"Ah, humanity! my poor queen, that is the very virtue that is the ruin of all of us women."
"Yes; and you understand: as the King, the Duc d'Alençon, my mother, even my husband, may at any moment enter my room"—
"You want me to hide your little Huguenot as long as he is ill, on condition I send him back to you when he is cured?"
"Scoffer!" said Marguerite, "no! I do not lay my plans so far in advance; but if you could conceal the poor fellow,—if you could preserve the life I have saved,—I confess I should be most grateful. You are free at the Hôtel de Guise; you have neither brother-in-law nor husband to spy on you or constrain you; besides, behind your room there is a closet like mine into which no one is entitled to enter; so lend me your closet for my Huguenot, and when he is cured open the cage and let the bird fly away."
"There is only one difficulty, my dear queen: the cage is already occupied."
"What, have you also saved somebody?"
"That is exactly what I answered your brother with."
"Ah, I understand! that's why you spoke so low that I could not hear you."
"Listen, Marguerite: it is an admirable story—is no less poetical and romantic than yours. After I had left you six of my guards, I returned with the rest to the Hôtel de Guise, and I was watching them pillage and burn a house separated from my brother's palace only by the Rue des Quatre Fils, when I heard the voices of men swearing and of women crying. I went out on the balcony and the first thing I saw was a sword flashing so brilliantly that it seemed to light up the whole scene. I was filled with admiration for this fiery sword. I am fond of fine things, you know! Then naturally enough I tried to distinguish the arm wielding it and then the body to which the arm belonged. Amid sword-thrusts and shouts I at last made out the man and I saw—a hero, an Ajax Telamon. I heard a voice—the voice of a Stentor. My enthusiasm awoke—I stood there panting, trembling at every blow aimed at him, at every thrust he parried! That was a quarter hour of emotion such as I had never before experienced, my queen; and never believed was possible to experience. So there I was panting, holding my breath, trembling, and voiceless, when all of a sudden my hero disappeared."
"How?"