Immediately on entering her parlor, she rang the bell, and ordered her chambermaid to show the valet, Rietz, who was waiting in the queen's antechamber, up to her apartments at once. She then walked slowly to and fro; she sighed profoundly, and her lips whispered in low tones, "I do not love him! No, I do not love him; and yet I will no longer be able to resist him, for they are all against me; even my own relatives are ready to sacrifice me. That they may become great, I am to be trodden in the dust; and that they may live in honor, I am to live in shame! But I will not!" she cried, in a loud voice; and she stood proudly erect, and held up her beautiful head. "No, I will not live in shame; every respectable woman shall not have the right to point the finger of scorn at me, and place me in the same category with the brazen-faced wife of the abominable Rietz! They shall not have the right to call Julie von Voss the king's mistress! No, they shall not, and--" "The king's privy chamberlain," announced the maid, and behind her Rietz walked into the parlor. "Poor Figaro has been compelled to wait a long time, my lady," said he, with a mocking smile. "You have treated Figaro's master, who longs for an answer, very cruelly." "I did not ask your opinion of my conduct," said the maid of honor, haughtily. "You are the king's messenger; speak, therefore, and execute his majesty's commands." "Ah, this is not a question of commands, but of entreaties only--the king's entreaties. His majesty begs that he may be permitted to see you after he has paid his visit of condolence to the widowed queen." "Etiquette requires that I shall be present when her majesty, the widowed queen, receives his visit. And if his majesty desires to speak with me, I beg that he will graciously avail himself of that opportunity."