“Explain yourself.”
“Is there any occasion for us to enter into explanations, and do you not understand what I mean? Come, you must have noticed the fluctuations in Madame’s humor during several days past; you must have noticed how she first kept you close beside her, then dismissed you, and then sent for you again.”
“Yes, I have noticed it, of course.”
“Well, it seems Madame has now succeeded in obtaining sufficient information, for she has now gone straight to the point, as there is nothing further left in France to withstand the torrent which sweeps away all obstacles before it; you know what I mean by the torrent?”
La Valliere hid her face in her hands.
“I mean,” continued Montalais, pitilessly, “that torrent which burst through the gates of the Carmelites of Chaillot, and overthrew all the prejudices of the court, as well at Fontainebleau as at Paris.”
“Alas! alas!” murmured La Valliere, her face still covered by her hands, and her tears streaming through her fingers.
“Oh, don’t distress yourself in that manner, or you have only heard half of your troubles.”
“In Heaven’s name,” exclaimed the young girl, in great anxiety, “what is the matter?”
“Well, then, this is how the matter stands: Madame, who can no longer rely upon any further assistance in France; for she has, one after the other, made use of the two queens, of Monsieur, and the whole court, too, now bethinks herself of a certain person who has certain pretended rights over you.”