"I do not know what you mean, madame," replied the Florentine.
"Réné, have your perfumes lost their odor?"
"No, madame, not when I use them; but it is possible that in passing through the hands of others"—
Catharine smiled and shook her head.
"Your opiate has done wonders, Réné," said she; "Madame de Sauve's lips are fresher and rosier than ever."
"It is not my opiate that is responsible for that, madame. The Baroness de Sauve, using the privilege of every pretty woman to be capricious, has said nothing more to me about this opiate, and after the suggestion from your majesty I thought it best to send her no more of it. So that all the boxes are still in my house just as you left them, with the exception of one which disappeared, I know not how or why."
"That is well, Réné," said Catharine; "perhaps later we may return to this. In the meantime, let us speak of the other matter."
"I am all attention, madame."
"What is necessary to gain an idea of the length of any one's life?"
"In the first place to know the day of his birth, his age, and under what condition he first saw light."