"Even Lasco hesitated when I urged him to seek an audience. Oh, if he could write to Poland and annul this election!"
"Folly, my son, madness! What a Diet has consecrated is sacred."
"But, mother, could not these Poles be prevailed on to accept my brother in my stead?"
"It would be difficult, if not impossible," said Catharine.
"Never mind, try, make the attempt, speak to the King, mother. Ascribe everything to my love for Madame de Condé; say that I am mad over her, that I am losing my mind. He saw me coming out of the prince's hôtel with De Guise, who did everything for me a friend could do."
"Yes, in order to help the League. You do not see this, but I do."
"Yes, mother, yes; but meanwhile I am making use of him. Should we not be glad when a man serves us while serving himself?"
"And what did the King say when he met you?"
"He apparently believed what I told him, that love alone had brought me back to Paris."
"But did he ask you what you did the rest of the night?"