Read Online The Queen`s Confession by Victoria Holt - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Victoria Holt
Ads: Link
faces in Strasbourg Cathedral when the Prince de Rohan referred to him as Louis the Well-Beloved. When he was a young man he had been called that; but it was a different matter now. The people of Paris hated their King. They were poor, often short of bread, and they were furious because he squandered large sums of money on his palaces and his mistresses while they went hungry.
But this was not the matter which was causing great uneasiness among my friends. Mercy was in a state of uncertainty and had dispatched couriers to Vienna. The Abbe looked worried and so did Starhemburg. I wished they would, tell me what was wrong but of course they did not.
I had noticed, however, the looks of sly amusement on the faces of some of my women. Something was going to happen at La Muette.
On the way we called at the Carmelite Convent of St. Denis where I was to be presented to Louise, the fourth aunt—youngest sister of Adelaide, Victoire and Sophie. I was interested in Louise; she was different from the other three, and although I should have been sorry for her because she limped painfully and was pitiably deformed, with one shoulder higher than the other, I wasn’t, because she seemed so much happier than her three sisters. Dignified and, in spite of her Abbess’s habit, behaving like a royal
5i
personage, she was very friendly and seemed to sense that I wanted to talk to somebody, so she asked me many questions and talked about herself too, telling me how much happier she was at the convent than in the royal palaces, and that treasures on earth were not found in palaces. She had known this for a long time and had made up her mind that she wished to live her life in seclusion as an expiadon of Sin.
I could not imagine that she had been very sinful and my expression must have conveyed this, for she said rather fiercely: “My own sins and those of another.”
Questions trembled on my lips. What other? But when ever I was about to ask some indiscreet question which would no doubt bring an interesting answer, I would see my mother’s face warning me against any lighthearted indiscretions, and pause. Then it would be too late.
As we came nearer to La Muette, Mercy’s preoccupation grew deeper. I heard him whisper to Starhemburg: “There is nothing nothing we can do.
That he should have chosen this time it is inconceivable. “
My attention was caught by the people who lined the route, particularly as we drew nearer to Paris. We did not enter the city but wound our way round it and the cheers were deafening. So I smiled and inclined my head as I had been taught to do; and the people shouted that I was mignon ne and I forgot all about Mercy’s worries because I always enjoyed this kind of applause so much.
I was rather sorry when we came to La Muette. The King was already there and waiting to present my brothers-in-law to me. The Comte de Provence was fourteen years old in fact he was sixteen days younger than I was and much more handsome than the Dauphin, but inclined to be a little plump, like his elder brother. He was more lively, though, and he seemed very interested in me. His brother, the Comte d’Artois, was a year or so younger than I, but there was a lively knowledgeable look in his eyes which made him seem older than his two brothers more worldly-wise, I mean. He took my hand and kissed it lingeringly, while his bold eyes were very admiring, and as I was always responsive to 52
admiration I preferred Artois of the two brothers—perhaps of the three. But I was not going to bring the Dauphin into the comparison.
In fact I was trying not to think of the Dauphin, because to do so bewildered me a great deal and depressed me a little. In fact I did not know what to think of him and I was certainly afraid to think too deeply;
so I successfully managed to put him from my mind. I could always live in the present, and there was plenty to occupy my thoughts.
Meanwhile, having met my two brothers-in-law, I must be
But this was not the matter which was causing great uneasiness among my friends. Mercy was in a state of uncertainty and had dispatched couriers to Vienna. The Abbe looked worried and so did Starhemburg. I wished they would, tell me what was wrong but of course they did not.
I had noticed, however, the looks of sly amusement on the faces of some of my women. Something was going to happen at La Muette.
On the way we called at the Carmelite Convent of St. Denis where I was to be presented to Louise, the fourth aunt—youngest sister of Adelaide, Victoire and Sophie. I was interested in Louise; she was different from the other three, and although I should have been sorry for her because she limped painfully and was pitiably deformed, with one shoulder higher than the other, I wasn’t, because she seemed so much happier than her three sisters. Dignified and, in spite of her Abbess’s habit, behaving like a royal
5i
personage, she was very friendly and seemed to sense that I wanted to talk to somebody, so she asked me many questions and talked about herself too, telling me how much happier she was at the convent than in the royal palaces, and that treasures on earth were not found in palaces. She had known this for a long time and had made up her mind that she wished to live her life in seclusion as an expiadon of Sin.
I could not imagine that she had been very sinful and my expression must have conveyed this, for she said rather fiercely: “My own sins and those of another.”
Questions trembled on my lips. What other? But when ever I was about to ask some indiscreet question which would no doubt bring an interesting answer, I would see my mother’s face warning me against any lighthearted indiscretions, and pause. Then it would be too late.
As we came nearer to La Muette, Mercy’s preoccupation grew deeper. I heard him whisper to Starhemburg: “There is nothing nothing we can do.
That he should have chosen this time it is inconceivable. “
My attention was caught by the people who lined the route, particularly as we drew nearer to Paris. We did not enter the city but wound our way round it and the cheers were deafening. So I smiled and inclined my head as I had been taught to do; and the people shouted that I was mignon ne and I forgot all about Mercy’s worries because I always enjoyed this kind of applause so much.
I was rather sorry when we came to La Muette. The King was already there and waiting to present my brothers-in-law to me. The Comte de Provence was fourteen years old in fact he was sixteen days younger than I was and much more handsome than the Dauphin, but inclined to be a little plump, like his elder brother. He was more lively, though, and he seemed very interested in me. His brother, the Comte d’Artois, was a year or so younger than I, but there was a lively knowledgeable look in his eyes which made him seem older than his two brothers more worldly-wise, I mean. He took my hand and kissed it lingeringly, while his bold eyes were very admiring, and as I was always responsive to 52
admiration I preferred Artois of the two brothers—perhaps of the three. But I was not going to bring the Dauphin into the comparison.
In fact I was trying not to think of the Dauphin, because to do so bewildered me a great deal and depressed me a little. In fact I did not know what to think of him and I was certainly afraid to think too deeply;
so I successfully managed to put him from my mind. I could always live in the present, and there was plenty to occupy my thoughts.
Meanwhile, having met my two brothers-in-law, I must be
Similar Books
