Jordan. I humbly beg your pardon for its
being here. I gave orders to have it removed, but those stupid servants
have neglected to do it. I will have it done at once--only forgive me."
The Duchess took her husband's hand and said: "No, my dear William, you
must not do it! I know what Mrs. Jordan has been to you in the past--that
you have loved her--that she is the mother of your children, and I wish
her portrait to remain where it is." And it did remain. This was very
noble and generous, certainly; but I cannot help thinking that the
Duchess was not very much in love.
CHAPTER XXI
The Great Exhibition--Birth of the Duke of Connaught--Death of Sir Robert
Peel and Louis Philippe--Prince Albert's speech before the Society for
the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.
Early in this year of 1850, Prince Albert, though not in his usual
health, began in deadly earnest on his colossal labors in behalf of the
great "World's Exhibition." England owed that magnificent manifestation
of her resources and her enterprise far more to him than to any other
man. He met with much opposition from that conservative class who, from
the start, denounce all new ideas and innovations, shrinking like owls
from the advancing day; and that timid class who, while admitting the
grandeur of the idea, feared it was premature.
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