The Princess at last closed her windows, and hastened to dismiss her timid suite.  The thick curtains fell again over the barred windows; and the room was no longer lighted by a day which was odious to her.  Large white wax flambeaux burned in candelabra, in the form of golden arms, which stand out from the framed and flowered tapestries with which the walls were hung.  She remained alone with Marie de Mantua; and reentering with her the enclosure which was formed by the royal balustrade, she fell upon her bed, fatigued by her courage and her smiles, and burst into tears, leaning her head upon her pillow.  Marie, on her knees upon a velvet footstool, held one of her hands in both hers, and without daring to speak first, leaned her head tremblingly upon it; for until that moment, tears never had been seen in the Queen’s eyes.

They remained thus for some minutes.  The Princess, then raising herself up by a painful effort, spoke: 

“Do not afflict yourself, my child; let me weep.  It is such a relief to one who reigns!  If you pray to God for me, ask Him to grant me sufficient strength not to hate the enemy who pursues me everywhere, and who will destroy the royal family of France and the monarchy by his boundless ambition.  I recognize him in all that has taken place; I see him in this tumultuous revolt.”

“What, Madame! is he not at Narbonne?—­for it is the Cardinal of whom you speak, no doubt; and have you not heard that these cries were for you, and against him?”

“Yes, ‘m’amie’, he is three hundred leagues away from us, but his fatal genius keeps guard at the door.  If these cries have been heard, it is because he has allowed them; if these men were assembled, it is because they have not yet reached the hour which he has destined for their destruction.  Believe me, I know him; and I have dearly paid for the knowledge of that dark soul.  It has cost me all the power of my rank, the pleasures of my age, the affection of my family and even the heart of my husband.  He has isolated me from the whole world.  He now confines me within a barrier of honors and respect; and formerly he dared, to the scandal of all France, to bring an accusation against myself.  They examined my papers, they interrogated me, they made me sign myself guilty, and ask the King’s pardon for a fault of which I was ignorant; and I owed to the devotion, and the perhaps eternal imprisonment of a faithful servant,

   [His name was Laporte.  Neither the fear of torture nor the hope of
   the Cardinal’s reward could draw from him one word of the Queen’s
   secrets.]

the preservation of this casket which you have saved for me.  I read in your looks that you think me too fearful; but do not deceive yourself, as all the court now does.  Be sure, my dear child, that this man is everywhere, and that he knows even our thoughts.”

“What, Madame! does he know all that these men have cried under your windows, and the names of those who sent them?”