"Is that your opinion?" asked Catharine.

"Yes, madame."

"Do you remember Jeanne d'Albret's horoscope?"

"Yes, madame."

"Repeat it to me, I have quite forgotten it."

"Vives honorata," said Réné, "morieris reformidata, regina amplificabere."

"That means, I believe," said Catharine, "Thou shalt live honored—and she lacked common necessaries, poor thing! Thou shalt die feared—and we laughed at her. Thou shalt be greater than thou hast been as a queen—and she is dead, and sleeps in a tomb on which we have not even engraved her name."

"Madame, your majesty does not translate the vives honorata rightly. The Queen of Navarre lived honored; for all her life she enjoyed the love of her children, the respect of her partisans; respect and love all the more sincere in that she was poor."

"Yes," said Catharine, "I grant you the vives honorata; but morieris reformidata: how will you explain that?"

"Nothing more easy: Thou shalt die feared."