Anne of Austria fixed upon Buckingham a look so tender in its expression, that it denoted, not alone the indulgence of maternal affection, but a gentleness of expression like the coquetry of a woman who loves.
"Your majesty," said Buckingham, respectfully, "desired to speak to me." "Yes, duke," said the queen, in English; "will you be good enough to sit down ?" The favor which Anne of Austria thus extended to the young man, and the welcome sound of the language of a country from which the duke had been estranged since his stay in France, deeply affected him.

He immediately conjectured that the queen had a request to make of him.

After having abandoned the first few moments to the irrepressible emotions she experienced, the queen resumed the smiling air with which she had received him.

"What do you think of France ?" she said, in French.
"It is a lovely country, madame," replied the duke.
"Had you ever seen it before ?" "Once only, madame." "But, like all true Englishmen, you prefer England ?" "I prefer my own native land to France," replied the duke; "but if your majesty were to ask me which of the two cities, London or Pairs, I should prefer as a residence, I should be forced to answer Paris." Anne of Austria observed the ardent manner with which these words had been pronounced.

"I am told, my lord, you have rich possessions in your own country, and that you live in a splendid and time-honored place." "It was my father's residence," replied Buckingham, casting down his eyes.
"Those are indeed great advantages and _souvenirs_," replied the queen, alluding, in spite of herself, to recollections from which it is impossible voluntarily to detach one's self.
"In fact," said the duke, yielding to the melancholy influence of this opening conversation, "sensitive persons live as much in the past or the future, as in the present." "That is very true," said the queen, in a low tone of voice.