urtly
halls--"the Countess of Derby!"

Stately and tall, and still, at an advanced period of life, having a
person unbroken by years, the noble lady advanced towards her Sovereign,
with a step resembling that with which she might have met an equal.
There was indeed nothing in her manner that indicated either haughtiness
or assumption unbecoming that presence; but her consciousness of wrongs,
sustained from the administration of Charles, and of the superiority of
the injured party over those from whom, or in whose name, the injury
had been offered, gave her look dignity, and her step firmness. She was
dressed in widow's weeds, of the same fashion which were worn at the
time her husband was brought to the scaffold; and which, in the thirty
years subsequent to that event, she had never permitted her tirewoman to
alter.

The surprise was no pleasing one to the King; and cursing in his heart
the rashness which had allowed the lady entrance on the gay scene
in which they were engaged, he saw at the same time the necessity of
receiving her in a manner suitable to his own character, and her rank in
the British Court. He approached her with an air of welcome, into which
he threw all his natural grace, while he began, "_Chere Comtesse de
Derby, puissante Reine de Man, notre tres auguste soeur----_"

"Speak English, sire, if I may presume to ask such a favour," said the
Countess. "I am a Peeress of this nation--mother to one English Earl,
and widow, alas, to another! In England I have spent my brief days
of happiness, my long years of widowhood and sorrow. France and its
language are but to me the dreams of an uninteresting childhood. I know
no tongue save that of my husband and my son. Permit me, as the widow
and mother of Derby, thus to render my homage."

She would have kneeled, but the King gracefully prevented her, and,
saluting her cheek, according to the form, led her towards the Queen,
and himself performed the ceremony of introduction. "Your Majesty," he
said, "must be informed that the Countess has imposed a restriction on
French--the language of gallantry and compliment. I trust your Majesty
will, though a foreigner, like herself, find enough of honest English
to assure the Countess of Derby with what pleasure we see her at Court,
after the absence of so many years."

"I will endeavour to do so, at least," said the Queen, on whom the
appearance of the Countess of Derby made a more favourable impression
than that o