One day I was told over the telephone that I
had a spy in my household and that this person
was my child's nurse. As the information
seemed genuine, I made secret inquiries on my
own account, and discovered that Alma Muth
corresponded with the Saxon Court through the
medium of the German Consulate at Florence.
She had asked me to allow her to take a daily
walk in the grounds of the villa, and I found out
that when she did so, she had long, unobserved
conversations with an employee at the Consulate
who came there for the purpose of being told
what I was doing. I also ascertained that she
telephoned to the Consulate, but when I taxed
her with her treacherous behaviour she flatly
denied everything.
The morning after my conversation with
Muth, I received a telephonic message from a
hotel in Florence, informing me that the King



352 MY OWN STORY

of Saxony's lawyer, Dr. Korner, had just
arrived, and wished to see me. I replied that
I was quite ready to receive him, and in about
an hour's time he drove up in a landau.
The lawyer had a long discussion with me
about Monica 's future, but nothing was settled,
and I felt that his visit was only a ruse. I
was afterwards asked to go to the Consulate, but
when I arrived, there was no one to receive me.
At last, however, after a long wait, Korner
came on the scene. In a very rude manner he
told me that he was ordered to take Monica
away, and he showed me a document which
empowered him to act exactly as he thought fit.
