"Still the same, madame."
"What, the black lamb uttered its three cries?"
"Just the same as before, madame."
"The sign of three cruel deaths in my family," murmured Catharine.
"Alas!" said Réné.
"What then?"
"Then, madame, there was in its entrails that strange displacement of the liver which we had already observed in the first two—it was wrong side up!"
"A change of dynasty! Still—still—still the same!" muttered Catharine; "yet we must fight against this, Réné," she added.
Réné shook his head.
"I have told your majesty," he said, "that fate rules."