at a time." She
would always have a favorite, now, Miss Jennings; afterwards, Miss
Hill, better known as Lady Masham, the earnest friend of Locke; then,
somebody else.

In the terrible romance of the life of Marie Antoinette, the deserved
friendships and the undeserved hatreds that clustered around the
stately, affectionate, ill-fated queen, are clothed with exceeding
interest. In the memoirs of the Countess D'Adhemar, the most beloved
and steadfast of her attendants, who was equally her watchful servant
and her trusted friend, all the details of these attractions and
aversions may be found, drawn as only a woman would draw them. Madame
Geniis, whose overtures for familiarity were repulsed, plotted
against her with spiteful vindictiveness. Madame Campan, whom the
queen loved and took into her service, in return idolized and sought
to shield and bless her. By far the first, however, in the heart of
the queen, was the Princess Lamballe, a young widow, whose charms of
person and of character made her one of the most universally admired
women of that period. The queen revived for the princess the office
of superintendent of the household, that she might live at
Versailles. Their attachment, based on mutual esteem and tenderness,
and nurtured by many events, grew enthusiastic. It became the fashion
for every lady to have a friend, who accompanied her wherever she
went, to whom morning notes were written, and with whom tea was
sipped, and the evening spent, after the pattern of Antoinette and
Lamballe. The princess showed herself as heroic in devotion to her
friend, amidst the horrible carnival which surrounded the close of
their lives, as she had been modest, gentle, and sympathizing in the
brilliant season that preceded. A few days before the terrible crisis
of the Revolution burst on the head of the queen herself, the
princess, who occupied a room in the palace, adjoining that of her
friend, that she might share all her tears and dangers, was called
for a short time to the Chateau de Vernon, by the illness of her aged
father-in-law. Marie seized the opportunity to write a letter to her
friend, begging her to take care of herself and not return. "Your
heart would be too deeply wounded, you would have too many tears to
shed over my misfortunes, you who love me so tenderly. Adieu, my dear
Lamballe; I am always thinking of you; and you know I never change."

The princess hastened back to the side of her imperilled mistress.