put the treaty proposed by the Prince de Conde, the plan
of the Reformers, and the detail of their forces in his bosom between
his shirt and his cloth jacket, folding them, however, within the bill
which Catherine owed to the furrier.

"Madame," he said, "my father is in horrible need of money, and if you
will deign to cast your eyes over your bill," here he unfolded the paper
and put the treaty on the top of it, "you will see that your Majesty
owes him six thousand crowns. Have the goodness to take pity on us. See,
madame!" and he held the treaty out to her. "Read it; the account dates
from the time the late king came to the throne."

Catherine was bewildered by the preamble of the treaty which met her
eye, but she did not lose her head. She folded the paper quickly,
admiring the audacity and presence of mind of the youth, and feeling
sure that after performing such a masterly stroke he would not fail to
understand her. She therefore tapped him on the head with the folded
paper, saying:--

"It is very clumsy of you, my little friend, to present your bill before
the furs. Learn to know women. You must never ask us to pay until the
moment when we are satisfied."

"Is that traditional?" said the young queen, turning to her
mother-in-law, who made no reply.

"Ah, mesdames, pray excuse my father," said Christophe. "If he had not
had such need of money you would not have had your furs at all. The
country is in arms, and there are so many dangers to run in getting here
that nothing but our great distress would have brought me. No one but me
was willing to risk them."

"The lad is new to his business," said Mary Stuart, smiling.

It may not be useless, for the understanding of this trifling, but very
important scene, to remark that a surcoat was, as the name implies (_sur
cotte_), a species of close-fitting spencer which women wore over their
bodies and down to their thighs, defining the figure. This garment
protected the back, chest, and throat from cold. These surcoats were
lined with fur, a band of which, wide or narrow as the case might be,
bordered the outer material. Mary Stuart, as she tried the garment on,
looked at herself in a large Venetian mirror to see the effect behind,
thus leaving her mother-in-law an opportunity to examine the papers, the
bulk of which might have excited the young queen's suspicions had she
noticed it.

"Never tell women of the dangers you have run when you have come out of
them safe