The officer stepped back.
“Go in, sir, I have not the courage to withstand this command.”
For a moment the queen’s pale face crimsoned with joy, but she suppressed her emotion immediately and motioned the chamberlain, with proud dignity, to follow.
Schonberg passed the officer, and entered the room.
“At last,” sighed Maria Josephine, as the door closed behind him—“at last this torture is at an end, and I breathe again. Speak, baron—your news!” Exhausted, she fell upon the sofa, and gazed breathlessly at the chamberlain.
“Before speaking, with your majesty’s permission, I will see if we are entirely alone—if no one is listening.”
He stepped softly around the room, and searched behind the curtains and furniture; then went to the door, and looked through the key-hole, to see if any one was without. He saw the officer sitting motionless, at the other end of the anteroom. Satisfied with this, he was about to open the other door, but the queen called him back.
“That is unnecessary; no one can be concealed there. Now let me hear quickly what you have to say.”
“I have many things to tell you,” said the chamberlain, triumphantly. “All our undertakings have been most successful. We may hope they will be crowned with the most desirable results.”
“Praise to God and the holy saints!” murmured the queen. “Speak, speak! tell me all!”