that, unless steps were taken that very night to prevent it, the
King and herself were in danger of being assassinated. She,
therefore, came to the resolution of declaring to King Charles
his real situation. For this purpose she thought of the Maréchal
de Rais as the most proper person to break the matter to the
King, the Marshal being greatly in his favour and confidence.

Accordingly, the Marshal went to the King in his closet, between
the hours of nine and ten, and told him he was come as a faithful
servant to discharge his duty, and lay before him the danger in
which he stood, if he persisted in his resolution of punishing
M. de Guise, as he ought now to be informed that the attempt
made upon the Admiral's life was not set on foot by him alone,
but that his (the King's) brother the King of Poland, and the
Queen his mother, had their shares in it; that he must be sensible
how much the Queen lamented Charri's assassination, for which
she had great reason, having very few servants about her upon
whom she could rely, and as it happened during the King's
minority,--at the time, moreover, when France was divided between
the Catholics and the Huguenots, M. de Guise being at the head
of the former, and the Prince de Condé of the latter, both alike
striving to deprive him of his crown; that through Providence,
both his crown and kingdom had been preserved by the prudence
and good conduct of the Queen Regent, who in this extremity found
herself powerfully aided by the said Charri, for which reason
she had vowed to avenge his death; that, as to the Admiral, he
must be ever considered as dangerous to the State, and whatever
show he might make of affection for his Majesty's person, and
zeal for his service in Flanders, they must be considered as mere
pretences, which he used to cover his real design of reducing