all sides,
glided on like a shadow and disappeared within the antechamber of the
King of Navarre.

This room had been unguarded since the disappearance of Orthon.

This circumstance, of which we have not spoken since the reader learned
of the tragic fate of poor Orthon, had greatly troubled Henry. He had
spoken of it to Madame de Sauve and to his wife, but neither of them
knew any more about it than he did. Madame de Sauve had given him some
information from which it was perfectly clear to Henry's mind that the
poor boy had been a victim of some machination of the queen mother, and
that this was why he himself had been interrupted with De Mouy in the
inn of the _Belle Etoile_. Any other than Henry would have kept silence,
fearing to speak, but Henry calculated everything. He realized that his
silence would betray him. One does not as a rule lose one's servitor and
confidant thus, without making inquiries about him and looking for him.
So Henry asked and searched even in the presence of the King and the
queen mother, and of every one, from the sentinel who walked before the
gate of the Louvre to the captain of the guards, keeping watch in the
antechamber of the King; but all inquiry and search was in vain, and
Henry seemed so affected by the circumstance and so attached to the poor
absent servitor that he said he would not put another in his place until
he was perfectly sure that Orthon had disappeared forever.

So the antechamber, as we have said, was empty when Marguerite reached
it.

Light as were the steps of the queen, Henry heard them and turned round.

"You, madame!" he exclaimed.

"Yes," said Marguerite. "Quick! Read this!" and she handed him the open
letter.

It contained these lines:

"_Sire: The moment has come for putting our plan of flight into
execution. The day after to-morrow there will be hunting along the
Seine, from Saint Germain to Maisons, that is, all along the
forest._

"_Go to the hunt, although it is hawking; wear a good coat of mail
under your suit; take your best sword and ride the best horse in
your stable. About noon, when the chase is at its height, and the
King is galloping after the falcon, escape alone if you come alone;
with the Queen of Navarre if the queen will follow you._

"_Fifty of our men will be hidden in the Pavilion of Francois I.,
of which we have the key; no one will know that they will be there,
for the