And, as a result, there were queer passages and many
unexpected recesses. The furniture was as varied as the building; and
the tapestries and pictures and frescoes were rather famous. The
grounds, however, were the main attraction; they covered twenty acres
and were maintained exactly as originally laid out by a famous Italian
landscape artist--with immense trees and huge hedges and narrow walks
and wonderful vistas.
The Marquise de Vierle welcomed her guests alone in one of the small
reception rooms; everyone entering singly and unmasking--she, herself,
being as yet, in ordinary evening dress. She was a very handsome
woman, much younger than the Marquis, and of the very oldest French
Aristocracy--a _grande dame_ in bearing as well as in birth.
"Your Royal Highness does us great honor," she said, as I bowed over
her hand.
I answered her in suit, and we tossed the usual number of compliments
back and forth.
"Whom shall we bid join you at supper?" she asked.
"My dear Marquise," I protested, "you have your personal party
selected--doubtless invited; and my unexpected coming must not break
your arrangements. Let me wander about, and pay no more regard to me
than to your most ordinary guest.
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