em good to you, for the secret which I am going to reveal to my
brother is already known to you, for the reason that the request which I
made you yesterday in regard to this secret was as good as refused by
your majesty. I should not wish, therefore," continued Marguerite, "to
weary your majesty a second time by expressing in your presence a wish
which seemed to be disagreeable."

"What do you mean?" asked Francois, looking at both of them with
astonishment.

"Aha!" exclaimed Henry, flushing, with indignation, "I know what you
mean, madame. In truth, I regret that I am not free. But if I cannot
offer Monsieur de la Mole such hospitality as would be equivalent to an
assurance, I cannot do less than to recommend to my brother D'Alencon
the person _in whom you feel such a lively interest_. Perhaps," he
added, in order to give still more emphasis to the words italicized,
"perhaps my brother will discover some way whereby you will be permitted
to keep Monsieur de la Mole here near you--that would be better than
anything else, would it not, madame?"

"Come, come!" said Marguerite to herself, "the two together will do what
neither of them would do individually."

And she opened the closet door and invited the wounded young man to come
forth, saying to Henry as she did so:

"Your majesty must now explain to my brother why we are interested in
Monsieur de la Mole."

Henry, caught in the snare, briefly related to M. d'Alencon, half a
Protestant for the sake of opposition, as he himself was partly a
Catholic from prudence, the arrival of Monsieur de la Mole at Paris, and
how the young man had been severely wounded while bringing to him a
letter from M. d'Auriac.

When the duke turned round, La Mole had come out from the closet and was
standing before him.

Francois, at the sight of him, so handsome, so pale, and consequently
doubly captivating by reason of his good looks and his pallor, felt a
new sense of distrust spring up in the depths of his soul. Marguerite
held him both through jealousy and through pride.

"Brother," said Marguerite, "I will engage that this young gentleman
will be useful to whoever may employ him. Should you accept his
services, he will obtain a powerful protector, and you, a devoted
servitor. In such times as the present, brother," continued she, "we
cannot be too well surrounded by devoted friends; more especially,"
added she, lowering her voice so as to be heard by no one but the duke,
"when