Fontainebleau, as its liege Lady, to be hailed and welcomed by the goodly
throng of Eton lads--those gay and gallant attendants on royal Windsor
pageants--to pass through these halls as their mistress, and fairly
recognise that all the noble surroundings were hers, with all England, all
Britain and many a great dependency and colony on which the sun never
sets--hers to rule over, hers to bless if she would?

At the review, in compliment to her soldiers whom she saw marshalled in
their disciplined masses, and saluting her as the Captain of their
Captains--even of Wellington himself--the Queen wore a half-military
dress--a tight jacket with deep lappels, the blue riband of the Garter
across one shoulder, and its jewelled star upon her breast, a stocklike
black neckerchief in stiff folds holding up the round throat, and on the
head--hiding nearly all the fair hair--a round, high, flatcap with a broad
black "snout"; beneath it the soft, open, girlish face, with its
single-hearted dignity.

In this month of September the Queen heard that her sister-queen and girl
friend, Donna Maria da Gloria, had received consolation for the troubles of
her kingdom in becoming the youthful mother of a son and heir, Prince
Ferdinand of Portugal.

By November the Court was back at Buckingham Palace, and on the 9th the
Queen paid her first visit to the City of London, which received her with
magnificent hospitality.

Long before the hour appointed for her Majesty's departure for Guildhall,
all the approaches to the palace and the park itself presented dense crowds
of holiday folks. At two o'clock the first carriage of the procession
emerged from the triumphal arch, and in due time came the royal State