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", all we can do is to amuse ourselves," exclaimed the Comtesse de Soissons, as she leant back in the large arm-chair in her dressing-room that-night. "All my uncle's fine matrimonial projects are vanished into thin air. I see that his Britannic Majesty will not marry Hortense—I see that Hortense will marry Meilleraye. Business before pleasure, I am ready to grant; but when there is none, il faut s'amuser."

"We will do our best," replied Francesca; "but I fear, to use a national proverb, you must take the will for the deed."

"I shall take no such thing," returned Marie; "for here the will and the deed rest with myself, and I am one with whom they always go together."

"You are fortunate."