en Catharine
began to ply Charles with questions respecting Coligny's private
communication. Several times he absolutely refused to satisfy her
curiosity. But at last, losing all patience, he roughly answered her with
an oath: "What the admiral told me was true: kings are recognized as such
in France only so far as they have the power to reward or punish their
subjects and servants; and this power and the management of the affairs of
the entire state have insensibly slipped into your hands. But this
authority of yours, the admiral told me, may some day become highly
prejudicial both to me and to my whole kingdom, and I ought to look upon
it with suspicion, and to be on my guard. Of this he had desired, as one
of my best and most faithful subjects, to warn me before he died. Well
then, _mon Dieu_, since you will know it, this is what the admiral was
telling me." "This was uttered," Anjou subsequently said, "with so much
passion and fury, that the speech cut us to the heart. We concealed our
emotion as best we could, and vindicated ourselves. This discourse we
pursued from the admiral's lodgings to the Louvre. There, after having
left the king in his own room, we retired to that of the queen, my mother,
who was nettled and offended in the highest degree by this language of the
admiral to the king, and still more by the credit the king seemed to give
it, fearing that this might occasion some change in our affairs and in the
conduct of the state. To be frank, we found ourselves so unprovided with
counsel and understanding, that, being unable to come to any determination
at that time, we separated, deferring the matter until the morrow."[959]

[Sidenote: Charles writes letters expressing his displeasure.]

Meantime, Charles, not content with closing all the gates of Paris, save
two, which were to be strictly guarded, and with ordering a speedy
judicial investigation, despatched, on the very day of the attempt on
Coligny's life, a circular letter to all the governors of the provinces,
and a similar letter to his ambassadors at foreign courts, declarative of
his profound displeasure at this audacious crime. In the former he said:
"I am at once sending in every direction in pursuit of the perpetrator,
with a view to catch him and inflict such punishment upon him as is
required by a deed so wicked, so displeasing, and, moreover, so
inconvenient; for the reparation of which I wish to forget nothing." And
lest any persons, whether