"You would not find me in before nine o'clock to-morrow evening; I shall be occupied with my devotions during the day."
"I will be at the Louvre at nine o'clock, then, madame."
"Madame de Sauve has beautiful hands and beautiful lips," said Catharine in a careless tone. "What pomade does she use?"
"For her hands?"
"Yes, for her hands first."
"Heliotrope."
"What for her lips?"
"She is going to try a new opiate of my invention. I was going to bring your majesty a box of it at the same time."
Catharine mused an instant.
"She is certainly a very beautiful creature," said she, pursuing her secret thoughts; "and the passion of the Béarnais for her is not strange at all."