Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. II.djvu/197

Rh agreeable and accomplished people, and music, considerably decrease the difficulty. Two skillful mandolin players, that I engaged for one of these evenings, and who came in their national costume, entertained me greatly. The soul and the overflowing life which they know how to put into the little quill with which they play upon the strings of the guitar, is something inconceivable.

I shall always retain a charming remembrance of two invitations which I felt obliged to accept. They were from the Grand-Duchess Helena, of Russia, who is, this winter, residing in Rome. She summoned me first to an audience, and, two days afterwards, invited me to a so r i r ée. I willingly obeyed, because I was glad to become better acquainted with this princess, whose character has always stood so high and pure, and who distinguished herself during the late war in the East, in a manner worthy of the Christian woman and the thoughtful princess, and who is alone influenced and guided by her own heart and her religious life. It was this princess who, by her own means, organized the association of the Sisters of Mercy, as well in the Greek Church as of the Protestant Evangelical faith, who performed such great service amongst the wounded and the sick in the Crimea, and who stood by them so heroically even in the storming of Sebastopol. I was glad to become acquainted with this lady.

On the first occasion, she received me alone. Her personal appearance and manners are of the class which immediately produce an agreeable impression. She is probably about fifty; her figure is nobly beautiful, and traces of great beauty, but of nervous