Marie Antoinette uttered a cry and started from her seat. "Oh my God!" exclaimed she.
"What—what is the matter?" cried Maria Theresa. "Speak, my child, what ails you?"
"Nothing," murmured Antoinette, shaking her head sadly. "Your majesty would only laugh."
"What is it? I insist upon knowing why it is that you shudder at the name of Louis XVI.? Have you heard aught to his disadvantage? Has your brother the emperor—"
"No, no," interrupted Marie Antoinette, quickly, "the emperor has never mentioned his name to me. No one has ever spoken disparagingly of the dauphin in my presence. What made me shudder at the mention of his title, is the recollection of a fearful prophecy which was related to me yesterday, by my French teacher, as we were reading the hisory of Catherine de Medicis."
"Tell it to me, then, my daughter."
"Since your majesty commands me, I obey," said the young girl, gracefully inclining her head. "Catherine de Medicis, though she was very learned, was a very superstitious woman. One of her astrologers owned a magic looking-glass. He brought it before the queen, and she commanded him to show her in the mirror the destiny of her royal house. He obeyed, and drew back the curtain that covered the face of the looking-glass."
"And what did she see there?" asked the empress, with interest.
Marie Antoinette continued: "She saw the lily-decked throne of France;
and upon it appeared, one after another, her sons, Henry, Francis, and
Charles. Then came her hated son-in-law, Henry of Navarre; after him,
Louis XIII.—then his grandson, Louis XIV., then Louis XV."
"And what then?"