“She heard that the Constable de Bourbon had been summoned to Fontainebleau by the king, and insisted upon coming hither,” replied Mathieu Bernard. “All my efforts to dissuade her grace were vain.” “She will scarce get back again,” replied Agrippa. Making a profound obeisance to Claude, Bourbon knelt reverentially to his mother-in-law, and kissed her withered hand. The old duchess immediately raised him, and embraced him tenderly. “Your looks bespeak trouble, my son,” she said, regarding him anxiously. “Tell me what has happened?” Bourbon relieved his bursting heart by a full description of his interview with the Duchess d'Angoulême, and the quarrel that had ensued between him and the king. Both Claude and the old duchess listened to his narration with profound interest. At its close, the queen said: “I sympathise with you deeply, prince, but do not let the injuries you have received make you swerve from your loyalty to the king.” “Justice must and shall be done you, Charles,” cried the Dame de Beaujeu. “I will go to the Duchess d'Angoulême at once. Your arm, Charles--give me your arm.” “You are not equal to the effort, madame,” said the Constable. “If it costs me my life, I will see her,” cried the resolute old duchess. And she took a few steps, but her strength then utterly failed her, and she would have fallen but for the Constable's support. Her physician and Cornelius Agrippa, who had been anxiously watching her, flew to her assistance. “Oh! that; I had but one hour left of my former strength! I should die content,” she groaned. “Drink of this, madame,” said Cornelius Agrippa, offering her a phial. “It is a sovereign elixir, and will restore you.” But she had not strength to take the phial, and was evidently sinking. Bourbon, however, placed the elixir to her lips, and made her swallow a few drops. The effect was instantaneous and almost magical. New strength seemed imparted to her limbs, the hue of health returned to her cadaverous cheeks, and she was able to stand without support. “You have given me new life,” she said to Agrippa. “Waste not a moment of it, madame,” he replied. “It may not be of long duration.” Just then, the great folding-doors at the end of the hall were thrown open, and the king, accompanied by the Duchess d'Angoulême and Bonnivet, entered the salon. Behind them came a crowd of courtiers, amongst whom were Montmorency, Saint-Vallier, and René de Bretagne. “I have my wish. She is here!” cried the old duchess. On the entrance of the king, Claude advanced to meet him, and the Dame de Beaujeu followed closely behind her, marching with the firmness and majesty of former years. As he beheld her move along in this way, Mathieu Bernard observed to Agrippa: “You have performed a miracle.” “I have but restored the vital energies for a moment,” replied the other. “It is the last flash of the expiring taper.”