n order to follow him, had to
pass Margaret and the Duchess of Nevers. As La Mole went by, he removed
his hat, bowed low to the queen, and remained bareheaded, waiting till her
majesty should honour him with a look. But Margaret turned her head
proudly away. La Mole doubtless understood the scornful expression of her
features; his pale face became livid, and he grasped his horse's mane as
if to save himself from falling.

"Look at him, cruel that you are," said Henriette to the Queen; "he is
going to faint."

"Good," said Margaret, with a smile of immense contempt. "Have you no
salts to offer him?"

Madame de Nevers was mistaken. La Mole recovered himself, and took his
place behind the Duke of Alencon.

The royal party continued to advance, and presently came in sight of the
gallows at Montfaucon. The King and Catharine of Medicis were followed by
the Dukes of Anjou and Alencon, the King of Navarre, the Duke of Guise,
and their gentlemen; then came Margaret, the Duchess of Nevers, and the
ladies, composing what was called the Queen's flying squadron; finally,
the pages, esquires, lackeys, and the people--in all, ten thousand souls.
The guards, who marched in front, placed themselves in a large circle
round the enclosure in which stood the gibbet; and on their approach, the
ravens that had perched upon the instrument of death flew away with hoarse
and dismal croakings. To the principal gallows was hanging a shapeless
mass, a blackened corpse, covered with mud and coagulated blood. It was
suspended by the feet, for the head was wanting. In place of the latter,
the ingenuity of the people had substituted a bundle of straw, with a mask
fixed upon it; and in the mouth of the mask some scoffer, acquainted with
the admiral's habits, had placed a toothpick.

It was a sad and strange sight to behold all these elegant cavaliers and
beautiful women passing, like one of the processions which Goya has
painted, under the blackened skeletons and tall grim gibbets. The greater
the mirth of the visitors, the more striking was the contrast with the
mournful silence and cold insensibility of the corpses which were its
object. Many of the party supported with difficulty this horrible
spectacle; and Henry of Navarre especially, in spite of his powers of
dissimulation and habitual command over himself, was at last unable to
bear it longer. He took, as a pretext, the stench emitted by these human
remains; and approaching Charles, who, wi