"Oh, Campan, Campan! what have I been compelled to hear?" cried she,
bitterly. "With what expressions have they ventured to address the
Queen of France!" Madame de Campan, the first lady-in-waiting on the
queen, who had just then entered the porcelain room, hastened to her
mistress, and, sinking upon her knees, pressed the fallen hand of
the queen to her lips. "Your majesty is weeping!" she whispered with
her mild, sympathetic voice. " Your majesty has given the princess
the satisfaction of knowing that she has succeeded in drawing tears
from the Queen of France, and reddening her beautiful eyes."
"No, I will not give her this pleasure," said the queen, quickly
raising herself up and drying her eyes. "I will be merry, and why do
I weep? She sought to make me sick; she sought to wound me, but I
have given back the sickness, and the wounds which I have inflicted
upon her will not so soon heal."
"Has your majesty inflicted anything upon the princess?" cried
Madame de Campan, in agitation.
"Yes," answered Marie Antoinette, with triumphant joy. "I have
scourged her, I have wounded her, for I have distinctly intimated to
her that I am Queen of France, and she my subject. I have told her,
that when she dares direct her calumnies against the queen, she is
guilty of high-treason.
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