I stood stunned, the
words which I was dictating to my secretary dying on my lips.
For I knew the King too well, and had experienced his kindness
too lately to attribute the harshness of the order to chance or
forgetfulness; and assured in a moment that I stood face to face
with a grave crisis, I found myself hard put to it to hide my
feelings from those about me.
Nevertheless, I did so with all effort; and, sending for the
courier asked him with an assumption of carelessness what was the
latest news at Court. His answer, in a measure, calmed my fears,
though it could not remove them. He reported that the queen had
been taken ill or so the rumour went.
"Suddenly?" I said.
"This morning," he answered.
"The King was with her?"
"Yes, your excellency."
"Had he left her long when he sent this letter?"
"It came from her chamber, your excellency."
"But--did you understand that her Majesty was in danger?" I
urged.
As to that, however, the man could not say anything; and I was
left to nurse my conjectures during the long ride to
Fontainebleau, where we arrived in the cool of the evening, the
last stage through the forest awakening memories of past pleasure
that combated in vain the disorder and apprehension which held my
spirits.
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