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Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois, the — Volume 1 [Court memoir series] by King of France consort of Henry IV Queen Marguerite
page 45 of 83 (54%)
As soon as I beheld it was broad day, I apprehended all the danger my
sister had spoken of was over; and being inclined to sleep, I bade my
nurse make the door fast, and I applied myself to take some repose. In
about an hour I was awakened by a violent noise at the door, made with
both hands and feet, and a voice calling out, "Navarre! Navarre!" My
nurse, supposing the King my husband to be at the door, hastened to open
it, when a gentleman, named M. de Teian, ran in, and threw himself
immediately upon my bed. He had received a wound in his arm from a
sword, and another by a pike, and was then pursued by four archers, who
followed him into the bedchamber. Perceiving these last, I jumped out of
bed, and the poor gentleman after me, holding me fast by the waist. I
did not then know him; neither was I sure that he came to do me no harm,
or whether the archers were in pursuit of him or me. In this situation I
screamed aloud, and he cried out likewise, for our fright was mutual. At
length, by God's providence, M. de Nangay, captain of the guard, came
into the bed-chamber, and, seeing me thus surrounded, though he could not
help pitying me, he was scarcely able to refrain from laughter. However,
he reprimanded the archers very severely for their indiscretion, and
drove them out of the chamber. At my request he granted the poor
gentleman his life, and I had him put to bed in my closet, caused his
wounds to be dressed, and did not suffer him to quit my apartment until
he was perfectly cured. I changed my shift, because it was stained with
the blood of this man, and, whilst I was doing so, De Nangay gave me an
account of the transactions of the foregoing night, assuring me that the
King my husband was safe, and actually at that moment in the King's
bedchamber. He made me muffle myself up in a cloak, and conducted me to
the apartment of my sister, Madame de Lorraine, whither I arrived more
than half dead. As we passed through the antechamber, all the doors of
which were wide open, a gentleman of the name of Bourse, pursued by
archers, was run through the body with a pike, and fell dead at my feet.
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