MARGARET GODOLPHIN, The next morning was occupied in packing up, in such haste was Margaret to fly from her gilded prison. She bade farewell to her friends about the Court, with composure, until she came to Miss Dorothy Howard, whom she was " still to leave in captivity," and then her calmness deserted her. Falling on her dear friend's neck, she burst into a passion of tears, in which Miss Howard shared ; the drops " rolling down her cheeks like the dew of flowers," says Evelyn, prettily, " and making a lovely grief." But as she entered the carriage that was to bear her away, her eyes sparkled, her cheeks were flushed, and she could scarcely contain her joy ; and on reaching Berkeley House, she threw herself into the arms of " my lady" in tremulous delight. The " life of conversation and the pretty miracle of Court," she thus quitted a circle where her beauty, wit, and talent won for her admiration on all sides ; and, like the moss-rose of the Persian fable, drew over herself a veil of retirement which added to her loveliness, instead of detracting from it. Finding that in the palatial home of the fashion- able Lady Berkeley she was almost as much the slave of society as at Court, Margaret Blagge con- templated retiring to a remote country dwelling, where she purposed giving herself up to a life of meditation and loneliness ; an idea from which Evelyn, with much argument, succeeded in dis- suading her for some months. At this time, however, it is to be suspected that both her heart and mind 28
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