In me it is night, and I feel the storms which are drawing
nigh. Go, Julia, leave me alone, for you can see that there is
nothing to be done with me to-day. I cannot laugh, I cannot be
merry. Go, for my sadness might infect you, and that would make me
doubly sad."
The duchess did not reply; she only made a deep reverence, and went
with light, inaudible step over the carpet to the door. The queen's
face had been turned away, but as the light sound of the door struck
her ear, she turned quickly around and saw that she was alone.
"She has left me--she has really gone," sighed the queen, bitterly.
"Oh! she is like all the rest, she never loved me. But who does love
me?" asked she, in despair. "Who is there in the world that loves
me, and forgets that I am the queen? My God! my heart cries for
love, yearns for friendship, and has never found them. And they make
this yearning of mine a crime; they accuse me that I have a heart. 0
my God! have pity upon me. Veil at least my eyes, that I may not see
the faithlessness of my friends. Sustain at least my faith in the
friendship of my Julia. Let me not have the bitterness of feeling
that I am alone, inconsolably alone."
She pressed her hands before her face, and sank upon a chair, and
sat long there, motionless, and wholly given over to her sad, bitter
feelings.
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