LIV. THE FOREST OF VINCENNES 479

LV. THE FIGURE OF WAX 486

LVI. THE INVISIBLE BUCKLERS 497

LVII. THE JUDGES 503

LVIII. THE TORTURE OF THE BOOT 512

LIX. THE CHAPEL 520

LX. THE PLACE SAINT JEAN EN GREVE 525

LXI. THE HEADSMAN'S TOWER 530

LXII. THE SWEAT OF BLOOD 538

LXIII. THE DONJON OF THE PRISON OF VINCENNES 542

LXIV. THE REGENCY 547

LXV. THE KING IS DEAD! LONG LIVE THE KING! 551

LXVI. EPILOGUE 556

MARGUERITE DE VALOIS.

CHAPTER I.

MONSIEUR DE GUISE'S LATIN.

On Monday, the 18th of August, 1572, there was a splendid festival at
the Louvre.

The ordinarily gloomy windows of the ancient royal residence were
brilliantly lighted, and the squares and streets adjacent, usually so
solitary after Saint Germain l'Auxerrois had struck the hour of nine,
were crowded with people, although it was past midnight.

The vast, threatening, eager, turbulent throng resembled, in the
darkness, a black and tumbling sea, each billow of which makes a roaring
breaker; this sea, flowing through the Rue des Fosses Saint Germain and
the Rue de l'Astruce and covering the quay, surged against the base of
the walls of the Louvre, and, in its refluent tide, against the Hotel de
Bourbon, which faced it on the other side.

In spite of the royal festival, and perhaps even because of the royal
festival, there was something threatening in the appearance of the
people, for no doubt was felt that this imposing ceremony which called
them there as spectators, was only the prelude to another in which they
would participate a week later as invited guests and amuse themselves
with all their hearts.

The court was celebrating the marriage of Madame Marguerite de Valois,
daughter of Henry II. and sister of King Charles IX., with Henry de
Bourbon, King of Navarre. In truth, that very morning, on a stage
erected at the entrance to Notre-Dame, the Cardinal de Bourbon had
united the