of pine-forest ran the vivid green of the larches breaking into leaf. Little streams and waterfalls continually came into view as we rose higher and higher, and often a sudden shower fell and a rainbow spanned the valley below us. The train passed through more than thirty tunnels. When luncheon was finished we still stayed some time at the table, and one of the generals in the Emperor’s suite who had recently begun to study the English language took the opportunity to practise what he knew of it upon me. He was a very delightful, handsome old gentleman, and had fought in the Franco-Prussian War. He told me all the books he was reading in English, and quoted sentimentally, _apropos_ of nothing, “Let me Dream again.” I wondered where he had learned that Early-Victorian melody. “That is all Lowther Castle,” laughed the Emperor: “started them all learning English; they’ve been taking lessons ever since.”