_Dec. 10._--Mrs. Delany, upon her recovery,[227] had invited the general
and colonel to come to tea any evening. For them to be absent from the
Lodge was contrary to all known rules; but the colonel vowed he would
let the matter be tried, and take its course. Mrs. Delany hoped by this
means to bring the colonel into better humour with my desertion of the
teatable, and to reconcile him to an innovation of which he then must
become a partaker.
On the day when this grand experiment was to be made, that we might not
seem all to have eloped clandestinely, in case of inquiry, I previously
made known to the queen my own intention, and had her permission for
my visit. But the gentlemen, determining to build upon the chance of
returning before they were missed, gave no notice of their scheme, but
followed me to Mrs. Delany's as soon as they quitted their own table.
I had sent to speak with General Bude in the morning, and then arranged
the party: he proposed that the colonel and himself should esquire
me, but I did not dare march forth in such bold defiance; I told him,
therefore, I must go in a chair.
Mrs. Delany received us with her usual sweetness. We then began amusing
ourselves with surmises of the manner in which we should all be
missed, if our rooms were visited in our absence; and the colonel, in
particular, drew several scenes, highly diverting, of what he supposed
would pass,--of the king's surprise and incredulity, of the hunting
up and down of the house in search of him, and of the orders issued
throughout the house to examine to what bed-post he had hanged
himself,--for nothing less than such an act of desperation could give
courage to an equerry to be absent without leave!
Further conjectures were still starting, and all were engaged in aiding
them and enjoying them, when suddenly a violent knocking at the door was
followed by the most unexpected entrance of the Queen and the Princess
Amelia!
Universal was the start, and most instantaneous and solemn the silence!
I felt almost guilty, though not for myself: my own invariable method of
avowing all my proceedings saved me from the smallest embarrassment on
my own account in this meeting; but I was ashamed to appear the leader
in a walk so new as that of leaving the Lodge in an evening, and to
have induced any others to follow my example. The queen looked extremely
surprised, but not at me, whom she knew she should encounter; and the
two gentlemen hardly could settle whether to make humble explanations,
or frank ridicule, of the situation in which they were caught. The
queen, however, immediately put them at their ease, speaking to them
with marked civility, and evidently desirous not to mar what she found
intended as a private frolic, by any fears of her disapprobation.
She did not stay long, and they soon followed her to the Lodge. I also
returned, and at night the queen owned to me, but very good-humouredly,
that she had never been more astonished than at sight of the equerries
that evening, and asked me how it came to pass.
“Mrs. Delany, ma'am,” I answered, “as she had taken away their
tea-maker, thought she could do no less than offer them tea for once at
her own table.”
And here the matter rested. But the enterprise has never been repeated.