She eyed Cauvignac from head to foot, but he sustained the royal scrutiny with marvellous self-possession.
"Who are you, monsieur?" said she.
"Captain Cauvignac," was the reply.
"In whose service are you?"
"I am in your Majesty's service, if such be your pleasure."
"If such be my pleasure? Surely! Indeed, is there any other service in the kingdom? Are there two queens in France?"
"Assuredly not, madame; there is but one queen in France, and she it is at whose feet I have the honor to lay my most humble respect; but there are two contrary opinions in France,—at least, I thought as much just now."
"What mean you, sirrah?" demanded the queen, with a frown.
"I mean, madame, that I was riding about in this vicinity, and as I happened to be upon the summit of a slight eminence which overlooks the whole country-side, admiring the landscape, which, as your Majesty must have noticed, is surpassingly beautiful, I thought I saw that Monsieur Richon did not receive your Majesty with all the respect to which you are entitled; that fact confirmed a suspicion I had previously entertained, namely, that there are two ways of thinking in France, the royalist way and another, and that Monsieur Richon is of that other way of thinking."
Anne of Austria's brow grew darker and darker.