"In such a time ask but one thing of the messengers: truth."
"You have an upright soul, my friend, a brave heart. Do not tell me the truth, at present, for mercy's sake. You arrive when my heart is breaking; for the first time my friends overwhelm me with this truthfulness always used by you. It is impossible for me to trifle with it any longer: it flashes out in everything. In the red sky, the air filled with ominous sounds, the courtiers' faces, now pale and serious. No, count, for the first time in your life, do not tell me the truth."
"No, but come and sit beside me. George, your brow is burning."
"A volcano is raging there."
"Your hand is cold," for she was pressing it between hers.
"My heart has been touched by the chill of death," he replied.
"Poor George! I told you we had best forget. Let me no longer be the Queen, hated and threatened; but just the woman. What is the realm, the universe to me, whom one loving heart suffices?"
The count went down on one knee and kissed the hem of her dress with the reverence of the ancients for a goddess.
"Oh, count, my only friend, do you know what Countess Diana is doing?"