and
deference.

"Did I not right, then, to counsel you as I have done in this matter,
my lord duke," he said to the other young man, "since the astrologer,
in whom you have all confidence, promises us so unbounded a success:
and you give full credence to the announcement of the stars?"

"Yes--yes, Philip," answered the Duke, reclining back in his chair,
and rubbing his hands with a sort of internal satisfaction.

"Then let us act at once," continued the young man called Philip. "The
King cannot live many days--perhaps not many hours. There is no time
to be lost. Henry of Anjou, your elder brother, is far away; the crown
of Poland weighs upon his brow. You are present. The troops have been
taught to love you. The Huguenot party have confidence in you. The
pretensions of Henry of Navarre to the regency must give way before
yours. All parties will combine to look upon you as the heir of
Charles; and now the very heavens, the very stars above, seem to
conspire to make you that which I would you should be. Your fortune,
then, is in your own hands."

"Yes. So it is!" replied the Duke.

"Assemble, then, all those attached to your service or your person!"

"I will."

"Let your intention be known among the guards."

"It shall."

"As soon as the King shall have ceased to breathe, seize upon all the
gates of the Louvre."

"Yes," continued the Duke, although his voice, so eager the moment
before, seemed to tremble at the thought of so much decision of
action.

"Declare yourself the Master of the kingdom in full parliament."

"Yes," again replied the young Duke, more weakly. "But"----

"But what--Monseigneur!" exclaimed his companion.

"But," continued the Duke again, with hesitation, "if Henry, my
brother, should return--if he should come to claim his crown. You may
be sure that our mother, who cares for him alone, will have already
sent off messengers to advertise him of Charles's danger, and bid him
come!"

"I know she has," replied Philip coolly. "But I have already taken
upon myself, without Monseigneur's instructions, for which I could not
wait, to send off a sure agent to intercept her courier, to detain him
at any price, to destroy his despatches."

"Philip! what have you done?" exclaimed the young Duke, in evident
alarm. "Intercept my mother's courier! Dare to disobey my mother! My
Mother! You do not know her then."

"Not know her?" answered his companion. "Who in this troubled land of
France does n