Page:Romance & Reality 1.pdf/307

Rh She thought not of weeping; yet a world of tears was now at her heart. "Oh, join us!" said Lady Mandeville, as a flourish of trumpets announced that the refreshment-room was thrown open. Adelaide and Lorraine came up at the same moment; Lord Merton sprang from his seat with all the agility of expectation; and in a few moments they were seated at one of the tables, in a tent whose scarlet and gold were worthy of Tippoo Saib, and whose size emulated that given by the fairy to her princely lover. How mistaken is the phrase, "every delicacy of the season"—they mean out of season. Grapes are ripe at the same time as strawberries, and peaches come in with the crocuses. A breakfast à la fourchette is the "chartered libertine" of gastronomy—one eats ice, another soup, and a pâté à la financier rivals its neighbour pine-apple. "What with their tents, turbans, coffee, and fountains, all signs du meilleur goût, I think the Turks a most refined people," said Lady Mandeville. "if it ever be my sorrowful destiny to enact the Ephesian, I shall set off for Constantinople—try the effect of mes beaux