Maids
of Honor, Lady Constance Percy, Lady Rosamond Temple, and Lady Muriel
Howard, all alike duennas of a certain age. The first named were sober,
prim-looking persons, but Lady Muriel Howard, who wore low-neck,
corkscrew curls, and carried an enormous fan, ogled the various
occupants of the dining-room through her eyeglass as she advanced. The
remainder of the retinue included the Duke of Wellington, an old
nobleman of threescore and ten, and a half-dozen lesser peers, nearly
all of whom were on the shady side of sixty. Lord Gladstone Churchill,
Paran Paget, and Sir Humphry Davy, who were always in attendance on the
person of the sovereign, were the only youthful spirits. It was the
former of these who had furnished the romantic story of Mrs. Carey's
early life to the society lady. As the royal party walked to their table
a few guests of the hotel rose and remained standing until the King had
signified by a glance that all should be seated.

The royal bill of fare was distinct from the _table d'hote._ The
proprietor of the house allowed under his contract with the King a
certain sum daily for the cuisine. The King was entitled to save
anything he could on that amount. To-day there was a boiled dinner.
Boiled chickens at one end of the table and boiled corned beef at the
other followed the soup.

"How good an _entree_ would taste," whispered Lord Cecil Manners to the
Earl of Kildare, casting a glance at a neighboring table, where a
_vol-au-vent_ of sweetbreads was being passed by the servant.

"What was that you said, Lord Cecil?" asked the King, sharply.

"I was calling his lordship's attention to the champagne glasses,"
answered the peer, with a silly giggle.

"It is my birthday," explained the King. "You shall drink my health
later on in the repast."

There was a flutter of congratulation around the table.

"How indecorous of me not to have remembered," said the Duke of
Wellington, with old-fashioned courtesy.

"Many happy returns of the day," said Lady Muriel Howard, and she
whisked her handkerchief coquettishly at her sovereign.

King George presided at one end of the table, and the Princess Henrietta
at the other. The nobility were seated according to their rank. Lady
Muriel Howard being the eldest daughter of the Duke of Norfolk, the
first peer of the realm, sat on the King's right, and the Duke of
Wellington in the seat of honor by the Princess. Midway down the table
was a vacant chair, and it was n