CHAPTER III.

70

Departure under an unlucky star—Essonne—Petit Bourg—The Czar Peter—Fontainebleau—Palace—Apartments of the Emperor Charles the Fifth—Chamber where Pius the Seventh said mass daily—Chapel founded in the seventh century—Cypher of the Saviour and Virgin placed beside those of Henry the Second and Diana of Poitiers—Princess Mary of Orleans—Napoleon’s apartments—Marie Antoinette’s boudoir—Carving by Louis the Sixteenth’s hand—Monaldeschi, favourite of Queen Christina—Gallery where he was murdered—Account of his murder by the Monk who confessed him, of his burial at dusk in the church of Avon—Window thrown open by Henry the Fourth, to announce Louis the Thirteenth’s birth—Gallery of Henry the Second, called Galerie des Réformés—Petition in which they took the name presented here by Coligny—Open chamber above the Donjon—Arch where Louis the Thirteenth was publicly baptized—Biron’s tower—His treason—His denial—His last interview with Henry the Fourth—Napoleon—The Forest—The Comte de Moret, last inhabitant of the Hermitage of Franchard—Fanny’s sagacity—Croix du Grand Veneur—The spectre hunt—Apparition and warning to Henry the Fourth, corroborated by Sully—Avon—Monaldeschi, Christina’s fickle lover—The old church—The fat porter—The grave beneath the Bénitier—The Englishmen’s sacrilege—Monaldeschi their relative—Precautions against travellers