"Assuredly not, madame; there is but one queen in France, and she it is at whose feet I have the honor to lay my most humble respect; but there are two contrary opinions in France,--at least, I thought as much just now." "What mean you, sirrah?" demanded the queen, with a frown. "I mean, madame, that I was riding about in this vicinity, and as I happened to be upon the summit of a slight eminence which overlooks the whole country-side, admiring the landscape, which, as your Majesty must have noticed, is surpassingly beautiful, I thought I saw that Monsieur Richon did not receive your Majesty with all the respect to which you are entitled; that fact confirmed a suspicion I had previously entertained, namely, that there are two ways of thinking in France, the royalist way and another, and that Monsieur Richon is of that other way of thinking." Anne of Austria's brow grew darker and darker. "Ah! you thought you saw that?" said she. "Yes, madame," Cauvignac replied with the most innocent candor. "I even thought that I saw that a cannon was fired from the fort, and that the ball with which it was loaded had something to say to your Majesty's carriage." "Enough. Did you seek audience of me, monsieur, only to indulge in such absurd remarks as these?" "Ah! you are discourteous," was Cauvignac's mental reflection; "you shall pay the dearer for that." "No, madame, I sought an audience to say to you that you are a very great queen, and that my admiration for you knows no bounds." "Indeed!" said the queen, dryly. "Because of your grandeur, and my admiration, which is its natural consequence, I resolved to devote myself heart and soul to your Majesty's cause." "Thanks," said the queen, ironically. "Guitaut," she added, turning to the captain of the guards, "show this prating fool the door." "Pardon, madame," said Cauvignac, "I will go without being driven out; but if I go you will not have Vayres." Whereupon he saluted her Majesty with perfect grace, and turned upon his heel. "Madame," said Mazarin, in an undertone, "I think that you are ill-advised to send this man away." "Stay a moment," said the queen, "and say what you have to say; after all, you are a strange fellow, and most amusing." "Your Majesty is very kind," said Cauvignac, bowing low. "What were you saying about obtaining possession of Vayres?" "I was saying that if your Majesty still entertains the purpose, which I fancied I detected this morning, of gaining admission to Vayres, I will make it my duty to show you the way in." "How so?" "I have a hundred and fifty men of my own at Vayres." "Of your own?" "Yes, of my own." "Even so?" "I turn over those one hundred and fifty men to your Majesty." "What then?" "What then?" "Yes." "Why, then, it seems to me that the devil's in it if with a hundred and fifty doorkeepers your Majesty cannot cause a door to be opened." "'T is a witty knave," said the queen, with a smile.