finished gentlemen of his court, he took me affectionately by the
hand, and congratulating me on my good fortune, he led me to Theresa
who was seated behind her companions. Occupied as I was with my own
happiness, and with the necessity of immediately expressing my
gratitude both to Theresa and the King, I could not avoid being
struck by the dreadful paleness of her agitated countenance which
contrasted frightfully with her brilliant attire; for I now saw her
for the first time out of mourning for Lady Wriothesly. When I
entreated her to confirm by words the happy tidings I had learned
from his Majesty, who had again returned to the enlivening society of
his noble buffoon, she spoke with an unfaltering voice, but in a tone
of such deep dejection, and with a fixed look of such sorrowful
resolution that I could scarcely refrain, even in that splendid
assemblage, from throwing myself at her feet, and imploring her to
tell me whether her consent had not been obtained by an undue
exertion of the royal authority. But there was always in Theresa an
apparent dread of every cause of emotion and excitement, which made
me feel that a wilful disturbance of her calm serenity would be
sacrilege.

"During the short period intervening between her consent and our
marriage, which by the command of the king, was unnecessarily and
even indecorously hastened, these doubts, these fears, constantly
recurred to my mind whenever I found myself in the presence of
Theresa, but during my absence I listened to nothing but the
flattering insinuations of my own heart, and I succeeded in persuading
myself that her coldness arose solely from maidenly reserve, and from
the annoyance of being too much the object of public attention. I
remembered the sweetness of her manner, when one day in reply to
some fond anticipation of my future happiness, she assured me,