The report goes, so says the news, that a change has taken place in the king's affections.

You know whom that concerns.

Afterwards, the news continues, people are talking about one of the maids of honor, respecting whom various slanderous reports are being circulated.

These vague phrases have not allowed me to sleep.

I have been deploring, ever since yesterday, that my diffidence and vacillation of purpose, notwithstanding a certain obstinacy of character I may possess, have left me unable to reply to these insinuations.