"Nothing?" said the queen-mother, completely taken aback.
"Absolutely nothing."
"What!" rejoined Catherine; "you confess, then? You avow that—"
"I neither avow nor confess anything, Madame."
"Oho! then you deny?"
"Nor do I deny anything. I simply say nothing."
Mary Stuart could not restrain a movement of approbation. François II. listened and looked on with eager curiosity; and the Duc de Guise remained mute and motionless.
Catherine began again in a tone which became momentarily more and more biting,—
"Monsieur, be careful! You would do better, perhaps, to try to defend or justify your action. Understand one thing: Monsieur de Montmorency, who can, in case of need, be heard as a witness, declares that to his certain knowledge you might well have certain grievances against the king, some grounds for personal enmity."
"What were they, Madame? Did Monsieur de Montmorency say what they were?"