e exclaimed in
disgust: "Pooh! she has grown too stupid!"

But if Lady Sarah's shyness had cost her the King's favour, her beauty
and girlish grace quickly won for her another Royal friend--none other
than George's grandson and heir to the throne, then a handsome boy
little older than herself, and at least equally diffident. Every time
the young Prince saw her he became more and more her slave, until his
conquest was complete. He was only happy by her side; while she found
her dogs and squirrels more entertaining company than the King-to-be.

Lady Sarah was now blossoming into young womanhood. Every year added
some fresh touch of beauty and grace. She was the pet and idol of the
Court, captivating young and old alike by her charms and winsomeness.
Horace Walpole raved about her. When she took part in a play at Holland
House, of which he was a spectator, he wrote:

"Lady Sarah was more beautiful than you can conceive....
When she was in white, with her hair about her ears and
on the ground, no Magdalen by Correggio was half so
lovely and so expressive."

And Lord Holland, her brother-in-law, draws this alluring picture of
her:

"Her beauty is not easily described otherwise than by
saying she had the finest complexion, most beautiful
hair, and prettiest person that was ever seen, with a
sprightly and fine air, a pretty mouth, and remarkably
fine teeth, and excess of bloom in her cheeks."

Although the Prince's passion for her was patent to all the Court, she
seems either not to have seen it or to have been indifferent to it--an
indifference which naturally only served to feed the flames of his love.
One day shortly after he had succeeded to the throne, George, the shyest
of Royal lovers, determined to unbosom himself to Lady Sarah's friend,
Lady Susan Strangways, since he could not summon up courage to declare
his passion to the lady herself. After turning the conversation to the
Coronation, "Ah!" he exclaimed with a sigh, "there will be no Coronation
until there is a Queen." "But why, sir?" asked Lady Susan in surprise.
"They want me to have a foreign Queen," George answered, "but I prefer
an English one; and I think your friend is the fittest person in the
world to be my Queen. Tell her so from me, will you?"

A few days later when the King met Lady Sarah, he asked: "Has your
friend given you my message?" "Yes, sir." "And what do you think of it?
Pray tell me frankly