Page:Ten Years Later.djvu/264

252 with him to Moret, where he possessed a charming country house. He accordingly went to the queen's pavilion and was astonished on entering to find none of the royal servants in attendance. Quite alone, therefore, he entered the rooms, a door on the left opening to madame's apartment, the one on the right to the young queen's. In his wife's apartment Monsieur was informed by a seamstress who was working there t'hat every one had left at eleven o'clock, for the purpose of bathing in the Seine, that a grand fête was to be made of the expedition, that all the carriages had been placed at the park gates, and that they had all set out more than an hour ago.

"Very good," said Monsieur, "the idea is a good one; the heat is very oppressive, and I have no objection to bathe, too."

He summoned his servants, but no one came. He summoned those in attendance on madame, but everybody had gone out. He then went to the stables, where he was informed by a groom that there were no carriages of any description. He then desired that a couple of horses should be saddled, one for himself, and the other for his valet. The groom told him that all the horses had been sent away. Monsieur, pale with anger again descended toward the queen's apartments, and penetrated as far as Anne of Austria's oratory, where he perceived, through the half-opened tapestry hangings, his young and beautiful sister on her knees before the queen-mother, who appeared weeping bitterly. He had not been either seen or heard. He cautiously approached the opening, and listened, the sight of so much grief having aroused his curiosity. Not only was the young queen weeping, but she was complaining also.

"Yes," she said, "the king neglects me, the king devotes himself to pleasures and amusements only in which I have no share."

"Patience, patience, my daughter," said Anne of Austria, in Spanish; and then, also in Spanish, added some words of advice, which Monsieur did not understand. The queen replied by accusations, mingled with sighs and sobs, among which Monsieur often distinguished the word banos, which Maria Theresa accentuated with spiteful anger.

"The baths," said Monsieur to himself, "it seems it is the baths that have put her out."

And he endeavored to put together the disconnected phrases which he had been able to understand. It was easy to guess that the queen complained bitterly, and that,