drew, leaving the two queens and the king
alone together. As they crossed the _salle des gardes_ to enter the
council-chamber, the grand-master told the usher to bring the queen's
furrier to him. When Christophe saw the usher approaching from the
farther end of the great hall, he took him, on account of his uniform,
for some great personage, and his heart sank within him. But that
sensation, natural as it was at the approach of the critical moment,
grew terrible when the usher, whose movement had attracted the eyes of
all that brilliant assembly upon Christophe, his homely face and his
bundles, said to him:--

"Messeigneurs the Cardinal de Lorraine and the Grand-master wish to
speak to you in the council chamber."

"Can I have been betrayed?" thought the helpless ambassador of the
Reformers.

Christophe followed the usher with lowered eyes, which he did not raise
till he stood in the great council-chamber, the size of which is almost
equal to that of the _salle des gardes_. The two Lorrain princes were
there alone, standing before the magnificent fireplace, which backs
against that in the _salle des gardes_ around which the ladies of the
two queens were grouped.

"You have come from Paris; which route did you take?" said the cardinal.

"I came by water, monseigneur," replied the reformer.

"How did you enter Blois?" asked the grand-master.

"By the docks, monseigneur."

"Did no one question you?" exclaimed the duke, who was watching the
young man closely.

"No, monseigneur. To the first soldier who looked as if he meant to
stop me I said I came on duty to the two queens, to whom my father was
furrier."

"What is happening in Paris?" asked the cardinal.

"They are still looking for the murderer of the President Minard."

"Are you not the son of my surgeon's greatest friend?" said the Duc de
Guise, misled by the candor of Christophe's expression after his first
alarm had passed away.

"Yes, monseigneur."

The Grand-master turned aside, abruptly raised the portiere which
concealed the double door of the council-chamber, and showed his face to
the whole assembly, among whom he was searching for the king's surgeon.
Ambroise Pare, standing in a corner, caught a glance which the duke
cast upon him, and immediately advanced. Ambroise, who at this time
was inclined to the reformed religion, eventually adopted it; but the
friendship of the Guises and that of the kings of France guaranteed
him against the evils