She received him in the Empire drawing room--very stiff and stately in its appointments.

It had the charm (and the intrinsic value) of a museum; it was as cosy as a room (under present arrangements) at Versailles.

The great wood fire alone redeemed it from artistic bleakness.

Tea was brought in by portentous, powdered footmen in scarlet and gold.

She was very much the princess; the princess in her state apartments, a different personage from the pretty woman in a boudoir.