replied, "With the approbation of the queen my mother, I have chosen the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine, my uncles, to have the direction of the state; the former will take charge of the department of war, the latter the administration of finance and justice." Such had, in fact, been his choice, and it was no doubt with his mother's approbation that he had made it.

Equally attentive to observe the proprieties and to secure her own power, Catherine de' Medici, when going out to drive with her son and her daughter-in-law Mary Stuart, on the very day of Henry II.'s death, said to Mary, "Step in, madame; it is now your turn to go first." [Illustration: MARY STUART----270] During the first days of mourning she kept herself in a room entirely hung with black; and there was no light beyond two wax-candles burning on an altar covered with black cloth.

She had upon her head a black veil, which shrouded her entirely, and hid her face; and, when any one of the household went to speak to her, she replied in so agitated and so weak a tone of voice that it was impossible to catch her words, whatever attention might be paid to them.

But her presence of mind and her energy, so far as the government was concerned, were by no means affected by it; he who had been the principal personage at the court under Henry II., the Constable de Montmorency, perfectly understood, at his first interview with the queen-mother, that he was dismissed, and all he asked of her was, that he might go and enjoy his repose in freedom at his residence of Chantilly, begging her at the same time to take under her protection the heirs of his house.

Henry II.'s favorite, Diana de Poitiers, was dismissed more harshly.