could not
discreetly assure ourselves of the fact."

"But in removing the things from the table, you must have seen whether
my son had supped alone?"

"We have not yet removed the things, madame, since the orders of
monseigneur were that no one should enter the pavilion."

"Very good," said Catherine; "no one, therefore, has been here?"

"No one, madame."

"You may go."

And Catherine was now left quite alone in the room. Leaving the prince
lying on the bed where he had been placed, she immediately commenced the
minutest investigation of each symptom or of each of the traces to
which her attention was directed, as the result of her suspicions or
apprehensions.

She had remarked that Francois' forehead was stained or dyed of a bister
color, his eyes were bloodshot and encircled with blue lines, his lips
marked with furrows, like the impression which burning sulphur leaves on
living flesh.

She observed the same sign upon his nostrils and upon the sides of the
nose.

"Now let me look carefully," she said, gazing about her on every side.

The first thing she remarked was the candlestick in which the flambeau
which Remy had lighted the previous evening had burned away.

"This candle has burned for a length of time," she said, "and shows that
Francois was a long time in this room. Ah! here is a bouquet lying on
the carpet."

Catherine picked it up eagerly, and then, remarking that all its flowers
were still fresh, with the exception of a rose, which was blackened and
dried up:

"What does this mean?" she said; "what has been poured on the leaves of
this flower? If I am not mistaken, I know a liquid which withers roses
in this manner." She threw aside the bouquet, shuddering as she did so.

"That explains to me the state of the nostrils and the manner in which
the flesh of the face is affected; but the lips?"

Catherine ran to the dining-room. The valets had spoken the truth, for
there was nothing to indicate that anything on the table had been
touched since the previous evening's repast had been finished.

Upon the edge of the table lay the half of a peach, in which the
impression of a row of teeth was still visible. Catherine's attention
was drawn to this in a particular manner, for the fruit, usually of a
rich crimson near the core, had become as black as the rose, and was
discolored by violet and brown spots. The corrosive action was more
especially visible upon the part which had been cut, and partic