The next morning the slumbering guests were
aroused at an unearthly hour by the shouts of
Mathilde demanding her bath water. A whole
regiment of hot- and cold-water jugs were
brought, also the largest hip-bath of which the
hotel boasted; but after Mathilde the deluge,
and it took nearly half a day to dry the
floor.
At 7 A.M., Mathilde left to make a pilgrimage
to the shrine of Our Lady of Varallo, and when
she returned to the hotel she had a heated
discussion about some change which had not
been given to her.
"I won't go from here without my forty
centimes," she cried angrily; but she gradually
calmed down and went on her way, leaving
three francs to be divided among the servants.
Prince John-George, my husband's second
brother, is a very studious person. He reads
from morning till night, and his literature
consists chiefly of the lives of dead-and-gone
Popes. He always asks whether one is ac-
quainted with the life of such and such a Pope,



132 MY OWN STORY

and he is quite disappointed when any one
displays ignorance of the subject.
He is built on the same lines as Mathilde,
and is somewhat heavy on his feet, as his part-
ners find out to their cost whenever they are
honoured by a command to dance with him.
John-George, as becomes a papal student, is
deeply religious, and he is also imbued with a
tremendous idea of his own importance. He is
selfish and unsympathetic, but I found him
easier to get on with than Mathilde.
