"What a windfall! And against whom are they directed?" asked Diana of Sauveterre.
"Innocent creature that you are!" Blanche of Verceil returned. "Against whom can they be written if not against the Queen, against the Cardinal, against the court, and against the maids of honor of the Queen's 'Flying Squadron'? It is all of us who are the butts of the satirists."
"Those vicious people treat us with scant courtesy," exclaimed the black-haired Clorinde of Vaucernay. "But, at any rate, we are sung in superb and royal company. By Venus and Cupid, we should feel proud."
"Come, Blanche, read us the verses," Diana of Sauveterre suggested. "The Queen may send for us any moment before she retires."
Instead of complying at once with Diana's request, Blanche of Verceil pointed to Anna Bell, who remained in silent abstraction, and in a low voice said to her companions: "Decidedly, the little one is in love. Her ears do not prick up at the sound of that tickling word pasquil—a divine tid-bit of wit and wickedness the salt of which is worth a hundred fold, a thousand fold more than all the sugar of the candies."
"I wager she is dreaming awake of the German Prince of whom she speaks in her slumbers. How indiscreet sleep is! Poor thing, she thinks her secret is well kept," rejoined Clorinde of Vaucernay.
"Blanche, the pasquils," again cried Diana, impatiently. "I burn with curiosity to hear them."
"Honor to whom honor is due. We shall commence with our good dame the Queen;" and with these words Blanche read:
| "People ask, What's the resemblance |
| ’Tween Catherine and Jesebel: |
| One, the latter, ruined Israel, |
| And the former ruins France; |
| Extreme malice marked the latter, |
| Malice's self the former is; |
| Finally, the judgment fell |
| Of a Providence divine |
| Caused the dogs to eat up Jesebel, |
| While the carcass rank of Catherine |
| In this point doth differ much: |
| It not even the dogs will munch."[51] |
The maids of honor broke out into peals of laughter. Anna Bell, still pensively seated apart at the open casement, let her eyes wander over space, a stranger to the hilarity of her companions. She paid no attention to the reading of the verses.