A conversation which now took place
between Catherine and certain of her friends will explain the object
of this council, held by the Guises in the open air, in the hanging
gardens, at break of day, as if they feared to speak within the walls
of the chateau de Blois.
The queen-mother, under pretence of examining the observatory then in
process of construction, walked in that direction accompanied by the
two Gondis, glancing with a suspicious and inquisitive eye at the
group of enemies who were still standing at the farther end of the
terrace, and from whom Chiverni now detached himself to join the
queen-mother. She was then at the corner of the terrace which looks
down upon the Church of Saint-Nicholas; there, at least, there could
be no danger of the slightest overhearing. The wall of the terrace is
on a level with the towers of the church, and the Guises invariably
held their council at the farther corner of the same terrace at the
base of the great unfinished keep or dungeon,--going and returning
between the Perchoir des Bretons and the gallery by the bridge which
joined them to the gardens.
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