I don't know which was the finer sight, the scene in the ante-room under the huge rock-crystal chandeliers with their hundreds of wax tapers, or the scene at the crescent-shaped dining-table groaning beneath its rich services of the precious metals, fashioned by such gold-and-silversmiths as the Florentine, Cellini. In the former, the modest but self-reliant carriage of the men, who had made all Europe ring with the fame of their deeds, contrasted finely with the noble figures and carriage of the young Italian beauties with whom Her Majesty loved to surround herself--women who held themselves as upright as though they had borne on their heads the Greek water-pitchers of antique mould which their peasant women carry to the wells. They had, too, the strength and health on which the daughters of our country squires pride themselves, and, yet, more grace than ever we saw in the great French ladies when Will and I were with the Allies at the occupation of Paris fifteen years or more later, gone there to see the great sight, like so many of the gentry round Dover. And just as for carriage there are no women to be matched with these Southern Italians, so in many cases it was with their skins, which were exquisitely velvety and clear, and showed the rich crimson of their blood through the transparent brown. I noted, and I think Will noted particularly, the difference between Donna Rusidda and them; for her skin, while just as transparent and beautiful in texture, was more of an olive hue, and showed the blood but rarely and at moments of great agitation--though her cheeks then, to use the words of the old song, were "as ruddy as a peach" for all their brownness. But I thought, and I could swear that Will thought, that this very circumstance conferred upon her visage a kind of distinction. Most of the ladies could by now speak a little, a very little English--a gift of tongues which was not shared by many of the officers, much as they had served in Italian waters. However, between them they could make words enough to serve while they were assembling for the banquet, and each keeping an eye on the door by which Her Majesty was to enter. At the dinner the grace of the women was not shown to the full, nor were the attitudes of the officers so characteristic; but to make up for this came the rolls of hearty laughter. For the Queen on these occasions by no means maintained a royal reserve, for all the haughtiness in her nature. Maria Carolina loved fine men, and loved above all things to see them _themselves_, and I judge that she was not averse _to seeing them themselves_ for the further reason that it enabled her to gauge their value as instruments.