The document in question --a
letter, to be frank --had been received by the personage robbed
while alone in the royal boudoir. During its perusal she was
suddenly interrupted by the entrance of the other exalted personage
from whom especially it was her wish to conceal it. After a hurried
and vain endeavor to thrust it in a drawer, she was forced to place
it, open as it was, upon a table. The address, however, was uppermost,
and, the contents thus unexposed, the letter escaped notice. At this
juncture enters the Minister D--. His lynx eye immediately perceives
the paper, recognises the handwriting of the address, observes the
confusion of the personage addressed, and fathoms her secret. After
some business transactions, hurried through in his ordinary manner, he
produces a letter somewhat similar to the one in question, opens it,
pretends to read it, and then places it in close juxtaposition to
the other. Again he converses, for some fifteen minutes, upon the
public affairs. At length, in taking leave, he takes also from the
table the letter to which he had no claim. Its rightful owner saw,
but, of course, dared not call attention to the act, in the presence
of the third personage who stood at her elbow. The minister
decamped; leaving his own letter --one of no importance --upon the
table.
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