Chapter 17

Chapter XVII:
Forever!

The Duke of Buckingham, obedient to the queen-mother's invitation,
presented himself in her apartments half an hour after the departure of
the Duc d'Orleans. When his name was announced by the gentleman-usher in
attendance, the queen, who was sitting with her elbow resting on a table,
and her head buried in her hands, rose, and smilingly received the
graceful and respectful salutation which the duke addressed to her. Anne
of Austria was still beautiful. It is well known that at her then
somewhat advanced age, her long auburn hair, perfectly formed hands, and
bright ruby lips, were still the admiration of all who saw her. On the
present occasion, abandoned entirely to a remembrance which evoked all
the past in her heart, she looked almost as beautiful as in the days of
her youth, when her palace was open to the visits of the Duke of
Buckingham's father, then a young and impassioned man, as well as an
unfortunate prince, who lived for her alone, and died with her name upon
his lips. Anne of Austria fixed upon Buckingham a look so tender in its
expression, that it denoted, not alone the indulgence of maternal
affection, but a gentleness of expression like the coquetry of a woman
who loves.

"Your majesty," said Buckingham, respectfully, "desired to speak to me."

"Yes, duke," said the queen, in English; "will you be good enough to sit
down?"

The favor which Anne of Austria thus extended to the young man, and the
welcome sound of the language of a country from which the duke had been
estranged since his stay in France, deeply affected him. He immediately
conjectured that the queen had a request to make of him. After having
abandoned the first few moments to the irrepressible emotions she
experienced, the queen resumed the smiling air with which she had
received him. "What do you think of France?" she said, in French.

"It is a lovely country, madame," replied the duke.

"Had you ever seen it before?"

"Once only, madame."

"But, like all true Englishmen, you prefer England?"

"I prefer my own native land to France," replied the duke; "but if your
majesty were to ask me which of the two cities, London or Pairs, I should
prefer as a residence, I should be forced to answer Paris."

Anne of Austria observed the ardent manner with which these words had
been pronounced. "I am told, my lord, you have rich possessions in your
own country, and that you live in a splendid and time-honored place."

"It was my father's residence," replied Buckingham, casting down his eyes.

"Those are indeed great advantages and _souvenirs_," replied the queen,
alluding, in spite of herself, to recollections from which it is
impossible voluntarily to