"And after the ceremony I shall see you again at the tilting match. I am going to break a lance in your honor once more to-day, and I propose to make you queen of the lists."
"The queen? And who is the other?"
"There is only one, Diane, and you know it very well. Au revoir."
"Au revoir, Sire, and pray don't be rash and careless in this tilting; you make me shudder sometimes."
"There is no danger there, I'm sorry to say; for I could wish that there might be, so that I might seem a little more deserving in your eyes. But time is passing, and my two Dianes are both impatient. Tell me just once more that you love me."
"Sire, I love you as I always have loved you, and as I shall love you forever."
The king, before letting the curtain fall behind him, threw her a last kiss with his hand. "Adieu, my dearly loving and dearly loved Diane," said he. And he left her.
Then a panel hidden by hangings in the opposite wall opened.
"For the love of heaven, have you done enough chattering for to-day?" said the Constable de Montmorency, roughly, as he came into the room.
"My friend," said Diane, rising, "you must have seen that even before ten o'clock, which was the hour of my appointment with you, I did everything I could to send him away. I was quite as uncomfortable as you were, believe me."