It was his lively humorous personality the grand duke admired, not his representations.
The duke sat at the head of the table and her serene highness at the foot; and it was by the force of his brilliant wit that the princess did not hold in perpetuity the court at her end of the table.

For a German princess of that time she was highly accomplished; she was ardent, whimsical, with a flashing mentality which rounded out and perfected her physical loveliness.

Above and beyond all this, she had suffered, she had felt the pangs of poverty, the smart of unrecognized merit; she had been one of the people, and her sympathies would always be with them, for she knew what those about her only vaguely knew, the patience, the unmurmuring bravery of the poor.

Never would she become sated with power so long as it gave her the right to aid the people.

Never a new tax was levied that she did not lighten it in some manner; never an oppressive law was promulgated that she did not soften its severity.