Page:Ethel Churchill 2.pdf/214

212 where they were received by two gentlemen ushers, who conducted them along a spacious gallery into an antechamber, where they were received by her grace's chamberlain. He sent in a page, richly dressed; and, after a message, mysteriously whispered in his ear, announced that her grace was ready to receive her guests. Two attendants, in court dresses, flung open the folding-doors of the room in which the duchess awaited their arrival. It was a long, high chamber: on the one side there were a number of narrow windows, whose curtains of crimson damask swept the floor, and gave a rich and subdued colour to the light that struggled through their massive folds; on the other side were pictures in huge gilded frames, each with a crown on the top; for they were all family portraits of the Stuarts. At the end of the room was a canopy, surmounted by a ducal coronet. Below was a full-length of James II., at whose feet was a sort of throne, on which the duchess was placed. Six ladies, splendidly attired, were on either side, all standing; indeed, an arm-chair, placed near