Read "The Queen Pedauque" by Anatole France online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
I really do not know how it was possible to tear myself out of Catherine's arms. But it is a fact that in jumping out of her carriage I nearly fell on M. d'Asterac, whose tall figure leant against a tree on the roadside. Courteously I saluted him and showed the surprise I felt at this pleasant encounter.
"Chance," he said, "lessens as knowledge grows; for me it is suppressed. I knew, my son, that I had to meet you at this place. It is necessary for me to have a conversation with you already too long delayed. Let's go, if you please, in quest of solitude and quietness required by what I wish to tell you. Do not become anxious. The mysteries I desire to unveil before you are sublime, it is true, but pleasant also."