e so young, and
unpleasing, because it suppresses the youthful impulses which are
so graceful and attractive.

[Page Head: THE QUEEN'S SELF-POSSESSION.]

On the morning of the King's death, the Archbishop of Canterbury
and Lord Conyngham arrived at Kensington at five o'clock, and
immediately desired to see 'the Queen.' They were ushered into an
apartment, and in a few minutes the door opened and she came in
wrapped in a dressing-gown and with slippers on her naked feet.
Conyngham in a few words told her their errand, and as soon as he
uttered the words 'Your Majesty,' she instantly put out her hand
to him, intimating that he was to kiss hands before he proceeded.
He dropped on one knee, kissed her hand, and then went on to tell
her of the late King's death. She presented her hand to the
Archbishop, who likewise kissed it, and when he had done so,
addressed to her a sort of pastoral charge, which she received
graciously and then retired. She lost no time in giving notice to
Conroy of her intentions with regard to him; she saw him, and
desired him to name the reward he expected for his services to
her parents. He asked for the Red Riband, an Irish peerage, and a
pension of L3,000 a year. She replied that the two first rested
with her Ministers, and she could not engage for them, but that
the pension he should have. It is not easy to ascertain the exact
cause of her antipathy to him, but it has probably grown with her
growth, and results from divers causes. The person in the world
she loves best is the Baroness Lehzen, and Lehzen and Conroy were
enemies. There was formerly a Baroness Spaeth at Kensington,
lady-in-waiting to the Duchess, and Lehzen and Spaeth were
intimate friends. Conroy quarrelled with the latter and got her
dismissed, and this Lehzen never forgave. She may have instilled
into the Princess a dislike and bad opinion of Conroy, and the
evidence of these sentiments, which probably escaped neither the
Duchess nor him, may have influenced their conduct towards her,
for strange as it is, there is good reason to believe that she
thinks she has been ill-used by both of them for some years
past.[9] Her manner to the Duchess is, however, irreproachable,
and they appear to be on cordial and affectionate terms. Madame
de Lehzen is the only person who is constantly with her. When any
of the Ministers come to see her, the Baroness retires at one
door as they enter at the other, and the audience over she
returns to