"Speak," said the queen.
"I will, when we are alone," was the answer.
Anne of Austria looked at her attendants, who immediately withdrew. The Beguine, thereupon, advanced a few steps toward the queen, and bowed reverently before her. The queen gazed with increasing mistrust at this woman, who, in her turn, fixed a pair of brilliant eyes upon her, through her mask.
"The queen of France must, indeed, be very ill," said Anne of Austria, "if it is known at the Beguinage of Bruges that she stands in need of being cured."
"Your majesty is not irremediably ill."
"But, tell me, how do you happen to know I am suffering?"
"Your majesty has friends in Flanders."
"Since these friends, then, have sent you, mention their names."
"Impossible, madame, since your majesty's memory has not been awakened by your heart."
Anne of Austria looked up, endeavoring to discover through the concealment of the mask, and through her mysterious language, the name of her companion, who expressed herself with such familiarity and freedom; then, suddenly, wearied by a curiosity which wounded every feeling of pride in her nature, she said, "You are ignorant, perhaps, that royal personages are never spoken to with the face masked."