MARGUERITE DE VALOIS.
63

protector you have not been able, or have not
chosen, to conciliate."
"Who is that?"
" He has the King—the King, who loves him,
pushes him on; the King, who, from jealousy
against your brother of Poland, and from spite
against you, seeks a successor out of his
family."
" The King!    Do you think so, mother?"
" Do you not see how he takes to Harry, his
dear Harry?"
" Yes, madame; yes."
" And how he is repaid in return ! for this very
Harry, forgetting how his brother-in-law would
liave shot him on Saint Bartholomew's-day,
grovels to the very earth like a dog, and licks
the hand which has beaten him."
" Yes," said François, " Henry is very hum-
ble with my brother Charles; and, the King al-
ways rallying him as to his ignorance, he has
begun to study hawking. It was only yesterday
he asked me if I had not some books on that
sport."
" Well," said Catherine, " well, and what
reply did you make him?"
"That I would look in my library"
" Good, good!" answered Catherine, " he must
have that book. I will give him one in your
name. Will you, D'Alençon, obey me blindly
in all I desire you to do with regard to Henry,
who loves you not, whatever you may think."
D'Alençon smiled, and replied, " I will,
mother."
" Well, then, on the morning ofthe next hunt
come here and seek for the book; I will give it
you, and you shall carry it to the detested
Henry. ' '
".And------?"
" Leave the rest to Providence or chance."
François bowed in acquiescence, and left his
mother's chamber.
Meantime, Marguerite received through La
Mole a letter from De Mouy addressed to the
King of Navarre. As in politics the two illus-
trious allies had no secrets, she opened the mis-
sive, and read it, and then, going quickly and
silently along the secret passage, went into the
King of Navarre's antechamber, no longer
guarded, since Orthon's disappearance. This
circumstance had greatly disquieted Henry,
who felt assured the poor boy had fallen a vic-
tim to some machination of the Queen-mother.
Any other than Henry would have kept
silence; but Henry calculated cleverly, and saw
his silence would betray him ; and thus he sought
and inquired for Orthon everywhere, even in
the presence of the King and the Queen-moth-
er, and of every one, down to the sentinel at
the wicket of the Louvre; but every iuquiry
was in vain.
The antechamber was thus empty; Henry de-
claring he would not replace him until he knew
for certain that he had disappeared forever.
Henry turned round as the Queen entered.
" You, madame!" he cried.
" Yes," replied Marguerite; " read quickly!"
and she handed the open letter to him. It con-
tained these lines :
" Sire,—The moment has arrived for putting
our plan of flight into execution.
" In five or six days there will be hawking
on the banks of the Seine, from Saint Germains
to Maisons, all along the forest.
"Go to this meeting, although it is only a
hawking-party: put a good coat of mail under
your doublet, your best sword by your side, and
ride the fleetest horse in your stable.
" About noon, when tbe sport is at its height,
and the King is galloping after his falcon, get
away alone, if you come alone; with the Queen,
if her Majesty will follow you.
" Fifty of our party will be concealed in the
pavilion of François the First, of which we
have the key; no one will know that they are
there, for they will come at night, and the shut-
ters will be closed.
" You will pass by the Allée des Violettes, at
the end of which I shall be on the watch ; at the
right of this allée will be Messieurs de la Mole
and Coconnas, with two horses, intended to re-
place yours if they should be fatigued.
" Adieu, Sire! be ready, as we shall be."
"Now, then, Sire," said Marguerite, "be a
hero; it is not difficult. You have but to follow
the route indicated, and create for me a glorious
throne," said the daughter of Henry II.
An imperceptible smile rose to the thin lips
of the Béarnais, as he kissed Marguerite's lips,
and went out to explore the passage, whistling
ihe burthen of an old song:
" Cil qui mieux battit la muraille
N'entra point dedans le chasteau."
The precaution was good, for as he opened his
bed-chamber door the Duke D'Alençon opened
lhat of his antechamber. Henry motioned to
Marguerite with his hand, and then said aloud,
"Ah' is it you, brother?   Welcome 1"
The Queen understood her husband's mean-
ing, and went quickly into a dressing closet, in
front of the door of whicli was a thick tapestry.
D'Alençon entered with a timorous step, and
looking around him, " Are we alone, brother?"
he asked, in an undertone.
" Quite. But what ails you?—you seem
greatly disturbed."
" We are discovered, Henry!"
" How discovered?"
" De Mouy has been arrested!"
" 1 know it."
" Well, De Mouy has told the King all!"
" All what?"
" He said I was ambitious of tbe throne of
Navarre, and had conspired to obtain it."
" The dunderhead!" said Henry. " So that
you are compromised, my dear brother! How
is it, then, that you are not under arrest-!-"
" I cannot tell; the King jested with me, and
offered me the throne of Navarre, but I said
nothing."
"And you did well, ventre-saint-gris !" said
Bernais. " Stand firm, for our lives depend on
that."
" Yes," said François, " our position is diffi-
cult, and that is why I came to ask your advice,
my brother.x Ought I to flee orremain?"
" You have seen the King, and he has spoken
to you?"
"Yes."
" Well, you must have ascertained his
thoughts; act from your own inspiration."
" I would rather remain," said François.
Master of himself.as he was.yet Henry allowed
a movement of joy to escape him, and François
observed it.
" Remain, then," said Henry.
" And you?"
" Why, if you remain, I have no motive for
going; I should go if you went, but stay if you
stay."
" So, then," said D'Alençon, " there is an
end of all our plans, and you give way at the
first repulse."
"Thanks to my contented disposition," re-,
plied Henry, " I am happy any where and every-
where. "
" Well, then," observed D'Alençon, " there
is no more to be said ; only, if you change your
mind, let me know."
" Corbleu ! 1 shall be sure to do that," replied
Henry. " Have we no agreed to have no secrets
from one another?"
D'Alençon said no more, and withdrew full
of thought, for he believed he had seen the
tapestry move at a certain moment; and, indeed,
scarcely was D'Alençon gone than Marguerite
reappeared.
" What do you think of this visit?" inquired
Henry.
" That there is something new and important;
what it is, I will learn."
" In the meanwhile------?"
"In the meanwhile, fail not to come to my
apartments to-morrow evening."
"I will not fail, be assured, madame," was
the reply of Henry, kissing his wife's hand very-
gal lantly.
With the same precaution she had used in
coming, Marguerite returned to her own apart-
ments.
CHAPTER XLIX.
THE  BOOK OP   VENERIE.
Fits days had elapsed since the events we
have related. Tiie Louvre clock had just struck
four, when D'Alençon, who, with all the rest of
the court, had risen early to prepare for the
hunt, entered his mother's apartment.
The Queen was not in her chamber, but she
had left orders that if her son came he was to
wait. At the end of a few minutes she came
out of a cabinet where she carried on her
chemical studies, and iuto which no one ever
entered. As she opened the door, a strong odor of
some acrid perfume pervaded the room.and look-
ing through the door of the cabinet, he perceived
a thick white vapor, like that of some aromatic
substance, floating in the air.
" Y'es," «aid Catherine, " I burnt some old
parchments, and their smell was so offensive
that I cast some juniper into the brazier."
D'Alençon bowed.
"Well," continued the Queen, concealing
beneath the sleeves of her robe-de-chambre her
hand stained with large reddish spots, "any-
thing new?"
" Nothing."
" Have you seen Henry?"
"Yes."
: Will he
go?
it is
"He refuses positively."
"The knave!"
" What say you,madame?"
" That he will go."
" You think so?"
" I am sure of it."
" Then he escapes us?"
" Yres," said Catherine.
" And you let him depart?"
" I not only suffer him, but, I tell you,
necessary he should leave the Court."
" I do not understand you."
" Listen: a skillful physician, the same who
gave me the book of vénerie you are about to
present to the King of Navarre, has told me that
he is on the point of being attacked with con-
sumption—an incurable disease; so that if he be
doomed to die, it were better that he should die
away from us than at the court."
" That would be too painful for us."
" Especially for Charles; whereas, if he die,
after having betrayed him, he will look upon
bis death as a punishment from heaven."
" You are right: it were better he should de-
part.    But are you sure he will go?"
" All my measures are taken. The place of
rendezvous is in the forest of St. Germain; fifty
Huguenots are to escort him to Fontainebleau,
where five hundred others await him."
" And does Margot accompany him?" asked
D'Alençon.
" Yes, but upon Henry's death she returns
to Court. ' '
" Are you sure that Henry will die?"
" The "physician who gave me this book as-
sured me of it."
" And where is this book?"
Catherine entered her cabinet, and returned
instantly with the book in her hand.
" Here it is," said she.
D'Alençon looked at it, not without a certain
feeling of terror.
" What is this book?" asked he, shuddering.
" 1 have already told you. It is a treatise on
the art of rearing and training falcons, goshawks,
and ger-falcons, written for the Italian Prince,.
Castruccio Castracani, of Lucca."
" What am I to do with it?"
"Give it to Henry, who has asked you for a.
book of the kind. As he is going to hawk this
morning with the King, he will not fail to read
it; but be sure to give it to him."
" Oh, I dare not!" said D'Alençon, shudder-
ing.
"Why, not?" replied the Queen; "it is a
book like any other, except it has lain by so long
that the leaves stick together. Do not attempt to
read it, for it can only be read by wetting the
finger, and turning over each leaf, which occa-
sions a great loss of time."
" So that it will only be read by a man who
is anxious to learn the art of hawking?"
" Exactly so, my son—you understand?"
"Oh, said D'Alençon, "I hear Henry in
the court; give it to me, and I will avail myself
of his absence to place it in his room."
" I had rather you gave it to him ; it is more
certain."
" I have already told you I dare not."
" At least place it where it can be easily seen. "
" I will place it where he must see it. Will
it be better to open it?"
" Yes, open it."
" Give it me, then."
" D'Alençon took witt a trembling hand tie .
book Catherine held out to him.
" Take it," said she. " There is no danger;
besides, you have your gloves on."
D'Alençon wrapped the book in his mantle, as
if still fearful.
" Make haste," continued the Queen; " I ex-
pect Henry will enter every moment."
" Madame, 1 go. "
And the Duke left the apartment, trembling
with emotion.
We have often introduced our readers into the
apartments of the King of Navarre, and have
made them witnesses of the events that have
passed there, but never did the walls of the room-
see a face so pale as the Duke D'Alençon's, when
he entered the apartment, the book in his hand.
On the wall hung Henry's sword. Some links