ise; hurrah! for the pillar of the church!" The crowd
increased at every step. He arrived in front of the palace of Catherine
de' Medici, who had not expected him, and grew pale at sight of him.
"My dear cousin," said she to him, "I am very glad to see you, but I
should have been better pleased at another time." "Madame, I am come to
clear myself from all the calumnies of my enemies; do me the honor to
conduct me to the king yourself." Catherine lost no time in giving the
king warning by one of her secretaries. On receipt of this notice, Henry
III., who had at first been stolid--and silent, rose abruptly from his
chair. "Tell my lady mother that, as she wishes to present the Duke of
Guise to me, I will receive him in the chamber of the queen my wife."
The envoy departed. The king, turning to one of his officers, Colonel
Alphonso Corso, said to him, "M. de Guise has just arrived at Paris,
contrary to my orders. What would you do in my place?" "Sir, do you
hold the Duke of Guise for friend or enemy?" The king, without speaking,
replied by a significant gesture. "If it please your, Majesty to give me
the order, I will this very day lay the duke's head at your feet." The
three councillors who happened to be there cried out. The king held his
peace. During this conversation at the Louvre, the Duke of Guise was
advancing along the streets, dressed in a doublet of white damask, a
cloak of black cloth, and boots of buffalo-hide; he walked on foot,
bareheaded, at the side of the queen-mother in a sedan-chair. He was
tall, with fair clustering hair and piercing eyes; and his scar added to
his martial air. The mob pressed upon his steps; flowers were thrown to
him from the windows; some, adoring him as a saint, touched him with
chaplets which they afterwards kissed; a young girl darted towards him,
and, removing her mask, kissed him, saying, "Brave prince, since you are
here, we are all saved." Guise, with a dignified air, "saluted and
delighted everybody," says a witness, "with eye, and gesture, and
speech." "By his side," said Madame de Retz, "the other princes are
commoners." "The Huguenots," said another, "become Leaguers at the very
sight of him." On arriving at the Louvre, he traversed the court between
two rows of soldiers, the archers on duty in the hall, and the forty-five
gentlemen of the king's chamber at the top of the staircase. "What
brings you hither?" said the king, with difficulty restraining his