"Oh!" cried the nun, for the third time, and the empress trembled, while her face grew white as that of the prophetess.
"I am on my knees," murmured she, "and I await your answer. Sister Margaret! Sister Margaret! in the name of God, who has endowed you with superhuman wisdom, tell me what is to be the fate of Marie Antoinette?"
"Thou hast called on the name of God," said the nun, in a strange, clear voice, "and I am forced to answer thee. Thou wouldst know the fate of Marie Antoinette? Hear it: She will live through much evil, but will return to virtue." [Footnote: Swinburne vol. i., p. 351.]
"She will then cease to be virtuous," cried the empress, bursting into tears.
"She will learn much evil," repeated the nun, turning uneasily on her bed. "She will endure—poor Marie Antoinette! Unhappy Queen of France! Woe! woe!"
"Woe unto me!" cried the wretched mother. "Woe unto her who leadeth her children into temptation!"
"She will return to virtue!" murmured the nun, indistinctly. "Poor
Queen—of—France!"
With a loud cry she threw out her arms, and sat upright in the bed. Her eyes opened, and she looked around the room.
"Where is the reverend mother?" cried she. "Were are the sisters?"
Suddenly her eyes rested upon the black and veiled figure of the empress.