text:  Margaret and the Duchess of Nevers had betaken themselves to their rendezvous in the Rue Tizon; Coconnas and La Mole had followed them; the Duke of Alencon remained in his apartment in vague and anxious expectation of the events which the queen-mother had predicted to him; finally Catharine herself had retired to rest and Madame de Sauve seated at her bedside was reading to her certain Italian tales at which the good queen laughed heartily