The King nodded, and could not repress a shudder. "Yes," he said; "but
not, thank Heaven, until he had left the closet. He had something
about him."
Sillery began anxiously to clear himself; but the King, with his usual
good nature, stopped him, and bade us all go and dine, saying that we
must be famished. He ended by directing me to be back in an hour,
since his own appetite was spoiled. "And bring with you all your
patience," he added, "for I have a hundred questions to ask you. We
will walk towards Avon, and I will show you the surprise which I am
preparing for the queen."
Alas, I would I could say that all ended there. But the rancour of
which Madame de Verneuil had given token in her interview with me was
rather aggravated than lessened by the failure of her plot and the
death of her tool. It proved to be impenetrable by all the kindnesses
which the King lavished upon her; neither the legitimation of the child
which she soon afterwards bore, nor the clemency which the
King--against the advice of his wisest ministers extended to her
brother Auvergne, availing to expel it from her breast. How far she or
that ill-omened family were privy to the accursed crime which, nine
years later, palsied France on the threshold of undreamed-of glories, I
will not take on myself to say; for suspicion is not proof. But
history, of which my beloved master must ever form so great a part,
will lay the blame where it should rest.