Part 154 (2/2)
”Ah! yes, that is true; I always forget that I have a brother,” murmured Charles, laughing bitterly; ”so you say, madame”--
”That fortunately he revealed the conspiracy. But while he, inexperienced child that he is, sought only the traces of an ordinary plot, the proofs of a young man's escapade, I sought for proofs of a much more important deed; for I understand the reach of the guilty one's mind.”
”Ah! mother, one would say you were speaking of the King of Navarre,”
said Charles, anxious to see how far this Florentine dissimulation would go.
Catharine hypocritically dropped her eyes.
”I have had him arrested and taken to Vincennes for his escapade,”
continued the King; ”is he more guilty than I suspected, then?”
”Do you feel the fever that consumes you?” asked Catharine.
”Yes, certainly, madame,” said Charles, frowning.
”Do you feel the fire that burns you internally?”
”Yes, madame,” replied Charles, his brow darkening more and more.
”And the sharp pains in your head, which shoot from your eyes to your brain like so many arrows?”
”Yes, madame. I feel all that. You describe my trouble perfectly!”
”Well! the explanation is very simple,” said the Florentine. ”See.”
And she drew from under her cloak an object which she gave to the King.
It was a figure of yellow wax, about six inches high, clothed in a robe covered with golden stars also of wax, like the figure; and over this a royal mantle of the same material.
”Well,” asked Charles, ”what is this little statue?”
”See what it has on its head,” said Catharine.
”A crown,” replied Charles.
”And in the heart?”
”A needle.”
”Well, sire, do you recognize yourself?”
”Myself?”
”Yes, you, with your crown and mantle?”
”Who made this figure?” asked Charles, whom this farce was beginning to weary; ”the King of Navarre, no doubt?”
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