“Well, Chicot,” said Henri, “do you know what the queen says?”

“No.”

“She pretends that your cursed Latin will disturb our peace.”

“Oh! sire, forget it, and all will be at an end.  It is not with a piece of spoken Latin as though it were written; the wind carries away the one, fire cannot sometimes destroy the other.”

“I!  I think of it no more.”

“That is right.”

“I have something else to do.”

“Your majesty prefers amusing yourself.”

“Oh! mon cher, here we do everything openly; love, war, and politics.”

“The first more than the two last; do you not, sire?”

“Ma foi! yes; I confess it, my dear friend.  This country is so fine, and its women so beautiful.”

“Oh! sire, you forget the queen; can the Navarrese women be more pleasing and beautiful than she is?  If they are, I compliment them.”

“Ventre St. Gris, you are right, Chicot; and I, who forgot that you are an ambassador, and represent King Henri III., and that he is the brother of Marguerite, and that consequently, before you, I ought to place her before every one—­but you must excuse my imprudence, I am not accustomed to ambassadors.”

At this moment the door of the room opened, and D’Aubiac announced, “The ambassador from Spain.”

Chicot gave a start which made the king smile.

“Ma foi!” said Henri, “that is a contradiction that I did not expect.  And what the devil can he want here?”

“Yes,” said Chicot, “what the devil does he want here?”

“We shall soon know; perhaps our Spanish neighbor has some frontier dispute to settle with us.”

“I will retire,” said Chicot.  “This is doubtless a real ambassador from his majesty Philippe II., while I—­”

“Open that library door, Chicot, and go in there.”

“But from there I shall hear all, in spite of myself.”

“Oh!  Never mind; I have nothing to hide.  Apropos; have you nothing more to say to me from your king?”

“Nothing at all, sire.”

“Very well, then, you have nothing to do but to see and hear, like all other ambassadors, and the library will do excellently for that purpose.  Look with all your eyes, and listen with all your ears, my dear Chicot.  D’Aubiac, let the ambassador enter.”

Chicot hastened to his place of concealment, and drew the tapestry close.

When the first preliminaries of etiquette were over, the ambassador said: 

“Can I speak freely to your majesty?”

“You may, monsieur.”

“Sire, I bring the answer from his Catholic majesty.”

“An answer,” thought Chicot; “then there was a question.”

“An answer to what?” said Henri.

“To your proposals of last month.”

“Ma foi!  I am very forgetful! please to recall to me what they were.”

“About the invasions of the Lorraine princes.”