E KING'S TALE

"Yes," returned the king. "In a second I was there, followed by
Tavannes, and then we clambered to a spot where I could see without
being seen the interior of that devil's kitchen, in which I beheld
extraordinary things which inspired me to take certain measures. Did
you ever notice the end of the roof of that cursed perfumer? The windows
toward the street are always closed and dark, except the last, from
which can be seen the hotel de Soissons and the observatory which my
mother built for that astrologer, Cosmo Ruggiero. Under the roof
are lodging-rooms and a gallery which have no windows except on the
courtyard, so that in order to see what was going on within, it was
necessary to go where no man before ever dreamed of climbing,--along the
coping of a high wall which adjoins the roof of Rene's house. The
men who set up in that house the furnaces by which they distil
death, reckoned on the cowardice of Parisians to save them from being
overlooked; but they little thought of Charles de Valois! I crept along
the coping until I came to a window, against the casing of which I
was able to stand up straight with my arm round a carved monkey which
ornamented it."

"What did you see, dear heart?" said Marie, trembling.

"A den, where works of darkness were being done," replied the king. "The
first object on which my eyes lighted was a tall old man seated in a
chair, with a magnificent white beard, like that of old l'Hopital, and
dressed like him in a black velvet robe. On his broad forehead furrowed
deep with wrinkles, on his crown of white hair, on his calm, attentive
face, pale with toil and vigils, fell the concentrated rays of a lamp
from which shone a vivid light. His attention was divided between an old
manuscript, the parchment of which must have been centuries old, and two
lighted furnaces on which heretical compounds were cooking. Neither the
floor nor the ceiling of the laboratory could be seen, because of the
myriads of hanging skeletons, bodies of animals, dried plants, minerals,
and articles of all kinds that masked the walls; while on the floor were
books, instruments for distilling, chests filled with utensils for magic
and astrology; in one place I saw horoscopes and nativities, phials,
wax-figures under spells, and possibly poisons. Tavannes and I were
fascinated, I do assure you, by the sight of this devil's-arsenal. Only
to see it puts one under a spell, and if I had not been King of France,