TEN YEAKS LATER. 119 "I thank you, madame," said the young man, affected and almost suffocated by his emotion. "I feel there is indeed still room in my heart for a gentler and nobler sentiment than love." The queen-mother looked at him and pressed his hand. "Go," she said. "When must I leave? Command me." "At any time that may suit you, my lord," resumed the queen. "You will choose your own day of departure. In- stead, however, of setting olf to-day, as you would doubtless wish to do, or to-morrow, as others may have expected, leave the day after to-morrow, in the evening; but announce to-day that it is your wish to leave." "My wish?" murmured the young duke. "Yes, duke." "And shall I never return to France?" Anne of Austria reflected for a moment, seemingly ab- sorbed in sad and serious thought. "It would be a consola- tion for me," she said, "if you were to return on the day when I shall be carried to my final resting-place at St. Denis, beside the king, my husband." "Madame, you are goodness itself; the tide of prosperity is setting in on you; your cup brims over with happiness, and many long years are yet before you." "In that case, you will not come for some time, then," said the queen, endeavoring to smile. "I shall not return," said Buckingham, "young as I am. Death does not reckon my years; it is impartial; some die young, others live on to old age." "I will not allow any sorrowful ideas, duke. Let me comfort you; return in two years. 1 perceive from your face that the very ideas which sadden you so much now v.'ill have disappeared before six months shall have passed, and will be all dead and forgotten in the period of absence I have assigned you," "I think you judged me better a little while since, ma- dame," replied the young man, "when you said that time is powerless against members of the family of Buckingham." "Silence," said the queen, kissing the duke uj)on the forehead with an affection she could not restrain. "Go, go; spare me, and forget yourself no longer. I am the queen; you are the subject of the King of England; King Charles awaits your return. Adieu, Villiers — farewell." "Forever!" replied the young man; and he fled, endeav- oring to master his emotion.
