Marguerite shivered. It seemed to her that there was something strange and terrible in the way her mother uttered these words; but she had nothing to say, for what she had come to ask for had been granted her.
"But," said Catharine, "if it was not Monsieur de la Mole who was in the king's room, it was some one else!"
Marguerite was silent.
"Do you know who it was, my daughter?" said Catharine.
"No, mother," said Marguerite, in an unsteady voice.
"Come, do not be half confidential."
"I repeat, madame, that I do not know," replied Marguerite again, growing pale in spite of herself.
"Well, well," said Catharine, carelessly, "we shall find out. Go now, my daughter. You may rest assured that your mother will watch over your honor."
Marguerite went out.
"Ah!" murmured Catharine, "they are in league. Henry and Marguerite are working together. While the wife is silent, the husband is blind. Ah, you are very clever, my children, and you think yourselves very strong. But your strength is in your union and I will break you, one after the other. Besides, the day will come when Maurevel can speak or write, utter a name, or spell six letters, and then we shall know everything. Yes, but in the meantime the guilty shall be in safe-keeping. The best thing to do would be to separate them at once."