One of these disturbances, which occurred soon after his return
from Oxford, began at a royal drawing-room, in presence of the
poor slighted queen and ladies of the court. It happened in the
course of conversation her majesty remarked to the countess she
feared the king had taken cold by staying so late at her
lodgings; to which speech my Lady Castlemaine with some show of
temper answered aloud, "he did not stay so late abroad with her,
for he went betimes thence, though he do not before one, two, or
three in the morning, but must stay somewhere else." The king,
who had entered the apartment whilst she was speaking, came up to
her, and displeased with the insinuations she expressed, declared
she was a bold, impertinent woman, and bade her begone from the
court, and not return until he sent for her. Accordingly she
whisked from the drawing-room, and drove at once to Pall Mall,
where she hired apartments.
Her indignation at being addressed by Charles in such a manner
before the court, was sufficiently great to beget strong desires
for revenge; when she swore she would be even with him and print
his letters to her for public sport. In cooler moments, however,
she abandoned this idea; and in course of two or three days, not
hearing from his majesty, she despatched a message to him, not
entreating pardon, but asking permission to send for her
furniture and belongings. To this the monarch, who had begun to
miss her presence and long for her return, replied she must first
come and view them; and then impatient for reconciliation, he
sought her, and they became friends once more.
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