Le collier de la reine. English
Page 67
CHAPTER LXV.
THE QUEEN'S HAND.
When Charny reentered the house, he felt overwhelmed by what he hadseen--that he should have discovered this retreat, which he had thoughtso precious, only to be the witness of a crime, committed by the queenagainst her conjugal duty and royal dignity. This man must be a lover;in vain did he try to persuade himself that the rose was the pledge ofsome political compact, given instead of a letter, which might have beentoo compromising. The passionate kiss which he had seen imprinted on itforbade this supposition. These thoughts haunted him all night and allthe next day, through which he waited with a feverish impatience,fearing the new revelations which the night might bring forth. He sawher taking her ordinary walk with her ladies, then watched the lightsextinguished one by one, and he waited nervously for the stroke ofmidnight, the hour of the rendezvous of the preceding night. It struck,and no one had appeared. He then wondered how he could have expected it;she surely would not repeat the same imprudence two nights following.But as these thoughts passed through his mind, he heard the key turnagain and saw the door open. Charny grew deadly pale when he recognizedthe same two figures enter the park. "Oh, it is too much," he said tohimself, and then repeated his movements of the night before, swearingthat, whatever happened, he would restrain himself, and remember thatshe was his queen. All passed exactly as the night before: theconfidante left and returned with the same man; only this time, insteadof advancing with his former timid respect, he almost ran up to thequeen, and kneeled down before her. Charny could not hear what he said,but he seemed to speak with passionate energy. She did not reply, butstood in a pensive attitude; then he spoke again, and at last she said afew words, in a low voice, when the unknown cried out, in a loud voice,so that Charny could hear, "Oh! thanks, your majesty, till to-morrow,then." The queen drew her hood still more over her face, and held outboth her hands to the unknown, who imprinted on them a kiss so long andtender that Charny gnashed his teeth with rage. The queen then took thearm of her companion and walked quickly away; the unknown passed also.Charny remained in a state of fury not to be described; he ran about thepark like a madman: at last he began to wonder where this man came from;he traced his steps to the door behind the baths of Apollo. He comes notfrom Versailles, but from Paris, thought Charny, and to-morrow he willreturn, for he said, "to-morrow." Till then let me devour my tears insilence, but to-morrow shall be the last day of my life, for we will befour at the rendezvous.