"Very indistinctly, Sire." "According to that horoscope, Madame, it is written in the stars that I shall die in a duel! Surely, that would be a rare and novel experience for a king. But a duel, in my humble opinion, is not the image of Mars, but the god himself." "What is your conclusion from that, Sire?" "Why, this, Madame: that since all these prophecies are contradictory and inconsistent, the surest way is to have no faith in any of them. The deceitful things give one another the lie, you can see yourself." "So your Majesty will persist in leaving the Louvre during the next few days?" "Under any other circumstances I should be most happy, Madame, to gratify you by remaining with you; but I have promised and publicly announced that I would be present at these festivities; so I must attend them." "At all events, Sire, you will not enter the lists, will you?" "There, again, my pledged word requires me, to my great regret, to refuse you, Madame. But what possible danger can there be for me in these sports? I am grateful to you from the bottom of my heart for your solicitude; yet let me assure you that your fears are altogether imaginary, and that to yield to them would be to imply a false belief that danger could possibly attend this courtly, good-natured jousting, which I by no means propose to have done away with on my account." "Sire," rejoined Catherine, "I am accustomed to give way to your will, and to-day again I resign myself, but with grief and alarm at my heart." "You will come to the Tournelles, Madame, will you not?" said the king, kissing Catherine's hand,--"were it for no other object than to applaud my prowess with the lance and convince yourself of the absurdity of your fears." "I will obey you to the end," replied the queen, as she withdrew. Along with all the court, except Diane de Castro, Catherine was present at the first day's tilting, where throughout the day the king crossed lances with all comers. "Well, Madame, the stars seem to have been mistaken," he said jokingly to the queen in the evening. Catherine sadly shook her head. "Alas!" said she, "the month of June is not yet at an end." The second day, the 29th, likewise passed off equally uneventfully. Henri did not leave the lists; and his good fortune was in proportion to his daring. "You see, Madame, that the stars proved deceptive as to this day also," he again observed to Catherine, when they returned to the Louvre. "Ah, Sire, now I only dread the third day!" cried the queen. The last day of the tournament, June 30, was Friday, and was intended to be the most brilliant and splendid of the three, and to bring the festivities to a fitting close. The four challengers were-- The king, who wore a white and black favor,--the colors of Madame de Poitiers; The Duc de Guise, who wore white and pink; Alphonse d'Este, Duc de Ferrare, who wore yellow and red; and Jacques de Savoie, Duc de Nemours, whose colors were black and yellow. Says Brantôme:--