_Quod fuit, est; erit peril articulo brevis horae
Ergo quid prodest esse fuisse fore
Esse fuisse fore trio florida sunt sine flore
Cum simul omne peril quod fuit est erit._
That which is, that which has been, that which shall be
Perishes in one short hour.
To what use is it to exist, to have existed,
Or to exist in time to come?
The Present, the Past, the Future
Are three flowers without perfume,
Since all perish together,
The Present, the Past, the Future.
Princess Pia di Savoya, Princess Trivulzio, Count Greppi, and others
were invited to tea. After they had gone the Queen had a fancy to run
out in the park without a hat, in spite of the cold and drizzly rain,
and with only a light cloak. She did not mind, so no one else minded.
Of course, we all did as she did, except Princess Palavicini (_dame
d'honneur_), who had just arrived, and who asked permission that she
might retire to her room in order to rest before dinner.
MONZA, _November 7th_.
Dear Mother,--I try every day to get a moment to write, as you desire,
but the days go so quickly and the evenings come so soon that I hardly
have time to do anything but change from one dress to the other.
After luncheon this morning the King ordered some large scales to be
brought into the _salon_, and we were all weighed. Our kilos were
written in a book, and each person was asked to write his name under
his kilo. This took a long time. The Queen weighs twenty kilos less
than Johan. There was a twinkle in the eye of the King when General
Pasi got on the scales. General Pasi is enormously tall, and big in
proportion, being a good deal more than six feet and very stout. They
piled on all the weights they had, but nothing sufficed. Pasi looked
aghast (Could the royal board be so fattening?) ... and wondered if it
were not time for heroic action. And when it was found that the King
had had his foot on the scales all the time every one was convulsed
with laughter, especially the King, who enjoyed his little joke. The
Queen's drive to-day was to the Marquise Dadda's (one of her ladies in
waiting), who has a pretty villa and park near here.
We had thought of leaving Monza to-day, but the Queen wished us to stay
longer, and of course we did not refuse, though my toilets were at a
rather low ebb, having thought to remain only a few days.
I sat to the left of the King at dinner. He seemed very melancholy, and
told me that never in his life had he had such a painful experience as
he had this afternoon. A few days ago a quite young soldier had struck
his superior officer and had been sentenced to death. The King said:
"He is to be shot to-morrow in the barracks near the park, and this
afternoon his poor mother, accompanied by the priest, came to the
palace to make a last and supreme effort to obtain pardon. His mother
clung to my knees and wept her soul out: 'He is my only child and only
nineteen years old--too young to die. Take me instead. _Sono vecchia,
egli tanto giovine!_' ['I am old, and he so young!'] The priest added
that the boy had always been such a good son--kind and gentle to his
mother--and begged that he should be pardoned." The King repeated all
this with tears in his good eyes.
"I am sure that your Majesty did pardon him. Did you not?"
"No," he said, "though it broke my heart to refuse. In military affairs
one must not interfere with the discipline."
"But this one," I urged, tearfully; "could there not be extenuating
circumstances? Do pardon him, your Majesty. Just think what that would
mean for the poor mother."
But the King, true to his ideas of military discipline, said: "No! He
is condemned to die. He must die."
The King could not shake off the impression this interview had made on
him, and J., who passed the evening in the smoking-room with his
Majesty, said that he never saw the King so depressed as he was this
evening.
The Queen came up to me directly after dinner, saying: "What _were_ you
and the King talking about? You both looked so serious and sad."