Raoul smiled.
“Oh!” said Madame, “yours is a smile which portends no good to my countrywomen. It is as though you were telling them, Monsieur de Bragelonne: ‘I visit you, but I leave my heart on the other side of the Channel.’ Did not your smile indicate that?”
“Your highness is gifted with the power of reading the inmost depths of the soul, and you will understand, therefore, why, at present, any prolonged residence at the court of England would be a matter of the deepest regret.”
“And I need not inquire if so gallant a knight is recompensed in return?”
“I have been brought up, Madame, with her whom I love, and I believe our affection is mutual.”
“In that case, do not delay your departure, Monsieur de Bragelonne, and delay not your return, for on your return we shall see two persons
