"Then," said Marguerite, looking at her husband, "he must be"—
"For your brother D'Alençon, must he not?" said Henry.
"Yes; but how can we be sure?"
"Could not one of his two gentlemen be sent for?" said Henry, carelessly, "and through him"—
"You are right," said Marguerite, put at her ease at her husband's suggestion. "I will send for Monsieur de la Mole. Gillonne! Gillonne!"
The young girl appeared.
"I must speak at once with Monsieur de la Mole," said the queen. "Try to find him and bring him here."
Gillonne disappeared. Henry seated himself before a table on which was a German book containing engravings by Albert Durer, which he began to examine with such close attention that when La Mole entered he did not seem to hear him, and did not even raise his head.
On his side, the young man, seeing the king with Marguerite, stopped on the threshold, silent from surprise and pale from anxiety.
Marguerite went to him.