"Well, I told."
"Whom did you tell?"
"My mother."
"And Queen Catharine"—
"Queen Catharine knows that I love you."
"Oh, madame! after having done so much for me, you can demand anything from your servant. Ah, Marguerite, truly, what you did was noble and beautiful. My life is yours, Marguerite."
"I hope so, for I have snatched it from those who wanted to take it from me. But now you are saved."
"And by you!" cried the young man; "by my adored queen!"
At that instant a sharp noise made them start. La Mole sprang back, filled with a vague terror. Marguerite uttered a cry, and stood with her eyes riveted on the broken glass of one of the window-panes.
Through this window a stone the size of an egg had entered and lay on the floor.