“With all my heart; believe me, you have acted like a king, and I as a queen.”
“Good,” replied the king, joyfully; “we shall find out the truth at last, and when once we have crushed the serpent, I hope we may live in more tranquillity.” He kissed the queen, and left her.
“Monsieur,” said the cardinal to the officer who conducted him, “can I send word home that I have been arrested?”
“If no one sees, monseigneur.”
The cardinal wrote some words on a page of his missal, then tore it out, and let it fall at the feet of the officer.
“She ruins me,” murmured the cardinal; “but I will save her, for your sake, oh! my king, and because it is my duty to forgive.”
CHAPTER LXXVIII.
THE PROCÈS-VERBAL.
When the king reentered his room he signed the order to consign M. de Rohan to the Bastile. The Count de Provence soon came in and began making a series of signs to M. de Breteuil, who, however willing, could not understand their meaning. This, however, the count did not care for, as his sole object was to attract the king’s attention. He at last succeeded, and the king, after dismissing M. de Breteuil, said to him, “What was the meaning of all those signs you were making just now? I suppose they meant something.”
“Undoubtedly, but——”
“Oh, you are quite free to say or not.”