once proceeded to the apartment of her husband, where she complained
with emphatic bitterness of the insolence of his favourite; and she had
scarcely begun to acquaint him with the details of the affair when Dupin
entered unannounced, and in the most intemperate manner commented on her
breach of good faith in having wilfully abused the forbearance of the
sovereign and his Protestant subjects.

It was not without some difficulty that Henry succeeded in arresting
this indecent flow of words, when, rebuking Dupin for his want of
discretion and self-control, he commanded him immediately to crave the
pardon of the Queen for his ill-advised interference and the want of
deference of which he had been guilty towards her royal person; but
Marguerite refused to listen to any apology, and haughtily and
resolutely demanded the instant dismissal of the delinquent. In vain did
Henry expostulate, declaring that he could not dispense with the
services of so old and devoted a servant; the Princess was inexorable,
and the over-zealous secretary received orders to leave the Court.
Marguerite, however, purchased this triumph dearly, as the King resented
with a bitterness unusual to him the exhibition of authority in which
she had indulged; and when she subsequently urged him to punish those
who had acted under the orders of the exiled secretary, he boldly and
positively refused to give her any further satisfaction, alleging that
her want of consideration towards himself left him at equal liberty to
disregard her own wishes.

Angry and irritated, Marguerite lost no time in acquainting her family
with the affront which she had experienced; and Catherine de Medicis,
who believed that she had now found a pretext sufficiently plausible to
separate the young Queen from her husband, skilfully envenomed the
already rankling wound, not only by awakening the religious scruples of