tax them with
being Reformers themselves. The king had them arrested, and three of
their colleagues with them. Special commissioners were charged with the
preparation of the case against them. It has already been mentioned that
one of the most considerable amongst the officers of the army, Francis
d'Andelot, brother of Admiral Coligny, had, for the same cause, been
subjected to a burst of anger on the part of the king. He was in prison
at Meaux when Henry II. died. Such were the personal feelings and the
relative positions of the two parties when Francis II., a boy of sixteen,
a poor creature both in mind and body, ascended the throne.

[Illustration: Francis II----269]

Deputies from Parliament went, according to custom, to offer their
felicitations to the new king, and to ask him "to whom it was his
pleasure that they should, thenceforward, apply for to learn his will and
receive his commands." Francis II. replied, "With the approbation of the
queen my mother, I have chosen the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of
Lorraine, my uncles, to have the direction of the state; the former will
take charge of the department of war, the latter the administration of
finance and justice." Such had, in fact, been his choice, and it was no
doubt with his mother's approbation that he had made it. Equally
attentive to observe the proprieties and to secure her own power,
Catherine de' Medici, when going out to drive with her son and her
daughter-in-law Mary Stuart, on the very day of Henry II.'s death, said
to Mary, "Step in, madame; it is now your turn to go first."

[Illustration: MARY STUART----270]

During the first days of mourning she kept herself in a room entirely
hung with black; and there was no light beyond two wax-candles burning on
an altar covered with black cloth. She had upon her head a black veil,
which shrouded her entirely, and hid her face; and, when any one of the
household went to speak to her, she replied in so agitated and so weak
a tone of voice that it was impossible to catch her words, whatever
attention might be paid to them. But her presence of mind and her
energy, so far as the government was concerned, were by no means affected
by it; he who had been the principal personage at the court under Henry
II., the Constable de Montmorency, perfectly understood, at his first
interview with the queen-mother, that he was dismissed, and all he asked
of her was, that he might go and enjoy his repose in fre