kneeling down, harangued the queen. The chancellor then knelt down
and answered. The queen made her entry at half-past three o'clock in
an open litter, having Madame Marguerite de France sitting
opposite to her, and on either side of the litter the Cardinals of
Amboise, Chatillon, Boulogne, and de Lenoncourt in their episcopal
robes. She left her litter at the church of Notre-Dame, where she
was received by the clergy. After offering her prayer, she was
conducted by the rue de la Calandre to the palace, where the royal
supper was served in the great hall. She there appeared, seated at
the middle of the marble table, beneath a velvet dais strewn with
golden fleur-de-lis."

We may here put an end to one of those popular beliefs which are
repeated in many writers from Sauval down. It has been said that Henri
II. pushed his neglect of the proprieties so far as to put the
initials of his mistress on the buildings which Catherine advised him
to continue or to begin with so much magnificence. But the double
monogram which can be seen at the Louvre offers a daily denial to
those who are so little clear-sighted as to believe in silly nonsense
which gratuitously insults our kings and queens. The H or Henri and
the two C's of Catherine which back it, appear to represent the two
D's of Diane. The coincidence may have pleased Henri II., but it is
none the less true that the royal monogram contained officially the
initial of the king and that of the queen. This is so true that the
monogram can still be seen on the column of the Halle au Ble, which
was built by Catherine alone. It can also be seen in the crypt of
Saint-Denis, on the tomb which Catherine erected for herself in her
lifetime beside that of Henri II., where her figure is modelled from
nature by the sculptor to whom she sat for it.