Part 73 (2/2)
Stupefied and stunned, Sir Roger stared helplessly at this enraged splendour of womanhood, this embodied wrath of royalty.
”Madam!” he stammered,--”I know nothing--save that the King has been sorely stricken by a great sorrow--”
She looked at him with flas.h.i.+ng eyes.
”Sorrow for what?--for whom?”
De Launay gazed at her amazedly;--why did she ask of what she knew so well?
”Madam, to answer that is not within my province!”
She was silent, breathing quickly. Great tears gathered on her lashes, but did not fall.
”When saw you his Majesty last?”
”But three hours since, Madam! He bade me leave him alone, saying he would walk a while in the further grounds away from the sight of the sea. He had no mind, he said, to look upon the pa.s.sing away of Lotys!”
A strange grey pallor crept over the Queen's face. She stood proudly erect, yet tottered as though about to fall. Teresa de Launay ran to her in terror.
”Dearest Madam!” cried the trembling girl--”Be comforted! Be patient!
The King will come!”
”He will never come!” said the Queen in a low choked voice;--”Never again--never, never again! I feel--I know--that I have lost him for ever! He has gone--but where?--O G.o.d!--where!”
”Madam!” said Sir Roger, shaken to the soul by the sight of her suppressed agony--”That paper in your hand--”
”This paper,” she said, with a convulsive effort at calmness, ”makes me Regent till the return of my son, the Crown Prince--and--at the same time--bids me farewell! Farewell!--and why farewell? Oh, faithless servant!” and she advanced a step, fixing her burning eyes on the stricken De Launay--”I thought you loved me!”
His face flushed--his lips quivered.
”As G.o.d lives, Madam, I yield to no one in my love and service of you!”
”Then find the King!” and she stretched out her arm with a gesture of authority--”Bring back to me my husband!--the one man of the world!--the one man I have learned to love! Follow the King!--whether on land or sea, whether alive or dead,--in heaven or h.e.l.l, follow him! Your place is not with me--but by your master's side! If you know not whither he has fled, make it your business to learn!--and never let me see your face again till _his_ face s.h.i.+nes beside yours, like suns.h.i.+ne against darkness!--till his eyes, his smile make gladness where your presence without him is a mocking misery! Out of my sight! And nevermore return again, save in your duty and attendance on the King!”
”Madam,--Madam!” exclaimed Teresa--”Would you condemn my brother to a lasting banishment? What if the King were dead?”
”Dead!” The word left the Queen's lips in a sharp sob of pain--”The King cannot die!--he is too strong--too bold and brave! He has met death ere now and conquered it! Dead? No--that is not possible--that could not be!”
She turned again upon Sir Roger, standing mute and pale, a very statue of despair.
”I give you a high mission!” she said--”Fulfil it!”
He started from his unhappy reverie.
”Be sure that I will do so!” he said--”I will--as your Majesty bids me--follow the King! And--till the King returns with me--I also say farewell!”
Catching his sister in his arms, he kissed her with a murmured blessing--and profoundly saluting the woman for whose love's sake his very life was now demanded, he left the room.
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