I remember once how, through her tears, she said to me: "Calm my fears.

Tell me that he will never be guilty of such an act." I was unable to reassure her, but a kind Fate spared her from hearing the declaration of war.
Later, not long before her death, the old Queen was threatened with total blindness.

She was anxious to put herself in the hands of a French oculist for an operation for cataract, who would naturally be obliged to travel through the Monarchy in order to reach Bucharest.

At her desire I mentioned the matter in Vienna, and the Emperor Francis Joseph at once gave the requisite permission for the journey.
After a successful operation, the Queen sent a short autograph poem to one of my children, adding that it was her _first_ letter on recovering her sight.

At the same time she was again very uneasy concerning politics.
I wrote her the following letter: Your Majesty,--My warmest thanks for the beautiful little poem you have sent to my boy.