"Now I shall doubly love her,
for she is the benefactor of him I love. Oh, why have you waited
until now before telling me this beautiful, touching story? Why have
I not enjoyed it before? But I thank you from my heart for the good
which it has done me."
"My dear one," answered Toulan, gravely, "there are experiences in
the human soul that one may reveal only in the most momentous epochs
of life--just as in the Jewish temple the Holy of Holies was
revealed only on the chief feast-days. Such a time, my dear one, is
to-day, and I withdraw all veils from my heart, and let you see and
know what, besides you, only God sees and knows. Since that day when
I returned with my father from the palace, and when the queen had
made us happy again--since that day my whole soul has belonged to
the queen. I thanked her for all, for the contentment of my father,
for every cheerful hour which we spent together; and all the
knowledge I have gained, all the studies I have attempted, I owe to
the beautiful, noble Marie Antoinette. We went to our home, and I
entered the high-school in order to fit myself to be a merchant, a
bookseller. My father had enjoined upon me riot to choose a
soldier's lot. The sad experience of his invalid life hung over him
like a dark cloud, and he did not wish that I should ever enter into
the same.
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