At the time he said this he had with him the Sieur de Cossé,
captain of the guard, and a number of Scottish archers. The Queen
my mother, fearing, from the King's haste and trepidation, that
some mischief might happen to my brother, begged to go with him.
Accordingly, undressed as she was, wrapping herself up in a
night-gown, she followed the King to my brother's bedchamber.
The King knocked at the door with great violence, ordering it to
be immediately opened, for that he was there himself. My brother
started up in his bed, awakened by the noise, and, knowing that
he had done nothing that he need fear, ordered Cangé, his _valet
de chambre_, to open the door. The King entered in a great rage,
and asked him when he would have done plotting against him. "But
I will show you," said he, "what it is to plot against your
sovereign." Hereupon he ordered the archers to take away all
the trunks, and turn the _valets de chambre_ out of the room. He
searched my brother's bed himself, to see if he could find any
papers concealed in it. My brother had that evening received a
letter from Madame de Sauves, which he kept in his hand, unwilling
that it should be seen. The King endeavoured to force it from him.
He refused to part with it, and earnestly entreated the King
would not insist upon seeing it. This only excited the King's
anxiety the more to have it in his possession, as he now supposed
it to be the key to the whole plot, and the very document which
would at once bring conviction home to him. At length, the King
having got it into his hands, he opened it in the presence of
the Queen my mother, and they were both as much confounded, when
they read the contents, as Cato was when he obtained a letter
from Cæsar, in the Senate, which the latter was unwilling to
give up; and which Cato, supposing it to contain a conspiracy