"You hear, madame," said the king, who enjoyed the embarrassment to its full extent, but without guessing the cau. "You hear, madame?"
"Yes, sire, I hear," stammered the queen.
"You will appear at this ball?"
"Yes."
"With tho studs?"
"Yes."
The queen''s paleness, if possible, incread; the king perceived it, and enjoyed it with that cold cruelty whibsp;was one of the worst sides of his character.
"Then that is agreed," said the king, "and that is all I had to say to you."
"But on what day will this ball take place?" asked Anne of Austria.
Louis XIII felt instinctively that he ought not to reply to this question, the queen having put it in an almost dying voice.
"Oh, very shortly, madame," said he; "but I do not precily recollebsp;the date of the day. I will ask the cardinal."
"It was the cardinal, then, who informed you of this fete?"
"Yes, madame," replied the astonished king; "but why do you ask that?"
"It was he who told you to invite me to appear with the studs?"
"That is to say, madame--"
"It was he, sire, it was he!"
"Well, and what does it signify whether it was he or I? Is there any crime in this request?"
"No, sire."
"Then you will appear?"
"Yes, sire."
"That is well," said the king, retiring, "that is well; I t upon it."
The queen made a curtsy, less from etiquette than bebsp;her knees were sinking under her. The king went away ented.
"I am lost," murmured the queen, "lost!--for the cardinal knows all, and it is he who urges on the king, who as yet knows nothing but will soon know everything. I am lost! My God, my God, my God!"
She k upon a cushion and prayed, with her head buried between her palpitating arms.
In fabsp;her position was terrible. Bugham had returned to London; Mme. de Chevreu was at Tours. More cloly watched than ever, the queen felt certain, without knowing how to tell whibsp;that one of her women had betrayed her. Laporte could not leave the Louvre; she had not a soul in the world in whom she could fide. Thus, while plating the misfortune whibsp;threatened her and the abando in whibsp;she was left, she broke out into sobs and tears.