ueen-mother had used every
effort to instil into his mind suspicions of the loyalty of the man,
who, were the Valois to die childless, would be heir to the throne of
France; and whom the decrees of Providence finally led, through the
wiles and plots set to snare his liberty and his life, and in the midst
of the clashing of contending parties, to rule the destinies of the
country, as Henry the Fourth. Henry of Navarre, whom the artifice and
calumny of a Medicis had done their best to separate and estrange from
his king and brother-in-law during life, was now the only attendant upon
his last moments--the only friend to press his dying hand and close his
eyes. By a last exercise of his authority, Charles had declared that it
was his will that Henry of Navarre, and he alone, should be permitted to
approach his couch, and receive his last instructions; and in spite of
all the manoeuvres of the crafty Catherine, who no longer ventured
openly to oppose her son's commands, the two princes were united in this
supreme and awful hour.

And now Henry of Navarre sat and watched his dying relation with
oppressed and anxious heart, aware that, were the king to die without
providing for his safety by a last exercise of his power, his liberty,
and even his life, would be in danger from the manoeuvres of the
revengeful Catherine; that his only chance of escape was in flight
before the death of the expiring king; and yet, too noble and generous
to leave the man who, at such a time, had called him to his side, he sat
and watched.

Presently the king rolled convulsively upon his couch; his parted lips
quivered horribly; and with a mutter, which increased at last into a
distinct and piercing scream, he let fall the words--

"Away--away--torment me not! Why do you haunt me thus? Fire--fire!
Kill--kill! No--spare them--spare them, and spare me a hopeless misery.
Ah! they fly--they bleed--they fall. And the poor old Admiral--his grey
heirs are dabbled with blood. Away--away--it was not I--not I! Ah!"----

With a sudden start of horror, the king lifted his head from his pillow,
and for a time gazed with staring and glassy eyes, as if the hideous
vision which had tortured his sleep were still before him. Then with a
bitter groan, he again fell back upon his couch. Again he raised his
head, and, looking upon Henry, said, with a faint and plaintive voice,
that contrasted strangely with these brusque and harsh tones which were
natural to him,