sence and long for her return,
replied she must first come and view them; and then impatient for
reconciliation, he sought her, and they became friends once more. And by
way of sealing the bond of pacification, the king soon after agreed to
pay her debts, amounting to the sum of thirty thousand pounds, which had
been largely incurred by presents bestowed by her upon her lovers.

His majesty was not only rendered miserable by the constant caprices and
violent temper of the countess, but likewise by the virtue and coldness
Miss Stuart betrayed since her return from Oxford. The monarch was
sorely troubled to account for her bearing, and attributing it to
jealousy, sought to soothe her supposed uneasiness by increasing his
chivalrous attentions. Her change of behaviour, however, proceeded from
another cause. The fair Stuart, though childlike in manner, was shrewd
at heart; and was moreover guided invariably by her mother, a lady
who reaped wisdom from familiarity with courts. Therefore the maid of
honour, seeing she had given the world occasion to think she had lost
her virtue, declared she was ready to "marry any gentleman of fifteen
hundred a year that would have her in honour."

This determination she was obliged to keep-secret from the king, lest
his anger should fall upon such as sought her, and so interfere with her
matrimonial prospects. Now with such intentions in her mind she pondered
well on an event which had happened to her, such as no woman who has
had like experience ever forgets; namely, that amongst the many who
professed to love her, one had proposed to marry her. This was Charles
Stuart, fourth Duke of Richmond, a man possessed of neither physical
gifts nor mental abilities; who was, moreover, a widower, and a sot.

However, the position which her union with him would ensure was all she
could desire, and he renewing his suit at this time, she consequently
consented to marry him. Now though it was probable she could keep her
design from knowledge of her royal lover, it was scarcely possible she
could hide it from observation of his mistress. And the latter, knowing
the extent to which fair Frances Stuart shared his majesty's heart, and
being likewise aware of the coldness with which his protestations
were by her received, scorned the king and detested the maid. Lady
Castlemaine therefore resolved to use her knowledge of Miss Stuart's
contemplated marriage, for purpose of enraging the jealousy of the one,