"I say that if the King makes me regent, madame, I, and not you, shall give orders to the soldiers. I say that if I leave the castle at night, all these pikes, halberds, and muskets shall be lowered before me."
"Madman!" murmured Catharine, exasperated, "believe me, and do not play this terrible game of life and death with me."
"Why not?" said Henry, looking closely at Catharine; "why not with you as well as with another, since up to this time I have won?"
"Go to the King's apartments, monsieur, since you are unwilling to believe or listen to anything," said Catharine, pointing to the stairway with one hand, and with the other toying with one of the two poisoned daggers she always wore in the black shagreen case, which has become historical.
"Pass before me, madame," said Henry; "so long as I am not regent, the honor of precedence belongs to you."
Catharine, thwarted in all her plans, did not attempt to struggle, but ascended the stairs ahead of the King of Navarre.
CHAPTER LXIV.
THE REGENCY.
The King, beginning to grow impatient, had summoned Monsieur de Nancey to his room, and had just given him orders to go in search of Henry, when the latter appeared.