“Yes,” cried Philippe, “the huntsman’s house hired by you, your mysterious promenades in the park at night, and the tender parting at the little gate.”
“Monsieur, in heaven’s name——”
“Oh, sir, I was concealed behind the baths of Apollo when you came out, arm in arm with the queen.”
Charny was completely overwhelmed for a time; then, after a few moments, he said, “Well, sir, even after all this, I reiterate my demand for the hand of your sister. I am not the base calculator you suppose me; but the queen must be saved.”
“The queen is not lost, because I saw her on your arm, raising to heaven her eyes full of happiness; because I know that she loves you. That is no reason why my sister should be sacrificed, M. de Charny.”
“Monsieur,” replied Charny, “this morning the king surprised me at her feet——”
“Mon Dieu!”
“And she, pressed by his jealous questions, replied that I was kneeling to ask the hand of your sister. Therefore if I do not marry her, the queen is lost. Do you now understand?”
A cry from the boudoir now interrupted them, followed by another from the ante-chamber. Charny ran to the boudoir; he saw there Andrée, dressed in white like a bride: she had heard all, and had fainted. Philippe ran to where the other cry came from; it was his father, whose hopes this revelation of the queen’s love for Charny had just destroyed; struck by apoplexy, he had given his last sigh. Philippe, who understood it, looked at the corpse for a few minutes in silence, and then returned to the drawing-room, and there saw Charny watching the senseless form of his sister. He then said, “My father has just expired, sir; I am now the head of the family; if my sister survive, I will give her to you in marriage.”
Charny regarded the corpse of the baron with horror, and the form of Andrée with despair. Philippe uttered a groan of agony, then continued, “M. de Charny, I make this engagement in the name of my sister, now lying senseless before us; she will give her happiness to the queen, and I, perhaps, some day shall be happy enough to give my life for her. Adieu, M. de Charny——” and taking his sister in his arms, he carried her into the next room.