“You will think my brain has gone the way of my jaw (indeed, it _was_ cracked a little as a matter of fact); but I am only remembering. Tell me, if you have time, dear, to write to me again, all sorts of _goodish_ novels to read. I mean that I find I can devour _now_ what I called trash a month ago. “It is lovely to be at home here, with the babies and Viola, and Herbert sparing as much time as he can from his _Anthony_ rehearsals. He, like everybody else, has been an angel to me, and my heart is _too_ full of gratitude to everybody for all the love and tenderness they have shown. “What a long letter, but it will show you how well I am, dear. Thank you again and again for writing. “With love always, “Yours affectionately, “MAUD TREE.” Later on my school education was finished in Germany, where my mother had many old friends, among whom was the great chemist, Baron von Liebig, my godfather. How oddly, as years roll by, friends meet and part and meet again, like coloured silks in a plaited skein. One of my school-fellows in Germany, for instance, came from Finland, and, later on, it was the fact of meeting her again that brought about my visit to “Suomi,” described in _Through Finland in Carts_. Another of my companions became engaged to one of Sweden’s most famous artists, Carl Gustav Hellqvist, though at that time he was not known so well as later. He only spoke Swedish and French, and Julie Thiersch spoke German and English. Therefore many little translations were done by myself at that delightful country home of Maler Thiersch, on the shores of the König See, in Bavaria. Many sweet little sentences had to be deciphered by me, although the language of the eyes is so powerful that the actual proposal was accomplished through music (of which they were both passionately fond) and rapturous glances, in which he, at any rate, excelled. What a delightful, fair, rough-and-tumble, jolly boyish man Hellqvist then was. Later, gold medals were showered at his feet, and many distinctions came to him while he painted those wonderful historical pictures which are now in the Museum at Stockholm. But, alas! a few years of happy married life ended in an early death. Other German girl companions are now married to Dr. Adolf Harnack, the famous theologian, and Professor Hans von Delbruck, Under-Secretary of State for Germany. Of amusement there was no lack at home, for from the age of seven, I rode every morning with my father in Hyde Park, and kept up the practice with my husband after my marriage. Then there was skating on ice or rinks, croquet or tennis. There was also amusement of another kind. A delightful old Scotch gentleman used to come and tune the piano on Harley Street. One day he told me he was going on to tune one for an entertainment for the blind in the East End. “Why don’t you come and recite to them?” he asked.