chment to
the Guises, had asked to be informed of the news brought by the three
_seigneurs_ coming from three different parts of the kingdom; but she
had the mortification of being courteously dismissed by the cardinal.
She then walked to the parterres which overhung the Loire, where she
was building, under the superintendence of her astrologer, Ruggieri, an
observatory, which is still standing, and from which the eye may range
over the whole landscape of that delightful valley. The two Lorrain
princes were at the other end of the terrace, facing the Vendomois,
which overlooks the upper part of the town, the perch of the Bretons,
and the postern gate of the chateau.

Catherine had deceived the two brothers by pretending to a slight
displeasure; for she was in reality very well pleased to have an
opportunity to speak to one of the three young men who had arrived in
such haste. This was a young nobleman named Chiverni, apparently a tool
of the cardinal, in reality a devoted servant of Catherine. Catherine
also counted among her devoted servants two Florentine nobles, the
Gondi; but they were so suspected by the Guises that she dared not send
them on any errand away from the court, where she kept them, watched,
it is true, in all their words and actions, but where at least they
were able to watch and study the Guises and counsel Catherine. These
two Florentines maintained in the interests of the queen-mother another
Italian, Birago,--a clever Piedmontese, who pretended, with Chiverni,
to have abandoned their mistress, and gone over to the Guises, who
encouraged their enterprises and employed them to watch Catherine.

Chiverni had come from Paris and Ecouen. The last to arrive was
Saint-Andre, who was marshal of France and became so important that
the Guises, whose creature he was, made him the third person in the
triumvirate they formed the following year against Catherine. The other
_seigneur_ who had arrived during the night was Vieilleville, also a
creature of the Guises and a marshal of France, who was returning from
a secret mission known only to the Grand Master, who had entrusted it
to him. As for Saint-Andre, he was in charge of military measures taken
with the object of driving all Reformers under arms into Amboise; a
scheme which now formed the subject of a council held by the duke and
cardinal, Birago, Chiverni, Vieilleville, and Saint-Andre. As the two
Lorrains employed Birago, it is to be supposed that they r