and with whom he exchanged a few words; the man then retired to a
distance. Presently two other men, who seemed to be princes by the marks
of respect which the first man paid to them, left the place where they
were evidently hiding behind the broken fence of a field, and approached
the king, to whom they bent the knee. But Charles IX. raised them before
they touched the ground, saying:--

"No ceremony, we are all gentlemen here."

A venerable old man, who might have been taken for the Chancelier de
l'Hopital, had the latter not died in the preceding year, now joined the
three gentlemen, all four walking rapidly so as to reach a spot where
their conference could not be overheard by their attendants. The Comte
de Solern followed at a slight distance to keep watch over the king.
That faithful servant was filled with a distrust not shared by Charles
IX., a man to whom life was now a burden. He was the only person on the
king's side who witnessed this mysterious conference, which presently
became animated.

"Sire," said one of the new-comers, "the Connetable de Montmorency,
the closest friend of the king your father, agreed with the Marechal de
Saint-Andre in declaring that Madame Catherine ought to be sewn up in a
sack and flung into the river. If that had been done then, many worthy
persons would still be alive."

"I have enough executions on my conscience, monsieur," replied the king.

"But, sire," said the youngest of the four personages, "if you merely
banish her, from the depths of her exile Queen Catherine will continue
to stir up strife, and to find auxiliaries. We have everything to fear
from the Guises, who, for the last nine years, have schemed for a vast
Catholic alliance, in the secret of which your Majesty is not included;
and it threatens your throne. This alliance was invented by Spain,
which will never renounce its project of destroying the boundary of the
Pyrenees. Sire, Calvinism will save France by setting up a moral barrier
between her and a nation which covets the empire of the world. If the
queen-mother is exiled, she will turn for help to Spain and to the
Guises."

"Gentlemen," said the king, "know this, if by your help peace without
distrust is once established, I will take upon myself the duty of making
all subjects tremble. _Tete-Dieu_! it is time indeed for royalty to
assert itself. My mother is right in that, at any rate. You ought to
know that it is to your interest was well as mine, for