"'INDISCRETIONS’ OF LADY SUSAN.”

Otago Witness, Issue 3595, 6 February 1923, Page 40

"'INDISCRETIONS’ OF LADY SUSAN.”

Lady Susan Townley, wife of a dis tinguished British diplomat, and a brilliant and beautiful woman, has written her reminiscences, “ ‘lndiscretions’ of Lady Susan” (Thortnton Butterworth), and it is a book which is distinguished by good-humoured wit aud good taste. The last chapter, which gives the book its title, describes how her husband decided to retire from the diplomatic service because he was informed that the “ ‘lndiscretions of Lady Susan’ had made it impossible to advance him further in the sea’vice.” The indiscretion hinted at wag that she, the wife of the British Minister of The Hague, was present when the ex-Kaiser crossed the Dutch frontier after his abdication. Lady Susan explains that she happened to be not a mile away from the station when she learned that the Kaiser was expected there. She determined to be present. . She was wearing a thick veil, and hoped to be unnoticed in the crowd that watched the train come in, but the news of her presence leaked out with unhappy results. —With Wife and Bath.— Lady Susan tells an amusing story about an Italian Minister in Lisbon : . “The Italian Minister, another of our colleagues, was supposed to be a confirmed bachelor and not very meticulous in his personal habits. Great excitement was created, therefore, when he once returned from leave in a cab on the top of which figured a shining new hip-bath, whilst inside sat a lady, young and of high degree, whom he had married during his visit home.” —The Empress Frederick. — The Empress Frederick of Germany (a daughter of Queen Victoria) was “British to her finger-tips, and made no secret of the superiority she attributed to her Mother country over any other. When Crown Princess,” says Lady Susan, ’she emphasised these feelings to a degree wanting perhaps in tact, and her German children retaliated by ‘drawing her’ whenever thev could. “Thus, for instance, on one occasion at five o’clock tea, Walter (the author’s husband) remembers the two Princesses, then girls of twelve and fifteen, dipping their cake into their tea-cups, with the obvious intention of annonying her. Ihe Grown Princess rose to the bait like a fish to a fly. ‘Now stop that, Children 1’ she cried. ‘None of your nasty German habits at my table!’ ” —A Dinner Party.— w Another story of the Empress, at a dinner party : “King Edward, then Prince of Wales, was present, and I sat next to him, opposite the Empress, who had Walter on one side of her and Count Seckendorff, her trusted friend and nrivate secretary, on the other. The table was a narrow one, and the conversation was general, its is the usual custom abroad, but on this occasion the Empress was very silent, and at last I saw her turn to- Count SecKendorff and sav something to him in a low tone, at the same time pointing to me. Count Seckendorff leant towards me across the table and said, quite distinctly, so that all could hear. ‘The Empress wishes mo to sav she regrets she cannot take much part in the conversation to-night, for Her Majesty has spoilt her stomach. This literal translation of a German idiom (hat sich den Magen verdorben), which implied that the Empress was suffering from indigestion, so amused the Frince of Wales that he gave way to uncontrolled laughter, in which the gentle Empress shared in spite of the fact that she was 1 that evening so evidently far from weffl.

—The Boer War.— An incident in a cinema in Berlin during the Boer War at which an English girl was present with the author : * “The performance that- night began with a show of the portraits of all the leadmg generals in the Boer War. The Boers were received with cheers, the British with derisive hooting. Then followed the portrait of Queen Victoria, received with hisses and cat-calls. I saw my girl friend getting hotter and hotter, her eyes blazing with indignation. At length, amid a scene of wild enthusiasm, the picture of Kruger appeared on the screen. Before T could stop her, my little countrywoman pushed her way to the front of the box. and. standing up there well in view of the astounded audience, she put two fingers in her mouth and, gallery-boy fashion, emitted a series of shrill whistles. “We dragged her unceremoniously to the back of the box. and as soon as we could bundled her out of t.he theatre, for feeling ran high in those days, and we feared an unpleasant diplomatic incident as the result of her indiscretion. She was scolded, but no reprimand. T could see, could efface tho fierce jcv she had felt in making her patriotic nrotest.” —ln China.— In Peking Lady Susan had some funny experiences with her Chinese servants. Chang San, the butler, entered the room during a bridge party with a very grave lace and said: “ ‘(Must send for daifoo (doctor), missy, he said, 'belly sick, wantchee medicine!’ “‘Oh! Chang San,’’ I ejaculated, shocked at his intruding upon iny guests with this allusion to a stomach trouble, apparently contracted since lunch time, when he had seemed quite well. ‘Go to bed at once. I'll send daifoo to you,’ and I gently pushed him towards the door. “But he held his ground. ‘My belly no belong sick,' he insisted. ‘Wall belly all wrong inside 1’ And he pointed to the electric bell, which I then realised was out of order and wanted re-charging!” —Chinese Ceremonial. — ‘The ceremonial form of Chinese conversation,” says Lady Suean, “always amused me. It abounded in flowery compliments and quaint self-deprecatory remarks, as shown bv the following questions and answers which invariably passed between us, through the intermediary, of co-use, of the interpreter : “I: ‘Distinguished and aged Wu, what is your honourable age?’ “He: ‘Alas, honourable lady, I have wasted fifty years!’ “I : ‘How many worthv young gentlemen sons have you?’ “He: ‘My Fate is beggarly ; I have hut one little bug.’ “I: ‘How is Your Excellency’s favoured wife V “He: ‘Thank you, madam! The foolish one of the family is well.’ ” A most amusing account is given of the funeral ceremonies of Li-Hung-Chang. “In the court-vard were arranged a whole menagerie of cardboard beasts, more than life-size, whose coats and plumage were represented by dried fir-twigs stuck on—t noticed an immense and most comically-shaped ‘Pekingese’ doc among others. There were also a regiment of life-sized horses, constructed on light bamboo frames covered with paper, and coloured to imitate life. Each one was mounted by a cardboard Chinaman in correct official dress, with hat, boohs, and pigtail complete. These stuffed cavaliers, in their coloured paper garments, appeared so life-like at a distance as almost to deceive one. Looked at closely, however, it was impossible not to laugh at the fixed expressions of man and beast. The comic side of them was still further accentuated when presently they were bodily hoisted un and carried away, topsy-turvy, with the horses’ legs sticking in the' air, to the nlace of their execution, for all were burnt in-the evening in order that the deceased statesman might have the use of them in the spirit world to which he was supposed to have retired. In the same way were sent after him the effigies of his servants, Peking carts, family shrines, official chairs, and wives.”