The Strangled Queen Read Online Free Page B

new face of Marguerite's, the face of a prisoner. The features had preserved their beauty, but all their sweetness had gone. The nose was sharper, the eyes more sunken. The dimples, which only last spring had shown at the, corners of her amber cheeks, had become little wrinkles. "So," Artois said to himself, "she can still defend herself. All the better, it will be the more amusing." He liked a battle, having to fight to gain, his ends.
    "Cousin," he said to Marguerite with feigned good-humour, "I had no intention of insulting you; you have misunderstood me. I merely wanted to know if your hair had grown sufficiently to allow, of your appearing in public.
    Distrustful as she was, Marguerite could not prevent herself giving a start of joy.
    Appear in public? - This must mean that she was to go free. Had she been pardoned? Was he bringing her a throne? No, it could not be that, he would have announced it at once.
    Her thoughts raced on. She felt herself weakening. She could not prevent tears coming to her eyes.
    "Robert," she said, "don't keep me in suspense. I know it's a characteristic of yours. But don't be cruel. What have you come to say to me ? "
    "Cousin, I have come to deliver you ..."
    Blanche uttered a cry and Robert thought that she was going to swoon. He, had left his sentence suspended; he was playing the two women like a couple of fish at the end of a line.
    . . a message," he finished.
    It pleased him to see their shoulders sag, to hear their sighs of disappointment.
    "A message from whom?" asked Marguerite.
    "From Louis, your husband, our King from now on. And from our good cousin Monseigneur of Valois. But I may only speak to you alone. Perhaps Blanche would leave us?"
    "Yes, yes," s aid Blanche submissively" I will retire. But before I go, Cousin, tell me: what of Charles, my husband?"
    "He has been much distressed by his father's death." "And what does h e think of me? Does he speak of me?"
    "I think he regrets you, in spite of the suffering you have caused him. Since Pontoise he has never been seen to show his old gaiety."
    Blanche burst into tears.
    "Do you think," she asked, "that he has forgiven me?" "That depends a great deal upon your cousin," replied Artois mysteriously, indicating Marguerite.
    And he led Blanche to the door, closing it behind her..
    Then, returning to Marguerite, he said, "To start with, my dear, there are a few things I must tell you. During these last days, when King Philip was dying, Louis your husband has seemed utterly confused. To wake up King, when one went to sleep a prince, is a matter for some surprise. He occupied his throne of Navarre only in name, and had no hand in governing. You will remember that he is twenty-five years old, and at that age one is able to reign; but you know as well as I do that, without being unkind, judgment is not his most outstanding quality.
    Thus, in these first days, Monseigneur of Valois, his uncle, stands behind him in everything, directing affairs with Monseigneur de Marigny. The trouble is that these two powerful minds dislike each other because they are too similar, hardly listening to what they say to each other. It is even thought that very soon they will, no longer listen to each other at all, which, if it continued, would be most unfortunate, since a kingdom cannot' be governed by two deaf men."
    Artois had completely changed his tone. He was speaking with sense and precision, giving the impression that his turbulent entrances were largely made for effect.
    "As far as I am concerned, as you know very well," he went on, - "I don't care at all for Messire de Marigny, who has so often stood in my way, and I hope with all my heart that, my cousin; Valois, whose friend and ally I am, will come out on top."
    Marquerite did her best to understand the intrigues which were everyday matters to Artois, and into which he was so abruptly plunging her once more. She was no longer in touch with affairs, and it seemed to her that she was awakening from