"Oh! speak, speak!" cried Madame de Condé, "for I shall be only too happy if I can do aught for you."
"You can, madame."
"What are the favors you wish to ask me?"
"The first is the gift of the abbacy of Sainte-Radegonde, vacant since the death of Madame de Montivy."
"You an abbess, my dear child! surely you cannot think of it!"
"The second, madame," continued Claire, with a slight trembling in her voice, "is that I may be permitted to inter on my estate at Cambes the body of my fiancé, Monsieur le Baron Raoul de Canolles, murdered by the the people of Bordeaux."
The princess turned away and pressed a trembling hand to her heart. The Duc de La Rochefoucauld turned pale and lost countenance. Lenet opened the door and fled incontinently.
"Your Highness does not deign to reply," said Claire; "do you refuse? Perhaps I have asked too much."
Madame de Condé had only enough strength to nod her head in token of assent, before she fell back in a swoon upon her chair.
Claire turned away as unmoved as if she were of stone, and passed majestically from the room through the lane of courtiers, standing with heads bent; not until the door had closed behind her, did they realize that no one had thought of going to Madame de Condé's assistance.