was now a mere quenchless thirst for pleasure.  This perverted and misjudged great man, with all the many facets of a noble soul worn-out,—­a king without power, a generous heart without a friend, dragged hither and thither by a thousand conflicting intrigues, —­presented the melancholy spectacle of a youth, only twenty-four years old, disillusioned of life, distrusting everybody and everything, now resolving to risk all, even his life, on a last effort.  For some time past he had fully understood his royal mission, his power, his resources, and the obstacles which his mother opposed to the pacification of the kingdom; but alas! this light now burned in a shattered lantern.

Two men, whom Charles IX. loved sufficiently to protect under circumstances of great danger,—­Jean Chapelain, his physician, whom he saved from the Saint-Bartholomew, and Ambroise Pare, with whom he went to dine when Pare’s enemies were accusing him of intending to poison the king,—­had arrived this evening in haste from the provinces, recalled by the queen-mother.  Both were watching their master anxiously.  A few courtiers spoke to them in a low voice; but the men of science made guarded answers, carefully concealing the fatal verdict which was in their minds.  Every now and then the king would raise his heavy eyelids and give his mother a furtive look which he tried to conceal from those about him.  Suddenly he sprang up and stood before the fireplace.

“Monsieur de Chiverni,” he said abruptly, “why do you keep the title of chancellor of Anjou and Poland?  Are you in our service, or in that of our brother?”

“I am all yours, sire,” replied Chiverni, bowing low.

“Then come to me to-morrow; I intend to send you to Spain.  Very strange things are happening at the court of Madrid, gentlemen.”

The king looked at his wife and flung himself back into his chair.

“Strange things are happening everywhere,” said the Marechal de Tavannes, one of the friends of the king’s youth, in a low voice.

The king rose again and led this companion of his youthful pleasures apart into the embrasure of the window at the corner of the room, saying, when they were out of hearing:—­

“I want you.  Remain here when the others go.  I shall know to-night whether you are for me or against me.  Don’t look astonished.  I am about to burst my bonds.  My mother is the cause of all the evil about me.  Three months hence I shall be king indeed, or dead.  Silence, if you value your life!  You will have my secret, you and Solern and Villeroy only.  If it is betrayed, it will be by one of you three.  Don’t keep near me; go and pay your court to my mother.  Tell her I am dying, and that you don’t regret it, for I am only a poor creature.”

The king was leaning on the shoulder of his old favorite, and pretending to tell him of his ailments, in order to mislead the inquisitive eyes about him; then, not wishing to make his aversion too visible, he went up to his wife and mother and talked with them, calling Birago to their side.