"
"And when my friends, my dear Marquis, have had time to poison
his mind against me? No, no," I answered, wondering much whether
he were as simple as he looked.
"But the Queen is with him now," he persisted, seizing the lappel
of my coat to stay me, "and she will be sure to put in a word
against you."
"Therefore," I answered drily, "I had better see his Majesty
before the one word becomes two."
"Be persuaded," he entreated me. "See him now, and nothing but
ill will come of it."
"Nothing but ill for some," I retorted, looking so keenly at him
that his visage fell. And with that he let me go, and with a
smile I passed through the door. The rumour had not yet gained
such substance that the crowd had lost all respect for me; it
rolled back, and I passed through it towards the end of the
chamber, where the King was stooping to draw on one of his boots.
The Queen stood not far from him, gazing into the fire with an
air of ill-temper which the circle, serious and silent, seemed to
reflect, I looked everywhere for the Portuguese, but he was not
to be seen.
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