“Countess, you treat me ill. Instead of reproaching me for my folly, you should try to aid me.”
“I cannot aid you. I see nothing to do.”
“Nothing to do?”
“No.”
“Well, madame, I do not say the same.”
“Ah, monseigneur, anger will not help you; and besides, you are unjust.”
“No, countess; if you do not assist me any longer, I know it is because you cannot. Only tell me the truth at once.”
“What truth?”
“That the queen is a perfidious coquette, who makes people adore her, and then drives them to despair.”
Jeanne looked at him with an air of surprise, although she had expected him to arrive at this state, and she felt really pleased, for she thought that it would help her out of her difficult position. “Explain yourself,” she said.