IV. offering his good offices, now that the king had returned to the
bosom of the Church.

This individual, whose name was Nunez, was admitted by De Bethune
(afterwards the famous Due de Sully) to the presence of the king,
but De Bethune, believing it probable that the Spaniard had been sent to
assassinate Henry, held both the hands of the emissary during the whole
interview, besides subjecting him to a strict personal visitation
beforehand. Nunez stated that he was authorized to propose to his
Majesty a marriage with the Infanta Clara Isabella, and Henry, much to
the discontent of De Bethune, listened eagerly to the suggestion, and
promised to send a secret agent to Spain to confer on the subject with
Mendoza.

The choice he made of La Varenne, whose real name was Guillaume Fouquet,
for this mission was still more offensive to De Bethune. Fouquet had
originally been a cook in the service of Madame Catherine, and was famous
for his talent for larding poultry, but he had subsequently entered the
household of Henry, where he had been employed in the most degrading
service which one man can render to another.

["La Varenne," said Madame Catherine on one occasion "tu as plus
gagne ti porter les poulets de men frere, qu'a piquer les miens."
Memoires de Sully, Liv. vi. p. 296, note 6. He accumulated a large
fortune in these dignified pursuits--having, according to Winwood,
landed estates to the annual amount of sixty thousand francs a-year
--and gave large dowries to his daughters, whom he married into
noblest families; "which is the more remarkable," adds Winwood,
"considering the services wherein he is employed about the king,
which is to be the Mezzano for his loves; the place from whence he