Page:Francesca Carrara 2.pdf/9

6 "Well, the dénouement has succeeded beyond my expectations. To-morrow I am Comtesse de Soissons. The Comte is a fool, like the Prince of Conti, but of a more manageable kind. He is avaricious, and yet ostentatious; I shall always make him hear reason through his interests. I see already the advantages of my early friendship with the King—the habit of confidence, once acquired, is indeed difficult to break. I shall try that best of flattery—divining his tastes, and adapting myself to them. Attraction will be the secret of my society; and let who will be Queen of France, I shall be Queen in my own circle."

"And does not this anticipation of perpetual intrigue, anxiety, and exertion—this want of affection—this utter severing of all the deeper and dearer ties of life, weary you even in contemplation?"

"The deeper and dearer ties of life!—what ties can be so deep or so dear as those which bind me to myself? or what is there so very depressing in the anticipation of a brilliant and animated future?"

"With nothing to really interest—nothing on which the heart can rely."

"Ah! you are romantic—it suits your style of countenance; my features do not express superb