CHAPTER XXV. The trumpets sound; stand close, the Queen is coming! Shakespeare. THE Fairy Bower had abundantly attracted the notice of the elder part of the company. Every body was full of admiration it was visited and inspected, the flowers examined, and the whole pronounced elegantly devised and executed. A party of the seniors were talking it over in the drawing-room the beginning of the evening, and it was mentioned as entirely the work of the young people—the idea only suggested the night before. It did indeed seem incredible; but a dozen pair of hands, more or less willing, can sometimes effect wonders. Lord and Lady Musgrove were especially pleased, and the latter asked if it was Emily's notion. She was told, No-her cousin Mary Anne Duff's, who was staying in the house. "Oh," said Lady Musgrove, "I have been looking at the Duffs; they are fine girls, and our Isabella has taken a great fancy to one-is that Mary Anne?" Miss Newmarsh said she rather thought not; she believed Constance was her favourite. Lady Musgrove said she should like to speak to them some time in the evening, especially to the young designer. 66 Well," said one of the gentlemen, "it really is a most tasteful plan, and I think the fair artiste should receive some honour at our hands-what do you say," said he, " to crowning her with her own flowers ?" It was thought a very pretty idea, and some of the party walked into the next room to arrange it. It was near the end of some game, and these gentlemen had a slight conference with Reginald Freemantle. He took to the idea immediately, and undertook the whole management. At a proper moment he stepped forward and made a loud flourish of trumpets, which was an art he excelled in, and having obtained silence, he made a proclamation, demanding in the name of the aristocracy of the other room, that Mary Anne, the fair artiste of the Fairy Bower, should be forthwith consigned to his hands; for it was the will and pleasure of the higher powers that more than the praise of words should be awarded to one so accomplished, and that he was the happy herald commissioned to proclaim, that she was to be crowned "Queen of the Fairy Bower," in the sight of the assembled multitude. He then summoned all, high and low, to witness the coronation of the Queen of the Fairy Bower, and ended by again demanding the fair Mary Anne to be brought forward. He then closed with his military flourish. Reginald's proclamation was sufficiently clear, yet no one stirred. Emily, Grace, and George were standing near together, as they were on the point of proposing some new arrangement. “Oh, Emily!" cried Grace, in a low voice, "then you did not speak to Mary Anne!" "No," said Emily, "she was gone down stairs, and I found them all waiting for me here." "Well," thought Grace," then it cannot be helped; we tried to do something-that is a comfort." Again came a flourish, and the herald called upon Emily, the lady of the revels, and her lady-in-waiting, the fair Grace, forthwith to conduct Mary Anne, the Queen of the Fairy Bower, to his presence. There was again a pause.-"Oh, Emily," whispered Grace, in great agitation, "what can we do? we must go!" "Grace," said Emily, decidedly, "I will not, whatever are the consequences. Poor Grace! all fell upon her-what could she do! After waiting due time, the herald repeated his summons. It was really a very solemn scene, and to the three individuals in question must have been, from different causes, a most exciting one. The consequences rushed across Grace's mind; she saw the whole transaction exposed, and Mary Anne publicly degraded, and without another thought she turned to George and asked him to take an answer from them, any thing he chose to say, and to ask permission to depute himself and Campbell to the office proposed for herself and Emily. George stepped forward, and in due form announced that he had the honour of bearing a message from the ladies Emily and Grace-that they begged to assure the herald it was no disrespect to the higher powers, that they had not immediately hastened to perform their commands; but that their feelings were so excited on the occasion of the unexampled honour, proposed to be conferred on their amiable friend, that they entreated to be allowed to name his unworthy self and his cousin Campbell, as deputies in their place. The herald highly commended the feelings of the young ladies, and assured them they would be equally appreciated by his illustrious employers. Here came another flourish of trumpets, and George withdrew in due form. He sought Campbell, and they conducted Mary Anne between them, across the room, before the herald.-" Fair maiden," said he, "the trumpet of Fame has announced to the puissant powers of the other room, that yon brilliant bower, commonly designated The Fairy Bower,' boasts its origin from the elegant stores of your mind, and is the child of your genius; say, fair maiden, does Fame speak truly ?" 6 Mary Anne said nothing; she hung her head and looked what is called foolish, but her manner and appearance was not any thing unusual, and excited no remark among either friends or strangers. Finding he got no answer, the herald continued, "Fair maiden, be assured we all respect your modesty and humility, nor shall they be disturbed by the rudeness of forms and of courts. Your maidenly silence shall be accepted as it is meant, and proclamation shall be issued accordingly." He then in due form announced that the fair Mary Anne, now before them, "is the true and sole architect of the Fairy Bower, and it is the sovereign will and pleasure of the puissant powers of the other room, that she shall forthwith be crowned Queen of the same: I therefore hereby cite the ladies before mentioned, Emily and Grace, and in the name of my illustrious employers command them, to prepare from the fairest of the wreaths of yon bower, a chaplet for the fair brows of the new Queen.". And here came another flourish. Grace again whispered to Emily, and Emily again refused to assist,- —“Oh, Emily!" cried Grace, much distressed," is it kind to me?" 66 "I don't know," replied the other, "but don't make me I shall throw the chaplet at her head; I cannot go, and so it's no use asking me." go, Grace moved mechanically towards the Bower, and asked one of the young gentlemen to cut her down a certain festoon, which was all white roses and buds. She then approached the group at the other end of the room.-" Obe dient maiden," said the herald, "in the name of my puissant employers, I greet you! and command you to weave the purest of chaplets, for the fair brows of the Queen of the Fairy Bower." Poor Grace with rather trembling, but not at all ungraceful hands, began to arrange the wreath she held in a suitable garland for the head, having possessed herself of the knife, which her knight, young Thompson, used in her service. As she began, the following words in a fine sonorous tone, dropped slowly from a voice which every one at once recognized as Mr. Everard's : Weave a chaplet, maiden mine, Keep the loveliest blossoms, Grace, This prompt and apt effusion had a most admirable, and to two of the party, a most startling effect. Grace was so amazed at almost every line, that she did not dare look up. She thought the whole transaction was betrayed to every creature, how Mr. Everard became acquainted with the history, was however to her a profound mystery. He must have known it some time she felt sure, for so many appropriate lines could never, she thought, have been unpremeditated-what was to come next was now her perplexity. With an outwardly composed demeanour, however, she placed her elegant little garland in the hands of the herald. During the ode, Mary Anne stood where she had been placed, and continued pretty still-only fidgeting now and then with her hands, in a way not quite befitting the candidate for a crown; but this was her usual manner. We have remarked she had not control of either body or mind in any great extent; and indeed, as is usual with those whose thoughts are very much on themselves, she felt most especially awkward when brought into more notice than usual, however much she desired, or as we may unhappily say with truth, coveted that sort of distinction. It is the most humble, generally speaking, who are the most self-possessed, and on whom distinction seems to fall naturally without puffing them up. It is doubtful if the unhappy circumstances of Mary Anne's present distinction at all affected her outward manner, or if at this moment they much even affected her mind. She was pleased, and in her sad way satisfied, at being publicly honoured. So blunted were her feelings by self, that she did not even perceive the drift of Mr. Everard's verses, which Grace thought so plain, that no one could mistake. Her mind was confused by vanity and the novelty of her situation; she thought all eyes were upon her, admiring her; and she took Mr. Everard's lines as entirely complimentary to herself; she did not perceive that herself was barely alluded to, and Grace was made much more prominent; nor did she guess, that every eye was fixed on Grace and the chaplet she was dexterously weaving, and that herself was quite secondary in the scene. Emily was the other individual to whom we alluded, as being amazed at the hints contained in Mr. Everard's effusion. No one else in the room observed them, which is not to be wondered at, as to the uninitiated they contain no more than a moral maxim clothed in poetical language. Many |