“Oh!” groaned the Queen like a wounded lioness. “I thought as much. How long since?”
“Since I first laid eyes on him.”
Marie Antoinette recoiled from this statue which confessed it was animated by a spirit.
“And yet you said nothing?”
“You perceived it, because you loved him.”
“No; but you mean that you loved him more than I, because you perceived my love. If I see it now, it is because he loves me no longer say?” and she clutched her arm.
Andrea replied not by word, or sign.
“This is enough to drive one mad,” cried the royal lady. “Why not kill me outright by telling me that he loves me not.”
“Count Charny’s love or indifference to other women than his wife are secrets of Count Charny. They are not for me to reveal,” observed Andrea.
“His secrets? I dare say he has made you his bosom friend, indeed,” sneered the Queen with bitterness.