Finally the royal equipage, of which there could be no doubt this time, was seen from way down the street.  J. descended the stairs to receive his Majesty as his carriage entered the porte-cochere.  I stood at the door of the apartment, and the King in his usual friendly manner said a hearty, “God dag, god dag, Fru Hegermann!”

He was attended by only one chamberlain.  We went into the salon.  After a little while the King said, “What shall I sing for you?” and handed me a list of songs.

“Anything your Majesty sings will be delightful,” I answered, eagerly.

“Yes, but you must choose,” the King said.

I chose one I wanted to hear, but the King had already decided beforehand what he wanted to sing. (I might have spared myself the trouble.) He went toward the piano, but before he sang he took out of the mysterious basket an egg, which he broke and swallowed raw, to clear his voice.  He began at the first song on the list, “Adeleide” (Beethoven), and sang that and one after another of those on the list.  It seemed queer to have the roles reversed in this way.  I generally sang for royalty, but here royalty was singing for me.

[Illustration:  KING OSCAR From an autographed photograph taken in 1896.]

The King and I sang the duet from “Romeo and Juliet” and his brother’s romance, “I Rosens doft,” which I had sung with the King in Paris many years ago.  I sang some of my songs—­“Beware,” of course.  I wondered when the tenor, whom I was longing to hear, would come on the program.  He only came once, and that was when he sang a duet with his Majesty, a duet which the King had had arranged from the Jacobite song called “Charlie is my Darling.”

The tenor, whose English was not his strong point, sang with great pathos “Cha-r-r-r-r-r-r-lie es my tarling,” as if a love-sick maiden were calling her lover.  When the King sings he throws his whole soul into the music.  If Providence had bestowed a beautiful voice on him he would have done wonders, but one cannot expect a sovereign to give much time to cultivating his talents.

Our music finished, tea was served, and his Majesty, apparently pleased with his visit, left at five o’clock.

Here is something the King wrote in my, album which is very characteristic of him:  “If you do anything, do it without delay and with your whole heart and mind.”

January, 1891.

Dear L.,—­I am going to give you a detailed account of the visit of the Crown Prince and Princess of Denmark, their annual visit for the King’s birthday.  Johan left the evening before to go to Kathrineholm, the last station before Stockholm, in order to meet their Highnesses, and from there to take the train and arrive here with them.  Several of the King’s household did the same.

I was at the station at eight o’clock.  It is pitch-dark here at that hour.  I pitied J. when I thought of his having to dress in full uniform in the little hotel at Kathrineholm.