these things, be merry and glad. Duke de Coigny, you have been for a
week my debtor in billiards, to-day you must make it up. Come, my
friends, let us go into the billiard-room."

And the queen, who had found her gayety again, went laughing in
advance of her friends into the next apartment, where the billiard-
table stood. She took up her cue, and, brandishing it like a
sceptre, cried, "Now, my friends, away with care--"

She ceased, for as she looked around her she saw that her friends
had not obeyed her call. Only the Duke de Coigny, whom she had
specially summoned, had followed the queen into the billiard-room.

A flash of anger shot from the eyes of the queen.

"How!" cried she, aloud, "did my companions not hear that I
commanded them to follow me hither?"

"Your majesty," answered the Duke de Coigny, peevishly, "the ladies
and gentlemen have probably recalled the fact that your majesty once
made it a rule here in Trianon that every one should do as he
pleases, and your majesty sees that they hold more strictly to the
laws than others do."

"My lord," sighed the queen, "do you bring reproaches against me
too? Are you also discontented?"

"And why should I be contented, your majesty?" asked the duke, with
choler. "I am deprived of a post which hitherto has been held for
life, and does your majesty desire that I should be contented? No, I