"Not even the queen mother?" whispered Réné in her ear.
Marguerite instantly rushed out by the exterior staircase, leading La Mole after her; Henriette and Coconnas almost arm-in-arm followed them, all four taking flight, as fly at the first noise the birds seen engaged in loving parley on the boughs of a flowering shrub.
CHAPTER XX.
THE BLACK HENS.
It was time the two couples disappeared! Catharine was putting the key in the lock of the second door just as Coconnas and Madame de Nevers stepped out of the house by the lower entrance, and Catharine as she entered could hear the steps of the fugitives on the stairs.
She cast a searching glance around, and then fixing her suspicious eyes on Réné, who stood motionless, bowing before her, said:
"Who was that?"
"Some lovers, who are satisfied with the assurance I gave them that they are really in love."
"Never mind them," said Catharine, shrugging her shoulders; "is there no one else here?"