‘You must speak to her again.’

But Catherine was not going to do that even. to please Henry. Margot was no longer merely an impetuous girl. Margot was involved in the plots of her younger brother and her husband; she was shrewd and clever and must be treated with the respect such shrewdness and cleverness demanded.

‘Firebrands have inflamed your mind, my son,’ she said. ‘I do not understand people today. When I was young we talked freely with all the world, and all the well-bred men who followed your father and your uncles were seen in my rooms every day. Bussy sees my daughter in your presence and in her husband’s. What harm is there in this? You are unwise in this matter, my son. You have already offered her an insult which she will not readily forget.’

Henry was astonished that she could appear to work for Margot against him. ‘I only say what others tell me,’ he said.

‘Who are these others?’ she asked. ‘People who wish to set you and your family by the ears!’

That was said while there were attendants present; when Catherine was alone with her son, she had more to say on the subject.

‘It is not your sister’s morals that worry you. It is that swaggering lover of hers. He goads Alençon and feeds your brother’s ambition. It would be wiser to dismiss Bussy from court than your sister.’

‘I will do it. He shall go.’

Catherine caught his arm and brought her face closer to his. ‘Use my sublety, my son. There are more ways of banishment than one. It would be easy for an assassin to pick Bussy out from a group. You know that because of a recent wound he wears his arm in a sling, and the sling is of beautiful silk, the colour of the columbine flower. That sling would make of him an easy target.’

‘You are right,’ said the King. ‘When there is a question of removing a nuisance, you always have the right ideas.’

‘Always remember that I work for you, my darling.’

She thought: once I have rid myself of that odious du Guast he will be all mine once more.

Catherine waited for news. What would follow the death of Bussy? It must be the death of du Guast, for all would believe that man to be behind the assassination, and Bussy had too many friends to allow his murderer to escape. No one would guess that the Queen Mother had anything to do with the affair, and she would enjoy comforting her beloved son when he mourned the death of his favourite.

But matters did not go quite according to her plan.

That night du Guast sent three hundred men of his Sardinian regiment to wait along the route which Bussy must take from his lodgings to the palace; these men were divided into groups so that it would be impossible for Bussy to escape detection by some of them. Bussy was with a few friends when a group of the soldiers attacked him; but Bussy was one of the finest swordsmen in Paris, and even through his arm was in a sling, he gave a good account of himself and left many of the soldiers dead. The scene was lighted only by flambeaux and, as one of Bussy’s followers had also hurt his arm and was wearing a sling of the same columbine shade, though not so elaborately embroidered as his master’s, it was an easy matter for the soldiers to mistake the one for the other; and when Bussy’s man had been run through and lay dead on the cobbles, they thought their work was done, and retired.

Meanwhile the Louvre had been aroused by the return of one of Bussy’s men who had escaped at the beginning of the battle. Alençon was furious, and was preparing to go to the support of Bussy, when Bussy himself, wounded but by no means fatally, came running into the palace.

Margot was there with Catherine and her brother, and, impetuously, before them all, Margot embraced her lover.

‘It was nothing,’ said Bussy. ‘Little more than a joust. They have killed some of us, but we have pinked twice as many.’

This affair brought matters into the open. The King ordered the arrest of Bussy, and Alençon himself was put under closer restraint.

Catherine now began to play her game very carefully. She offered sympathy and advice to Alençon. ‘The King is ruled by his favourite,’ she said, ‘and it is this favourite who is responsible for the trouble. You can guess that he is no more my friend than yours, for while he seeks to plague you, he leads the King away from me.’

It seemed reasonable to Alençon and Margot that their mother might wish to help them, as she must hate du Guast as much as they did.

To the King, Catherine said: ‘It was unfortunate that Monsieur du Guast’s men were not more careful. But at least you have Bussy and your brother under control. It would be better to banish Bussy. I will persuade Alençon to let him go, so that there shall be no more trouble between you and your brother.’

She conveyed this to Alençon and he, guessing that if his friend remained in Paris some means of murdering him would be found. agreed to Bussy’s temporary banishment, although the loss of such a friend weakened his position considerably. As for Margot, she was furious to be robbed of her lover, and she blamed du Guast; she was determined that he should suffer for what he had done to her.

Catherine offered sympathy to Margot as well as to Alençon.

‘Bussy is a fine man,’ she said. ‘A most amusing gentleman. He is the best swordsman in Paris.’ To Alençon she said: ‘He would have been a good friend to you, my son, if you could have kept him with you. You know whom you have to blame for his banishment.’

‘Du Guast!’ said Alençon and Margot simultaneously.

He grows too important,’ said Catherine. ‘He has cast a spell over the King. There will be no releasing His Majesty from the spell while that man lives.’

‘It would be well,’ said Margot, ‘if someone shot him as tried to shoot poor Bussy.’

‘Yes,’ agreed Catherine. ‘But such affrays often fail. Remember Monsieur de Coligny. And there is this affair of Bussy him_ self. There are better methods. Let us hope that one day this man will be strangled in his bed. There would be no mistake then. An assassin . . . secreted in his bedchamber, and while he sleeps . . . Why, it would not be known who had done the deed, and that is important when a man is such a favourite of a King.’

Margot and Alençon were silent. They both understood. Catherine wanted du Guast out of the way, but, in view of the King’s devotion to the man and Catherine’s desire not to offend her beloved, she wished it to seem that she had had no hand in this murder.

‘It would assuredly be a pleasure to hear that he had been strangled in his bed,’ said Margot.

Catherine left them together, to talk over, as she thought, this idea she had given them. She did not know that her son and daughter were busy with another plan.

Alençon was not going to endure being kept in semi-captivity. He was impatient. Margot called in Navarre, and the three of them talked together.

‘It is very necessary,’ said Margot, ‘that you two sink your differences. Madame de Sauves is very beautiful, I grant you; but she is far more fond of Messieurs de Guise and du Guast than of either of you. Moreover, do you not see that du Guast has become her intimate so that he can discover all that he wishes to know about you? You are fools, both of you. You let that woman lead you by the nose.’

‘Love, I fancy, has led you by the nose more than once,’ retorted Navarre.

‘In my youthful folly that may have been so. But I grow up, Monsieur. I profit from experience. But . . . to this matter which is of such great importance: you must bestir yourselves. You must escape. While you stay here the King will continue to insult you both; he will kill your men, as he nearly killed Bussy. This is my plan: you, my brother, are not kept in such restraint that you cannot visit your mistress; so we will use that woman as she has been using you. You will go to visit her in your coach. When you arrive at her house she will be engaged with my husband, and’—Margot shot a glance at Navarre—’she will not have time to tell anybody that she is spending the evening with him. He will detain her while you, my brother, make your way to the back of the house, where horses will be waiting with a few of your trusted friends. It will be simple if only you two will do your best to make it so.’

Navarre gave her a heavy slap on the back. ‘What a wise woman I have married!’ he said. ‘I admire in particular the way in which she arranges my assignation with your mistress, Alençon.’

Alençon scowled at his rival in love; but they both realized the wisdom of Margot’s plan and determined to carry it out.


* * *

When he heard of his brother’s escape, the King flew into a passion of rage, and the first person he sent for was his sister.

‘Do not think you shall thus flout me!’ he cried. ‘Where is Alençon?’

‘I do not know, Sire,’ answered Margot calmly.

‘You shall tell me. I will have you whipped. Do not think that I will endure your insolence. When did you last see him?’

‘I have not seen him this day.’

‘After him!’ cried the King to his men. ‘Bring him back. By God, teach him what it means to flout me.’

Catherine was beside him. ‘Calm yourself, my dear. You can do no good by flying into such rages. He shall be found, never fear.’

My sister shall tell me what she knows. She has aided him in this. They have been great friends . . . more than friends, if I can believe reports . . . and I do believe reports. There is nothing too immoral for those two to indulge in.’

‘Now, my son! There are always evil reports about us. I recollect similar reports about you and your sister. Do you remember the time when you and she were so fond of each other?’