"You are very apprehensive, Louise."
"But, at all events, suppose Madame were to send for me."
"Oh!" replied the king, "will the day never come when you yourself will tell me to brave everything, so that I may not have to leave you again."
"On that day, then, sire, I shall be quite out of my mind, and you ought not to believe me."
"To-morrow, Louise."
La Valliere sighed, but, without the courage to oppose her royal lover's wish, she repeated, "To-morrow, then, since you desire it, sire;" and with these words she ran up the stairs lightly, and disappeared from her lover's gaze.
"Well, sire?" inquired Saint-Aignan, when she had left.
"Well, Saint-Aignan; yesterday I thought myself the happiest of men."
"And does your majesty, then, regard yourself to-day," said the comte, smiling, "as the unhappiest of men?"
"No; but my love for her is an unquenchable thirst; in vain do I drink, in vain do I swallow the drops of water which your industry procures for me; the more I drink the more unquenchable is my thirst."