“The time has come,” said Charles de Gondi.
“To do what?” asked the marechal.
“To lay hold of the king’s mind,” replied the Grand-master, who, if he was not so much in the queen’s confidence as his brother, was by no means less clear-sighted.
“Charles, I have opened a great career to you,” said his brother gravely. “If you wish to be a duke also, be, as I am, the accomplice and cat’s-paw of our mistress; she is the strongest here, and she will continue in power. Madame de Sauves is on her side, and the king of Navarre and the Duc d’Alencon are still for Madame de Sauves. Catherine holds the pair in a leash under Charles IX., and she will hold them in future under Henri III. God grant that Henri may not prove ungrateful.”
“How so?”
“His mother is doing too much for him.”
“Hush! what noise is that I hear in the rue Saint-Honore?” cried the Grand-master. “Listen! there is some one at Rene’s door! Don’t you hear the footsteps of many men. Can they have arrested the Ruggieri?”
“Ah, diavolo! this is prudence indeed. The king has not shown his usual impetuosity. But where will they imprison them? Let us go down into the street and see.”
The two brothers reached the corner of the rue de l’Autruche just as the king was entering the house of his mistress, Marie Touchet. By the light of the torches which the concierge carried, they distinguished Tavannes and the two Ruggieri.
“Hey, Tavannes!” cried the grand-master, running after the king’s companion, who had turned and was making his way back to the Louvre, “What happened to you?”