figure, his familiarity with his inferiors, which he carried to a degree almost derogatory to a king-a familiarity acquired by the mountaineer habits of his youth, and which he preserved till his death, marked him out to the spectators, some of whom cried

"To mass, Harry!—to mass!"

To which Henry replied

66

"I attended it yesterday, to-day, and I shall attend it again to-morrow. Ventre-saint-gris! surely that is sufficient." Marguerite was on horseback-so lovely, so fresh, so elegant, that she was the admired of all admirers, although the duchess de Nevers shared some portion of the general approval.

"Well, duchess !" said the queen of Navarre, "what

news?"

Why, madame," replied the duchess, aloud, "I know of none." Then in a lower tone-" And what has become of the huguenot?"

"I have found him a retreat almost safe," replied Marguerite; "and the wholesale murderer, what have you done with him?"

"He wished to be present, and so we mounted him on M. de Nevers' war-horse, a creature as big as an elephant. He is a fearful cavalier. I allowed him to be present to-day, as I felt that your huguenot would be prudent enough to keep his chamber, and that there was no fear of their meeting."

66

Oh, ma foi!" replied Marguerite, smiling, "if he were here, and he is not, I do not think a rencontre would ensue. My huguenot is remarkably handsome, but nothing more—a dove, and not a hawk-he coos, but does not rend in pieces. After all," she added, with a gesture impossible to describe, and shrugging her shoulders slightly-" after all, perhaps, our king thought him a huguenot, whilst he is only a brahmin, and his religion forbids him to shed blood."

"But where, then, is the duke d'Alençon?" inquired Henriette; "I do not see him."

66

Why, at this moment there are shouts down there. It is he, doubtless, who is passing the Porte-Montmartre."

"Yes, it is he, and he seems in good spirits to-day," said Henriette "he is in love, perchance; and see how nice it

is to be a prince of the blood: he gallops over everybody, and everybody draws on one side."

"Yes," said Marguerite, laughing, "he will ride over us. But draw your attendants on one side, duchess, for one of them will be killed: he does not give way."

"It is my hero!" cried the duchess-"look, only look!" Coconnas had quitted his rank to approach the duchess de Nevers, but at the moment when his horse was crossing the kind of exterior boulevard which separates the street from the Faubourg Saint-Denis, a cavalier of the suite of the duke d'Alençon, trying in vain to rein in his excited horse, dashed full against Coconnas, who, shaken by the collision, well-nigh lost his seat; his hat nearly fell off, and as he put it on firmer, he turned round furiously.

"Dieu!" said Marguerite, in a low tone, to her friend, "M. de la Mole !"

"That handsome pale young man?” exclaimed the duchess, unable to repress her first impression.

"Yes, yes, he who nearly upset your Piedmontese."

"Oh," said the duchess, "something terrible will happen! they look at each other-recollect each other!"

Coconnas had indeed recognised la Mole, and in his surprise dropped his bridle, for he believed he had killed his old companion, or at least put him hors de combat for some time. La Mole had also recognised Coconnas, and all his blood rushed up into his face. For some seconds, which sufficed for the expression of all the sentiments which these two men felt towards each other, they gazed on one another in a way that frightened the two women.

After which, la Mole having looked about him and seeing that the place was ill chosen for any explanation, spurred his horse and rejoined the duke d'Alençon. Coconnas remained stationary for a moment, twisting his moustache until the point almost entered his eye; then seeing la Mole dash off without a word, he did the same.

"Ah! ah!" said Marguerite, with painful contempt, "I was not deceived, then!-it is really too much;" and she bit her lips till the blood came.

"He is very handsome," added the duchess de Nevers, with commiseration.

Just at this moment the duke d'Alençon reached his place

behind the king and the queen-mother, so that his suite, in following him, were obliged to pass before Marguerite and the duchess de Nevers. La Mole, as he passed, raised his hat, saluted the queen, and, bowing to his horse's neck, remained uncovered until her majesty should honour him with a look.

But Marguerite turned her head aside disdainfully.

La Mole, no doubt, comprehended the contemptuous expression of the queen's features, and from pale he became livid, and that he might not fall from his horse, was compelled to hold on by the mane.

"Ah, ah!" said Henriette to the queen; "look, cruel that you are! he is going to faint."

"Good," said the queen, with a smile of disdain; "it only needs that. Where are your salts?"

Madame de Nevers was mistaken. La Mcle, with an effort, recovered himself, and sitting erect on his horse, took his place in the duke d'Alençon's suite.

As they went forward, they at length saw the fearful outline of the gibbet, erected and first used by Enguerrand de Marigny.

The guards advanced and formed a large ring round the spot at their approach, the crows perched on the gibbet flew away, croaking and angry,

The crowd advanced; the king and Catherine arrived first, then the duke d'Anjou, the duke d'Alençon, the king of Navarre, M. de Guise, and their followers; then madame Mar guerite, the duchess de Nevers, and all the women who composed what was called l'escadron volant de la reine (the queen's flying squadron); then the pages, squires, attendants. and people,-in all ten thousand persons.

To the principal gibbet was suspended a misshapen mass stained with coagulated blood and mud, whitened by layers of dust. The carcase was headless, and they had hung it up by the legs, and the people, ingenious as they always are, had replaced the head with a bunch of straw, on which they had put a mask; and in the mouth of this mask some wag, knowing the admiral's habit, had introduced a tooth-pick.

It was a sight at once appalling and singular, as all these elegant lords and handsome ladies defiled in the midst of blackened carcases and gibbets, and their long and sinister arms.

Many could scarcely support this horrible spectacle, and by his paleness might be distinguished, in the centre of rallied huguenots, Henry, who, however great his power over himself and his amount of dissimulation, could not bear it any longer.

He made as his excuse the strong smell which emanated from those human remains, and going towards Charles, who, with Catherine, had stopped in front of the admiral's dead body, he said—

"Sire, does not your majesty find that this poor carcass smells so strongly that it is impossible to remain near it any longer?"

"Do you find it so, Harry?" inquired the king, his eyes sparkling with ferocious joy.

"Yes, sire.

"Well, then, I am not of your opinion; the corpse of a dead enemy smells always sweet.'

66

Come, come, sir!" said Catherine, who, in spite of the perfume with which she was covered, began to be incommoded with the putrid odour. "Come, however agreeable company may be, it must be left at last,—iet us therefore bid adieu to the admiral, and return to Paris."

She made with her head an ironical gesture, in imitation of a leave-taking from a friend, and, going to the front of the columns, regained the road, whilst the cortège defiled before the corpse of Coligny.

The sun was fast sinking in the horizon.

The crowd followed so rapidly, that in ten minutes after the departure of the king, there was no person about the mutilated carcase of the admiral, which was now blown upon by the first breezes of the evening.

When we say no person, we mistake. A gentleman, mounted on a black horse, and who, doubtless, could not contemplate at his ease the misshapen and mutilated trunk when it was honoured by the presence of princes, had remained behind, and was examining, in all their details, the bolts, stone pillars, chains, and so on, of the gibbet, which no doubt appeared to him (but lately arrived in Paris, and ignorant of the perfection to which things could be brought in the capital) the paragon of all that man could invent of the outrageously disgusting.

We need hardly inform our friends that this individual,

in ecstasy before the handywork of Enguerrand de Marigny, was M. Hannibal de Coconnas.

The eye of a female had in vain sought him in the ranks; but this eye was not the only one that sought M. de Coconnas; another gentleman, remarkable from his white satin doublet and flowing plume, after having gazed around him on all sides, at length caught sight of the tall figure of Coconnas and the vast outline of his horse, and then the gentleman in the white satin doublet left the line which the main body was taking, and turning to the right, and describing a semicircle, returned towards the gibbet. Almost at the same moment, the lady whom we have recognised for the duchess de Nevers approached Marguerite, and said to her

4

"We were both deceived, Marguerite; for the Piedmontese has remained behind, and M. de la Mole has followed him."

"Mordi!" replied Marguerite, laughing, "then something is going to happen. Ma foi! I confess I shall not be sorry to have occasion to change my opinion."

Marguerite then turned round, and saw la Mole execute the manœuvre we have described.

Then the two princesses quitted the main body, at the first favourable occasion, and turned down a path, bordered on both sides by hedges, which led back to within thirty paces of the gibbet. Madame de Nevers said a word in her captain's ear, Marguerite made a sign to Gillonne, and the four persons went by the cross road to ensconce themselves behind the bushes nearest to the spot in which was to pass the scene they desired to witness.

Marguerite alighted, as did madame de Nevers and Gillonne, and the captain, in his turn, who took charge of the four horses. A space in the hedge allowed the three women to see all that passed.

La Mole had reached Coconnas, and, stretching out his hand, tapped him on the shoulder.

The Piedmontese turned round.

"Oh!" said he, "then it was not a áream! You are still alive!"

"Yes, sir," replied la Mole-" yes, I am still alive. It is no fault of yours, but I am still alive."