He was so handsome when he smiled, so
bewitching when his eyes blazed with love and pleasure.
Elizabeth was a young, impulsive child. She had a feeling as if she
must suffocate in the agony of expectation; her heart leaped into
her mouth; her breath was stifled in her breast, she was so
impatient for happiness.
"Oh, if he does not come soon I shall die!" murmured she. "Oh, if I
could only at least see him, or only hear him!" All at once she
stopped; her eyes flashed up, and a bewitching smile flitted across
her features. "Yes," said she, "I will see him, and I will hear him.
I can do it, and I will do it. I have the key which the queen gave
me, and which opens the door that separates my rooms from hers. With
that key I may reach her bed-chamber, and next to the bed-chamber is
her boudoir, in which, without doubt, she will receive the earl. I
will enter quite softly, and, hiding myself behind the hanging which
separates the bed-chamber from the boudoir, I shall be able to see
him, and hear everything that he says!"
She laughed out loud and merrily, like a child, and sprang for the
key, which lay on her writing-table. Like a trophy of victory she
swung it high above her on her hand and cried, "I will see him!"
Then light, joyful, and with beaming eye, she left the room.
She had conjectured rightly. Catharine received the earl in her
boudoir. She sat on the divan standing opposite the door which led
into the reception-room.
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