s a most studied and respectful homage,--hers a
haughty, but condescending, acceptance of it; and yet, with all this,
there was that in those around that seemed to say, "This man is more
master here than any of us." He did not speak long with the Princess,
but, respectfully yielding his place to a later arrival, fell back into
the crowd, and soon after took a seat beside one of the very few ladies
who graced the reception. In all, they were very few, we are bound to
acknowledge; for although La Sabloukoff was received at court and all
the embassies, they who felt, or affected to feel, any strictness on the
score of morals avoided rather than sought her intimacy.

She covered over what might have seemed this disparagement of her
conduct, by always seeking the society of men, as though their hardy and
vigorous intellects were more in unison with her own than the graceful
attributes of the softer sex; and in this tone did the few lady friends
she possessed appear also to concur. It was their pride to discuss
matters of state and politics; and whenever they condescended to more
trifling themes, they treated them with a degree of candor and in a
spirit that allowed men to speak as unreservedly as though no ladies
were present.

Let us be forgiven for prolixity, since we are speaking less of
individuals than of a school,--a school, too, on the increase, and
one whose results will be more widely felt than many are disposed to
believe.

As the evening wore on, the guests bartered the news and _bons mots_;
scraps of letters from royal hands were read; epigrams from illustrious
characters repeated; racy bits of courtly scandal were related; and
shrewd explanations hazarded as to how this was to turn out, and that
was to end. It was a very strange language they talked,--so much seemed
left for inference, so much seemed left to surmise. There was a shadowy
indistinctness, as it were, over all; and yet their manner showed a
perfect and thorough appreciation of whatever went forward. Through all
this treatment of great questions, one striking feature pre-eminently
displayed itself,--a keen appreciation of how much the individual
characters, the passions, the prejudices, the very caprices of men in
power modified the acts of their governments; and thus you constantly
heard such remarks as, "If the Duke of Wellington disliked the Emperor
less; or, so long as Metternich has such an attachment to the Queen
Dowager; when we get over Ca