“O coglione! you pretend to be a soldier, and you fear death!  Every business has its duties, and we have ours in making our fortune.  By attaching ourselves to kings, the source of all temporal power which protects, elevates, and enriches families, we are forced to give them as devoted a love as that which burns in the hearts of martyrs toward heaven.  We must suffer in their cause; when they sacrifice us to the interests of their throne we may perish, for we die as much for ourselves as for them, but our name and our families perish not. Ecco!”

“You are right as to yourself, Albert; for they have given you the ancient title and duchy of de Retz.”

“Now listen to me,” replied his brother.  “The queen hopes much from the cleverness of the Ruggieri; she expects them to bring the king once more under her control.  When Charles refused to use Rene’s perfumes any longer the wary woman knew at once on whom his suspicions really rested.  But who can tell the schemes that are in his mind?  Perhaps he is only hesitating as to what fate he shall give his mother; he hates her, you know.  He said a few words about it to his wife; she repeated them to Madame de Fiesque, and Madame de Fiesque told the queen-mother.  Since then the king has kept away from his wife.”

“The time has come,” said Charles de Gondi.

“To do what?” asked the marechal.

“To lay hold of the king’s mind,” replied the Grand-master, who, if he was not so much in the queen’s confidence as his brother, was by no means less clear-sighted.

“Charles, I have opened a great career to you,” said his brother gravely.  “If you wish to be a duke also, be, as I am, the accomplice and cat’s-paw of our mistress; she is the strongest here, and she will continue in power.  Madame de Sauves is on her side, and the king of Navarre and the Duc d’Alencon are still for Madame de Sauves.  Catherine holds the pair in a leash under Charles IX., and she will hold them in future under Henri III.  God grant that Henri may not prove ungrateful.”

“How so?”

“His mother is doing too much for him.”

“Hush! what noise is that I hear in the rue Saint-Honore?” cried the Grand-master.  “Listen! there is some one at Rene’s door!  Don’t you hear the footsteps of many men.  Can they have arrested the Ruggieri?”

“Ah, diavolo! this is prudence indeed.  The king has not shown his usual impetuosity.  But where will they imprison them?  Let us go down into the street and see.”

The two brothers reached the corner of the rue de l’Autruche just as the king was entering the house of his mistress, Marie Touchet.  By the light of the torches which the concierge carried, they distinguished Tavannes and the two Ruggieri.

“Hey, Tavannes!” cried the grand-master, running after the king’s companion, who had turned and was making his way back to the Louvre, “What happened to you?”