Her Royal Lover: A Novel — page 246: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

238 | HER ROYAL LOVER. of the complexion, which is still not as blotched as _ that of the old empress. On the other side of the empress is the Princess Aline of Thessaly, dressed as modestly as genteelly ; the sight of her gladdens the heart, her presence is a pleasure. How much grace! how much gentle- ness upon this smooth white brow! She advances, simply and sadly as if already in her life scarcely begun, some serious and profound griefs had incum- bered its course; a fresh and fragrant bud, scarcely opened, she droops meditatively on her long flexible stem. Of what is this young heart thinking? What awaits, then, in her life to come, this delicious flower? At last, in the rear, the other royal personages ar- rive, the Prince and Princess of Babylon, the Prince and Princess of Delhi, then some petty king's and princelings of no consequence; then, the youngest of the Princesses of Thessaly, and the hereditary prince. The cortege sets out, the master of ceremonies, at the head, opens the march, and they silently and religiously proceed to the chapel of the chateau. What different impressions those ceremonies gave, consummated on the same day and in the same place! That of the morning, gloomy, almost lugubrious, performed in secret, some assistants merely as witnesses, executed to the rumbling of thunder, the flashes of lightning, in this chapel empty all except this little group of eight persons, trembling like malefactors before the altar; while that of this evening proclaimed gayety and bril- liancy, resounded with a perfect harmony of joy and love. | At this hour all is bustle, animation, going and Eomicbooks..co m