I am, truly yours, CATHARINE RIBBLESDALE & SCARSWICKE. The reference in this note was to a Reception, to which, according to her wont, the Duchess had already sent out cards of invitation to everyone who had apartments in the Palace. The Duchess’s epistolary labours, however, were not yet concluded. She had still another letter to write, which it will be necessary to lay before the reader. H. C., _Tuesday Evening_. MY DEAREST BOY, I heartily congratulate you on the unlooked-for recovery of your noble young friend. It is really quite a romance, and I shall be anxious to make his acquaintance and learn all the particulars of his story. I have a little scheme in my head, and shall count on your assistance to carry it out. You must _insist_ upon Mr. Manwaring coming to my reception on Thursday evening. Tell him that, when he arrives, he will be shown into the Book Room, as I want to speak to him before I present him to the company, and that I shall expect him to appear in _uniform_, and to wear his Victoria Cross. I shall depend upon _that_. He will meet his sister, who has just written to demand an interview with my Grace, and she is coming in after dinner, no doubt to tell me all the particulars which you have been cruel enough to forestall. And now, my dear son, I do beg you will try _by all the means in your power_ to get Colonel Hawkins to come to me on Friday evening, and to bring the Commission with him. I want him to assist at a grand _Tableau Vivant_, and I don’t think he will refuse my particular request and _yours_; for though I have not seen him for years, he was under obligations to your father. Please come early yourself, for I want you to receive and make yourself agreeable to my guests, until such time as I choose to make my solemn entry. You see I am becoming a schemer in my old age. Now I must go and get ready for dinner, which I sincerely hope I may be able to eat in peace, without receiving or having to answer any more letters. Your most loving mother, CATHARINE R. & S. CHAPTER XXVII. THE DUCHESS’S GRAND TABLEAU VIVANT.