her regret lessened for the loss of her husband, and although she sometimes felt and expressed a concern for his safety, yet the well-timed amusements Rhodophil prepared for her, left that occasional anxiety but as a passing cloud upon her memory, that was followed by brighter ideas. Ernest, who had engaged to pay every attention to his mistress, as he called her, found nothing was wanting from him to comfort her, and so captious is the human mind, that, though he would have been grieved to have seen her unhappy, yet he was very much displeased to see her so cheerful.
She commanded the house entirely, every servant was at her disposal, and the master of it seemed to have no will but her's, no laws but of her making. If we look back, and see the very humble state in which Claudina had lived before she knew Ferdinand, and even the humble mediocrity which she enjoyed with him before the death of Count Renaud; if we consider that, though Ferdinand had procured masters to teach her accomplish-
