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276
ON THE EVE OF WAR [chap. xvi.
importance of the Sven-Hedin calumnies. But I was
extremely astonished that my French colleague should
have concealed from me, from the beginning and until
the end, his idea and parleyings with Paris on this
subject. Later on and during the tragic years we went
through together I was most careful not to imitate
M. Thiebaud’s example, and I confided to him, carefully
and from the very first, all that I heard, and all that I
intended to do or to write.
I gradually became better acquainted with my other
colleagues. In the senior member of the Diplomatic
Corps, my Portuguese colleague Castro-Fejo, I found a
man of great culture and of wide experience of Sweden ;
I could subsequently congratulate myself on the
excellent relations which existed between us from the
outset. Alas ! two years later his wife—Swedo-French
by birth—beautiful, bright and charming, died of an
incurable disease, and he himself soon followed her to the
grave, having succumbed to paralysis of the heart! The
Danish Minister, M. Scavenius, whose acquaintance I
had already made in St. Petersburg, was very useful to
me from the beginning through his perfect knowledge
of political and social matters in Stockholm. We later
became very intimate with him and with Madame
Scavenius, and often had cause to appreciate their
intelligence, their tact, and their sincere sympathies with
the Entente. The Japanese Minister, M. Uchida,
intelligent and correct, and Madame Uchida, as charming
as she was cultivated; the Duke and Duchess of Amalfi,
whom we ended by liking most cordially; M. Lagos, the
distinguished Argentine diplomat, and the amiable
Madame * Lagos; an excellent and agreeable French
colleague, Baron Devaux, and the equally agreeable
English couple, the Clives; our subsequent Norwegian
colleagues, all most amiable and reliable; finally—last
but not least—the satirical M. Tommazini and the
fascinating and witty Madame Tommazini, the life and
soul of the Diplomatic Corps and of Stockholm society,
completed the friendly circle who gathered closely round
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