Come, and I will show you your bride."
She placed her arm in his, and drew him away. Her eye gleamed with a
wild, menacing light, and she said sneeringly to herself, "I have
selected a rich husband for my beautiful Laura, and have bartered my
soul for diamonds and cashmeres, and the gratitude of an empress."
CHAPTER II.
THE QUEEN'S MAID OF HONOR.
After her interview with Count Manteuffel, the queen Sophia Dorothea
left the garden, and retired to her chamber. She dismissed her maids
of honor for a few hours, requesting them to admit no one to her
presence. She wished to consider and develop her plans in
undisturbed quiet. She felt that Austria was again prepared to throw
obstacles in the way of her favorite project--an English marriage
for one of her children. She wished to sharpen her weapons, and
marshal her forces for the approaching combat.
For a few hours, therefore, the maids of honor were free to follow
their own inclinations, to amuse themselves as they thought fit.
Laura von Pannewitz had declined accompanying the other ladies in
their drive. Her heart required solitude and rest. For her it was a
rare and great pleasure to listen in undisturbed quiet to the sweet
voices which whispered in her heart, and suffused her whole being
with delight.
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