les!" said Catharine, "listen to me, in God's name, and do not
leave to chance your fortune and that of France! The hunt, the hunt, the
hunt, you cry; why, you will have time enough to hunt when your work of
king is settled."

"Come now, mother!" exclaimed Charles, pale with impatience, "explain
quickly, for you bother me to death. Really, there are days when I
cannot comprehend you."

He stopped beating his whip against his boot.

Catharine thought that the time had come and that it should not be
passed by.

"My son," said she, "we have proof that De Mouy has returned to Paris.
Monsieur de Maurevel, whom you are well acquainted with, has seen him.
This can be only for the King of Navarre. That is enough, I trust, for
us to suspect him more than ever."

"Come, there you go again after my poor Henriot! You want me to have him
killed; do you not?"

"Oh, no."

"Exiled? But why can you not see that if he were exiled he would be much
more dangerous than he will ever be here, in the Louvre, under our eyes,
where he can do nothing without our knowing it at once?"

"Therefore I do not wish him exiled."

"What do you want, then? Tell me quickly!"

"I want him to be held in safe keeping while these Polonais are here;
in the Bastille, for instance."

"Ah! my faith, no!" cried Charles IX. "We are going to hunt the boar
this morning and Henry is one of my best men. Without him the fun would
be spoiled. By Heaven, mother! really, you do nothing but vex me."

"Why, my dear son, I did not say this morning. The ambassadors do not
arrive until to-morrow or the day after. Arrest him after your hunt,
this evening--to-night"--

"That is a different matter. Well, we will talk about it later and see.
After the hunt I will not refuse. Adieu! Come here, Risquetout! Is it
your turn to sulk now?"

"Charles," said Catharine, laying a detaining hand on his arm at the
risk of a fresh explosion which might result from this new delay, "I
think that the best thing to do is to sign the order for arrest at once,
even though it is not to be carried out until this evening or to-night."

"Sign, write an order, look up a seal for the parchment when they are
waiting for me to go hunting, I, who never keep anyone waiting! The
devil take the thought!"

"Why, no, I love you too dearly to delay you. I arranged everything
beforehand; step in here and see!"

And Catharine, as agile as if she were only twenty years old, pushed
open a door of h