"I'm sure I think myself so," said Juliana.
"I'm a very bad judge," remarked the hostess. "I often say to myself, 'It's very well we are not all of one mind. What suits one person wouldn't suit another.'"
"It's very clear I don't suit your fancy, good dame," cried Charles, laughing.
Here they were interrupted by the entrance of the rest of the party, and they all on the king's invitation sat down to the repast—Juliana, of course, being seated beside his majesty, and receiving particular attentions from him.
Careless sat on the other side of the young damsel, who did not seem displeased to have him near her, but chatted with him very gaily. And the hostess subsequently remarked to Harry Peters, who had assisted her to wait on the company:
"I shouldn't have been surprised if that lovely creature had run away with the gallant-looking Cavalier on her right, and I almost think she prefers him to the accepted suitor. It's not too late yet for her to change her mind."
"Oh! yes, it is a great deal too late," rejoined Harry Peters. "Take care you don't put such whims into her head."
"Not I, i'faith!" she rejoined. "But I'm pretty sure I'm right."
Later in the evening, the hostess was confirmed in her opinion when Careless and Juliana walked out into the little garden at the back of the house. She could not help listening to their conversation, and heard the Cavalier say, in very tender accents, as it seemed to her:
"I must now bid you farewell! Fate seems resolved to separate us—but I hope we shall meet again. I will not ask you to be constant to me."