Thou wert once my mistress gay!

"Therefore, darling, while we live,
Change thy mind and tokens give--
Kisses from thy honey mouth!
Else when thou art like to die
Thou 'lt repent thy cruelty,
Filling all my life with drouth!"

Marguerite listened with a melancholy smile; then when the student's
voice was lost in the distance, she shut the window, and called Gillonne
to help her to prepare for bed.

CHAPTER III.

THE POET-KING.

The next day and those that followed were devoted to festivals, balls,
and tournaments.

The same amalgamation continued to take place between the two parties.
The caresses and compliments lavished were enough to turn the heads of
the most bigoted Huguenots. Pere Cotton was to be seen dining and
carousing with the Baron de Courtaumer; the Duc de Guise went boating on
the Seine with the Prince de Conde. King Charles seemed to have laid
aside his usual melancholy, and could not get enough of the society of
his new brother-in-law, Henry. Moreover, the queen mother was so gay,
and so occupied with embroidery, ornaments, and plumes, that she could
not sleep.

The Huguenots, to some degree contaminated by this new Capua, began to
assume silken pourpoints, wear devices, and parade before certain
balconies, as if they were Catholics.

On every side there was such a reaction in favor of the Protestants that
it seemed as if the whole court was about to become Protestant; even the
admiral, in spite of his experience, was deceived, and was so carried
away that one evening he forgot for two whole hours to chew on his
toothpick, which he always used from two o'clock, at which time he
finished his dinner, until eight o'clock at night, when he sat down to
supper.

The evening on which the admiral thus unaccountably deviated from his
usual habit, King Charles IX. had invited Henry of Navarre and the Duc
de Guise to sup with him. After the repast he took them into his
chamber, and was busily explaining to them the ingenious mechanism of a
wolf-trap he had invented, when, interrupting himself,--

"Isn't the admiral coming to-night?" he asked. "Who has seen him to-day
and can tell me anything about him?"

"I have," said the King of Navarre; "and if your Majesty is anxious
about his health, I can reassure you, for I saw him this morning at six,
and this evening at seven o'clock."

"Aha!" replied the King, whose eyes were instantly fixed with a
searching expre