one of the small German principalities. She had entered the room about the same moment with me; and comprehending the situation at once, and knowing that I spoke English, while the queen did not, she turned to me and said, "Why does not the queen sit down, so that we may all be seated?" Upon receiving from me a hint in our native language, the queen complied with this wish, and we were all soon at our ease. Then there entered several gentlemen of royal blood,—the King of Hanover, and princes and princesses of European countries,—and we adjourned to the grand reception room. We were ushered into a large hall, well filled with ladies of rank, and all of them most magnificently dressed to do honor to the occasion.
It would seem that each of these had brought out the family heirlooms in precious stones. There were duchesses with shining tiaras, marchionesses with coronets of flashing stones, noble ladies with costly necklaces or emerald ear-drops, little women who seemed almost bowed down under lofty circlets of diamonds over their brows, tall women bearing proudly off their adornment of stones of priceless value. I have never seen such a grand display of valuable gems in my life. There was such a profusion of brilliant and handsome jewels before my eyes, that to compute its worth would be to lose one’s self in a maze of confusing calculation. Yet there was amidst the shining throng one young lady, tall and of commanding presence, whose sole ornament was a single glittering star fixed in her hair. It shone forth more brightly, attracted my gaze more quickly, and its elegant simplicity excited my
