"He said it was necessary that you should pardon me."
"Who said so?" demanded the queen.
"The man in the mantle," replied the woman Tison.
The queen looked at Madame Elizabeth and her daughter, surprised at this appeal.
"Go along, go!" said the municipal; "let the Widow Capet pass; she has permission to walk in the garden."
"I know it," said the old woman; "that is why I came to wait for her here, since they will not allow me to go up; and as I had to ask her forgiveness, I was obliged to wait for her coming out, to see her."
"But why then are you not permitted to go up?" demanded the queen.
The woman began to laugh.
"Because they pretend that I am mad," said she.
The queen looked at her and saw indeed that the wild eyes of the unhappy being reflected a strange light,—that vague light denoting aberration of intellect.