An hour passed, or so it seemed to those who waited in the ante-chamber. For the Queen Mother’s sake all tried to hide, under a show of calm patience, their eagerness for news, for the answer to that dread question: had Agnes come in time to save the King?
It was Anne, sitting nearest to the bedroom door, who first broke the silence. She ran quickly to the Queen.
‘Madame, I hear voices. The King must be awake.’
‘The Saints be thanked—and the good woman too,’ sighed the Queen.
At that moment the door opened and Agnes’s head popped out.
‘His Majesty wishes to see the Countess,’ she said, and disappeared again.
Barbara rose at once and hurried in. She ran quickly across the room and knelt sobbing by the King’s bed. Agnes closed the door gently and waited by it.
The King feebly raised his hand and laid it on the girl’s golden head.
‘There, there!’ he whispered. ‘I know. I know.’
‘Oh, I didn’t mean to hurt you,’ she cried. ‘Thank Heaven you are better! It would have killed me had you died. I couldn’t help it. When you asked me to marry you it was different. I liked you, as you well know. My father and all of them told me it was my duty, if you wanted me, to be your queen—to make you happy. And I thought I could—then.’