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194 "I do not see how he could help it," said Francesca.

"Help it! why, he might have dropped it at her feet, and trusted to her ingenuity for its concealment. Believe me, it is the greatest mistake ever to ask a consent in such cases. Pray, allow the fair lady the decent excuse of 'But how could I help it?'"

"Very considerate, indeed," answered his companion, laughing.

"Nothing could be more splendid than the marriage; but as such details are only interesting when they are personal, I shall spare you all the cloth of gold, the embroidery, and the precious stones, displayed on the occasion, and merely tell you a pretty comparison made by the young queen. When her wedding presents, feathers, ribands, flowers, precious stuffs, &c. &c. were carried past the Escurial windows, she said, "that they put her in mind of a moving parterre."

"How did Mademoiselle," asked Francesca, who remembered all the histories de la ligne which were uppermost in every one's mind when she arrived in Paris, "endure the royal marriage, and see that crown on the brow of another which she had so long hoped for to encircle her own?"

"Oh, exceedingly well—with that best of