Pimentello, the hated of Sully, had returned to Court, and the play was consequently "fast and furious." It was in the very height of this maddening excitement, when he was surrounded by piles of gold, and devotees as earnest as himself at the same shrine discreetly assembled in his private closet, that Henry, whose spirits were exalted by his hopes, and who was risking sum after sum with a recklessness which would have taken away the breath of his finance minister, received from M.
d'Elbene,[407] and subsequently from his lieutenant of police, the important and mortifying intelligence that his destined prey had escaped him.

The agitation which the King exhibited when convinced of the truth of this report exceeded any that he had hitherto evinced even upon the most important occasions, and hastily rising from the table, he murmured in the ear of Bassompierre who was seated next to him, "Ah! my friend, I am lost.

The man has taken his wife into the depths of a forest.

I know not if it be to escape with her from France, or to put her to death.
Take care of my money, and keep up the play until I have procured more certain and detailed information." [408] From his closet Henry proceeded to the last place on earth which might, under the circumstances, have been anticipated.

He went straight to the chamber of the Queen, where her Majesty was still unable to leave her bed, and there he gave full scope to the anguish under which he was labouring.