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CHAPTER XL.
"I crave your Grace's pardon."
Shakespeare.
How odd it is to think how differently people are employed at the same time, and how sad to think how heavily the burden falls on most! The contrast of the lot of the few with that of the many rather aggravates the misery:—why should they be thus favoured?
The evening, so anxious, so wretched to the young heiress of the Castle, had been passed very cheerfully by her guests. The Queen Mother and her suite had arrived at that age when cards are a habit, a business, and a relaxation. The one or two younger members enlivened themselves by betting sums they could not afford. Meilleraye and Hortense were rather unhappy at the thoughts of returning to France, where their intercourse would be so much more restricted; and Madame de Soissons and the King had drawn two
