There was an embarrassing silence when the usher had left the room. The king seemed undecided, Mary Stuart anxious, and the Duc de Guise very much displeased. The queen-mother alone affected an air of dignity and assurance. The Duc de Guise alone broke the silence with these words,-- "It seems to me that if Monsieur de Montgommery had desired to make his escape, nothing would have been easier during the last fortnight." Catherine had no time to reply, for Gabriel was led in at that moment. He was pale but composed. That morning very early four armed domestics had come to seek him at his house, to the great dismay of Aloyse. He had accompanied them without any attempt at resistance, and since then had awaited events without apparent anxiety. When Gabriel entered the apartment with a firm step and tranquil bearing, the young king changed color, whether from emotion at sight of him who had stricken his father to death, or from alarm at having for the first time to perform the functions of dispenser of justice of which his mother had spoken,--in very truth the most awe-inspiring duty which the Lord has imposed upon the kings of the earth. Consequently, it was with a scarcely audible voice that he said to Catherine, turning toward her,-- "Speak, Madame; it is for you to speak." Catherine de Médicis made haste to avail herself of this permission. She now believed herself to be certain of her omnipotence with François and his minister. She addressed Gabriel in a haughty, magisterial tone. "Monsieur," said she, "we have thought fit, before any other steps were taken, to cause you to appear before his Majesty in person, and to question you with our own lips, so that there may be no necessity of offering you any reparation if we find you innocent, and that justice may be the more prompt and effective if we find you guilty. Extraordinary crimes demand extraordinary tribunals. Are you ready to reply to our questions, Monsieur?" "I am ready to listen to you, Madame," was Gabriel's reply. Catherine was rather irritated than convinced by the calm demeanor of the man whom she had bitterly hated even before he had made her a widow,--whom she hated the more for all the love which for one moment she had felt for him. She continued with an offensive bitterness in her tone,-- "Several curious circumstances conspire to throw suspicion on you, Monsieur, and to accuse you,--your long absences from Paris, your voluntary exile from court for nearly two years, your presence and your mysterious demeanor at the fatal tournament, your very refusal to enter the lists against the king. How did it happen that you, who are accustomed to these sports and passages-at-arms, omitted the ordinary and necessary precaution of throwing away the shaft of your lance as you were riding back? How do you explain such strange forgetfulness? Answer! What have you to say to all this?" "Nothing, Madame," said Gabriel. "Nothing?" said the queen-mother, completely taken aback.