MARGUERITE DE VALOIS.
58
•
" Mother, does the interest of France require,
in case of any misfortune happening to my
brother Charles, that D'Alençon or the King of
Navarre should ascend the throne?"
" Oh, the King of Navarre! Never! never!"
murmured Catherine.
"Ma foi!" continued Henry, "my brother
D'Alençon is no better, and does not love you
more."                               .            '
"Well," a?ked Catherine,     and what said
Lasco?"
" Lasco hesitated when 1 pressed him to seek
an audience. Oh! if he would write to Poland,
and annul the election."
"Folly, my son; very madness! What a Diet
has consecrated is sacred."
" But then, mother, could not these Poles
accept my brother in my stead?"
" This is difficult, if not impossible."
" Never mind: try; speak to the King, moth-
er; ascribe all to my love for Madame de Condé;
say 1 am mad, crazy about her. He saw me,
besides, leave the hotel of the Prince with Guise,
who does me every service in that quarter."
" Yes, in order to make his league; you do
not perceive this, but I do."
"Yes, mother, yes; but, in the meantime, I
make use of him.    Should we not be glad when
a man serves us whilst serving himself?"
" And what said the King when he met you?"
" He seemed to believe what 1 told him, which
was, that love only had brought me back to
Paris."                                                                 „
" But did he not ask you for any account ot
the rest of the night?"
"Yes, mother; but I went to sup at Nan-
touillet's, where I made a great riot, so that the
King might hear of it, and have no suspicion as
to where 1 was."
"Then he knows nothing of your visit to
Lasco?"
" Nothing."
" So much the better.    I will try, then, to
speak for you, my poor boy; but you know the
intractable disposition of him with whom I have
to deal."                                                   .       TT
" Charles will not allow me to remain.    He
detests me."                                     .
" He is jealous of you, my beautiful hero!
Why are you so brave and fortunate? Why, at
scarcely twenty years of age, have you gained
battles like Alexander and Caesar? But do not
open your heart to every one. Pretend to be
resigned, and pay your court to tbe King. Leave
all the rest to me. Apropos, and how succeeded
your expedition of last night?"
"It failed, mother. The gay gallant was
warned, and escaped by the window."
" Some day," said Catherine, "1 shall learn
-who is the bad genius who thus counteracts all
my projects. In the meanwhile I have my sus-
picion.    Malediction be on him!"
" Then, mother------" said the Duke d Anjou.
"Leave me to manage all;" and kissing
Henrv tenderly, he left the apartment.
Thé Princes of the house then arrived. Charles
was in a capital humor; for the assurance of his
sister Marguerite had rather pleased than vexed
him He felt no offense against La Mole other-
wise, and had awaited him with some ardor in
the corridor, simply because it was a kind ot
D'Alençon, on the other hand, was much
preoccupied. Tlie repulsion he had always felt
for La Mole had changed into hate from the mo-
• ment he knew that he was beloved by his sister.
Marguerite was, at the same time, meditative
and alert She had to remember and to watch.
The Polish deputies had sent a copy of the
harangues to be pronounced.
Marguerite, to whom no more mention had
been made of the occurrences of the previous
evening than if they had never taken place, read
the discourses; and, except Charles, every one
discussed what the replies should be. Charles
allowed Marguerite to reply as she pleased. . He
was somewhat difficult in his choice of words
for D'Alençon; but as to thediscourse of Henry
d'Anjou, he attacked it bitterly, and made end-
less corrections and additions.                      _ .
This meeting, without having any decisive
issue, tended to envenom the feelings of all.
Henry d'Anjou, who had to rewrite nearly all
his discourse, went out to perform his task.
Marguerite, who had not heard of the King ot
Navarre since he had broken her window-pane,
went to his apartment, in the hope of finding
him there. D'Alençon, who had read the hesi-
tation in his brother D'Anjou's eyes, ami sur-
prised a meaning look between him and his
mother, withdrew to ponder over what might
be the fresh plot. Charles was going to his forge
to finish a boar-spear he was making for him-
self, when Catherine stopped him.
Charles, who expected some opposition to his
will from his mother, paused, and gazed sternly
on her.
" Well," said he, " and what now?"
" One other word, Sire:  we had   forgotten
it, and yet it is of much importance.    What
day do you fix for the public reception?"
" True!" said the King, seating himself ; " let
us talk it over, mother. Well, what day shall
it be?"
" I think," replied Catherine, " that in your
Majesty's silence, your apparent forgetfulness,
there was something of deep calculation."
" Why so, mother?"
"Because," added the Queen-mother, very
quietlv, " there is no need, my son, as it appears
to me, that the Poles should see us crave their
crown with such avidity."
"On tbe contrary, mother," said Charles,
" they have hastened, by forced marches, from
Warsa w hither. Honor for honor—politeness for
politeness."
" Your Majesty may be right in one sense, as
in another I am not wrong. Your opinion then
is, that the public reception should be has-
tened?"                                              , „,,
" Certainly; and is it not yours also?
" You know that I have no opinions but such
as are connected with your glory: and I tell you
then that thus hastening the affair, 1 should
fear that you might be accused of profiting very
quickly by this occasion which presents itselt
for relieving France of the costs and charges of
your brother; but which assuredly he repays by
rendering it back in glory and devotion."
"Mother," said Charles, "when my brother
leaves France, I will so richly endow him that
no one will even dare to think that you tear
what they may say------"
"Well," said Catherine, "I give up, since
you have such good answers to all my objec-
tions- but to receive this warlike people, who
judge of the power of states from exterior
sio-ns you must have a considerable display of
troop's- and I do not think that there are yet
enough assembled in the Ile-de-France?"
" Excuse me, mother, but I had foreseen this
event and was prepared for it. 1 have recalled
two battalions from Normandy; one from
Guienne- my company of archers arrived yes-
terday from Brittany: the light horse spread
over Lorraine will be in Paris in the course of
the day and, whilst it is supposed that 1 can
scarcely command four regiments, Ihave twenty
thousand men ready to appear."      _            .
" Ah! ah!" said Catherine, surprised,    then
there is only one thing wanting; but that you
will procure."
"What is that?"
"Money; I imagine you have not a super-
abundance."
" On the contrary, madame, on the con-
trary," said Charles IX., "I have fourteen
hundred thousand crowns in the Bastile: my
private estates have this week brought me m
eight hundred thousand crowns, which I have
buried in my cellars in the Louvre; and in
case of need, Nantouillet has three hundred
thousand crowns besides at my disposal."
Catherine trembled; for she had before seen
Charles violent and passionate, but never provi-
6" Well then," she added, your Majesty thinks
of everything—admirable! and if the tailors,
embroiderers, and jewelers use dispatch, your
Majesty will be ready to give Uns audience m
less than six weeks."
"Six weeks!" exclaimed Charles, why,
mother the tailors, embroiderers, and jewelers,
have been hard at work since the day when they
learnt of my brother's nomination, and all may
be ready to-day, perhaps, but certainly in three
or four days."                        . -
"Ah," murmured Catherine; you are m
greater haste than 1 thought, my son "
" Honor for honor, as I have already said.
"Good- then it is this honor done to the
house of France that flatters you—is it not?'
** A ssurcdl V-
" And to see a son of France on the throne of
Poland is your chief desire?"
" Precisely so."
' Then it is the fact, and not the man, that
1U.U    _-    in    ""*-  *»»»...,-----------------   -                    -
affects you, and whoever may reign there------
"No no mother, corbeeuf! no. Let us be
as we are' 'The Poles have made a good choice
—they are skillful, clever fellows! A military
nation a people of soldiers, they take a captain
for their mler. Peste /-D'Anjou is their rnan.
The hero of Jarnac and Moncontour suits them
like a glove. Whom would you have me send
them? D'Alençon—a coward!—he would give
them a fine idea of the house of Valois ! D Alen-
çon would flee the very first ball that whistled
by his ears, whilst Henry d'Anjou is a warrior
bold and tried ; his sword always m his hand,
always on the march, on his war-horse or on
foot Forward—cut down, thrust, crush, slay!
Ah he is a brave and skillful man, my brother
D'Anjou: a gallant soldier, who'll give them
fighting from morning till night—from the 1st
of January to the 31st of December! He
is not a hard drinker, it is true, but he will do
his work in cold blood, you see. He will be in
his element, dear Henry will!—On! on! to the
field of battle! bravo, trumpets and drums!
Vive le roi! Long live the conqueror! Long
live the general! They will proclaim him em-
peror three timeSa year! This will be admirable
for the house of France and the honor of the
Valois! he may be killed perchance, but ventre-
mahom! it will be a glorious death!"
Catherine shuddered, but her eyes glanced
"Say," she cried, " that you wish to send
your brother, Henry d'Anjou away. Say you
do not love your brother."
"Ah, ah, ah!" exclaimed Charles, laughing
nervously; " what, have you divined that I
wished to send him away? Have you divined
that I do not love him? And suppose it were
sov Love my brother!—why should I love my
brother? Ah, ah, ah! would you make me
laugh'" and as he spoke, his pale cheeks were
animated with feverish red. " Does he love
me' Do you love me? Is there, except my
dogs Marie Touchet, and my nurse, is there
one living thing that has ever loved me? No
no I do not love my brother; 1 love only myseit
—do you understand? and I do not prevent my
brother from doing as I do."
"Sire," said Catherine, becoming animated
in her turn, "since you unfold your heart to
me 1 must open mine to you. You act like a
weak kin"-—like an ill-advised king: you send
away your second brother, the natural support
of your throne, who is, in all respects, fit to suc-
ceed you, if any misfortune happened to you—
leaving, in this event, your crown in jeopardy;
for as you said, D'Alençon is young, incapable,
weak—more than weak—cowardly! and the
Béarnais is waiting in the background !"
" Well, mort de tout les diables !" cried Charles,
" what is that to me when I am dead? The
Béarnais is waiting inthe background, say you?
Corbeeuf! so much the better!—I said I loved
n0 one—I was wrong: Hove Harry—yes, I love
the good Harry, with his free air and his warm
hand, whilst I see around me none but false
eyes, and touch none but ice-cold hands. He
is incapable of treason toward me, I will swear!
Besides, I owe a recompense: they poisoned his
mother, poor fellow ; some persons of my family,
too it is said. Besides, I am in good health ; but
if i felt sick, I would send for him, and he
should not quit my side: I would take nothing
but from his hand; and, should I die, I would
make him King of France and Navarre, and,
ventre du pape ! instead of laughing at my death,
as my brother would do, he would weep, or at
least. apDear to do so."                         _
Had à thunderbolt fallen .at Catherine s feet,
she would have been less alarmed than at these
words. She remained aghast, looking at
Charles with a haggard eye; and then, at the
end of a few seconds, she cried:
" Henry of Nava:re! Henry of Navarre,
King Of France, to theprejiXiceof my children!
Ah, sainte Madona!, we will see! It is for
this you would send away my son of Anjou?'
"Your son! and what, then, am 1—a son of
the wolf, like Romulus?" cried Charles, trem-
bling with rage, and his eye sparkling as if it
were on fire. "Your son! You are right: and
the King of France, then, is not your son? The
King of France has no brothers; the King of
France has no mother; the King of France has
no subjects! the King of France has no need of
sentiment—he has will. He can do without
being loved, but he will be obeyed!"
" Sire, you have mistaken my words. I called
him my son who is about to leave me. I love
him better at this moment, because I fear to lose
him at this moment. Is it a crime for a mother
to desire that her son should not leave her?"
" And I—I tell vou he shall leave you. I tell
you he shall leave France, and go to Poland,
and that in two days—and if you add one Word,
in one day—to-morrow; and if you do not
smooth your brow, and lose the menace that
glares in vour eyes, Lwill strangle him to-night
as you would have strangled your daughter s,