"
Anon came the Duke of Vendome, his natural son by the Marquise de
Verneuil, with a like warning and a like entreaty, only to
receive a like answer.
Being dull and indisposed as a consequence of last night's broken
rest, Henry lay down after dinner. But finding sleep denied him,
he rose, pensive and gloomy, and wandered aimlessly down, and out
into the courtyard. There an exempt of the guard, of whom he
casually asked the time, observing the King's pallor and
listlessness, took the liberty of suggesting that his Majesty
might benefit if he took the air.
That chance remark decided Henry's fate. His eyes quickened
responsively. "You advise well," said he. "Order my coach. I will
go to the Arsenal to see the Duc de Sully, who is indisposed."
On the stones beyond the gates, where lackeys were wont to await
their masters, sat a lean fellow of some thirty years of age, in
a dingy, clerkly attire, so repulsively evil of countenance that
he had once been arrested on no better grounds than because it
was deemed impossible that a man with such a face could be other
than a villain.
Whilst the coach was being got ready, Henry re-entered the
Louvre, and startled the Queen by announcing his intention.
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