"There is nothing upon earth," said the Duke thoughtfully, "so convenient as to have the reality without the name of power. We have the pleasure without the reproach! Catharine de Medici has not the power!--Who then has?--I may have the power also, it is true, to right myself and those who attach themselves to me; and in this instance I will use it. But still it were better to wait the time she states; for I know her fair Majesty well, and she never yields any thing without a delay, to make what she grants seem more important:--and yet, the day after to-morrow--the day after to-morrow--who shall say what may be, ere the day after to-morrow comes? This head may be lowly in the dust ere then."
"Or circled with the crown of France," said the Count de St. Paul.
"God forbid!" exclaimed the Duke earnestly. If I thought that it would ever produce a scheme to wrest the sceptre from the line that rightfully holds it, I would bear it to-morrow to the foot of the throne, myself, as my own accuser. No, no! bad kings may die or be deposed: but there is still some one on whose brow the crown descends by right. And let him have it.
"The Cardinal of Bourbon, your Highness," said an attendant entering, "has just arrived from Soissons. His Eminence is upon the stairs coming up."
A smile played over the lips of most of the persons present at such an announcement at that moment, for every one well knew that it was to the old Cardinal de Bourbon that the party of the League looked, as the successor to the crown on the death of Henry III., to the exclusion of the direct line of Navarre, held to be incapable of succeeding on account of religion. The Duke, however, advanced immediately with open arms to meet the Cardinal, and many hours were passed in long conferences between them and the principal officers and supporters of the League.
At the end of that time, however, towards seven o'clock, a message was brought into the room where they were in consultation, from Monsieur de Sainctyon, a well-known adherent of the League, begging earnestly to speak with the Duke upon matters of deep importance. On the Duke going out, he found the worthy Leaguer in a state of great excitement and agitation.
"My Lord," he said, as soon as Guise appeared in the room where he had been left alone, "I fear that they are busily labouring, at the palace, for the destruction of your Highness and of the Holy League."
"How so, Monsieur de Sainctyon?" demanded the Duke, who entertained doubts, it seems, of the Leaguer's sincerity, which were never wholly removed. "Some of my friends have just returned from the palace, who tell me that all is as still and quite as the inside of a vault."
"They told your Highness also, I hope," said the Leaguer, "that they had trebled the guard, both Swiss and French."
"Yes, I was informed of that," replied the Duke. "But that shows fear, not daring, Monsieur de Sainctyon."