Laughing,
she glided through the little side gate, which sufficed for the more
unpretending visitor of Trianon, and took the arm of her friend the
Duchess de Polignac, in order to turn with her into one of the side
alleys. But, before doing so, she turned to the chamberlain, who,
standing in a respectful attitude, was awaiting the commands of his
mistress.
"Weber," said she to him, in the pleasant Austrian dialect, the
language of her early home" Weber, there is no need for you to
follow us. The day is yours. You are free, as I am too. Meanwhile,
if yon meet his majesty, tell him that I have gone to the small
palace, and that, if it pleases his majesty, he may await me in my
little village at the mill.
"And now, come, my Julia," said she, turning to the duchess, and
drawing her forward with gentle violence, " now let us be merry and
happy. I am no longer a queen, God be thanked! I am neither more nor
less than anybody else. That is the reason I was so well pleased to
come through the small door just now. Through a narrow gate alone we
can enter paradise, and I am entering paradise now. Oh, do you not
see, my friend, that the trees, the flowers, the bushes, every thing
here is free from the dust of earth; that even the heaven has
another color, and looks down upon me brilliant and blue, like the
eye of God?"
"It is just," answered the Duchess de Polignac, "because you are
seeing every thing with other eyes, your majesty.
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