another color, and looks down upon me brilliant and blue, like the
eye of God?"

"It is just," answered the Duchess de Polignac, "because you are
seeing every thing with other eyes, your majesty."

"Your majesty!" cried Marie Antoinette. "You love me no longer; your
heart is estranged from me, since you address me with this cold
title. In Versailles, you had a valid plea; but here, Julia, what
can you offer in justification? The flowers are not listeners, the
bushes have not ears, like the walls of Versailles, to spy out our
privacy."

"I say nothing for my exculpation," answered the duchess, throwing
her arm with a playful movement around the neck of the queen, and
imprinting a kiss upon the lofty brow of Marie Antoinette. "I only
ask your pardon, and promise that I will be obedient and not disturb
my friend's dream of paradise all day long by an ill-timed word. Now
will you forgive me, Marie?"

"With all my soul, Julia," answered the queen, nodding to her in a
friendly way. "And now, Julia, as we have a happy vacation day
before us, we will enjoy it like two young girls who are celebrating
the birthday of their grandmother after escaping from a boarding
school. Let us see which of us is the swiftest of foot. We will make
a wager on it. See, there gleams our little house out from the
shrubbery; let us see which of us gets there first."

"Without stopping once in the run?" asked the duchess, amazed.