ur de la Mole?"

"Yes, he is the dagger; but behind the dagger is the hand that directs
it."

"This then is the sole cause of my illness? the day the charm is
destroyed the malady will cease? But how go to work?" asked Charles,
"you must know, mother; but I, unlike you, who have spent your whole
life studying them, know nothing about charms and spells."

"The death of the conspirator destroys the charm, that is all. The day
the charm is destroyed your illness will cease," said Catharine.

"Indeed!" said Charles, with an air of surprise.

"Did you not know that?"

"Why! I am no sorcerer," said the King.

"Well, now," said Catharine, "your Majesty is convinced, are you not?"

"Certainly."

"Conviction has dispelled anxiety?"

"Completely."

"You do not say so out of complaisance?"

"No, mother! I say it from the bottom of my heart."

Catharine's face broke into smiles.

"Thank God!" she exclaimed, as if she believed in God.

"Yes, thank God!" repeated Charles, ironically; "I know now, as you do,
to whom to attribute my present condition, and consequently whom to
punish."

"And you will punish"--

"Monsieur de la Mole; did you not say that he was the guilty party?"

"I said that he was the instrument."

"Well," said Charles, "Monsieur de la Mole first; he is the most
important. All these attacks on me might arouse dangerous suspicions. It
is imperative that there be some light thrown on the matter and from
this light the truth may be discovered."

"So Monsieur de la Mole"--

"Suits me admirably as the guilty one; therefore I accept him. We will
begin with him; and if he has an accomplice, he shall speak."

"Yes," murmured Catharine, "and if he does not, we will make him. We
have infallible means for that."

Then rising:

"Will you permit the trial to begin, sire?"

"I desire it, madame," replied Charles, "and the sooner the better."

Catharine pressed the hand of her son without comprehending the nervous
grasp with which he returned it, and left the apartment without hearing
the sardonic laugh of the King, or the terrible oath which followed the
laugh.

Charles wondered if it were not dangerous to let this woman go thus, for
in a few hours she would have done so much that there would be no way of
stopping it.

As he watched the curtain fall after Catharine, he heard a light rustle
behind him, and turning he perceived Marguerite, who raised the drapery
before the corridor leading to his