Page:Legends of Rubezahl, and Other Tales (1845).djvu/251

 worthy Bishop spoke so highly of Lucretia to the Empress, that she expressed a desire to have the young beauty as one of her maids of honour. Now as Henry’s court was far from being a model of correctness, the anxious mother would have willingly, with all due thanks and respect, declined this honour; but her Majesty insisted still the more, and the Bishop supporting the request with his influence, she at length gave way. The fair Lucretia was accordingly sent to Court, furnished with a splendid wardrobe, and received in charge from the Empress her work-box, with the additional privilege, in common with five other young ladies of quality, of bearing on gala days her Majesty’s train. Whenever she made her appearance, every eye was fixed upon her; and it was soon unanimously voted by the courtiers that she was, beyond any comparison, the loveliest lady of the Court.

Every day was a festival, and the round of ever-varying pleasures, contrasting so forcibly with the retired life she had led at home, perfectly enchanted Lucretia. Besides her salary as Work-Box Lady, our maid of honour’s tender parent set aside for her as pocket-money the revenue arising from sixty golden eggs, so that not a wish of her heart, as far as finery went, remained ungratified; and as to love, it had not yet found a place in her young heart. All her thoughts were upon balls and drawing-rooms, and