Williams news., 1917-08-30

been an uncanny one, eh?" asked the emperor, deeply interested.
 Quite. Two of the women at the table declared that it must have been thunder, and then the conversation proceeded. I, however, confess to your majesty that was very much puzzled, and the more so because only two nights ago, while we sat at dinner. Friedrich-August and myself en fla mille, we heard exactly the same sounds again!"
 "Really!" laughed the emperor. Quite uncanny. hope, here in Dres- den, you are not believing in spooks, as London society believes in them"
 "Not at all," said the princess ear nestly. "I don't believe in omens. But, curiously enough, the king told me yesterday that his two old aunts, who formerly lived in our wing of the pal ace, had sometimes heard the clatter of horses hoofs, the jingle of harness, the grinding of brakes, and the rum- bling of heavy carriage wheels"
 "H'm!" grunted the emperor. i've heard that same story before, Louisa. The departing coach means trouble to the reigning family"
 'That is exactly what the king said to me only last evening"" answered Louisa frankly. Docs 1t mean trouble to me, wonder?"
 "Certainly not" I declared. "Your imperial highness need not worry for one moment over such things. Nobody nowadays regards such phenomena as presage of evil. There is no doubt some perfectly natural explanation of the sounds. Every old palace, castle and even private house, has its tradi- tions."
 The kaiser's Merry Mood.
 Then the emperor, after acknowl- edging the salute of Baron Georg von Metzsch, controller of the royal house hold-a tall, thin, crafty-eyed man, with hair tinged with gray, and wear ing a dark blue uniform and many corations-changed the topic of con- verSation.
 The kaiser was in particularly merry mood that night. He had gone to Dres- den against his inclination, for he had long ago arranged an Easter review on the Tempelhofer Field, but the visit was, knew, for the purpose of con- sultation in secret with the king of Saxony.
 Several times wondered upon what his majesty of Saxony had stumbled. That morning the emperor and king had been closeted alone together for fully three hours, and the outcome of the secret conference seemed to have lent mood.
 The Saxon crown prince and his wife were at that time most devoted couple, though all of us knew that the modern ideas Louisa had brought to Dresden from the Hapsburg court had much shocked old King George and his consort. The Saxon court was unused to a pretty women with buoy ant spirits rejoicing in life with capi- tai 'tL.''
 According to the court whisperings, trouble had started few days after marriage, when the king, having given his daughter-in-law a tiara of dia- monds, royal heirloom, with strict injunctions to wear them just as they were-a style of the seventeenth cen tury-he one evening at the opera saw her wearing the stones reset in that style known as art nouveau. The king became furious, and ordered them to be set again in their original settings, whereupon Louisa coolly returned the present.
 Such was the commencement of the old kings ill-feeling toward her.
 The state ball that night was cer- tainly a brilliant one for such small court, and next day we all returned to PotSGam. Louisa, in a depressed mood, for while dancing with Count von Castell Rudenhausen of the Prus- sian Guard her lovely rope of pearls a knife.
 A Mysterious Absence.
 Before we left Dresden, however, l met the crown princess in one of the corridors. It was nine o'clock in the morning. She wore her riding-habit, having just come in from her morning canter.
 "Wel, count!" she laughed. ''So you are leaving us unexpectedly! shall be coming to pay another visit to Potsdam soon. The emperor invited me last night. Au revoir! !"
 Her imperial highness paid her promised visit to the empress at the Neues Palais in July.
 At the time of her arrival the em- peror had left suddenly and gone away to .Hubertusstock. When anything un- usual upset him he always went there. I overheard him the day before his de parture shouting to Lohlein as passed along one of the corridors. The judi cial councillor seemed to be trying to pacify him, but apparently entirely without avail.
 "You are as sly as all the rest"