CHAPTER XXXVII.
WHAT M. DE GUISE CAME TO DO AT THE LOUVRE.
Behind M. de Guise there entered a great number of officers, courtiers, and gentlemen, and behind them a concourse of the people; an escort less brilliant, but more formidable, and it was their cries that had resounded as the duke entered the Louvre.
“Ah! it is you, my cousin,” said the king; “what a noise you bring with you! Did I not hear the trumpets sound?”
“Sire, the trumpets sound in Paris only for the king, and in campaigns for the general. Here the trumpets would make too much noise for a subject; there they do not make enough for a prince.”
Henri bit his lips. “Have you arrived from the siege of La Charité only to-day?”
“Only to-day, sire,” replied the duke, with a heightened color.
“Ma foi! your visit is a great honor to us.”
“Your majesty jests, no doubt. How can my visit honor him from whom all honor comes?”