The grand duchess had hardly more to say for herself than the grand
duke, and her manner was less calculated to please her visitors. That
which in the grand duke was evidently shyness and want of ready wit,
took in the grand duchess the appearance of _hauteur_ and the distant
manner due to pride. She was a sister of the king of Naples, and was
liked by no one. The one truly affable member of the court circle,
whose manner and bearing really had something of royal grace and
graciousness, was the dowager grand duchess, the widow of the late
grand duke, who to all outward appearance was as young as, and a far
more elegant-looking woman than, the reigning grand duchess. She had
been a princess of the royal family of Saxony, and was no doubt in all
respects, intellectual and moral as well as social, a far more highly
cultivated woman than the scion of the Bourbon House of Naples. She
was the late grand duke's second wife, and not the mother of the
reigning duke.
Why were all these balls given--at no small cost of money and
trouble--by the grand duke and duchess? Why did his Serene Imperial
and Royal Highness intimate to the English minister his wish that
every traveling Briton from Capel Court or Bloomsbury should be
brought to share his hospitality and the pleasures of his society? The
matter was simply this: His Serene Highness was venturing a small fish
to catch a large one.
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