The empress started back, with a cry.
"Again, again!" murmured she, burying her face in her hands. But suddenly coming forward, her eyes flaming like those of an angry lioness, she said:
"What mean these riddles? Speak out at once, and tell me, without equivocation—what is to be the fate of Antoinette?"
"WE HAVE ALL OUR CROSS TO BEAR," repeated the priest, "and the Queen of
France will surely have hers."
With these words he turned and left the room.
Pale and rigid, the empress stood in the middle of the room, murmuring to herself the two fearful prophecies: "She will live through much evil, but will return to virtue."—"We have all our cross to bear, and the Queen of France will surely have hers."
For a while Maria Theresa was overwhelmed by the double blow she had received. But it was not in her nature to succumb to circumstances. She must overrule them.
She rang her bell, and a page entered the room.
"Let a messenger be dispatched to Prince Kaunitz, I wish to see his highness. He can come to me unannounced."
Not long after the prince made his appearance. A short sharp glance at the agitated mien of the empress showed to the experienced diplomatist that to-day, as so often before, he must oppose the shield of indifference to the storm of passion with which he was about to contend.