sieur de Coligny strong enough, do you think, to treat of affairs
at present? Consider his condition, I beg," she enjoined in her level
voice.

"I thank you for your consideration, madame," said the Admiral, the
ghost of an ironic smile about his lips. "But I am strong enough, thank
God! And even though my strength were less than it is, it would be more
heavily taxed by the thought that I had neglected my duty to His Majesty
than it ever could be by the performance of that duty."

"Ha! You hear?" snapped the King. "Go, then; go!"

They went, returning to the ante-chamber to wait until the audience
should conclude. The three stood there in the embrasure of a window that
looked out upon the hot, sunlit courtyard. There, as Anjou himself
tells us, they found themselves hemmed about by some two hundred sullen,
grim-faced gentlemen and officers of the Admiral's party, who eyed them
without dissembling their hostility, who preserved a silence that was
disturbed only by the murmurs of their constant whisperings, and who
moved to and fro before the royal group utterly careless of the proper
degree of deference and respect.

Isolated thus in that hostile throng, Catherine and her sons became more
and more uneasy, so that, as the Queen-Mother afterwards confessed, she
was never in any place where her tarrying was attended by so much fear,
or her departure thence by so much pleasure.

It was this fear that spurred her at last to put an end to that secret
conference in the room beyond. She did it in characteristic manner. In
the most complete outward composure, stifling a yawn as she went,
she moved deliberately across to the door, her sons following, rapped
shortly on the panel, and entered without waiting to be bidden.

The King, who was standing by the Admiral's side, wheeled sharply at
the sound of the opening door. His eyes blazed with sudden anger when he
beheld his mother, but she was the first to speak.

"My son," she said, "I am concerned for the poor Admiral. He will have
the fever if you continue to permit him to weary himself with affairs at
present. It is not to treat him as a friend to prolong this interview.
Let business wait until he is recovered, which will be the sooner if he
is given rest at present."

Coligny stroked his white beard in silence, while the King flared out,
striding towards her:

"Par la Mort Dieu! What is this sudden concern for the Admiral?"

"Not sudden, my son," she answered in her d