Mademoiselle de la Garde and Mademoiselle Bardou, all maids of honour,
as it pleased God.

Miss Bellenden was no beauty, but was a good-natured girl, whose chief
merit consisted in being plump and fresh-coloured; and who, not having a
sufficient stock of wit to be a coquette in form, used all her endeavours
to please every person by her complaisance. Mademoiselle de la Garde,
and Mademoiselle Bardou, both French, had been preferred to their places
by the queen dowager: the first was a little brunette, who was
continually meddling in the affairs of her companions; and the other by
all means claimed the rank of a maid of honour, though she only lodged
with the others, and both her title and services were constantly
contested.

It was hardly possible for a woman to be more ugly, with so fine a shape;
but as a recompense, her ugliness was set off with every art. The use
she was put to, was to dance with Flamarens, and sometimes, towards the
conclusion of a ball, possessed of castanets and effrontery, she would
dance some figured saraband or other, which amused the court. Let us now
see in what manner this ended.

As Miss Stewart was very seldom in waiting on the queen, she was scarcely
considered as a maid of honour: the others went off almost at the same
time, by different adventures; and this is the history of Miss Warmestre,
whom we have before mentioned, when speaking of the Chevalier de
Grammont.

Lord Taaffe, eldest son of the Earl of Carlingford, was supposed to be
in love with her; and Miss Warmestre not only imagined it was so, but
likewise persuaded herself that he would not fail to marry her the first