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It is true, I have Madame de Belleville, but this is better; for who knows whether my mother does not hear of all that goes on at Marie's?" Monsieur de Solern, who was to follow the king, asked if he might not take a few of his Germans to patrol the streets, and Charles consented.
No girl was ever locked in as carefully, and they have not had a mouthful to eat since they came. The Germans whom Solern left to guard them won't let any one go near the room. Is it a joke you are playing; or is it something serious?" "Yes, you are right," said the king, coming out of his reverie, "last night I did scour the roofs with Tavannes and the Gondis.
Remain here when the others go. I shall know to-night whether you are for me or against me. Don't look astonished. I am about to burst my bonds. My mother is the cause of all the evil about me. Three months hence I shall be king indeed, or dead. Silence, if you value your life! You will have my secret, you and Solern and Villeroy only. If it is betrayed, it will be by one of you three.
He commanded a detachment of the archers of the guards, and for the last few days he had been sifting out the men who were faithfully attached to the king, in order to make a company of tried men when the need came. The king took thought of everything. "Why are you surprised, Solern?" he said.
A German nobleman, the Comte de Solern, stood at the corner of the fireplace behind the young queen, the granddaughter of Charles V., whom he had accompanied into France. Near to her on a stool sat her lady of honor, the Comtesse de Fiesque, a Strozzi, and a relation of Catherine de' Medici. Behind these two ladies stood the two Gondis, talking to them.
As the first rays of dawn were struggling with the lights of the workshop, Charles IX., left alone by the departure of the Comte de Solern, heard the door of the apartment turn on its hinges, and saw his mother standing within it in the dim light like a phantom.
He had reached the last stages of the malady of which he died, the symptoms of which were such that many reflecting persons were justified in thinking that he was poisoned. Moreover, his funeral was even more neglected than that of Francois II. The body was conducted from Saint-Lazare to Saint-Denis by Brantome and a few archers of the guard under command of the Comte de Solern.
"What! a parricide in addition to the Saint-Bartholomew, count?" cried the king. "No, no! I will exile her. Once fallen, my mother will no longer have either servants or partisans." "Well, then, sire," replied the Comte de Solern, "give me the order to arrest her at once and take her out of the kingdom; for to-morrow she will have forced you to change your mind."
"She will think it a duel," replied Solern; "and she cannot possibly distinguish who we are at this distance." "Well, let her see me!" exclaimed Charles IX. "I am resolved now!" The king and his confidant sprang ashore and walked quickly in the direction of the Pre-aux-Clercs.
The Comte de Solern, left alone with the king, looked at him in amazement. Though the worthy German, filled with compassion for the hapless position of the king of France, was honor and fidelity itself, he was certainly not quick of perception. Tavannes and Villeroy were trusted with only a part of the king's secrets.
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