rm and made a few steps toward the door, she bent to his ear and
whispered:--

"Monsieur, I have important things to say to you."

Passing a mirror on her way, she glanced into it and made a sign with
her eyes to the two Gondis, which escaped the king's notice, for he was
at the moment exchanging looks of intelligence with the Comte de Solern
and Villeroy. Tavannes was thoughtful.

"Sire," said the latter, coming out of his reverie, "I think you are
royally ennuyed; don't you ever amuse yourself now? _Vive Dieu_! have
you forgotten the times when we used to vagabondize about the streets at
night?"

"Ah! those were the good old times!" said the king, with a sigh.

"Why not bring them back?" said Birago, glancing significantly at the
Gondis as he took his leave.

"Yes, I always think of those days with pleasure," said Albert de Gondi,
Duc de Retz.

"I'd like to see you on the roofs once more, monsieur le duc," remarked
Tavannes. "Damned Italian cat! I wish he might break his neck!" he added
in a whisper to the king.

"I don't know which of us two could climb the quickest in these days,"
replied de Gondi; "but one thing I do know, that neither of us fears to
die."

"Well, sire, will you start upon a frolic in the streets to-night, as
you did in the days of your youth?" said the other Gondi, master of the
Wardrobe.

The days of his youth! so at twenty-four years of age the wretched king
seemed no longer young to any one, not even to his flatterers!

Tavannes and his master now reminded each other, like two school-boys,
of certain pranks they had played in Paris, and the evening's amusement
was soon arranged. The two Italians, challenged to climb roofs, and jump
from one to another across alleys and streets, wagered that they would
follow the king wherever he went. They and Tavannes went off to change
their clothes. The Comte de Solern, left alone with the king, looked at
him in amazement. Though the worthy German, filled with compassion
for the hapless position of the king of France, was honor and fidelity
itself, he was certainly not quick of perception. Charles IX.,
surrounded by hostile persons, unable to trust any one, not even his
wife (who had been guilty of some indiscretions, unaware as she was that
his mother and his servants were his enemies), had been fortunate enough
to find in Monsieur de Solern a faithful friend in whom he could place
entire confidence. Tavannes and Villeroy were trusted with onl