LADY BLOOMFIELD. 221 of-honor, "be as kind, as obliging, and as agreeable as possible, but have no confidence in any one, and avoid intimacies^ The lady who wrote this prudent letter was the mother of several daughters, and the reader will not be surprised to learn that they made great matches, and enjoyed a good- share of the good things that were going in England in their day. Fortified with this letter of advice the young maid-of- honor entered upon her duties with some confidence and more trepidation. She arrived at "Windsor Castle late in the afternoon of January 20, 1842, and was happy to find that she was to have a nice warm parlor and bedroom, with a piano, as well as a share of a large drawing-room down stairs, in which to receive her friends. A lady of the court came to her bringing her the badge of her office, which was the miniature of the queen surrounded i>y diamonds and placed upon a bow of red ribbon. When the dinner hour approached, she took her place with her comrades near the door of the queen's room, and waited for her coming. When the queen appeared, who was then little more than twenty years of age, the lady-in- waiting presented the new maid-of-honor, who thanked the queen for her appointment, and kissed her hand, as all persons do on their appointment to similar posts. The queen asked concerning her family, after which they all went into dinner, the queen continuing to talk to her new maid about her journey, and her friends. After dinner, as the family was alone, the queen, Prince Albert and some of the ladies sat down at a round game of cards, playing for very small stakes. The stakes were indeed so small that our maid-of-honor, after playing a long time, would find herself the winner of three or four pence. The whole court were obliged to keep on hand a supply of new coins, such as shillings, sixpences, and 14
