onable-looking man, with a
dark olive complexion, and a short black moustache. He wore in the
button-hole of his blue coat the ribbon of St. Louis. The Count de
Grammont, for such he was, was an _emigre_ noble, who, attached to the
fortunes of the Bourbons, had resided for some years in London, and
who, in the double capacity of adviser of my father and admirer of my
lady-mother, obtained a considerable share of influence in the family
and a seat at its councils.

At a little distance from the rest, and apparently engaged with her
embroidery, sat a very beautiful girl, whose dark hair and long lashes
deepened the seeming paleness of features a Greek sculptor might have
copied. While nothing could be more perfect than the calm loveliness of
her face and the delicate pencilling of her slightly-arched eyebrows,
an accurate observer could detect that her tremulous lip occasionally
curled with a passing expression of half scorn, as from time to time
she turned her eyes towards each speaker in turn, while she herself
maintained a perfect silence. My cousin, Lady Julia Egerton, had indeed
but that one fault: shall I venture to call by so harsh a name that
spirit of gentle malice which loved to look for the ludicrous features
of everything around her, and inclined her to indulge what the French
call the "_esprit moqueur_" even on occasions where her own feelings
were interested?

The last figure of the group was a stripling of some nineteen years,
who, in the uniform of the Guards, was endeavouring to seem perfectly
easy and unconcerned, while it was evident that his sword-knot divided
his attention with some secret thoughts that rendered him anxious and
excited: this was Myself!

A silence of some moments was at length broken by my mother, who, with
a kind of sigh Miss O'Neill was fond of, turned towards the Count, and
said,

"Do confess, Count, we were all most stupid to-day. Never did a dinner
go off so heavily. But it's always the penalty one pays for a royal
Duke. _A propos_, General, what did he say of Jack's appointment?"

"Nothing could be more kind, nothing more generous than his Royal
Highness. The very first thing he did in the room was to place this
despatch in my hands. This, Jack," said my father, turning to me, "this
is your appointment as an extra aide-de-camp."

"Very proper indeed," interposed my mother; "I am very happy to think
you'll be about the Court. Windsor, to be sure, is stupid."

"He is not