iscovered the agency of a third
person, whose identity he left it to Sully to ascertain, as he had
resolved never again either to serve or even to see him, be he whom he
might, so long as he had life.

With a truth and frankness which did him honour, the finance minister,
despite this threat, did not hesitate when subsequently urged upon the
subject by the King to admit the authorship of the obnoxious document,
and in support of his assertion to place in the hands of Henry the
original draft which he had retained. On comparing this with the
autograph letter of the Queen, however, Sully at once perceived that she
had been unable to repress her anger sufficiently to adhere to his
advice, and that the interpolations were by no means calculated to
advance her interests.[380] It was evident, nevertheless, that much of
the King's indignation had subsided, and that the delicate health of his
royal consort was not without its influence over his mind. Sully
adroitly profited by this circumstance to impress upon Henry the danger
of any agitation to the Queen, whose impressionable nature occasioned
constant solicitude to her physicians, and reminded him that her late
violence had been principally induced by the rumours which had reached
her of a _liaison_ between Madame de Verneuil and the Due de Guise, an
indignity to his own person which she had declared herself unable to
brook with patience. In short, so zealously and so successfully did
Sully exert himself, that he at length induced the monarch to return to
the Louvre, and the Queen to disclaim all intention of exciting his
displeasure, in which latter attempt he was greatly aided by being
enabled to confide to her that instant measures were to be taken for the
disgrace of the Marquise, could it be proved that her friendship with
the Duc de Guise had exceeded the limits of propriety.

In the beginning of March the Court removed to Fontainebleau, where,
while awaiting the accouchement of the Queen, Henry indulged in the most
reckless gaming; nor did he pursue this vice in a kingly spirit, for
even his devoted panegyrist Perefixe informs us that at this period he
knew not how to answer those who reproached his royal pupil with too
great a love for cards and dice, of itself a taste little suited to a
great and powerful sovereign; and that, moreover, he was an unpleasant
player, eager for gain, timid when the stake was a high one, and
ill-tempered when he was a loser.[381] In sup