it rather coolly."

"Between the daughter of an apothecary and that of a doctor there is no
great difference," replied Touchet, always ready to laugh at the false
origin attributed to her.

The king frowned.

"Marie, don't take such liberties. Catherine de' Medici is my mother,
and you ought to tremble lest--"

"What is it you fear?"

"Poison!" cried the king, beside himself.

"Poor child!" cried Marie, restraining her tears; for the sight of
such strength united to such weakness touched her deeply. "Ah!" she
continued, "you make me hate Madame Catherine, who has been so good to
me; her kindness now seems perfidy. Why is she so kind to me, and bad to
you? During my stay in Dauphine I heard many things about the beginning
of your reign which you concealed from me; it seems to me that the
queen, your mother, is the real cause of all your troubles."

"In what way?" cried the king, deeply interested.

"Women whose souls and whose intentions are pure use virtue wherewith to
rule the men they love; but women who do not seek good rule men through
their evil instincts. Now, the queen made vices out of certain of
your noblest qualities, and she taught you to believe that your worst
inclinations were virtues. Was that the part of a mother? Be a tyrant
like Louis XI.; inspire terror; imitate Philip II.; banish the Italians;
drive out the Guises; confiscate the lands of the Calvinists. Out of
this solitude you will rise a king; you will save the throne. The moment
is propitious; your brother is in Poland."

"We are two children at statecraft," said Charles, bitterly; "we know
nothing except how to love. Alas! my treasure, yesterday I, too, thought
all these things; I dreamed of accomplishing great deeds--bah! my mother
blew down my house of cards! From a distance we see great questions
outlined like the summits of mountains, and it is easy to say: 'I'll
make an end of Calvinism; I'll bring those Guises to task; I'll separate
from the Court of Rome; I'll rely upon my people, upon the burghers--'
ah! yes, from afar it all seems simple enough! but try to climb those
mountains and the higher you go the more the difficulties appear.
Calvinism, in itself, is the last thing the leaders of that party care
for; and the Guises, those rabid Catholics, would be sorry indeed to
see the Calvinists put down. Each side considers its own interests
exclusively, and religious opinions are but a cloak for insatiable
ambition. The party of C