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"This time," said Catherine, "I will prevent the cries, for I will cut off the head at once."

And accordingly, as soon as the hen was bound, Catherine severed the head at a single blow; but in the last agony the beak opened three times, and then closed for ever.

"Seest thou," said Catherine, terrified, "instead of three cries, three sighs?—they will all three die. Let us now see the brain."

She severed the comb from the head, and carefully opening the skull, endeavoured to trace a letter formed in the bloody cavities that divide the brain.

Always so!" cried she, clasping her hands-" and this time clearer than ever; see here!"

René approached.

"What is this letter?" asked Catherine.

"An H," replied René.

"How many times repeated?"

66

Four," said he.

Ay, ay! I see it! that is to say, HENRY IV. Oh," cried she, casting the knife from her, "I am accursed in my posterity!"

She was terrible, that woman, pale as a corpse, lighted by the dismal taper, and clasping her bloody hands."

"He will reign!" she exclaimed-" he will reign!"

"He will reign!" repeated Réne, buried in meditation. The gloomy expression of Catherine's face soon disappeared before a sudden thought that passed through her mind.

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'René," said she, without lifting her head from her breast-"René, do you recollect the terrible history of a doctor at Perugia, who killed at once, by the aid of a pommade, his daughter and his daughter's lover."

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"And this lover--"

"Was king Ladislaus, madame."

"Ah, yes!" murmured she; "have you any account of this history?"

"I have an old book that mentions it," replied René.

'Well, let us go into the other chamber, and then you can show it me."

They quitted the cell, the door of which René closed after him.

"Has your majesty any other orders to give me concerning the sacrifices?"

"No, René, none; I am sufficiently satisfied for the present; only the next execution, you must arrange with the executioner for the head."

René bowed and approached the shelves where stood the books, reached down one of them, opened it, turned over the leaves an instant, and then handed it to the queen-mother.

Catherine sat down at a table, René placed the magic taper close to her, and by its dim and livid glare She read a few lines. "Good!" said she; "this is all I wanted to know."

She rose from her seat, leaving the book on the table, but bearing away the idea that had germinated in her mind, and which would ripen there.

René waited respectfully, taper in hand, until the queen, who seemed about to retire, should give him fresh orders or ask fresh questions.

Catherine walked up and down several times without speaking. Then suddenly stopping before René, and fixing on him her eyes, round and piercing as those of a bird of

prey"Confess you have given her some love-draught," said she. "Whom?" asked René, starting.

"La Sauve."

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"There must be some magic in it, however, for he is desperately in love with her, though he is not famous for his constancy."

"Who, madame?"

"He, Henry the accursed—he who is to succeed my three sons he who shall one day sit upon the throne of France, and be called Henry IV., and is yet the son of Jeanne d'Albret."

And Catherine accompanied these words with a sigh that made René shudder, for he thought of the famous gloves he had prepared, by Catherine's order, for the queen of Navarre. "He runs after her still, then?" said René.

"Still," replied the queen.

"I thought that the king of Navarre was quite in love with his wife now."

"All a farce, René. I know not why, but everybody is

seeking to deceive me. My daughter Marguerite is leagued against me; perhaps she, too, is looking forward to her brother's death; perhaps she, too, hopes to be queen of France."

"Perhaps so," re-echoed René, resuming his own reverie.

"Ha! we shall see," said Catherine, advancing towards the great door, for she doubtless judged it useless to descend the secret stair, after René's assurance that they were alone.

René preceded her, and in a few minutes they stood in the laboratory of the perfumer.

"You promised me some fresh cosmetics for my hands and lips, René; the winter is approaching, and you know how tender my skin is."

"I have already thought of that, madame; and I intended to bring you some to-morrow."

"I shall not be visible before nine o'clock to-morrow evening; I shall be occupied with my devotions during the day.".

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"I will be at the Louvre at nine o'clock, then, madame.' "Madame de Sauve has beautiful hands and lips," said Catherine, in a careless tone. "What pommade does she use?" "Heliotrope."

"For her hands?" "Yes."

"What for her lips?"

"She is going to try a new composition of my invention, and of which I intended to bring your majesty a box at the same time."

Catherine mused an instant.

"She is certainly very beautiful," said she, pursuing her secret thoughts, "and the passion of the Béarnais for her is astonishing.'

"And so devoted to your majesty," said René.

Catherine shrugged her shoulders.

"When a woman loves, is she faithful to any one but her lover?—You must have given her some love-spell, René." "I swear I have not, madame."

"Well, well; we'll say no more about it. Show me this opiate you spoke of, that is to make her lips still more rosy." René approached a drawer, and showed Catherine six small silver boxes of a round shape, ranged side by side.

"This is the only spell she ever asked me for," observed

René; "it is true, as your majesty says, I have composed it expressly for her, for her lips are so tender that the sun and wind affect them equally."

Catherine opened one of the boxes; it contained a beautiful carmine paste.

"Give me some paste for my hands, René," said she; “I will take it away with me, for I have none.”

René took the taper, and went to seek, in a private drawer, what the queen asked for. As he turned, he fancied that he saw the queen conceal a box under her mantle; he was, however, too familiar with these habits of the queen to affect to perceive the movement; so wrapping the cosmetic she demanded in a paper bag ornamented with fleurs-de-lis:

"Here it is, madame,” he said.

"Thanks, René," returned the queen: then after a moment's silence: "Do not give madame de Sauve that paste for a few days; I wish to make the first trial of it myself."

And she approached the door.

"Shall I have the honour of escorting your majesty?" asked René.

"Only to the end of the bridge," replied Catherine; "my gentlemen and my litter wait for me there."

They left the house, and at the end of the Rue Barillerie four gentlemen on horseback and a plain litter were in attendance.

On his return, René's first care was to count his boxes of opiates-one was wanting.

CPAPTER XXI.

MADAME DE SAUVE'S CHAMBER.

CATHERINE had calculated rightly in supposing that Henry would speedily resume his habit of passing his evenings with madame de Sauve; 'tis true that the utmost caution was at first observed in making these visits, but by degrees all precaution was laid aside, and so openly did the king of Navarre avow his preference for the society of madame de Sauve,

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that Catherine experienced not the smallest difficulty, in ascertaining that, however her daughter Marguerite might claim the title of his queen, the real sovereign of his affections was the fair Charlotte.

We have already made a slight mention of these apartments, but for the reader's better information, we will state that they were situated on the second floor of the palace, almost immediately above those occupied by Henry himself, and in common with the suites of rooms occupied by such as were officially employed by the royal family, were small, dark, and inconvenient; the door opened upon a corridor, feebly lighted by an arched window at the further end, but so completely did the cumbrous sashes interfere with the purpose for which the window in question had been, no doubt, originally intended, that it was only during a few hours of a sunshiny day that a few straggling rays gained admittance; during winter, it was necessary to light the lamp placed at the end by two o'clock in the day, and the said lamp only containing a certain portion of oil, it followed, as a matter of course, that by the hour of Henry's usual visit, it was exhausted, leaving the whole corridor in a state of darkness.

The suite of rooms devoted to the service of madame de Sauve consisted of a small antechamber, hung with yellow damask; a receiving-room, with hangings of blue velvet; a sleeping-room, with its bed of curiously carved wood, heavy curtains of rose-coloured satin, and tester composed of looking-glass, set in silver, and paintings representing the loves of Venus and Adonis; such was the residence, or rather nest, of the lovely Charlotte de la Sauve, lady-in-waiting to her majesty queen Catherine.

A more careful examination of the apartment we have just been describing discovered a toilette abundantly and luxuriously provided with all the accessories of female beauty; nearly opposite to which was a small door opening into a kind of oratory, where, at an elevation of two steps from the ground, stood a carved prie-dieu. Against the walls were suspended three or four paintings, representing the most striking passages in the lives of the saints, mingled with arms for female use, both offensive and defensive; for in these times of mysterious intrigue, women carried arms as well as men, and very frequently employed them as skilfully.

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