"The king went more often to see her; he added to his habits that of holding court at her apartments for about an hour every day after supper in the midst of the lords and ladies." It is not to be discovered anywhere in the contemporary Memoires, whether Catherine had anything to do with the resolution taken by Henry II.

on returning from Compiegne; but she thenceforward assumed her place, and gave a foretaste of the part she was to play in the government of France.

Unhappily for the honor of Catherine and for the welfare of France, that part soon ceased to be judicious, dignified, and salutary, as it had been on that day of its first exhibition.
On entering Paris again the king at once sent orders to the Duke of Guise to return in haste from Italy with all the troops he could bring.

Every eye and every hope were fixed upon the able and heroic defender of Metz, who had forced Charles V.to retreat before him.

A general appeal was at the same time addressed to "all soldiers, gentlemen and others, who had borne or were capable of bearing arms, to muster at Laon under the Duke of Nevers, in order to be employed for the service of the king and for the tuition [protection] of their country, their families, and their property." Guise arrived on the 20th of October, 1557, at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, where the court happened to be just then: every mark of favor was lavished upon him; all the resources of the state were put at his disposal; there was even some talk of appointing him viceroy; but Henry II.