just long enough, as they went by the door, to get a peep at the strangers from over the sea. So it would appear that even royalty can forget strict etiquette under the impulse of feminine curiosity.
We were not kept waiting much longer; for Lord Lathom, accompanied by the Honorable Secretary Ponsonby, appeared, and led the way to the audience chamber. They carried their batons of office. Queen Kapiolani arose, greeted, and, with her suite, followed them. We were perhaps twenty-five feet apart as we entered the reception room, the queen attended by Colonel Iaukea, and I by the Hon, Mr. Synge, the two ladies-in-waiting following me. At the end of the hall there was an official whose business it was to open and shut the door of the audience chamber. As it was now open, he held his baton of office across it, but at the approach of Queen Kapiolani and Colonel Iaukea he removed it, and allowed them to pass in; then I entered alone, and our party stood in the presence of the British Queen.
The room was of very moderate size, with a sofa at one end on which Her Majesty sat; besides this there were only two chairs, all the other furniture, if ever there were any, having been removed. At a farther window stood H. R. H. the Duke of Connaught and T. R. H. the Prince and Princess Henry of Battenberg. Her Majesty Victoria greeted her sister sovereign, Kapiolani, with a kiss on each cheek, and then, turning to me, she kissed me once on the forehead; we were asked to be seated, the two queens sitting together on the sofa and engaging in conversation, which was translated by
