The panels of
Catherine's boudoir, a room of which we are about to speak, is the
last remaining relic of the rich decorations accumulated by five
artistic kings. Making our way through the labyrinth of chambers,
halls, stairways, towers, we may say to ourselves with solemn
certitude: "Here Mary Stuart cajoled her husband on behalf of the
Guises." "There, the Guises insulted Catherine." "Later, at that very
spot the second Balafre fell beneath the daggers of the avengers of
the Crown." "A century earlier, from this very window, Louis XII. made
signs to his friend Cardinal d'Amboise to come to him." "Here, on this
balcony, d'Epernon, the accomplice of Ravaillac, met Marie de' Medici,
who knew, it was said, of the proposed regicide, and allowed it to be
committed."
In the chapel, where the marriage of Henri IV. and Marguerite de
Valois took place, the sole remaining fragment of the chateau of the
counts of Blois, a regiment now makes it shoes. This wonderful
structure, in which so many styles may still be seen, so many great
deeds have been performed, is in a state of dilapidation which
disgraces France.
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