With wives
de facto Charles would people his seraglio as fancy moved him;
and the present wife defacto, the mistress of his heart, the
first lady of his harem, was that beautiful termagant, Barbara
Villiers, wife of the accommodating Roger Palmer, Earl of Castle-
maine.
There was no lack--there never is in such cases--of those who out
of concern and love for the happily deluded wife lifted the veil
for her, and made her aware of the facts of his Majesty's
association with my Lady Castle-maine--an association dating back
to the time when he was still a homeless wanderer. The knowledge
would appear to have troubled the poor soul profoundly; but the
climax of her distress was reached when, on her coming to
Whitehall, she found at the head of the list of ladies-in-waiting
assigned to her the name of my Lady Castlemaine. The forlorn
little woman's pride rose up before this outrage. She struck out
that offending name, and gave orders that the favourite was not
to be admitted to her presence.
But she reckoned without Charles. For all his urbane, good-
tempered, debonair ways, there was an ugly cynical streak in his
nature, manifested now in the manner in which he dealt with this
situation.
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