contrary, they encountered
those of the queen, they found them bathed in tears and darting arrows of
flame. They seemed to say, We adore each other and yet are afraid to love;
we both burn with a fire which we both condemn.

Zadig left the royal presence full of perplexity and despair, and having
his heart oppressed with a burden which he was no longer able to bear. In
the violence of his perturbation he involuntarily betrayed the secret to
his friend Cador, in the same manner as a man who, having long supported
the fits of a cruel disease, discovers his pain by a cry extorted from him
by a more severe fit and by the cold sweat that covers his brow.

"I have already discovered," said Cador, "the sentiments which thou
wouldst fain conceal from thyself. The symptoms by which the passions show
themselves are certain and infallible. Judge, my dear Zadig, since I have
read thy heart, whether the king will not discover something in it that
may give him offense. He has no other fault but that of being the most
jealous man in the world. Thou canst resist the violence of thy passion
with greater fortitude than the queen because thou art a philosopher, and
because thou art Zadig. Astarte is a woman: she suffers her eyes to speak
with so much the more imprudence, as she does not as yet think herself
guilty. Conscious of her innocence, she unhappily neglects those external
appearances which are so necessary. I shall tremble for her so long as she
has nothing wherewithal to reproach herself. Were ye both of one mind, ye
might easily deceive the whole world. A growing passion, which we endeavor
to suppress, discovers itself in spite of all our efforts to the contrary;
but love, when gratified, is easily concealed."

Zadig trembled at the proposal of betraying the king, his benefactor; and
never was he more faithful to his prince than when guilty of an
involuntary crime against him.

Meanwhile the queen mentioned the name of Zadig so frequently and with
such a blushing and downcast look; she was sometimes so lively and
sometimes so perplexed when she spoke to him in the king's presence, and
was seized with such deep thoughtfulness at his going away, that the king
began to be troubled. He believed all that he saw and imagined all that he
did not see. He particularly remarked that his wife's shoes were blue and
that Zadig's shoes were blue; that his wife's ribbons were yellow and that
Zadig's bonnet was yellow; and these were terribl