I should have liked to see my dear George wearing epaulets,
and it must have tremendously pleased my boy to have come into the
world the child of a captain."
"Did you tell that to the lady?"
"Certainly I told her, and she promised me that the queen would
undoubtedly do me the favor, provided that I would do every thing
that she bade me do in the name of the queen. She told me, then,
that the queen had ordered her to seek a person suitable to play a
part in a little comedy, which she was privately preparing; that I
was just the person to play this part, and if I would do it well and
tell nobody in the world, not even George, when he should come home
from Brussels, she would not only give me her help in the future,
but pay me fifteen thousand francs for my assistance. I consented
with great joy, of course, for fifteen thousand francs was a
magnificent dowry for a marriage, and I was very happy in being able
to earn so much without having to work very hard for it."
"But did it not occur to you that that was a dangerous game that
they wanted yon to play, and for which they were going to pay such a
high sum?"
"I did have such thoughts once in a while, but I suppressed them
soon, so as not to be troubled about my good fortune; and besides
that, the countess assured me that every thing was done at the
command of the queen, and that it was the queen who was going to pay
the fifteen thousand francs.
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