upon him, even were I to be blinded in doing so." At this moment, and as though caused by the words which had just escaped La Valliere's lips, a rustling of leaves, and of that which sounded like some silken material, was heard behind the adjoining bush. The young girls hastily rose, almost terrified out of their senses. They distinctly saw the leaves move, without observing what it was that stirred them.
"It is a wolf or a wild boar," cried Montalais; "fly! fly!" The three girls, in the very extremity of terror, fled by the first path which presented itself, and did not stop until they had reached the verge of the wood. There, breathless, leaning against one another, feeling their hearts throb wildly, they endeavored to collect their senses, but could only succeed in doing so after the lapse of some minutes. Perceiving at last the lights from the windows of the chateau, they decided to walk toward them. La Valliere was exhausted with fatigue, and Aure and Athenais were obliged to support her.
"We have escaped well," said Montalais.
"I am greatly afraid," said La Valliere, "that it was something worse than a wolf. For my part, and I speak as I think, I should have preferred to have run the risk of being devoured alive by some wild animal than to have been listened to and overheard. Fool, fool, that I am! How could I have thought, how could I have said what I did?" And saying this, her head bowed like the head of a reed, she felt her limbs fail, and, all her strength abandoning her, she glided almost inanimate from the arms of her companions, and sank down upon the grass.
CHAPTER XLII
The king's uneasiness.
Let us leave poor La Valliere, who had fainted in the arms of her two companions, and return to the precincts of the royal oak. The young girls had hardly run twenty paces when the sound which had so much alarmed them was renewed among the branches. A man's figure might indistinctly be perceived, and putting the branches of the bushes aside, he appeared upon the verge of the wood, and perceiving that the place was empty, burst out into a peal of laughter. It was useless to say that the form in question was that of a young and handsome man, who immediately made a sign to another, who thereupon made his appearance.
