h them. No girl was ever locked in
as carefully, and they have not had a mouthful to eat since they came.
The Germans whom Solern left to guard them won't let any one go near the
room. Is it a joke you are playing; or is it something serious?"

"Yes, you are right," said the king, coming out of his reverie, "last
night I did scour the roofs with Tavannes and the Gondis. I wanted to
try my old follies with the old companions; but my legs were not what
they once were; I did not dare leap the streets; though we did jump two
alleys from one roof to the next. At the second, however, Tavannes and
I, holding on to a chimney, agreed that we couldn't do it again. If
either of us had been alone we couldn't have done it then."

"I'll wager that you sprang first." The king smiled. "I know why you
risk your life in that way."

"And why, you little witch?"

"You are tired of life."

"Ah, sorceress! But I am being hunted down by sorcery," said the king,
resuming his anxious look.

"My sorcery is love," she replied, smiling. "Since the happy day when
you first loved me, have I not always divined your thoughts? And--if you
will let me speak the truth--the thoughts which torture you to-day are
not worthy of a king."

"Am I a king?" he said bitterly.

"Cannot you be one? What did Charles VII. do? He listened to his
mistress, monseigneur, and he reconquered his kingdom, invaded by the
English as yours is now by the enemies of our religion. Your last _coup
d'Etat_ showed you the course you have to follow. Exterminate heresy."

"You blamed the Saint-Bartholomew," said Charles, "and now you--"

"That is over," she said; "besides, I agree with Madame Catherine that
it was better to do it yourselves than let the Guises do it."

"Charles VII. had only men to fight; I am face to face with ideas,"
resumed the king. "We can kill men, but we can't kill words! The Emperor
Charles V. gave up the attempt; his son Philip has spent his strength
upon it; we shall all perish, we kings, in that struggle. On whom can
I rely? To right, among the Catholics, I find the Guises, who are my
enemies; to left, the Calvinists, who will never forgive me the death of
my poor old Coligny, nor that bloody day in August; besides, they want
to suppress the throne; and in front of me what have I?--my mother!"

"Arrest her; reign alone," said Marie in a low voice, whispering in his
ear.

"I meant to do so yesterday; to-day I no longer intend it. You speak of