lights, and the excellent
dinner, all went towards the making of a very delightful evening indeed.

[Illustration: THE ORDEAL.]

A little later on that night--and dinner upon this occasion was
specially early--His Excellency held a "Drawing room." The scene upon
this occasion was particularly brilliant; the long perspectives, the
subdued lighting of the rooms, and the artistic grouping of rare exotics
and most exquisite plants and flowers constituting a _tout ensemble_,
the beauty of which will never fade from my memory. The ceremony itself
was a singularly stately and graceful one. His Excellency, clad in Court
dress, stood in the middle of the throne room, surrounded by the great
officers of State in their robes of office. The _aides-de-camp_ stood in
a semicircle between the doorway and the dais. The first ladies to be
presented were His Excellency's own sisters. It was specially
interesting to notice the entry of the _debutantes_, many of whom were
very beautiful, and almost all of whom were very graceful. Each young
girl carried her train, properly arranged, upon her left arm during her
progress through the corridor, drawing-room, and ante-room, until she
passed the barrier and reached the entrance to the presence chamber;
there a slight touch from the first A.D.C. in waiting released it from
her arm, and two ushers, who were standing opposite, spread it carefully
upon the floor. I noticed that the A.D.C. was careful not to let the
ladies follow one another too quickly, which was evidently a trial to
some of them. At the right moment he would take the card which each lady
bore in her hand, pass it on to the semicircle of _aides_ who stood
within the room, who in their turn passed it on to the Chamberlain, who
stood at the Lord Lieutenant's right hand. He having received it, then
read it aloud, and presented her to the Viceroy. The Viceroy took her by
the right hand, which was always ungloved, kissed her lightly on the
cheek, whilst the lady curtsied low to him; then, gracefully backing,
she retired, always with her face to the dais, from the Vice-Regal
presence. The gentlemen attending the drawing room were not, of course,
presented. They simply passed through the throne room, several at a
time, bowing two or three times to the Viceroy, and so joined their
party waiting for them in the long gallery.

At the end of the "Drawing room," the Lord Lieutenant and the ladies and
gentlemen of the household, and some of