The divinity for whose sake this temple had been decorated was well

worthy the cost and pains which had been bestowed. She was seated in the

withdrawing-room which we have described, surveying with the pleased eye

of natural and innocent vanity the splendour which had been so suddenly

created, as it were, in her honour. For, as her own residence at Cumnor

Place formed the cause of the mystery observed in all the preparations

for opening these apartments, it was sedulously arranged that, until she

took possession of them, she should have no means of knowing what was

going forward in that part of the ancient building, or of exposing

herself to be seen by the workmen engaged in the decorations. She had

been, therefore, introduced on that evening to a part of the mansion

which she had never yet seen, so different from all the rest that it

appeared, in comparison, like an enchanted palace. And when she first

examined and occupied these splendid rooms, it was with the wild and

unrestrained joy of a rustic beauty who finds herself suddenly invested

with a splendour which her most extravagant wishes had never imagined,

and at the same time with the keen feeling of an affectionate heart,

which knows that all the enchantment that surrounds her is the work of

the great magician Love.

The Countess Amy, therefore--for to that rank she was exalted by her

private but solemn union with England's proudest Earl--had for a time

flitted hastily from room to room, admiring each new proof of her lover

and her bridegroom's taste, and feeling that admiration enhanced as

she recollected that all she gazed upon was one continued proof of his

ardent and devoted affection. "How beautiful are these hangings! How

natural these paintings, which seem to contend with life! How richly

wrought is that plate, which looks as if all the galleons of Spain had

been intercepted on the broad seas to furnish it forth! And oh, Janet!"

she exclaimed repeatedly to the daughter of Anthony Foster, the close

attendant, who, with equal curiosity, but somewhat less ecstatic

joy, followed on her mistress's footsteps--"oh, Janet! how much more

delightful to think that all these fair things have been assembled by

his love, for the love of me! and that this evening--this very evening,

which grows darker every instant, I shall thank him more for the love

that has created such an unimaginable paradise, than for all the wonders

it contains."

"The Lord is to be thanked first," said the pretty Puritan, "who gave

thee, lady, the kind and courteous husband whose love has done so much

for thee. I, too, have done my poor share. But if you thus run wildly

from room to room, the toil of my crisping and my curling pins will

vanish like the frost-work on the window when the sun is high."




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