ich was
so essential to his existence. The Duc d'Anjou meanwhile was absent at
the siege of Rochelle, while his brother, d'Alencon, was about the
person of the dying monarch, and had made himself eminently popular
among the citizens of Paris. The crisis was an alarming one; but it was
still destined to appear even more perilous, for, to the consternation
of Catherine, intelligence at this period reached the Court that the
Polish nation had elected the Duc d'Anjou as their King, and that their
ambassadors were about to visit France in order to tender him the crown.
In vain did she represent to Charles the impolicy of suffering a warlike
prince like Henri d'Anjou to abandon his country for a foreign throne,
and urge him to replace the elder by the younger brother, alleging that
so long as the Polish people could see a prince of the blood-royal of
France at the head of their nation, they would care little whether he
were called Henry or Francis; the King refused to countenance such a
substitution. He had long been jealous of the military renown of the Duc
d'Anjou; while he was also perfectly aware of the anxiety with which
both the Queen-mother and the Prince himself looked forward to his own
death, in order that Henry might succeed him; and he consequently issued
a command that the sovereign-elect should immediately repair to Paris to
receive at the hands of the foreign delegates the crown which they were
about to offer to him.

The summons was obeyed. The ambassadors, who duly arrived, were
magnificently received; Henri d'Anjou was declared King of Poland; and,
finally, he found himself compelled to depart for his own kingdom.
Unfortunately for Marguerite, she had not sufficient self-control to
conceal the joy with which she saw the immediate succession to the
French throne thus transferred to her favourite brother; and her evident
delight so exasperated the Queen-mother, that she communicated to
Charles the suspicions which she herself entertained of the treachery of
the Princess; but the King, worn down by both physical and mental
suffering, treated her warnings with indifference, and she was
consequently compelled to await with patience the progress of events.

The death of the French monarch, which shortly afterwards took place,
and the accession of Henri d'Anjou, whom a timely warning had enabled to
abandon the crown of Poland for that of France, for a time diverted the
attention of Catherine from the suspected mac