After riding out, the queen was in the habit of
dismissing them there, but to-day Marie Antoinette had gone into her
own suite of rooms without saying a word, and the door was already
closed.
"What shall we do now?" asked both the maids of honor of the
cavaliers, and received only a shrug of the shoulders for reply.
"We shall have to wait," at last said the Marchioness de Mailly.
"Perhaps her majesty will have the kindness to remember us and to
permit us to withdraw."
"And if she should happen to forget it," answered the Princess de
Chimay, "we shall have to stand here the whole day, while the queen
in Trianon is amusing herself with the fantastic pastoral plays."
"Yes, certainly, there is a country festival in Trianon to-day,"
said the Prince de Castines, shrugging his shoulders, "and it might
easily happen that we should be forgotten, and, like the
unforgetable wife of Lot, have to stand here playing the ridiculous
part of pillars of salt."
"No, there comes our deliverance," whispered the Marchioness de
Mailly, pointing to a carriage which just then came rolling across
the broad palace-square. "It was yesterday resolved in secret
council at the Count de Provence's, that Madame Adelaide should make
one more attempt to bring the queen to reason, and make her
understand what is becoming and what is unbecoming to a Queen of
France.
Pages:
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44