said Madame de Chevreuse, — the irony of which reflection the queen pretended not to perceive.
Madame de Chevreuse continued: “Well, madame, I inquired some years ago at Noisy-le-Sec about this unhappy child. I was told that it was not believed he was dead, and that was my reason for not having at first condoled with your majesty; for, most certainly, if I could have thought it were true, never should I have made the slightest allusion to so deplorable an event, and thus have re-awakened your majesty’s most natural distress.”
“You say that it is not believed the child died at Noisy?”
“No, madame.”
“What did they say about him, then?”