"Cannot you be one? What did Charles VII. do? He listened to his mistress, monseigneur, and he reconquered his kingdom, invaded by the English as yours is now by the enemies of our religion. Your last /coup d'Etat/ showed you the course you have to follow. Exterminate heresy.""You blamed the Saint-Bartholomew," said Charles, "and now you--""That is over," she said; "besides, I agree with Madame Catherine that it was better to do it yourselves than let the Guises do it.""Charles VII. had only men to fight; I am face to face with ideas,"resumed the king. "We can kill men, but we can't kill words! The Emperor Charles V. gave up the attempt; his son Philip has spent his strength upon it; we shall all perish, we kings, in that struggle. On whom can I rely? To right, among the Catholics, I find the Guises, who are my enemies; to left, the Calvinists, who will never forgive me the death of my poor old Coligny, nor that bloody day in August; besides, they want to suppress the throne; and in front of me what have I?--my mother!""Arrest her; reign alone," said Marie in a low voice, whispering in his ear.
"I meant to do so yesterday; to-day I no longer intend it. You speak of it rather coolly.""Between the daughter of an apothecary and that of a doctor there is no great difference," replied Touchet, always ready to laugh at the false origin attributed to her.
The king frowned.
"Marie, don't take such liberties. Catherine de' Medici is my mother, and you ought to tremble lest--""What is it you fear?"
"Poison!" cried the king, beside himself.
"Poor child!" cried Marie, restraining her tears; for the sight of such strength united to such weakness touched her deeply. "Ah!" she continued, "you make me hate Madame Catherine, who has been so good to me; her kindness now seems perfidy. Why is she so kind to me, and bad to you? During my stay in Dauphine I heard many things about the beginning of your reign which you concealed from me; it seems to me that the queen, your mother, is the real cause of all your troubles.""In what way?" cried the king, deeply interested.
"Women whose souls and whose intentions are pure use virtue wherewith to rule the men they love; but women who do not seek good rule men through their evil instincts. Now, the queen made vices out of certain of your noblest qualities, and she taught you to believe that your worst inclinations were virtues. Was that the part of a mother? Be a tyrant like Louis XI.; inspire terror; imitate Philip II.; banish the Italians; drive out the Guises; confiscate the lands of the Calvinists. Out of this solitude you will rise a king; you will save the throne. The moment is propitious; your brother is in Poland.""We are two children at statecraft," said Charles, bitterly; "we know nothing except how to love. Alas! my treasure, yesterday I, too, thought all these things; I dreamed of accomplishing great deeds--bah!
my mother blew down my house of cards! From a distance we see great questions outlined like the summits of mountains, and it is easy to say: 'I'll make an end of Calvinism; I'll bring those Guises to task;I'll separate from the Court of Rome; I'll rely upon my people, upon the burghers--' ah! yes, from afar it all seems simple enough! but try to climb those mountains and the higher you go the more the difficulties appear. Calvinism, in itself, is the last thing the leaders of that party care for; and the Guises, those rabid Catholics, would be sorry indeed to see the Calvinists put down. Each side considers its own interests exclusively, and religious opinions are but a cloak for insatiable ambition. The party of Charles IX. is the feeblest of all. That of the king of Navarre, that of the king of Poland, that of the Duc d'Alencon, that of the Condes, that of the Guises, that of my mother, are all intriguing one against another, but they take no account of me, not even in my own council. My mother, in the midst of so many contending elements, is, nevertheless, the strongest among them; she has just proved to me the inanity of my plans. We are surrounded by rebellious subjects who defy the law. The axe of Louis XI. of which you speak, is lacking to us. Parliament would not condemn the Guises, nor the king of Navarre, nor the Condes, nor my brother. No! the courage to assassinate is needed; the throne will be forced to strike down those insolent men who suppress both law and justice; but where can we find the faithful arm? The council Iheld this morning has disgusted me with everything; treason everywhere; contending interests all about me. I am tired with the burden of my crown. I only want to die in peace."He dropped into a sort of gloomy somnolence.
"Disgusted with everything!" repeated Marie Touchet, sadly; but she did not disturb the black torpor of her lover.
Charles was the victim of a complete prostration of mind and body, produced by three things,--the exhaustion of all his faculties, aggravated by the disheartenment of realizing the extent of an evil;the recognized impossibility of surmounting his weakness; and the aspect of difficulties so great that genius itself would dread them.
The king's depression was in proportion to the courage and the loftiness of ideas to which he had risen during the last few months.
