am not contented. No, I do as the others do. I am full of anger and
pain to see that nothing is secure more, that nothing is stable
more, that one can rely upon nothing more--not even upon the word of
kings."

"My lord duke," cried Marie Antoinette, with flashing anger, "you go
too far, you forget that you are speaking to your queen."

"Madame," cried he, still louder, "here in Trianon there is no
queen, there are no subjects! You yourself have said it, and I at
least will hold to your words, even if you yourself do not. Let us
play billiards, madame. I am at your service."

And while the Duke de Coigny said this, he seized with an angry
movement the billiard-cue of the queen. It was a present which Marie
Antoinette had received from her brother, the Emperor Joseph. It was
made of a single rhinoceros skin, and was adorned with golden knobs.
The king had a great regard for it, and no one before had ever
ventured to use it excepting her alone.

"Give it to me, Coigny," said she, earnestly. "You deceive yourself,
that is not your billiard-cue, that is mine."

"Madame," cried he, angrily, "what is mine is taken from me, and why
should I not take what is not mine? It seems as if this were the
latest fashion, to do what one pleases with the property of others;
I shall hasten to have a share in this fashion, even were it only to
show that I have learned something from your majesty. Let us begin."

Trembling with anger and excitement, he took two balls, laid them in