The eyes of M. de Monsoreau wandered anxiously again. “What!” cried he, seeing a vacant place by the king, “not the Duc d’Anjou?” “Taint! Taint! the beast is found.” “He is gone to-day.” “He is gone to-day, but it is possible that he set out last night. When did your brother disappear, Henri?” “Last night.” “The duke gone!” murmured Monsoreau, paler than ever. “I do not say he is gone, I say only that he disappeared last night, and that his best friends do not know where he is,” said the king. “Oh!” cried the count, “if I thought so----” “Well; what should you do? Besides, what harm if he does talk nonsense to Madame de Monsoreau? He is the gallant of the family, you know.” “I am lost!” murmured the count, trying to go away. But Chicot detained him. “Keep still; mordieu! you shake the king’s chair. Mort de ma vie, your wife will be quite happy with the prince to talk to, and M. Aurilly to play the lute to her.” Monsoreau trembled with anger. “Quietly, monsieur,” continued Chicot; “hide your joy, here is the business beginning; you should not show your feelings so openly; listen to the discourse of the king.” M. de Monsoreau was forced to keep quiet. M. de Guise entered and knelt before the king, not without throwing an uneasy glance of surprise on the vacant seat of M. d’Anjou. The king rose, and the heralds commanded silence. CHAPTER XLIX. HOW THE KING ANNEXED A CHIEF WHO WAS NEITHER THE DUC DE GUISE NOR M. D’ANJOU. “Gentlemen,” said the king, after assuring himself that his four friends, now replaced by ten Swiss, were behind him, “a king hears equally the voices which come to him from above and from below, that is to say, what is commanded by God, or asked by his people. I understand perfectly that there is a guarantee for my people, in the association of all classes which has been formed to defend the Catholic faith, and therefore I approve of the counsels of my cousin De Guise. I declare, then, the Holy League duly constituted, and as so great a body must have a powerful head, and as it is necessary that the chief called to sustain the Church should be one of its most zealous sons, I choose a Christian prince for the chief, and declare that this chief shall be”--he made a slight pause--“Henri de Valois, King of France and Poland.” The Duc de Guise was thunderstruck. Large drops stood on his forehead, and he looked from one to the other of his brothers. All the leaguers uttered a murmur of surprise and discontent. The cardinal stole up to his brother, and whispered: “François; I fear we are no longer in safety here. Let us haste to take leave, for the populace is uncertain, and the king whom they execrated yesterday, will be their idol for two or three days.” During this time the king had signed the act prepared beforehand by M. de Morvilliers, the only person, with the exception of the queen mother, who was in the secret, then he passed the pen to the Duc de Guise, saying: