"I can understand the restraints of the service, but I cannot abide the shallow and hackneyed usages of society."
It seemed to Charters that her little hand pressed his arm rather palpably at that moment, and she whispered—
"If seen here—if known—"
"By whom?" asked Charters, hastily. "You have no husband, I hope?"
"No—nor lover—none here at least," replied the lady, laughing, as she threw off her white silk capuchin or hood, and then Charters saw quite enough of fair ringlets, and a neck and shoulders of great beauty and wondrous delicacy, to remove any scruples or fears which had occurred to him. He was in for an adventure now, and felt himself compelled to go through with it. A retreat was not to be thought of.
"By what name am I to have the honour of addressing you?" asked Charters, in a half-whisper, as they sat down to supper, with the German valet in close attendance, and in a snug little room in that portion of the palace which had been built by the Lord Chancellor Finch. It was panelled and richly gilded, and from the walls one or two dark Holbeins looked grimly down upon their tête-à-tête. "Pray tell me, madam," he urged; "for I am dying of curiosity."
"Call me Sophia," said the lady, looking down for a moment, and then bending her bright eyes on him smilingly; "and you?" she inquired.
"I am Lieutenant Charters, of the 1st Dragoon Guards," replied the other. "Sophia?" he repeated, in a soft, low voice, as he mentally ran over all the names of the female members of the royal family, for he concluded that his new friend must be a princess at least. Thus some very wild ideas began to float through his busy brain; but at that moment he could remember no Sophia among all the ladies who were about the Court.
Amid all the rings that glittered on her hand—and a beautiful little hand it was—he could see no plain marriage hoop; so his mind felt considerably relieved on that score. The valet in attendance wore the royal livery; but an earl's coronet and the letter Y were on all the plate, and graven somewhat ostentatiously, too.
Though some years his senior, this lady, by the charm of her manner, her wit, and conversation, bewildered Charters so much, that in less than an hour he was desperately in love with her; but she seemed resolved to preserve her incognita, and they separated, with an arrangement, however, to meet next day in Hyde Park, at an early hour, and before it was thronged by promenaders.