"Everything is for the best; you may go."
Gillonne bowed and left.
"Go on with your reading, Charlotte," said the queen.
Madame de Sauve continued. At the end of ten minutes Catharine interrupted the story.
"Ah, by the way," said she, "have the guards dismissed from the corridor."
This was the signal for which Maurevel was waiting. The order of the queen mother was carried out, and Madame de Sauve went on with her story. She had read for about a quarter of an hour without any interruption, when a prolonged and terrible scream reached the royal chamber and made the hair of those present stand on end.
The scream was followed by the sound of a pistol-shot.
"What is it?" said Catharine; "why do you stop reading, Carlotta?"
"Madame," said the young woman, turning pale, "did you not hear?"
"What?" asked Catharine.