When Leighton took leave of the King at the end of May Charles was sinking, and Alençon was in daily fear of poison and the Bastille from the Guises and their friends. Charles IX. finally expired on the 30th of May, and almost before the breath was out of his body his mother, without any authority other than an alleged dying order of the King, seized the regency, placed Navarre and Alençon under strict guard in rooms with grated windows, “where none dared speak with them.” To all of Dale’s remonstrances she gave smooth answers, and “took Alençon about with her as a show, “but she never relaxed her hold upon him and Navarre for one moment. When her son himself asked why she was keeping him prisoner, she told him she must hold him fast until his brother Henry came from Poland. She was no doubt right in doing so, for the Huguenots were suspiciously busy, and Catharine almost came to words with Leighton about the plots of some of his suite. During the interview she had with him she pointed out how she had always desired to be friendly with his mistress, and had offered her the hand of each one of her sons in turn. Alençon entered the room at the moment, and his mother turned to Leighton and said, “Here is another one whom I would willingly give to her.” The Duke, who had been taught his lesson, protested his fidelity to the new King, his brother, and when he took leave Leighton whispered some words in the Duke’s ear which Catharine was curious to learn, and asked her son what Leighton had said. “He told me,” replied Alençon, “that Queen Elizabeth had nothing that was not at my service.”[91] Lord North was sent by Elizabeth to congratulate the new King, and was present at a grand ball in his honour at Lyons. He sat next to the Queen-mother, and watched Alençon and his frail and beautiful sister Margaret dancing together. North’s eyes were all for the lovely Queen of Navarre, but Catharine directed his attention to her brother. “'He is not so ugly nor so ill-favoured as they say, do you think so?’ she asked. North of course agreed with her, when she replied, 'It is from no fault on our part that the marriage with your mistress has not taken place.’”[92] When Lord North took leave of Alençon in November the prince was careful not to mention love matters, but only spoke of “service” and “duty,” but, says Dale, he wrung him by the arm, the old token between them, as one that would say “_et cupio et timeo_.”[93] North, however, went home with the fixed idea that Catharine was making fun of his mistress. He thought her praises of Elizabeth’s beauty were suspiciously overdone, and told his Queen so. She of course was furious; and when La Mothe Fénélon, instructed by the Queen-mother, once more advanced the marriage negotiations, he found the Queen on her dignity, and advised Catharine to discontinue the matter for the present. [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER VIII.