"And I shall wait to attack till the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty is more happy in servitors than lately."
Andrea grasped her husband's hand hastily and prepared to go out of the gallery with him, when a glance from her mistress retained her.
"In short, what does your husband have to say to me?" she inquired.
"Sent to Paris yesterday by the King, I found it in great turmoil."
"Yes, the Parisians are going to pull down the Bastile! The Dutch have taken Holland! Anything fresher, my lord?"
"It is true that they are pulling down the prison, but that affords them nothing but stones and they want for bread."
"Let them be hungry," said the Queen. "What are we to do in the matter since others rule the roost?"
"There was a day when the Queen was the first to be compassionate in times of general distress," said the count; "when she went up into the garrets and the prayers of those she helped rose from the garrets unto God."
"Yes, and I have been nicely repaid for this pity for others," returned the lady bitterly. "One of my worst miseries came from my going into a garret."
She alluded, of course, to the incident of the "Queen's Necklace," already described in this series.