gh we hold it mistaken."

"Will Monsieur de Retz tell us what other course lies open?" quoth the
bluff Tavannes.

"Some other course must be found," cried the King, rousing himself. "It
must be found, do you hear? I will not have you touch the life of my
friend the Admiral. I will not have it--by the Blood!"

A hubbub followed, all speaking at once, until the King banged the
table, and reminded them that his cabinet was not a fish-market.

"I say that there is no other way," Catherine insisted. "There cannot be
two kings in France, nor can there be two parties. For your own safety's
sake, and for the safety of your kingdom, I beseech you so to contrive
that in France there be but one party with one head--yourself."

"Two kings in France?" he said. "What two kings?"

"Yourself and Gaspard I--King Coligny, the King of the Huguenots."

"He is my subject--my faithful, loyal subject," the King protested, but
with less assurance.

"A subject who raises forces of his own, levies taxes of his own,
garrisons Huguenot cities," said Biragues. "That is a very dangerous
type of subject, Sire."

"A subject who forces you into war with Protestant Flanders against
Catholic Spain," added the blunt Tavannes.

"Forces me?" roared the King, half rising, his eyes aflash. "That is a
very daring word."

"It would be if the proof were absent. Remember, Sire, his very speech
to you before you permitted him to embark upon preparations for this
war. 'Give us leave,' he said, 'to make war in Flanders, or we shall be
compelled to make war upon yourself.'"

The King winced and turned livid. Sweat stood in beads upon his brow. He
was touched in his most sensitive spot. That speech of Coligny's was of
all things the one he most desired to forget. He twisted the chaplet so
that the beads bit deeply into his fingers.

"Sire," Tavannes continued, "were I a king, and did a subject so address
me, I should have his head within the hour. Yet worse has happened
since, worse is happening now. The Huguenots are arming. They ride
arrogantly through the streets of your capital, stirring up rebellion.
They are here in force, and the danger grows acute and imminent."

Charles writhed before them. He mopped his brow with a shaking hand.

"The danger--yes. I see that. I admit the danger. But Coligny--"

"Is it to be King Gaspard or King Charles?" rasped the voice of
Catherine.

The chaplet snapped suddenly in the King's fingers. He sprang to his