"Sire," continued the latter, "a conspiracy against your Majesty has been discovered, and your life is no longer safe in this Château de Blois; you should depart hence immediately." "A conspiracy! Depart from Blois!" exclaimed the king. "Pray, what does all this mean?" "It means, Sire, that evil-minded men are conspiring against the life and the crown of your Majesty." "What!" said François, "can they have any ill-will against me, so young as I am, and only seated on the throne yesterday! against me, who have never injured a single soul,--that is to say, knowingly or wilfully! Who are these evil-minded men, Monsieur le Cardinal?" "Why, who should they be," rejoined Charles de Lorraine, "if not these cursed Huguenot heretics?" "Heretics again!" cried the king. "Are you sure, Monsieur, that you are not allowing yourself to be led astray by suspicions which have no foundation in fact?" "Alas!" said the cardinal, "there is, unhappily, no room for doubt now." The young king, whose delightful dreams were thus interrupted by this unpleasant reality, seemed greatly annoyed; Mary was much disturbed by his ill-humor, and the cardinal very anxious over the news he had brought. Le Balafré, alone calm and self-controlled, awaited the result of all this talk in an attitude of utter impassibility. "In God's name, what have I done to my people that they love me no longer!" continued François, bitterly. "I think I told your Majesty that it is only the Huguenots who are rebellious," said the Cardinal de Lorraine. "Well, they are Frenchmen!" rejoined the king. "In fact, Monsieur le Cardinal, I have intrusted all my power to your hands in the hope that you would cause it to be blessed, and yet I am continually encompassed by anxiety and complaints and discontent." "Oh, Sire, Sire!" exclaimed Mary Stuart, reproachfully. The Cardinal de Lorraine retorted dryly,-- "It would be hardly fair, Sire, to hold us responsible for ills which are due entirely to the troublous condition of the time." "Nevertheless, Monsieur," continued the youthful king, "I should like for once to know the real condition of affairs, and to be without you at my side for a while, so that I might ascertain whether the disaffection is directed against myself or you." "Oh, your Majesty!" cried Mary Stuart, in great alarm. François said no more, for he already reproached himself for having gone too far. The Duc de Guise did not manifest the least disturbance. Charles de Lorraine, after an embarrassing silence, replied, with the dignified and constrained air of a man unjustly offended,-- "Sire, since we are unfortunate enough to see that our efforts are misunderstood or not appreciated, and are therefore useless, it only remains for us, as your loyal subjects and devoted kinsmen, to give place to others more worthy or more fortunate--" The king, in his confusion, said nothing; and the cardinal continued, after a pause,--