a
negotiation for the purchase of the letters; this he effected at an
enormous price, obtaining a written document at the same time by which
Mrs. Clarke was subjected to heavy penalties if she, by word or deed,
implicated the honour of any of the branches of the royal family. A
pension was secured to her, on condition that she should quit England,
and reside wherever she chose on the Continent. To all this she
consented, and, in the first instance, went to Brussels, where her
previous history being scarcely known, she was well received; and she
married her daughters without any inquiry as to the fathers to whom she
might ascribe them.

Mrs. Clarke afterwards settled quietly and comfortably in Paris,
receiving occasionally visits from members of the aristocracy who had
known her when mingling in a certain circle in London. The Marquis of
Londonderry never failed to pay his respects to her, entertaining a
very high opinion of her talents. Her manners were exceedingly
agreeable, and to the latest day she retained pleasing traces of past
beauty. She was lively, sprightly, and full of fun, and indulged in
innumerable anecdotes of the members of the royal family of
England--some of them much too scandalous to be repeated. She regarded
the Duke of York as a big baby, not out of his leading-strings, and the
Prince of Wales as an idle sensualist, with just enough of brains to be
guided by any laughing, well-bred individual who would listen to stale
jokes and impudent ribaldry. Of Queen Charlotte she used to speak with
the utmost disrespect, attributing to her a love of domination and a
hatred of every one who would not bow down before any idol that she
chose to set up; and as being envious of the Princess Caroline and her
daughter the Princess Charlotte of Wales, and jealous of their
acquiring too much influence over the Prince of Wales. In short, Mary
Anne Clarke had been so intimately let into every secret of the life of
the royal family that, had she not been tied down, her revelations
would have astonished the world, however willing the people might have
been to believe that they were tinged with scandal and exaggeration.

The way in which Colonel Wardle first obtained information of the sale
of commissions was singular enough: he was paying a clandestine visit
to Mrs. Clarke, when a carriage with the royal livery drove up to the
door, and the gallant officer was compelled to take refuge under the
sofa; but instea