was Nunez, was admitted by De Bethune
(afterwards the famous Due de Sully) to the presence of the king, but De
Bethune, believing it probable that the Spaniard had been sent to
assassinate Henry, held both the hands of the emissary during the whole
interview, besides subjecting him to a strict personal visitation
beforehand. Nunez stated that he was authorized to propose to his Majesty
a marriage with the Infanta Clara Isabella, and Henry, much to the
discontent of De Bethune, listened eagerly to the suggestion, and
promised to send a secret agent to Spain to confer on the subject with
Mendoza.

The choice he made of La Varenne, whose real name was Guillaume Fouquet,
for this mission was still more offensive to De Bethune. Fouquet had
originally been a cook in the service of Madame Catherine, and was famous
for his talent for larding poultry, but he had subsequently entered the
household of Henry, where he had been employed in the most degrading
service which one man can render to another.

["La Varenne," said Madame Catherine on one occasion "tu as plus
gagne ti porter les poulets de men frere, qu'a piquer les miens."
Memoires de Sully, Liv. vi. p. 296, note 6. He accumulated a large
fortune in these dignified pursuits--having, according to Winwood,
landed estates to the annual amount of sixty thousand francs a-year
--and gave large dowries to his daughters, whom he married into
noblest families; "which is the more remarkable," adds Winwood,
"considering the services wherein he is employed about the king,
which is to be the Mezzano for his loves; the place from whence he
came, which is out of the kitchen of Madame the king's sister."--
Memorials, i. 380.]

On his appointment to this office of secret diplomacy he assumed all the
airs of an ambassador, while Henry took great pains to contradict the
reports which were spread as to the true nature of this mission to Spain.

Duplessis was, in truth, not very far wrong in his conjectures, but, as
might be supposed, Henry was most anxious to conceal these secret
negotiations with his Catholic Majesty from the Huguenot chiefs whom he
had so recently deserted. "This is all done without the knowledge of the
Duke of Bouillon," said Calvaert, "or at least under a very close
disguise, as he, himself keenly feels and confesses to me." The envoy of
the republic, as well as the leaders of the Protestant party in France,
were resolved if possible to