Several times a tingle of wrath came over me, and I could not resist
the thought, that had I been in the place of the poor Earl when my
lady hung so rolickingly on the arm of Secretary Bolt, and sailed with
such an affected youthfulness through the grand hall, to the no small
danger of all muslin dresses in the way, my crutch had served as a
means to separate them. The old man, with weeping eyes, would now
finger his bandanna and resume his crutch. And then Samuel, in the
full blaze of his livery, would stand conspicuously at the grand
entrance, and ere her highness's head loomed out at the top of the
great stairs, announced her coming in a voice that seemed to strike
dismay into all unliveried bystanders.'
"One thing Secretary Bolt would, do that always displeased me, as did
everything that tended to lower the dignity of the corps. It was
this:--My lady loved dearly her drives in the park, and took them
nearly every day, at the most fashionable hour of five. Bolt, in cloth
exquisite, had always his seat at her side, where his special office
seemed that of nursing her favorite poodle and smoothing the Earl, who
on the front seat sat with icy straightness, all over with cheap
compliments.
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