"How about my lord with the rose?"

"I like him."

"Oh, impressionable youth! 'thou art the gilded sand from which the
kiss of a wave washes every impress.' Tune thy myriad atoms to imitate
the rock, and gird thyself with strength to meet the battery of
onrushing breakers that grind against thee! Be careful, my Lambkin,
fall not in love with the first handsome face thou seest." The music
ceased; there was naught of sound, but a babble of voice and soft, gay
laughter. The guests passed up the grand stairway, and between the
pillars that guarded the entrance to the vaulted gallery beyond.
Immediately beneath, where Katherine and her nurse sat, were Constance
and her Mephistophelian consort. The former was saying:

"And thou dost say she is extremely beautiful? In what particular is
this queen of thine so entrancing, is it in face or form?"

"Her face is divine, and her form ravishes one with delight."

"She is indeed fortunate to be such a goddess. If she is a
lady-in-waiting to the Royal suite she will depart to-morrow!" and
there was relief in the supposition. Constance continued: "I saw my
kinsman's list of invitation, and among them all there was not one
fitting thy description of this paragon, Adrian!"

"She had the bearing of a princess; she must be a person of note!"

"Adrian,"--and she grasped his arm tightly,--"dost think, thou knowing