As Catharine read this note a smile came to her lips. She was thinking of the victory she was to gain, forgetting the price at which she had bought it. But after all what was Orthon? A faithful, devoted follower, a handsome young boy; that was all.
That, one may well imagine, would not for an instant have turned the scales on which the fate of empires had been weighed.
The note read, Catharine at once went to Madame de Sauve's and placed it behind the mirror.
As she came down she found the captain of the guards at the entrance of the corridor.
"Madame," said Monsieur de Nancey, "according to your majesty's orders the horse is ready."
"My dear baron," said Catharine, "we shall not need it. I have made the boy speak, and he is really too stupid to be charged with the errand I wanted to entrust to him. I thought he was a lackey, but he is nothing but a groom at best. I gave him some money and dismissed him by the private gate."
"But," said Monsieur de Nancey, "the errand?"
"The errand?" asked Catharine.
"The one on which he was to go to Saint Germain. Does your majesty wish me to undertake it, or shall I have one of my men attend to it?"
"No, no," said Catharine, "this evening you and your men will have something else to do."