Prince   Edward  came  with  me,  and   Prince  George
with  Durrant,  and  Captain  Tunnard  was  told  off  to
look  after  little  Hardinge,  and  see  he  did  not  shoot
anybody. Two   deer   broke   cover   near   our   stand,
but  I  could  not  get  Prince  Edward  to  see  one  when
it  would  have  been  an  easy  chance,  and  by  the  time
he  got  on  to  it  the  deer  was  off  into  the  bushes  ;   the
other  was   out   of  shot. Captain   Durrant   killed   a
boar. In  the  next  beat  Prince  Edward  had  a  shot
at  a  deer  and  hit  it,  but  not  in  a  fatal  place — so  it
got  away. We  had  to  omit  the  last  beat  to  give  time
for  the   Princes   to  return,  get  a  bath,  change  into
uniforms,  get  something  to  eat,  and  go  off  to  receive
the  Siamese  envoys  on  board  the  Bacchante. They
were  to  have  returned  for  the  races  at  4  p.m.,  but
the  Siamese  were  an  hour  behind  their  time,  so,  to
the  great  disappointment  of  the  people,  they  did  not
get  back  till  the  races  were  over. We  had  another
large  dinner-party  in  the  evening  to  finish  off  all  the
notabilities. Before    dinner    Prince    George    asked
me  if  I  would  not  have  the  number  of  dishes  cut
down,  so  that  dancing  might  begin  sooner  ;    I  an-
swered   I   would   give   orders   that    they   should   be
served   as   quickly   as   possible,   which   pleased   him
greatly. We    had    a    little    dance    afterwards. On
the  morning  of  the  i2th  the  Princes  each  planted  a
tree  in  front  of  the  house. I  was  doing  office-work
all  the  morning,  trying  to  make  up  for  lost  time,  and
they  played  billiards  and  lawn-tennis. In  the  after-


342  A  FANCY-DRESS  BALL

noon  we  visited  the  '  lions  ' ;  the  Botanical  Gardens,
and  Fort  Channing,  in  order  to  see  the  view. In
the  evening  we  had  a  fancy-dress  ball,  which  was  a
huge  success. The  Siamese  envoys  came,  as  usual,
a  mass  of  gold  embroidery,  the  Maharajah  of  Johore
in  black  velvet  with  diamonds,  and  many  of  the
Malay  chiefs  in  their  national  dress. Besides  this
we  had  Chinese  in  gorgeous  array,  some  Arabs,
officers  in  naval  and  military  uniforms,  and  the  rest
in  every  character  under  the  sun. Mena  and  I  alone
did  not  dress  up. 