Read Online The Strangled Queen by Maurice Druon - Free Book Online
Authors: Maurice Druon
Ads: Link
a cluster of candles burning in a triangular stand of wrought-iron. The bell of the Sainte-Chappelle rang the evening angelus.
Suddenly a deep sigh, almost a groan, sounded from the da rkest corner of the room; every one started, and Louis X could not help crying out in a sharp voice, "What's that'"
Mathieu de Trye entered, followed by a valet bringing Louis a dry robe. The valet went down on all fours and pulled from under a piece of furniture a big greyhound with a high curved backbone and a fierce eye.
"Come, Lombard, come here."
It was Philip the Fair's' favourite pet, present of the banker Tolomei, the same dog that had been found near the King when he had fallen motionless during his, last hunt.
"Four days ago this hound was at Fontainebleu, how has he managed to get here" asked The Hutin furiously.
An equerry was called.
"He came with the rest of the, pack, Sire," explained the equerry, "and he will not obey; he runs away at the sound of a voice and I have been wondering since yesterday where he had hidden himself."
Louis ordered that Lombard should be taken away and shut up in the stables; and, as the big greyhound resisted, scraping the floor with its claws, he chased it out with kicks.
He had hated dogs since the day when, as a child, he had been bitten by one as he was amusing himself pier cing its ear with a nail.
Voices were heard in a neighbouring room, a door opened and a little girl of three appeared, awkward in her mourning robe, pushed; forward by her nurse who was saying, "Go on, Madame Jeanne; go and kiss Messire the King, your father."
Everyone turned towards the little figure with pale cheeks and too-big eyes, who had not y et reached the age of reasoning but was, for the moment, the heiress to the throne of France.
Jeanne had the round, protruding forehead of Marguerite of Burgundy, but her complexion and her hair were fair. She came forward looking about her at people and things with the anxious expression of an unloved child.
Louis X stopped her with a gesture.
"Why has she been brought here?" he cried. "I don't want to see her. Take her back at once to the Hotel de Nesle; that's where she must live, because it's there ..'
He was going to say, that her mother conceived her in her illicit pleasures." He stopped himself in time, and waited till the nurse had taken the child away.
" I don't want ever to see the bastard again! " he said.
"Are you really certain that she is one, Louis?" asked Monseigneur of Evreux, moving his clothes away from the fire to prevent their scorching.
"It's enough for me that there is a doubt," replied The Hutin, "and I refuse to recognise the progeny of a woman who has shamed me."
"All the same, the child is fair-haired, as we all are." "Philippe d'Aunay was fair too, replied The Hutin bitterly . "Louis must have good reasons Brother, to speak as he does said Charles of Valois.
"What's more," Louis went on, shouting at the top of his voice, "I don't ever again want to hear the word that, was thrown at me as we passed through the hall; I don't want to go on imagining all the time that people are thinking it; I don't want ever; again to give people the chance of thinking it.
Monseigneur of Evreux was silent. He was thinking of the little girl who must live among a few servants in the deserted immensity of the Hotel de Nesle. He heard Louis say, "Oh, how lonely I shall be here!"
Louis of Evreux looked at him, 'surprised as always by this nephew of his who gave way to every; impulse of his mood, who preserved resentments as a miser keeps his gold, chased dogs away because he had once been bitten, his daughter because he had once been deceived, and then complained of his solitude.
"If he had had a better nature and a kinder heart," he thought, "perhaps his wife would have loved him."
"Every living man is alone, Louis," he said gravely. "Each one of us in his loneliness undergoes the moment of recognition of sin, and it is mere vanity to believe that there are
Suddenly a deep sigh, almost a groan, sounded from the da rkest corner of the room; every one started, and Louis X could not help crying out in a sharp voice, "What's that'"
Mathieu de Trye entered, followed by a valet bringing Louis a dry robe. The valet went down on all fours and pulled from under a piece of furniture a big greyhound with a high curved backbone and a fierce eye.
"Come, Lombard, come here."
It was Philip the Fair's' favourite pet, present of the banker Tolomei, the same dog that had been found near the King when he had fallen motionless during his, last hunt.
"Four days ago this hound was at Fontainebleu, how has he managed to get here" asked The Hutin furiously.
An equerry was called.
"He came with the rest of the, pack, Sire," explained the equerry, "and he will not obey; he runs away at the sound of a voice and I have been wondering since yesterday where he had hidden himself."
Louis ordered that Lombard should be taken away and shut up in the stables; and, as the big greyhound resisted, scraping the floor with its claws, he chased it out with kicks.
He had hated dogs since the day when, as a child, he had been bitten by one as he was amusing himself pier cing its ear with a nail.
Voices were heard in a neighbouring room, a door opened and a little girl of three appeared, awkward in her mourning robe, pushed; forward by her nurse who was saying, "Go on, Madame Jeanne; go and kiss Messire the King, your father."
Everyone turned towards the little figure with pale cheeks and too-big eyes, who had not y et reached the age of reasoning but was, for the moment, the heiress to the throne of France.
Jeanne had the round, protruding forehead of Marguerite of Burgundy, but her complexion and her hair were fair. She came forward looking about her at people and things with the anxious expression of an unloved child.
Louis X stopped her with a gesture.
"Why has she been brought here?" he cried. "I don't want to see her. Take her back at once to the Hotel de Nesle; that's where she must live, because it's there ..'
He was going to say, that her mother conceived her in her illicit pleasures." He stopped himself in time, and waited till the nurse had taken the child away.
" I don't want ever to see the bastard again! " he said.
"Are you really certain that she is one, Louis?" asked Monseigneur of Evreux, moving his clothes away from the fire to prevent their scorching.
"It's enough for me that there is a doubt," replied The Hutin, "and I refuse to recognise the progeny of a woman who has shamed me."
"All the same, the child is fair-haired, as we all are." "Philippe d'Aunay was fair too, replied The Hutin bitterly . "Louis must have good reasons Brother, to speak as he does said Charles of Valois.
"What's more," Louis went on, shouting at the top of his voice, "I don't ever again want to hear the word that, was thrown at me as we passed through the hall; I don't want to go on imagining all the time that people are thinking it; I don't want ever; again to give people the chance of thinking it.
Monseigneur of Evreux was silent. He was thinking of the little girl who must live among a few servants in the deserted immensity of the Hotel de Nesle. He heard Louis say, "Oh, how lonely I shall be here!"
Louis of Evreux looked at him, 'surprised as always by this nephew of his who gave way to every; impulse of his mood, who preserved resentments as a miser keeps his gold, chased dogs away because he had once been bitten, his daughter because he had once been deceived, and then complained of his solitude.
"If he had had a better nature and a kinder heart," he thought, "perhaps his wife would have loved him."
"Every living man is alone, Louis," he said gravely. "Each one of us in his loneliness undergoes the moment of recognition of sin, and it is mere vanity to believe that there are
Similar Books
