“A haven of refuge at last,” thought I, “anyway a carpet and a cushioned seat.” But even here three men were sitting and waiting in solemn silence, and all the staring had to be gone through again. Ten minutes or a quarter of an hour of this awful tension passed, and then two more individuals were ushered in, and sat down, not one—of all the five staring beings—uttering a word. I was getting quite nervous, and wondering how best to slip away, when the door opened again. Merely expecting a sixth sitter, I did not even take the trouble to look up. A vision stopped before me. “Mrs. Tweedie, I am delighted to meet you,” it said. But somehow it was so short and round and smiling, that I did not grasp the fact that President Roosevelt himself was addressing me. A few pleasant words and he added, “If you will go in there, I will be with you in a moment.” I went in. This was his own private room, large, plain, and neat, with an enormous, highly polished table reflecting a few roses in a vase. It was just a nice sort of office and nothing more. The only interesting personal thing appeared to be a business-like gun standing in a corner. I sat and waited, but as the door was wide open I could see and hear the following: “How do you do? Delighted to see you. Am very busy at the moment, but if there is anything I could do for you quickly, well——” Hesitancy, and a few murmured remarks. “Well, I’m afraid I can’t spare any time for that this morning. Good-bye!” So in five minutes the President got rid of all those five long-suffering, long-waiting mortals. That was enough to make one run away without even waiting to say Good-bye. But feeling how foolish that kind of thing would be, I braced myself for the effort, and murmured: “I’ve not come to ask you to make me a Bishop, or my uncle a Senator, or my nephew an Ambassador, so perhaps I’ve no business here at all. In fact, I’ve not come to ask for anything.” The President laughed heartily, and, throwing himself back into a capacious arm-chair, soon proved himself to be a very human specimen of mankind. There is no doubt about it, Roosevelt is an extraordinary man, and a strong one. There may be a little of the ungoverned schoolboy about him, but he is right at heart. His energy and enthusiasm prompted him to do things which, in his position, may not always have been discreet, but he accomplished a vast deal more for America than folk in his own country yet realise. It was all the more interesting to see and talk to this amazing personality as I had just come direct from Mexico. No greater contrast was possible than that between the two then Presidents of those neighbouring countries. Diaz—calm, quiet, reserved, strong, determined, thoughtful, and far-seeing. Roosevelt—impetuous, outspoken, fearless, hasty in action, and hurried in forming opinions.