rine, pretending
alarm. "Is anything the matter?"

"The Reformation, madame, is no longer a mere heresy; it is a party,
which has taken arms and is coming here to snatch the king away from
you."

Catherine, the cardinal, the duke, and the three gentlemen made their
way to the staircase through the gallery, which was crowded with
courtiers who, being off duty, no longer had the right of entrance to
the royal apartments, and stood in two hedges on either side. Gondi, who
watched them while the queen-mother talked with the Lorraine princes,
whispered in her ear, in good Tuscan, two words which afterwards became
proverbs,--words which are the keynote to one aspect of her regal
character: "Odiate e aspettate"--"Hate and wait."

Pardaillan, who had gone to order the officer of the guard at the gate
of the chateau to let the clerk of the queen's furrier enter, found
Christophe open-mouthed before the portal, staring at the facade built
by the good king Louis XII., on which there was at that time a
much greater number of grotesque carvings than we see there
to-day,--grotesque, that is to say, if we may judge by those that remain
to us. For instance, persons curious in such matters may remark the
figurine of a woman carved on the capital of one of the portal columns,
with her robe caught up to show to a stout monk crouching in the capital
of the corresponding column "that which Brunelle showed to Marphise";
while above this portal stood, at the time of which we write, the statue
of Louis XII. Several of the window-casings of this facade, carved in
the same style, and now, unfortunately, destroyed, amused, or seemed
to amuse Christophe, on whom the arquebusiers of the guard were raining
jests.

"He would like to live there," said the sub-corporal, playing with the
cartridges of his weapon, which were prepared for use in the shape of
little sugar-loaves, and slung to the baldricks of the men.

"Hey, Parisian!" said another; "you never saw the like of that, did
you?"

"He recognizes the good King Louis XII.," said a third.

Christophe pretended not to hear, and tried to exaggerate his amazement,
the result being that his silly attitude and his behavior before the
guard proved an excellent passport to the eyes of Pardaillan.

"The queen has not yet risen," said the young captain; "come and wait
for her in the _salle des gardes_."

Christophe followed Pardaillan rather slowly. On the way he stopped to
admire the pretty ga