The rest of the day was passed in the manner usual at royal weddings:
fêtes were held during the afternoon; at six, card tables were set, and
the public were admitted to stare at them while they were playing at
_cavagnol_ or _lansquenet_; at half-past nine they had supper in the new
hall of the opera house. Marie Antoinette went through it all with the
life and spirit she put into everything, though she could hardly have
helped feeling irritated with the bored face of her bridegroom. Next day
seemed very long indeed to her—and to him also. Etiquette did not allow
him to hunt, and he cared for nothing else; and though she tried to
forget that she had a husband, and only to think of the gaiety about
her, yet the gloomy youth at her side weighed down her spirits, and no
doubt all the excitement of the last few days had tired her. When, the
next morning, the dauphin set out with a beaming countenance to hunt
with the king, she felt quite relieved, and glad to spend a few quiet
hours with her dog and her lady-in-waiting. Still, just now she was not
allowed much time to feel lonely, for she seemed always dressing and
undressing to go to some brilliant festivity. One evening a great ball
was given, at which even madame Clotilde was allowed to appear, and a
young princess of Lorraine, Marie Antoinette's cousin, was present. For
two hundred years the French nobles had always been jealous of the dukes
of Lorraine, and never lost any chance of being rude to them; so when
they heard that the king had allotted the princess a place in the first
state quadrille, they ordered their wives and daughters to stay at home.
Of course the ladies were all bitterly angry, and wept tears of
disappointment; but they sobbed in vain, and it was only when a special
order from the king arrived, that the injured nobles were forced to give
way—to the great delight of their families.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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