After bestowing
on me the most gratifying marks of the sincerest attachment,
he said,
"I am well punished, my dear countess, for my inconstancy towards
you, but forgive me. I pray and believe that, however my fancy
may wander, my heart is all your own."
"Is that quite true?" said I, smiling. "Have you not some
reservations? Does not a noble female in the
come in for a share as well as the baroness de New----k?"
The king pressed my hand, and replied,
"You must not believe all those idle tales; I met the baroness
by chance, and, for a time, I thought her pretty. As for the
other, if she renders you in any way uneasy, let her be married
at once, and sent where we need never see her again."
'This is, indeed, the language of sincerity," cried I, and from
this moment I shall have the fullest confidence in you."
The conversation was carried on for a long while in this strain.
The physicians had made so light of the complaint, that the king
believed his illness to be merely of a temporary nature, and his
gaiety and good spirits returned almost to their natural height.
He inquired after madame de Mirepoix, and whether my sisters-
in-law were uneasy respecting his state of health. You may
imagine that my reply was worded with all the caution necessary
to keep him in profound ignorance as to his real condition.
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