It is said that they are
in correspondence with even those persons immediately about the
person of the king. Adieu, madam; I will see you at your own
apartments the day after to-morrow, when I trust you will have
ready 100,000 francs, on account of the 600,000 I have stipulated for."
So saying, she curtsied and left me, overcome with surprise. A
thousand fearful ideas pressed upon my brain, and my heart sickened
at the long train of gloomy images which presented themselves. I
had had sufficient proofs since my elevation of the deadly hatred
borne me by those whom my good fortune had rendered my enemies:
yet, hitherto, my strongest apprehensions had never been directed
to anything more terrible than being supplanted in the favor of the
king, or being confined in my chateau du Lucienne. The horrible
ideas of murder, poison, or assassination by any means, had never
presented themselves to me. All at once I recollected the young
man in the garden of the Tuileries; his predictions of my future
greatness had been accomplished. He had also announced to me
fearful vicissitudes, and had threatened to appear to me when
these catastrophes were about to occur. Doubtless he would keep
his word; now was the time for so doing, and I timidly glanced
around as I caught the sound of a slight rustle among the branches,
fully expecting to see my young prophet; but the figure which met
my eye was that of madame de Mirepoix, who, tired of waiting,
had come to rejoin me.
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