“It is strange, certainly,” said the cardinal; then, as if the thought had just struck him, he cried, “Ah! mon Dieu! but we are forgetting the person to whom you should have addressed yourself first of all.”
“Whom do you mean?”
“To the dispenser of all favors, she who never refuses help where it is deserved—to the queen. Have you seen her?”
“No,” answered Jeanne.
“You have never presented your petition to the queen?”
“Never.”
“You have not tried to obtain an audience of her?”
“I have tried, but failed.”
“Have you tried to throw yourself in her way, that she might remark you?”
“No, monseigneur.”