"You know that I am being exiled; you know that I am going to be buried alive; you know still more that they want to marry me off, too." Louis became very pale, and placed his hand upon his heart.
"If I had thought that my life only had, been at stake, I have been so persecuted that I might have yielded; but I thought yours was concerned, my dear sire, and I stood out for the sake of preserving your happiness." "Oh, yes! my happiness, my treasure!" murmured the king, more gallantly than passionately, perhaps.
"The cardinal might have yielded," said Marie, "if you had addressed yourself to him, if you had pressed him.

For the cardinal to call the king of France his nephew! do you not perceive, sire?
He would have made war even for that honor; the cardinal, assured of governing alone, under the double pretext of having brought up the king and given his niece to him in marriage--the cardinal would have fought all antagonists, overcome all obstacles.

Oh, sire! I can answer for that.

I am a woman, and I see clearly into everything where love is concerned." These words produced a strange effect upon the king.

Instead of heightening his passion, they cooled it.