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Myra Gray, Or, Sown in Tears, Reaped in Joy (1); A Novel
Myra Gray Or Sown in Tears Reaped in Joy A Novel - 1 Author:Charles Clarke Volume: 1 General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1870 Original Publisher: Chapman and Hall Subjects: History / General Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial ... more »access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER V. A Dame D'honneur Of A Grand Duchess. | T was the beginning of winter, and sleighing had not yet commenced in Schlagstein, though it was cold enough for anything. Madame de Horsemann sat by an open stove, the nearest approach to an English grate to be found in the country, and amused herself with a French novel, an early production of a talented but not over-scrupulous pen, and some work. The work was peculiar of its kind. The old lady was making a rug. She was fixing with considerable care loose and variously coloured strips of cloth upon a string, which strings she afterward joined together and clipped to an even length. An interested spectator of this work, or apparently so, was a fair, handsome man, in the regimental dress of a Rittmeister. His breast stood out with apoplectic fulness to the maximum of cloth, his waist was drawn tightly to its minimum of sword-belt. He bent deprecatingly or inquiringly over the pleasant-looking old lady and her colours, with a view to assisting in an emergency, should one arise. The Baron von Rottenberg stood six feet in his stockings, weighed thirteen stone eight, was a likely man among the ladies, and not certainly given to watching a Penelope now bordering upon seventy. But he knew his own business best, and had not come to the palace for nothing. " And the day is not yet fixed for the bal masque, madame?" " Not yet, Monsieur von Rottenberg; but you will know in time. You will have your cards as early as possible." "Ah! I'm glad of it; as my sister passes through Paris, ...« less