W. Scott, and after being in the possession of Mr.
Herbert Garratt for some years was sent to his Grace with a request that
he would accept it, which he did.
All the time that the Duke was paying so much attention to horse-racing
it was being asked in Nottinghamshire whether Welbeck was ever to see
another Duchess of Portland. The palace of the magician in the heart of
Sherwood Forest had not had a mistress for forty years, and the gossips
were not diffident in expressing their opinion that it was time the
splendour of its hospitality was graced by the presence of a Duchess.
The Duke was thirty-two years of age in 1889, and his name had been
coupled with that of a royal princess; but whatever foundation there may
have been for the rumour that he was going to marry into the royal
family, it was seen eventually that he was determined to wed for love
and not for pride of place.
Of the rich and well-born heiresses tracing their lineage through
generation after generation of English chivalry, and who would have
deemed it the prize of a lifetime to become Duchess of Portland, the
Duke's choice fell upon a young lady whose name was unknown to the
denizens of Nottinghamshire.
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