“What is it?” said the queen, a little distant in her manner, from an uneasiness of feeling produced by this remark. “But do not forget, my good Chevreuse, that I am quite as much under my son’s influence as I was formerly under my husband’s.”

“I will not be too hard, madame.”

“Call me as you used to do; it will be a sweet echo of our happy youth.”

“Well, then, my dear mistress, my darling Anne — ”

“Do you know Spanish, still?”

“Yes.”

“Ask me in Spanish, then.”

“Will your majesty do me the honor to pass a few days with me at Dampierre?”