ying her role.

The whole of the following morning Henry did not leave his chamber; nor
did he appear at dinner. Madame de Sauve, they said, was growing worse
and worse, and the report of Henry's illness, spread abroad by Catharine
herself, sped like one of those presentiments which hover in the air,
but which no one can explain.

Catharine was delighted. The previous morning she had sent Ambroise Pare
to help one of her favorite servants, who was ill at Saint Germain, so
it had to be one of her own men who was called in to see Madame de Sauve
and Henry. This man would say only what she wished him to say. If,
contrary to all expectation, some other doctor had been summoned, and if
some whisper concerning poison had frightened the court, in which so
many such reports had already been circulated, she counted greatly on
the rumor to arouse the jealousy of Marguerite regarding the various
loves of her husband. We remember she had spoken strongly of this
jealousy which had been apparent on various occasions; among others, on
the hawthorn walk, where, in the presence of several persons, she had
said to her daughter:

"So you are very jealous, Marguerite?" Therefore, with unruffled
features she waited for the door to open, when some pale, startled
servant would enter, crying:

"Your majesty, the King of Navarre has been hurt, and Madame de Sauve is
dead!" Four o'clock in the afternoon struck. Catharine finished her
luncheon in the aviary, where she was crumbling some bread for her rare
birds which she herself had raised. Although her face was calm and even
gloomy, as usual, her heart throbbed violently at the slightest sound.
Suddenly the door opened.

"Madame," said the captain of the guards, "the King of Navarre is"--

"Ill?" hastily interrupted Catharine.

"No, madame, thank God! His majesty seems to be wonderfully well."

"What is it, then?"

"The King of Navarre is here."

"What does he want?"

"He is bringing your majesty a rare kind of monkey."

Just then Henry entered holding in his hand a basket, in which was a
little monkey he was petting.

He entered smiling and seemed wholly absorbed in the dear little animal
he brought; but occupied as he appeared to be, he did not fail to give
his usual first glance around. This was sufficient for him under trying
circumstances. As to Catharine, she was very pale, of a pallor which
deepened as she saw that the cheeks of the young man were flushed with
the glow of