talk about other people."

We all laughed, and Frances inquired, "Will your Grace kindly tell us
whom we may abuse and whom praise?"

"Oh, abuse anybody--everybody. Praise only the very young, the very old
and the halt; abuse all able-bodied adults, and laugh at any one in whom
you see anything amusing," answered the duchess.

"Not the king and--" laughed Frances.

"The king!" interrupted her Grace, with a tone of contempt in her voice.
"Every one laughs at him. He's the butt of the court. Do you know his
nickname?"

"No," returned Frances.

"Yes, yes," interrupted Lady Wentworth, laughing nervously. She did not
want to be left out of the conversation entirely, so she chimed in
irrelevantly.

"We call him Old Rowley in honor of the oldest, wickedest horse in the
royal mews," said the duchess, laughing. "You need not restrain yourself.
Soon every one at court will be talking about you, the men praising your
beauty, and insinuating ugly stories about your character, and the women
wondering how any one can admire your doll's face or find any wit in what
you say. Remember that the ordinary rule of law that one is deemed
innocent until proved guilty is reversed in Whitehall. Here one is deemed
guilty till one proves one's self innocent, and that is a difficult task.
Ah, my! It has been many a day since we have had any convincing proof!