of madame de Nevers and the somewhat caustic smile of Marguerite, judged it to be a decisive moment, and understanding that a man may say in behalf of a friend what he cannot say for himself, instead of going to madame de Nevers, went straight to Marguerite, and bending his knee, after the fashion of the great Artaxerxes, cried, in a voice not deficient in effect

66

Madame, this very moment, at the demand of my friend the count de la Mole, maître René evoked your spirit; and to my utter astonishment, your spirit is accompanied with a body most dear to us, and which I recommend to my friend. Shade of her majesty the queen of Navarre, will you desire the body of your companion to come on the other side of the curtain?"

Marguerite laughed heartily, and made a sign to Henriette, who passed to the other side of the curtain.

"La Mole, my friend," continued Coconnas, "be as eloquent as Demosthenes, as Cicero, as the chancellor de l'Hôpital! and be assured that my life will be perilled if you do not persuade the body of madame de Nevers that I am her most devoted, most obedient, and most faithful servant."

"But- "" stammered la Mole.

"Do as I desire! And you, maître René, watch that we. are not interrupted."

René did as Coconnas desired him.

"Mordi! sir," said Marguerite, "you are a man of sense. I listen to you. What have you to say?"

"I have to say to you, madame, that the shadow of my friend-for he is a shadow, and he proves it by not uttering a single syllable,—I say, then, that this shadow has supplicated me to use the faculty which material bodies possess, and to say to you: Lovely Shadow, the gentleman who thus lost his corporeality has lost it by the rigour of your eyes. If you were yourself, I would ask maître René to plunge me in some sulphureous hole rather than hold such language to the daughter of Henry II., the sister of king Charles IX., and the wife of the king of Navarre. But shadows are freed from all terrestrial pride, and are never haughty when they love. Therefore, pray of your body, madame, to bestow a little love on poor la Mole-a soul in trouble, if ever there was one; a soul first persecuted by friendship, which three

times thrust into him several inches of cold steel; a soul burnt by the fire of your eyes-fire a thousand times more consuming than all the flames of Tartarus! Have pity, then, on this poor soul! Love a little what was the handsome la Mole; and if you no longer possess speech, ah! bestow a gesture, a smile upon him. The soul of my friend is a very intelligent soul, and will easily comprehend. Be kind to him, then; or, mordi! I will pass my sword through the body of René, in order that, by virtue of the power which he possesses over spirits, he may force yours, which he has already so opportunely evoked, to do all a shadow so amiably disposed as yours appears to be, should do.”

Marguerite could not repress a burst of laughter at this tirade; yet preserving the silence which, on such an occasion, may be supposed characteristic of a royal shade, she presented her hand to Coconnas, who took it tenderly in his own, and, calling to la Mole, said:

"Shade of my friend, come hither instantly!"

La Mole, amazed, overcome, silently obeyed.

""Tis well," said Coconnas, taking him by the back of the head-" and now bring the shadow of your handsome brown countenance into contact with the white and vaporous hand before you."

And Coconnas, suiting the "action to the word," placed this most delicate hand to la Mole's lips, and kept them for a moment respectfully united, without the hand seeking to withdraw itself from the gentle pressure.

La Mole then summoning his presence of mind, suddenly rose, and leaving the hand of Marguerite in that of Coconnas, took himself that, of the duchess de Nevers, and bending his knee, said:

"Loveliest-most adorable of women-I speak of living women, and not of shadows!" and he turned a look and a smile to Marguerite-" allow a soul released from its mortal trappings to repair the absence of a body fully absorbed by material friendship. M. de Coconnas, whom you see, is but a man-a man of bold and hardy frame, of flesh handsome to gaze upon perchance, but perishable, like all flesh. Yet although a stalwart and right knightly gentleman, who, as you have seen, distributes as heavy blows as were ever seen in wide France -this champion, so full of eloquence in presence of a spirit,

dares not accost a female body in the flesh. 'Tis therefore he has addressed the shadow of the queen, charging me to speak to your lovely body, and to tell you that he lays at your feet his soul and heart; that he entreats from your divine eyes a look in pity-from your rosy fingers, to beckon him with a sign, and from your musical and heavenly voice to say those words which he never can forget; if not, he has supplicated another thing and that is, in case he should not soften you, you will pass, for the second time, my sword-which is a real blade, for swords have no shadows but in the sunshine-pass my sword right through his body, for he can live no longer if you do not authorize him to live exclusively for you."

Henriette's eyes (she herself had been a little jealous of Coconnas' address to the queen of Navarre) turned from la Mole, to whom she had listened, towards Coconnas, to see if the expression of that gentleman's countenance harmonized with the loveful address of his friend. It seemed that she was satisfied, for blushing, breathless, conquered, she said to Coconnas, with a smile, which disclosed a double row of pearls enclosed in coral

"Is this true ?"

"Mordi!" exclaimed Coconnas, fascinated by her look, "it is true, indeed. Oh yes, madame, it is true-true on my life-true on my death !"

"There, then," said Henriette, extending to him her hand, whilst her eyes proclaimed the feelings of her heart.

Coconnas and la Mole each approached his lady-love, when suddenly the door at the bottom opened, and René appeared. "Silence!" he exclaimed; a voice which at once damped all the ardour of the lovers-" silence!"

And they heard in the solid wall the sound of a key in a lock, and of a door grating on its hinges.

"But," said Marguerite, haughtily, "I should think that no one has the right to enter whilst we are here!"

"Not the queen-mother?" murmured René in her ear.

Marguerite instantly rushed out by the exterior staircase, leading la Mole after her; Henriette and Coconnas followed them.

They all four fled, as fly at the first noise the birds we have seen engaged in loving parley on the boughs of a flowering shrub.

CHAPTER XX.

THE BLACK HENS.

Ir was time for the two couples to disappear. Catherine turned the key in the lock, just as Coconnas and madame de Nevers closed the secret door, and Catherine could hear their steps on the stairs.

She cast a suspicious glance around, and then fixing her eyes on René, who stood motionless before her, said

"Who was that?"

"Only some lovers, who are quite content with the assurance I gave them, that they are really in love."

"Never mind them," said Catherine, shrugging her shoulders; "is there no one here?"

"No one but your majesty and myself." "Have you done what I ordered you?"

"About the two black hens?"

"Yes!"

"They are ready, madame."

"Ah," muttered Catherine, "if you were a Jew!" "Why a Jew, madame?"

"Because you could then read the Hebrew treatises concerning sacrifices. I have had one of them translated, and I found that it was not in the heart or liver that the Hebrews sought for omens; but in the brain, and the letters traced there by the all-powerful hand of destiny."

'Yes, madame; so I have heard from an old rabbi."

'There are," said Catherine, "characters thus marked that reveal all the future. Only the Chaldean seers recommend

"What?" asked René, seeing the queen hesitate.

"That the experiment shall be tried on the human brain, as more developed and more nearly sympathizing with the wishes of the consulter."

"Alas!" said René, "your majesty knows it is impossible." "Difficult, at least," said Catherine; "if we had known this at the St. Bartholomew, what a rich harvest we might have had. But I will think of it the first time anybody is to be hanged.

Meantime let us do what we can. Is the chamber of sacrifice prepared?"

"Yes, madame."

"Let us go there."

René lighted a taper made of strange substances, and emitting strong odours, and preceded Catherine into the cell.

Catherine selected from amongst the sacrificial instruments a knife of blue steel, whilst René took up one of the fowls that were crouched in the corner.

"How shall we proceed?"

"We will examine the liver of the one and the brain of the other. If these two experiments lead to the same result with the former, we must needs be convinced."

"With which shall we commence ?"

"With the liver."

"Very well," said René, and he fastened the bird down to two rings attached to the little altar, so that the creature, turned on its back, could only struggle without stirring from the spot.

Catherine opened its breast with a single stroke of her knife; the fowl uttered three cries, and, after some convulsions, expired.

"Always three cries!" said Catherine-" three signs of death."

She then opened the body.

"And the liver inclining to the left-always to the left, a triple death, followed by a downfall. 'Tis terrible, René." "We must see, madame, whether the presages from the second correspond with those of the first."

René threw the dead fowl into a corner, and went towards the other; which endeavouring to escape, and seeing itself pent up in a corner, flew suddenly over René's head, and in its flight extinguished the magic taper Catherine held.

"Thus shall our race be extinguished," said the queen; "death shall breathe upon it, and destroy it from the face of the earth! Yet three sons! three sons!" she murmured, sorrowfully.

René took from her the extinguished taper, and went to re-light it.

On his return, he found the hen huddled in a corner.