afterwards paid her a visit there; and at two o'clock had luncheon with her
and the Duchess of Kent. In the afternoon they all rode--the Queen and
Duchess and the two Princes, with Lord Melbourne and most of the ladies and
gentlemen in attendance, forming a large cavalcade. There was a great
dinner every evening, with a dance after it, three times a week."
[Footnote: "Early Years of the Prince Consort."] Surely an ideal palace
life for the young--born to the Stately conditions, bright with all the
freshness of body and sparkle of spirit, unexhausted, undimmed by years and
care. Surely a fair field for true love to cast off its wilful shackles,
and be rid of its half-cherished misunderstandings, to assert itself master
of the situation. And so in five days, while King Leopold was still writing
wary recommendations and temperate praise, the prize which had been deemed
lost was won, and the Queen who had foredoomed herself to years of maidenly
toying with happiness and fruitless waiting, was ready to announce her
speedy marriage, with loyal satisfaction and innocent fearlessness, to her
servants in council.

At the time, and for long afterwards, there were many wonderful little
stories, doubtless fanciful enough, but all taking colour from the one
charming fact of the royal lovers. How the Queen, whose place it was to
choose, had with maidenly grace made known her worthy choice at one of
these palace "dances," in which she had waltzed with her Prince, and
subsided from the liege lady into the loving woman. She had presented him
with her bouquet in a most marked and significant manner. He had accepted
it with the fullest and most becoming sense of the distinction conferred
upon him, and had sought to bestow her token in a manner which should prove
his devotion and gratitude. But his tight-fitting foreign uniform had
threatened to baffle his desire, till, in the exigency of the moment, he
took out a pocket-knife (or was it his sword from its sheath?) and cut a
slit in the breast of his coat on the left side, over the heart, where he