of the globe, during the fortnight when we put our trust in the loquacious and sly Schaeffer! Alas, the lovely mess of crow upon which we dined a little later!
     The Roumanians, and particularly Bucharest society, do not incline to prudery. While the love making between Helène and Ferdinand was the theme of general gossip in the capital, it excited little more than passing comment. Not until the foreign press busied itself with the case and declared it an affair of state, did the journals of the kingdom take cognizance of the subject. Then, at the mere mention of the fact that the crown prince intended to marry Mlle. Vacaresco, there arose a storm that threatened to sweep King Charles from his throne. Ministry, court, and people had at last discovered a point on which they could agree, and declared themselves bitterly opposed to the contemplated misalliance. "It is not love that inspires the Vacaresco woman," they vociferated; "it is treason, tempered by blackmail." And Prince Ferdinand was characterized as a "noodle—just such an imbecile as an ambitious woman would victimize."
     The queen was abused in even more shameful style. Two days after the scandal had become noised about in Bucharest, I saw a caricature of Carmen Sylva posted in