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+Project Gutenberg's The Pocket Bible or Christian the Printer, by Eugène Sue
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Pocket Bible or Christian the Printer
+       A Tale of the Sixteenth Century
+
+Author: Eugène Sue
+
+Translator: Daniel De Leon
+
+Release Date: January 25, 2011 [EBook #35067]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POCKET BIBLE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was
+produced from scanned images of public domain material
+from the Google Print project.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE POCKET BIBLE
+
+
+THE FULL SERIES OF
+
+The Mysteries of the People
+
+::OR::
+
+History of a Proletarian Family
+
+Across the Ages
+
+By EUGENE SUE
+
+_Consisting of the Following Works_:
+
+  THE GOLD SICKLE; or, _Hena the Virgin of the Isle of Sen_.
+  THE BRASS BELL; or, _The Chariot of Death_.
+  THE IRON COLLAR; or, _Faustina and Syomara_.
+  THE SILVER CROSS; or, _The Carpenter of Nazareth_.
+  THE CASQUE'S LARK; or, _Victoria, the Mother of the Camps_.
+  THE PONIARD'S HILT; or, _Karadeucq and Ronan_.
+  THE BRANDING NEEDLE; or, _The Monastery of Charolles_.
+  THE ABBATIAL CROSIER; or, _Bonaik and Septimine_.
+  THE CARLOVINGIAN COINS; or, _The Daughters of Charlemagne_.
+  THE IRON ARROW-HEAD; or, _The Buckler Maiden_.
+  THE INFANT'S SKULL; or, _The End of the World_.
+  THE PILGRIM'S SHELL; or, _Fergan the Quarryman_.
+  THE IRON PINCERS; or, _Mylio and Karvel_.
+  THE IRON TREVET; or, _Jocelyn the Champion_.
+  THE EXECUTIONER'S KNIFE; or, _Joan of Arc_.
+  THE POCKET BIBLE; or, _Christian the Printer_.
+  THE BLACKSMITH'S HAMMER; or, _The Peasant Code_.
+  THE SWORD OF HONOR; or, _The Foundation of the French Republic_.
+  THE GALLEY SLAVE'S RING; or, _The Family Lebrenn_.
+
+
+Published Uniform With This Volume By
+
+THE NEW YORK LABOR NEWS CO.
+
+28 CITY HALL PLACE NEW YORK CITY
+
+
+
+
+THE POCKET BIBLE
+OR
+CHRISTIAN THE PRINTER
+
+A Tale of the Sixteenth Century
+
+By EUGENE SUE
+
+In Two Volumes
+Vol. I.
+
+TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL FRENCH
+By DANIEL DE LEON
+NEW YORK LABOR NEWS COMPANY. 1910
+
+Copyright 1910, by the
+NEW YORK LABOR NEWS CO.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+Volume 1
+
+PART I. THE SOCIETY OF JESUS.
+
+INTRODUCTION                                1
+
+CHAPTER.
+
+    I. THE THEFT                            7
+
+   II. THE NEOPHYTE                        18
+
+  III. THE SALE OF INDULGENCES             33
+
+   IV. THE "TEST OF THE LUTHERANS"         53
+
+    V. MONSIEUR JOHN                       78
+
+   VI. THE FRANC-TAUPIN                    87
+
+  VII. BROTHER ST. ERNEST-MARTYR          112
+
+ VIII. IN THE GARRET                      128
+
+   IX. THE PENITENT                       133
+
+    X. LOYOLA AND HIS DISCIPLES           138
+
+   XI. MOTHER AND DAUGHTER                166
+
+  XII. HERVE'S DEMENTIA                   176
+
+ XIII. CALVINISTS IN COUNCIL              193
+
+  XIV. HENA'S DIARY                       231
+
+   XV. DIARY OF ST. ERNEST-MARTYR         244
+
+  XVI. THE TAVERN OF THE BLACK GRAPE      252
+
+ XVII. THE COTTAGE OF ROBERT ESTIENNE     266
+
+XVIII. FOR BETTER AND FOR WORSE           286
+
+  XIX. ON THE ROAD TO PARIS               304
+
+   XX. JANUARY 21, 1535                   323
+
+
+Volume 2
+
+PART II--THE HUGUENOTS.
+
+INTRODUCTION                                1
+
+CHAPTER
+
+    I. THE QUEEN'S "FLYING SQUADRON"        7
+
+   II. ANNA BELL                           32
+
+  III. THE AVENGERS OF ISRAEL              71
+
+   IV. GASPARD OF COLIGNY                  90
+
+    V. FAMILY FLOTSAM                     112
+
+   VI. THE BATTLE OF ROCHE-LA-BELLE       132
+
+  VII. "CONTRE-UN"                        163
+
+ VIII. ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S NIGHT            185
+
+   IX. THE SIEGE OF LA ROCHELLE           215
+
+    X. THE LAMBKINS' DANCE                233
+
+   XI. CAPTURE OF CORNELIA                254
+
+  XII. THE DUKE OF ANJOU                  264
+
+ XIII. THE BILL IS PAID                   273
+
+EPILOGUE                                  288
+
+
+
+
+
+TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
+
+
+The epoch covered by this, the 16th story of Eugene Sue's dramatic
+historic series, entitled _The Mysteries of the People; or, History of a
+Proletarian Family Across the Ages_, extends over the turbulent yet
+formative era known in history as the Religious Reformation.
+
+The social system that had been developing since the epoch initiated by
+the 8th story of the series, _The Abbatial Crosier; or, Bonaik and
+Septimine_, that is, the feudal system, and which is depicted in full
+bloom in the 14th story of the series, _The Iron Trevet; or, Jocelyn the
+Champion_, had been since suffering general collapse with the approach
+of the bourgeois, or capitalist system, which found its first open, or
+political, expression in the Reformation, and which was urged into life
+by Luther, Calvin and other leading adversaries of the Roman Catholic
+regime.
+
+The history of the Reformation, or rather, of the conflict between the
+clerical polity which symbolized the old and the clerical polity which
+symbolized the new social order, is compressed within the covers of this
+one story with the skill at once of the historian, the scientist, the
+philosopher and the novelist. The various springs from which human
+action flows, the various types which human crises produce, the virtues
+and the vices which great historic conflicts heat into activity--all
+these features of social motion, never jointly reproduced in works of
+history, are here drawn in vivid colors and present a historic canvas
+that is prime in the domain of literature.
+
+In view of the exceptional importance of some of the footnotes in which
+Sue refers the reader to the pages of original authorities in French
+cited by him, the pages of an accessible American edition are in those
+cases either substituted or added in this translation.
+
+DANIEL DE LEON.
+
+New York, February, 1910.
+
+
+
+
+PART I
+
+THE SOCIETY OF JESUS
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+What great changes, sons of Joel, have taken place in Paris since the
+time when our ancestor Eidiol the Parisian skipper lived in this city,
+in the Ninth Century, at the time of the Northman invasion! How many
+changes even since 1350, when our ancestor Jocelyn the Champion fell
+wounded beside Etienne Marcel, who was assassinated by John Maillart and
+the royalists!
+
+The population of this great city now, in the year 1534, runs up to
+about four hundred thousand souls; daily new houses rise in the suburbs
+and outside the city walls, whose boundaries have become too narrow,
+although they enclose from twelve to thirteen thousand houses. But now,
+the same as in the past, Paris remains divided into four towns, so to
+speak, by two thoroughfares that cross each other at right angles. St.
+Martin, prolonged by St. James Street, traverses the city from east to
+west; St. Honoré, prolonged by St. Antoine Street, traverses it from
+north to south. The Louvre is the quarter of the people of the court;
+the quarter of the Bastille, of the Arsenal, filled with arms, and of
+the Temple is that of the people whose profession is war; the quarter of
+the University is that of the men of letters; finally the quarter of
+Notre Dame and St. Germain, where lie the convents of the Cordeliers, of
+the Chartreux, of the Jacobins, of the Augustinians, of the Dominicans
+and of many other hives of monks and nuns besides the monasteries that
+are scattered throughout the city, is that of the men of the Church. The
+merchants, as a general thing, occupy the center of Paris towards St.
+Denis Street; the manufacturers are found in the eastern, the shabbiest
+of all the quarters, where, for one liard, workingmen can find lodging
+for the night. The larger number of the bourgeois houses as well as all
+the convents are now built of stone, and are no longer frame structures
+as they formerly were. These modern buildings, topped with slate or lead
+roofs and ornamented with sculptured facades, become every day more
+numerous.
+
+Likewise with crimes of all natures; their increase is beyond measure.
+With nightfall, murderers and bandits take possession of the streets.
+Their numbers rise to twenty-five or thirty thousand, all organized into
+bands--the _Guilleris_, the _Plumets_, the _Rougets_, the
+_Tire-Laines_,[1] the latter of whom rob bourgeois, who are inhibited
+from carrying arms. The _Tire-Soies_,[2] a more daring band, fall upon
+the noblemen, who are always armed. The _Barbets_ disguise themselves as
+artisans of several trades, or as monks of several Orders and introduce
+themselves into the houses for the purpose of stealing. Besides these
+there are the bands of _Mattes_ or _Fins-Mattois_, skilled cut-purses
+and pick-pockets; and finally the _Mauvais-Garçons_,[3] the most
+redoubtable of all, who publicly, for a price chaffered over and
+finally agreed upon, offer their daggers to whomsoever wishes to rid
+himself of an enemy.
+
+Nor is this the worst aspect presented by the crowded city. Paris runs
+over with lost women and courtesans of all degrees. Never yet did
+immorality, to which the royal court, the Church and the seigniory set
+so shocking a pace, cause such widespread ravages. A repulsive disease
+imported from America by the Spaniards since the conquests of
+Christopher Columbus poisons life at its very source.
+
+Finally, Paris presents a nameless mixture of fanaticism, debauchery and
+ferocity. Above the doors of houses of ill fame, images of male and
+female saints are seen in their niches, before which thieves, murderers
+and courtesans uncover and bend the knee as they hurry by, bent on their
+respective pursuits. The Tire-Laines, the Guilleris and other brigands
+burn candles at the altars of the Virgin or pay for masses for the
+success of their crimes in contemplation. Superstition spreads in even
+step with criminality. Pious physicians are cited who regularly take the
+weekly communion, and who, bought by impatient heirs, poison with their
+pharmaceutical concoctions the rich patients, whose decease is too slow
+in arriving. The most horrid felonies have lost their dreadfulness,
+especially since the papal indulgences, sold for cash, insure absolution
+and impunity to the criminals. The virtues of the hearth and all good
+morals seem to have fled to the bosom of those families only who have
+discarded the paganism of Rome and, although styled heretics, practice
+the simplicity of evangelical morality. One of these families is that
+of Christian the Printer, the great-grandchild of Jocelyn the
+Champion's son, who, due to the rapid progress made by the printing
+press, which rendered manuscript books useless and unnecessarily
+expensive, found it ever more difficult to earn his living at his trade
+of copyist and illuminator of manuscripts.
+
+Accordingly, after the death of his father, who was the son of Jocelyn
+the Champion and continued to live at Vaucouleurs after witnessing the
+martyrdom of Joan of Arc, Allan Lebrenn moved to Paris, induced thereto
+by John Saurin, a master-printer of this city who, having during a short
+sojourn at Vaucouleurs been struck by the young man's intelligence at
+his trade, promised to aid him in finding work in the large city. He
+accepted the offer and speedily succeeded in his new field. He married
+in 1465, died in 1474, and left a son, Melar Lebrenn, who was born in
+1466 and was the father of Christian the Printer.
+
+Melar Lebrenn followed his father's occupation, and worked long after
+his father's death in John Saurin's establishment, where his services
+were highly appreciated. But after John Saurin's death, Melar Lebrenn,
+who had in the meantime married and had three children, Christian and
+two daughters, was dismissed by Saurin's successor, a man named Noel
+Compaign. Compaign was a religious bigot. He was incensed at what he
+termed Melar Lebrenn's unbelief, hounded him with odious calumnies, and
+spoke of him to the other members of the guild as dishonest and
+otherwise unfit. Melar Lebrenn soon felt the effect of these calumnies;
+his trade went down; his savings were consumed; his family was
+breadless; he had nothing left to him but the legends and relics of his
+family, that were handed down from generation to generation.
+
+Under these circumstances Melar Lebrenn made one more and desperate
+effort to rise to his feet. He knew by reputation Henry Estienne, the
+most celebrated printer of the last century. Estienne's goodness of
+heart as well as his knowledge were matters of common repute. Melar
+Lebrenn decided to turn to him, but he found Estienne strongly
+prejudiced against him through the calumnies that Compaign had
+circulated. But Melar Lebrenn was not yet discouraged. He explained to
+Estienne circumstantially the reason of Compaign's hatred, and offered
+Estienne to serve him on trial. The offer was accepted, and Melar
+Lebrenn soon acquitted himself so well both as a typesetter and a reader
+of proof, that Master Henry Estienne, judging from the falseness of the
+accusations concerning Melar Lebrenn's skill at his trade, concluded he
+was equally wronged in his private character. From that time on,
+Estienne took a deep interest in Melar and was soon singularly attached
+to him, as much by reason of his skill, as for the probity of his
+character and the kindness of his heart.
+
+The two daughters of Melar Lebrenn were carried away by the pest that
+swept over Paris in 1512; his wife survived them only a short time; and
+Melar himself died in 1519. His only surviving child, Christian, married
+Bridget Ardouin, an embroiderer in gold and silver thread. Christian
+entered the printing establishment of Henry Estienne as an apprentice at
+his twelfth year. After the death of the venerated Henry Estienne,
+Christian remained under the employ of Robert Estienne, his father's
+heir in virtue and his superior in scientific acquirements. The editions
+that Robert Estienne issued of the old Greek, Hebrew or Latin authors
+are the admiration of the learned by the correctness of the text, the
+beauty of the type, and the perfection of the printing. Among other
+things he published a pocket edition of the New Testament, translated
+into French, a veritable masterpiece of typography. The bonds that
+united Master Robert Estienne and his workman Christian Lebrenn became
+of the closest.
+
+Three children were born of the marriage of Christian Lebrenn with
+Bridget Ardouin--a boy, born in 1516, and at the commencement of this
+history eighteen years of age; a girl in 1518, and a boy in 1520. The
+latter is named Odelin; he is an apprentice in the establishment of
+Master Raimbaud, one of the most celebrated armorers of Paris. The
+eldest son is named Hervé, in memory of his mother's father, and he
+follows his father Christian's profession of printer. The girl is named
+Hena in remembrance of the Virgin of the Isle of Sen.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE THEFT.
+
+
+It was one evening towards the middle of the month of August of 1534.
+Christian Lebrenn occupied a modest house situated at about the center
+of the Exchange Bridge. Almost all the other bridges thrown over the two
+arms of the Seine are, like this one, lined with houses and constitute a
+street under which the river flows. The kitchen, where the meals were
+taken, was on the first floor, even with the street; behind this room,
+the door and window of which opened upon the public thoroughfare, was a
+smaller one, used for bed chamber by Hervé, Christian's eldest son, and
+the younger brother Odelin, the apprentice at Master Raimbaud's. At the
+time, however, when this narrative opens, Odelin was absent from Paris,
+traveling in Italy with his master, who had gone to Milan in order to
+study the process by which the Milanese armors, as celebrated as those
+of Toledo, were manufactured. The upper floor of Christian's house
+consisted of two rooms. One of these he occupied himself with his wife
+Bridget; his daughter Hena occupied the other. Finally, a garret that
+served as storeroom for winter provisions, topped the house and had a
+window that opened upon the river.
+
+On this evening Christian was in an animated conversation with his wife.
+It was late. The children were both asleep. A lamp lighted the room of
+the husband and wife. Near the window, with its small lozenge-shaped
+panes fastened between ribs of lead, lay the embroideries at which
+Bridget and Hena had been at work. In the rear of this rather spacious
+chamber stood the conjugal bed, surmounted with its canopy and enclosed
+by its curtains of orange serge. A little further away was a little
+book-case containing in neat rows the volumes in the printing of which
+Christian and his father contributed at the printing establishment of
+Masters Henry and Robert Estienne. In the same case Christian kept under
+lock his family legends and relics, together with whatever else that he
+attached special value to. Above the case an old cross-bow and battle
+axe hung from the wall. It was always well to have some arms in the
+house in order to repel the attacks of bandits who had of late grown
+increasingly bold. Two flat leather covered coffers for clothes and a
+few stools completed the humble furnishings of the room. Christian
+seemed greatly troubled in mind. Bridget, looking no less concerned than
+her husband, dropped the work that she expected to finish by lamp-light,
+and stepped towards her husband. With his eyes fixed upon the ground,
+his elbows upon his knees and his head in his hands, the latter
+observed:
+
+"There can be no doubt. The person who stole the money, here, in this
+room, out of that case, and without breaking the lock, must be familiar
+with our house."
+
+"I can assure you, Christian, since yesterday when we discovered the
+theft, I have been in a continuous fever."
+
+"None but we and our children enter this room."
+
+"No, excepting our customers or their employees. But as I am well aware
+that the Barbets are bold and wily enough to put on the disguise of
+honest merchants, whenever occasion demands it, in order to gain access
+to a house and steal, and that they might play that trick upon me under
+the pretext of bringing an order for some embroidery, neither Hena nor I
+ever leave the room when a stranger is with us."
+
+"I am ransacking my mind for the intimate acquaintance who could have
+entered the room," the printer proceeded as if communing with himself
+with painful anxiety. "Occasionally, Lefevre spends an evening with us;
+I have come up into this room with him several times when he requested
+me to read some of our family legends to him."
+
+"But, my friend, it is a long time since we have seen Lefevre; you
+yourself were wondering the other day what may have become of him;
+moreover, it is out of all question to suspect your friend, a man of
+austere morals, always wrapt in science."
+
+"God prevent my suspecting him! I was only going over the extremely
+small number of persons who visit us familiarly."
+
+"Then there is my brother. The fellow is, true enough, a soldier of
+adventure; he has his faults, grave faults, but--"
+
+"Ah, Bridget, Josephin has for you and our children so tender a love, so
+touching--I hold him capable of doing almost anything in a hostile
+country, as is customary with people of his vocation; but he, who almost
+every day sits at our hearth--he, commit a theft in our house? Such a
+thought never crossed my mind--and never will!"
+
+"Oh, I thank you for these words! I thank you!"
+
+"And did you suppose that I suspected your brother? No! A thousand
+times, no!"
+
+"What shall I say? The vagabond life that he has led since his early
+youth--the habits of violence and rapine with which the 'Franc-Taupins,'
+the 'Pendards,' and the other soldiers of adventure who are my brother's
+habitual companions are so justly reproached, might have caused
+suspicion to rise in some prejudiced mind, and--but my
+God--Christian--what ails you, tell me what ails you?" cried Bridget,
+seeing her husband hide his face between his hands in utter despair, and
+then suddenly rise and pace the room, as if pursued by a thought from
+which he sought to flee. "My friend," insisted Bridget, "what sudden
+thought has struck and afflicts you? There are tears in your eyes. Your
+face is strangely distorted. Answer me, I pray you!"
+
+"I take heaven to witness," cried the artisan, raising his hands
+heavenward with a face that betrayed the tortures of his heart, "the
+loss of the twenty gold crowns, that we gathered so laboriously, is a
+serious matter to me; it was our daughter's dower; but that loss is as
+nothing beside--"
+
+"Beside what? Let me know!"
+
+"No. Oh, no! It is too horrible!"
+
+"Christian, what have you in mind?"
+
+"Leave me! Leave me!" but immediately regretting the involuntary
+rudeness, the artisan took Bridget's hands in his own, and said to her
+in a deeply moved voice: "Excuse me, poor, dear wife. You see, when I
+think of this affair I lose my head. When, at the printing shop, to-day,
+the horrible suspicion flashed through my mind, I feared it would drive
+me crazy! I struggled against it all I could--but a minute ago, as I was
+running over with you our intimate acquaintances who might be thought
+guilty of the theft, the frightful suspicion recurred to me. That is the
+reason of my distress."
+
+Christian threw himself down again upon his stool; again a shudder ran
+over his frame and he hid his face between his hands.
+
+"Tell me, my friend, what is the suspicion that assails you and that you
+so violently resist? Impart it to me, I pray you."
+
+After a painful struggle with himself that lasted several minutes, the
+artisan murmured in a faint voice as if every word burnt his lips:
+
+"Like myself, you noticed, recently--since about the time of Odelin's
+departure for Milan--you noticed, like myself, that a marked change has
+been coming over the nature and the habits of Hervé."
+
+"Our son!" cried Bridget stupefied; and she added: "Mercy! Would you
+suspect him of so infamous an act?"
+
+Christian remained steeped in a gloomy silence that Bridget, distracted
+with grief as she was, did not at first venture to disturb. Presently
+she proceeded:
+
+"Impossible! Hervé, whom we brought up in the same principles as his
+brother--Hervé, who never was away from us--"
+
+"Bridget, I told you, the suspicion is horrible; I have struggled
+against it with all my might," and the artisan's voice was smothered
+with sobs. "And yet, if after all it should be so! If our son is indeed
+the guilty one!"
+
+"My friend, your suspicion bereaves me of my senses. You love Hervé so
+dearly, and your judgment is always so sound, your mind so penetrating,
+that I can not conceive how so unjustifiable a thought could take
+possession of you. Our son is continuously at the printing shop, at your
+side, as Hena is at mine; better than anyone else should you know your
+son's heart." Bridget remained silent for a moment and then proceeded
+while scalding tears rolled down her cheeks: "Oh, I feel it, even if
+your suspicion is never justified, it will embitter the rest of my life!
+Oh, to think our son capable of stealing!"
+
+"And for that very reason there is no one else in the world but you, and
+you alone, to whom I confide the horrid suspicion. Oh, Bridget, it is
+more than a suspicion. Let us not exaggerate matters; let us not be
+unnecessarily cast down; let us calmly look into the affair; let us
+carefully refresh our memories; we may arrive--may God hear my words--at
+the conclusion that the suspicion is unfounded. As I was just saying, a
+great change has lately come over Hervé. You noticed the singular
+manifestations as well as I."
+
+"Yes, recently, he, who formerly was so cheerful, so open, so
+affectionate, has of late been cold and somber, dreamy and silent. He
+has grown pale and thin; he is quickly irritated. Shortly before the
+departure of our little Odelin, he often and without cause scolded the
+poor boy, for whom he always before had only kind words. And often since
+then, have I had occasion to reproach Hervé for his rudeness, I should
+almost say harshness towards his sister, whom he dearly loved. He now
+seems to avoid her company. At times I simply cannot understand his
+conduct towards her. Why, only yesterday, when you and he came home from
+the printing shop, after embracing you, as is her custom, Hena offered
+her forehead to her brother--but he rudely pushed her aside."
+
+"I did not notice that; but I did notice the growing indifference of
+Hervé towards his sister. What mystery can lie below that?"
+
+"And yet, my friend, we love all our children equally. Hervé might feel
+hurt if we showed any preference for Hena or Odelin. But we do not. We
+are equally kind to all the three."
+
+"Yes, indeed. We shall have to look elsewhere for the cause of the
+change that afflicts us. Can it be that, without our knowledge, he keeps
+bad company? There is one circumstance in this affair that has struck
+me. Paternal love does not blind me. I see great aptitudes in Hervé.
+Not to mention the gift of an easy flowing eloquence that is
+exceptional at his age, he has become an excellent Latinist. Owing to
+his aptitude in that direction he has more than once been chosen to
+gather precious manuscripts at the houses of some men of letters, who
+are the friends of Master Robert Estienne. Usually our son attended to
+such work with accuracy and despatch. Of late, however, his absence from
+the shop on such errands is often long, unnecessarily so and also
+frequent, and he does not attend properly to his errands, sometimes does
+not attend to them at all. Master Robert Estienne has complained to me
+in a friendly way, saying that Hervé should be watched, that he was
+drawing near his eighteenth year and might contract acquaintances that
+would be cause of trouble for us later."
+
+"On that very subject, my friend, only a few days ago I was reproaching
+Hervé for his estrangement from the friends of his boyhood, all of whom
+are good and honest lads. He flees their company and spurns their
+cordial advances. The only person with whom he seems to be intimate is
+Fra Girard, the Franciscan friar and son of our neighbor the mercer."
+
+"I would prefer some other company for our son, but not that I accuse
+Fra Girard of being, like so many other monks, an improper person to
+associate with. He is said to be of austere morals, but being older than
+Hervé, he has, I am afraid, gained considerable influence over him, and
+rendered him savagely intolerant. Several of the artisans at the shop of
+Master Estienne are, like he himself, partisans of the religious
+reform; some are openly so, despite the danger that their outspokenness
+entails, others more privately. More than once did our son raise his
+voice with excessive violence against the new ideas which he calls
+heresies. And yet he knows that you and I share them."
+
+"Alas! my friend, what woman, what mother would not share the reform
+ideas, seeing that they reject auricular confession? Did we not find
+ourselves compelled to stop our daughter from attending the confessional
+on account of the shameful questions that a priest dared to put to her
+and which, in the candor of her soul, she repeated to us? But to return
+to Hervé, even though, in some respects, I dislike his intimacy with Fra
+Girard and fear it may tend to render him intolerant, the influence of
+the monk, the austerity of whose morals is commented upon, must have had
+the effect of keeping far from our son's mind an act so ugly that we can
+not mention it without shedding tears of sorrow," added Bridget wiping
+her moist eyes; "Hervé's piety, my friend, becomes daily more fervent;
+as you know, the unhappy boy imposes upon himself, at the risk of
+impairing his health, ever longer fasts. Did I not discover from the
+traces of blood upon his shirt that on certain days he carries close to
+his skin a belt that is furnished within with sharp iron pricks? That is
+not the conduct of a hypocrite! He sought to conceal from all eyes the
+secret macerations that he inflicts upon himself in penitence. It was
+only accidentally that I discovered the fact. I deplore such fanaticism;
+but his fanaticism may also be a safeguard. The very exaggeration to
+which Hervé carries his religious principles must strengthen him
+against temptation. Heaven be blessed! You were right, Christian; by
+closely considering the circumstances, we can come at no other
+conclusion than that such suspicions are unfounded. Our son is innocent,
+do you not think so, Christian?"
+
+Gloomy and pensive the artisan listened to his wife without interrupting
+her. He replied:
+
+"No, dear wife; fanaticism is no safeguard against evil. Alas!
+differently from you, the more I consider the facts that you adduce--I
+hardly dare say so to you--my suspicions, so far from being removed,
+grow in weight. Yes, I believe our son guilty."
+
+"Great God! What a horrible thought!"
+
+"I believe our son is sincere in his devout practices, however
+exaggerated these may be. But I also know that one of the most frightful
+consequences of fanaticism is that it clouds and perverts the most
+elemental principles of right and wrong, of justice and injustice, with
+those whom it dominates. Religious faith substitutes morality."
+
+"But theft, seeing that I must mention the word--theft--how can
+fanaticism excuse that? You must be mistaken upon that subject!"
+
+"Listen, Bridget. A few days ago--and it was the recollection of the
+circumstance that first awoke my suspicions--a few days ago one of our
+fellow workmen at the shop expressed himself with indignation at the
+traffic of indulgences that has recently been carried on in Paris, and
+he said emphatically that besides the immorality of the trade that was
+being practiced in the Pope's name, the extortion of money by such means
+from ignorance and from popular credulity was nothing short of a fraud
+practiced upon the people. And do you know the answer that our son made?
+'That is a lie! It is impious! The money that is devoted to a pious
+deed, even if it be the fruit of a theft, of a murder, is purified and
+sanctified from the moment that it is employed to the greater glory of
+the Lord!'"
+
+Bridget grew pale, and murmured in a voice smothered by sobs:
+
+"Oh! now I fear--I also fear! May God have mercy upon us!"
+
+"Do you now understand how, if our son is indeed guilty of the shameful
+act which we hesitate to impugn to him, in his blind fanaticism the
+unhappy boy will have believed that he was doing a meritorious act if he
+employed the money in some such work of devotion as ordering the saying
+of masses?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE NEOPHYTE.
+
+
+As Christian was saying these words, he heard, first at a distance and
+soon after on the Exchange Bridge itself, the loud clang of several
+bells and the sharp twirl of metal rattles, intercepted with a
+lugubrious psalmody, at the close of which the noise of bells and
+rattles became deafening. No less astonished than his wife, the artisan
+rose from his seat, opened the window, and saw a long procession filing
+before the house. At its head marched a detachment of archers carrying
+their cross-bows on their left shoulders and long thick wax candles in
+their right hands; behind them came several Dominican monks in their
+white robes and black cowls, ringing the bells and turning the rattles;
+after these followed a cart drawn by two horses caparisoned in black and
+silver network. The four sides of the cart were of considerable height
+and constituted a huge quadrangular transparency, lighted from within,
+and representing the figures of men and women of all ages, together with
+children, plunged up to the waist in a sea of flames, and, amid
+desperate contortions, raising their suppliant arms towards an image of
+God seated on a throne. On each of the four sides of the wagon and above
+the painting the following inscription was to be seen, printed in thick
+black and red letters:
+
+                    PRAY
+          FOR THE SOULS IN PURGATORY
+                  TO-MORROW
+                      AT
+    THE CHURCH OF THE CONVENT OF ST. DOMINIC
+              THE INDULGENCE
+            WILL RAISE ITS THRONE.
+                PRAY AND GIVE
+    FOR THE POOR SOULS THAT ARE IN PURGATORY.
+
+Four monks equipped with long gilded staves, topped with glass
+lanthorns, on which also souls in torture were painted, marched on
+either side of the cart. A large number of other Dominican monks
+carrying a large silver crucifix at their head, followed the cart. The
+monks chanted in a loud voice the following lugubrious psalm of
+penitence:
+
+    _"De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine;_
+    _Domine, exaudi vocem meam._
+    _Fiant aures tuæ intendentes_
+    _In vocem deprecationis meæ!"_[4]
+
+Every time, at the close of the funereal chant, the clatter of bells and
+rattles was struck up anew as the procession marched along. Finally, a
+second detachment of archers brought up the rear. A crowd of ragged men
+and women, all with cynic and even ruffianly faces, almost all
+night-strollers, if not worse, followed in the wake of the march. They
+held one another by the arms, sang, crossed themselves and shouted:
+
+"Glory to the Holy Father!"
+
+"He sends us indulgences!"
+
+"We need them!"
+
+"Blessings upon him!"
+
+Interspersed between these exclamations, coarse and even obscene jokes
+were exchanged. The mob nevertheless bore the impress of conviction in
+the most deplorable of superstitions. A large number of the inhabitants
+of the houses built upon the bridge threw open their windows as the
+procession filed by; some of these reverently knelt down at their
+windows. After the procession had passed and the noise sounded only from
+a distance, Christian re-shut the window of his room, and said to his
+wife in voice that was even sadder than before:
+
+"Alas, this procession seems to me to bode us only ill."
+
+"I do not understand you, my friend."
+
+"You saw, Bridget, the picture on the transparency of the cart that
+these monks surrounded. It represented the souls in purgatory, writhing
+in flames. The Dominican monks, whom the Pope has delegated to sell
+plenary indulgences, also sell the ransoming of souls in pain. All those
+who share that belief are convinced that, by means of money, they are
+able to snatch from the flames of purgatory, not only the near
+relatives or friends whom they imagine exposed to such torture, but also
+strangers to them. Could not Hervé have thought to himself: 'With the
+gold that I purloin from my father I shall be able to ransom twenty
+souls--fifty souls from purgatory'?"
+
+"Say no more, Christian, say no more!" cried Bridget with a shudder;
+"say no more! My doubts, alas! almost turn into certainty;" but suddenly
+interrupting herself and listening in the direction of the door of the
+room, she added in a low voice: "Listen--listen."
+
+Husband and wife remained silent. In the midst of the profound silence
+of the night they heard a noise that sounded like the intermittent
+strapping of a body. A thought flashed through Christian's mind; he
+motioned his wife not to stir; took up the lamp, and gently opened the
+door leading to the wooden staircase through which the lower floor was
+reached. Leaning over the banister with his hand shading the lamp,
+Christian saw Hervé, whom, no doubt, the clatter of bells and rattles of
+the procession had awakened, kneeling in only his shirt and trousers
+upon the floor and inflicting a rude discipline upon his sides and
+shoulders by means of a cat-o'-nine-tails, the thongs of which ended in
+knots. The lad flagellated himself with such intense exaltation that he
+did not notice the proximity of his father on the staircase, although
+the light shed by the lamp projected its rays into the lower hall.
+Bridget had followed her husband with tears in her eyes, walking on
+tip-toe. He felt the trembling hand of his wife upon his shoulder and
+in his ear the whispered words of distress that forced themselves
+through her sobs:
+
+"Oh, the unhappy boy!"
+
+"Come, my dear wife; the moment is favorable to obtain a confession from
+our son."
+
+"And if he confesses, let everything be pardoned," replied the indulgent
+mother. "He must have succumbed to an impulse of fanatical charity."
+
+With the lamp in his hand the artisan descended into the kitchen with
+his wife without seeking to conceal their approach. The sound of their
+steps and the creak of the wooden staircase under their feet finally
+attracted Hervé's attention. He suddenly turned his head, and, seeing
+his father and mother, rose from the floor with a start as if propelled
+by a spring. In his surprise the lad dropped his instrument of torture.
+
+Christian's son was almost eighteen years of age. His once open, happy
+and blooming face, that breathed frankness, had become pale and somber;
+his unsteady, restless eyes seemed to eschew observation. The unexpected
+presence of his parents seemed at first to cause him a painful
+impression; he looked embarrassed; but doubtlessly calling himself to
+account for the unguarded impulse of false shame, he said resolutely
+without raising his eyes:
+
+"I was administering a discipline to myself--I thought I was alone--I
+was fulfilling a penance--"
+
+"My son," replied the artisan, "seeing that you are up, sit down upon
+that chair--your mother and I have serious matters to speak about with
+you; we shall be better here than upstairs, where our voice might wake
+up your sister."
+
+Not a little astonished, the lad sat down, on a stool. Christian also
+sat down; Bridget remained standing near her husband, leaning upon his
+shoulder, with her eyes resting compassionately upon her son.
+
+"My boy," said Christian, "I wish, first of all, to assure you that
+neither I nor your mother have ever thought of crossing you in the
+religious practices that you have of late been indulging in with all the
+impetuous ardor of a neophyte. But seeing that the occasion presents
+itself, I wish to make some observations to you upon the subject in all
+fatherly love."
+
+"I listen, father; speak."
+
+"You, as well as your sister and brother, have been brought up by us in
+the evangelical doctrine--love one another, do not unto others what you
+would not like to be done to, pardon those who trespass against you,
+pity the sinners, help the sorrowful, honor those who repent, be
+industrious and honest. These few words sum up the eternal morality that
+your mother and myself have preached and held up to you since your
+infancy as the example to be followed. When you reached riper years of
+intelligence I sought to inculcate in your mind that belief of our
+fathers that we are immortal, body and soul, and that after what is
+called death, a moment of transition between the existence that ends and
+that which begins, we are born again, or, rather, continue to live,
+spirit and matter, in other spheres, thus rising successively, at each
+of those stages of our eternal existence, towards infinite perfection
+equal to that of the Creator."
+
+"That, father, is heresy, and flies in the face of Catholic dogma."
+
+"Be it so. I do not force the belief upon you. Every man is free to
+strive in his religious aspirations after his own ideal of the relations
+between the Creator and the creature. The freedom to do so is the most
+priceless attribute of the soul, the sublimest right of human
+conscience."
+
+"There is no religion in the world beside the Catholic religion, the
+revealed religion," put in Hervé in a sharp voice. "All other belief is
+false--"
+
+"My friend," said Christian interrupting his son, "I do not wish to
+enter into a theological discussion with you. You have of late lost your
+former happy disposition, you seem to mistrust us, you grow more and
+more reserved and taciturn, your absences from the printing shop are
+becoming frequent and are prolonged beyond all measure; your nature,
+once so pleasant and buoyant, has become irritable and sour, even to the
+point of rudeness towards your brother Odelin before his departure for
+Milan. Besides that and since, your asperity towards your sister is ever
+more marked--and yet you know that she loves you dearly."
+
+At these last words a thrill ran over Hervé's frame. At the mention of
+his sister, his physiognomy grew more intensely somber and assumed an
+undefinable expression. For a moment he remained silent, whereupon his
+voice, that sounded sharp and positive shortly before in his answers
+regarding religious matters, became unsteady as he stammered:
+
+"At times I am subject to fits of bad humor that I pray God to free me
+of. If--I have been--rude--to my sister--it is without meaning to. I
+entertain a strong affection for her."
+
+"We are certain of that, my child," Bridget replied; "your father only
+mentions the circumstance as one of the symptoms of the change that we
+notice in you, and that so much alarms us."
+
+"In short," Christian proceeded, "we regret to see you give up the
+company of the friends of your childhood, and no longer share the
+innocent pleasures that become your age."
+
+Hervé's voice, that seemed so much out of his control when his sister
+Hena was the topic, became again harsh and firm:
+
+"The friends whom I formerly visited are worldly, they are running to
+perdition; the thoughts that to-day engage me are not theirs."
+
+"You are free to choose your connections, my friend, provided they be
+honorable. I see you have become an intimate friend of Fra Girard, the
+Franciscan monk--"
+
+"God sent him across my path--he is a saint! His place is marked in
+paradise."
+
+"I shall not dispute the sanctity of Fra Girard; he is said to be a man
+of probity, and I believe it. I must admit, however, that I would have
+preferred to see you form some other friendship; the monk is several
+years your senior; you seem to have a blind faith in him; I fear lest
+the fervor of his zeal may render you intolerant, and lead you to share
+his own excessive religious exaltation. For all that, I never reproached
+you for your intimacy with Fra Girard--"
+
+"Despite anything that you could have done or said, father, I would have
+seen to my own salvation. God before the family."
+
+"And do you imagine, my son, that we could be opposed to your welfare?"
+asked Bridget in an accent of affectionate reproach. "Do you not know
+how much we love you? Are not all our thoughts dictated by our
+attachment to you? Can you doubt our affection?"
+
+"Happiness lies in the faith, and the faith comes to us from heaven.
+There is no welfare outside of the bosom of the Church."
+
+"It would have become you better to answer your mother's kind words with
+other terms," observed Christian, as he saw his wife hurt and saddened
+by the harshness of Hervé's words. "If your faith comes from heaven,
+filial love also is a celestial sentiment; may God forfend that it be
+weakened in your heart--in fine, may God forfend that Fra Girard's
+influence over you should tend to pervert, despite himself and despite
+yourself, your sense of right and wrong."
+
+"I do not understand you, father."
+
+The artisan cast a significant look at Bridget, who, guessing her
+husband's secret thoughts, felt assailed by mortal anguish.
+
+"I shall explain myself more clearly," Christian continued. "Do you
+remember a few days ago at the shop when some of our fellow workmen
+expressed indignation at the traffic in indulgences?"
+
+"Yes, father; and I withered the blasphemous utterances with the
+contempt that they deserved. Indulgences open the gates of heaven."
+
+"One of our fellow workingmen loudly likened the commerce in indulgences
+to a theft," Christian proceeded, unable completely to overcome his
+emotion, while Bridget in vain sought to catch the eyes of her son, who,
+from the start of this conversation held his eyes nailed to the floor.
+"Upon hearing so severe an opinion expressed upon the indulgences,"
+Christian added, "you, my son, shouted that all money, even if it
+proceeded from theft, became holy if devoted to pious works; you said
+so, did you not? You thereby justified a reprehensible action."
+
+"It is my conviction."
+
+After a momentary silence the artisan again resumed:
+
+"My boy, you were surely awakened to-night, as we ourselves were, by the
+noise of the procession. It was the procession of indulgences."
+
+"Yes, father--and in order to render my prayers for the deliverance of
+the souls in purgatory more efficacious, I macerated myself."
+
+"The monks claim that the souls in purgatory can be ransomed by money;
+do they not make the claim?"
+
+"It is the doctrine of the Catholic Church, father. The Church can not
+err."
+
+"Hervé, let me suppose that you find on the street a purse full of gold;
+would you believe yourself justified to dispose of it in behalf of the
+souls in purgatory, without first inquiring after the rightful owner of
+the purse?"
+
+"I would not hesitate a minute to do what you said. I would take it to
+the Church."
+
+Christian and Bridget exchanged looks of distress at this answer. Their
+suspicions were almost confirmed. They now counted at least with Hervé's
+frankness. Convinced that all means were legitimate in order to compass
+the salvation of souls in pain, he would assuredly admit the theft. The
+artisan proceeded:
+
+"My son, we never set you the example of duplicity. Particularly at this
+moment when we must appeal to your frankness, we shall speak without
+circumlocution. I have this to say to you: The fruits of your mother's
+laborious savings and my own have been recently purloined; the sum
+amounted to twenty gold crowns."
+
+Hervé remained impassable and silent.
+
+"The theft was committed yesterday or the day before," pursued
+Christian, painfully affected by his son's impassiveness. "The money was
+deposited in the case in our bedroom, and could have been taken away by
+none except a person familiar in our house."
+
+With his hands crossed over his knees and his eyes on the floor, Hervé
+remained silent, impenetrable.
+
+"Your mother and I first cudgeled our brains to ascertain who could have
+committed the guilty act," Christian proceeded, driving the point nearer
+and nearer home, and he added slowly, accentuating these last words:
+"It then occurred to us that, seeing the theft was justifiable by your
+convictions--that is to say, that it was legitimate if committed for the
+sake of some pious work--you might--in a moment of mental
+aberration--have appropriated the sum for the purpose of consecrating it
+to the ransoming of souls in purgatory."
+
+The husband and wife awaited their son's answer with mortal anxiety.
+Christian watched him closely and observed that, despite Hervé's
+apparent impassiveness, a slight flush suffused his face; although the
+lad did not raise his eyes, he cast furtive glances at his parents. The
+somber and guilty glances, caught by Christian, surprised and distressed
+him. He no longer doubted his son's guilt, he even despaired of drawing
+from the lad a frank admission that might somewhat have extenuated the
+ugly action. Christian continued with a penetrating voice:
+
+"My son, I have acquainted you with the painful suspicions that weigh
+upon our hearts--have you no answer to make?"
+
+"Father," said Hervé firmly and tersely, "I have not touched your
+money."
+
+"He lies," thought the desolate artisan to himself; "it is our own son
+who committed the theft."
+
+"Hervé," cried Bridget with her face bathed in tears and throwing
+herself at the feet of her son, around whom she threw her arms, "my son,
+be frank--we shall not scold you! Good God, we believe in the sincerity
+of your new convictions--they are your only excuse! You certainly must
+have believed that with the aid of that money, which lay idle on the
+shelf of the book-case, you might redeem poor souls from the tortures of
+purgatory. The charitable purpose of such a superstition might, aye, it
+is bound to, carry away a young head like yours. I repeat to you; we
+shall look upon that as your excuse; we shall accept the excuse, in the
+hope of leading you back again to more wholesome ideas of good and evil.
+From your point of view, so far from your action being wrongful, it must
+have seemed meritorious to you. Why not admit it? Is it shame that
+restrains you, my poor boy? Fear not. The secret will remain with your
+father and me." And embracing the lad with maternal warmth, Bridget
+added: "Do not the principles in which we brought you up make us feel
+sure that, despite your temporary blindness, you will know better in the
+future? Could you possibly become confirmed in dishonesty, you, my son?
+You who until now gave us so much cause for happiness? Come, Hervé, make
+a manly effort--tell us the truth--you will thereby change our sorrow
+into joy; your confession will prove your frankness and your confidence
+in our indulgence and tenderness. You still are silent?--not a word--you
+have not a word for me?" cried the wretched woman, seeing her son
+remaining imperturbable. "What! we who should complain, are imploring
+you! You should be in tears, and yet it is I alone who weep! You should
+be at our feet, and I am at yours! And yet you remain like a piece of
+icy marble! Oh, unhappy child!"
+
+"Mother," repeated Hervé with inflexible voice without raising his eyes,
+"I have not touched your money."
+
+In despair at such insensibility, Bridget rose and threw herself
+convulsively sobbing into the arms of her husband: "I am a mother to be
+pitied."
+
+"My son," now said Christian in a severe tone, "if you are guilty--and I
+regret but too deeply that I fear you are--learn this: Even if you
+should have employed the money that has been purloined from my room in
+what you term 'pious works,' you would not therefore be less guilty of a
+theft, do you understand?--a theft in all the disgraceful sense of the
+word! I was not mistaken! It has turned out so! By means of unworthy
+sophisms, your friend Fra Girard has perverted your one-time sense of
+right and wrong! Oh, whatever insane or impostor monks may say to the
+contrary, human and divine morality will always condemn theft, whatever
+the disguises or hypocritical pretexts may be under which it is
+committed. To believe that such a disgraceful action deserves no
+punishment--worse yet, that it is meritorious--by reason of the fruits
+thereof being consecrated to charitable works, is about the most
+monstrous mental aberration that can ever insult the conscience of an
+honest man!" Christian thereupon supported and led Bridget in tears back
+towards the staircase, took up the lamp, and walked upstairs with these
+parting words to his son: "May heaven open your eyes, my son and inspire
+you with repentance!"
+
+Imperturbable as ever, Hervé did not seem to hear his father's last
+words. When the latter re-entered his own room with his wife and closed
+the door, the young man, who had remained in the dark, threw himself
+down upon his knees, picked up his instrument of discipline and began
+flagellating himself with savage fury. The lad smothered the cries that
+the pain involuntarily forced from him, and, a prey to delirious
+paroxysms, only murmured from time to time, with bated breath, the name
+of his sister Hena.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE SALE OF INDULGENCES.
+
+
+The morning after the trying night experienced by Christian and his
+wife, a large crowd filled the church of the Dominican Convent. It was a
+bizarre crowd. It consisted of people of all conditions. Thieves and
+mendicants, artisans, bourgeois and seigneurs, lost women and devout old
+dames, ladies of distinction and plebeian women and children of all
+ages, elbowed one another. They were all attracted by that day's
+religious celebration; they crowded especially near the choir. This
+space was shut off by an iron railing four feet in height; it was to be
+the theater of the most important incidents in the ceremony. Among the
+spectators nearest to the choir stood Hervé Lebrenn together with his
+friend Fra Girard. The Franciscan monk was about twenty-five years of
+age, and of a cadaverous, austere countenance. The mask of asceticism
+concealed an infernal knave gifted with superior intelligence. The monk
+enveloped his young companion, so to speak, with a fascinating gaze; the
+latter, apparently a prey to profound preoccupation, bent his head and
+crossed his arms over his breast.
+
+"Hervé," said Fra Girard in a low voice, "do you remember the day when
+in a fit of despair and terror you came to me to confession--and
+confessed a thing that you hardly dared admit to yourself?"
+
+"Yes," answered Hervé with a shudder and dropping his eyes still lower;
+"yes, I remember the day."
+
+"I then told you," the Franciscan proceeded to say, "that the Catholic
+Church, from which you were separated from childhood by an impious
+education, afforded consolation to troubled hearts--even better, held
+out hope--still better than that, gave positive assurance even to the
+worst of sinners, provided they had faith. By little and little our long
+and frequent conversations succeeded in causing the divine light to
+penetrate your mind, and the scales dropped from your eyes. The faith
+that I then preached to you, has since filled and now overflows your
+soul. Fasting, maceration and ardent prayer have smoothed the way for
+your salvation. The hour of your reward has arrived. Blessed be the
+Lord!"
+
+Fra Girard had hardly uttered these words when the deep notes of the
+organ filled with a melancholic harmony the lugubrious church into which
+the light of day broke only through narrow windows of colored glass. A
+procession that issued from the interior of the Dominican cloister
+entered the church and marched around the aisles. The cortege was headed
+by four footmen clad in red, the papal livery, who held aloft four
+standards upon which the pontifical coat-of-arms was emblazoned; they
+were followed by priests in surplices surrounding a cross and chanting
+psalms of penitence; behind these came another platoon of papal
+footmen, bearing a stretcher covered with gold cloth, and in the center
+of which, on a cushion of crimson velvet, lay a red box containing the
+bull of Leo X empowering the Order of St. Dominic to dispense
+indulgences. Several censer-bearers walked backward before the
+stretcher, and stopped from time to time in order to swing their copper
+and silver censers from which clouds of perfumed vapor issued and
+circled upward. A Dominican prior walked behind the stretcher clasping a
+large cross of red wood in his arms; this dignitary--a man in the full
+vigor of age, tall of stature and so corpulent that his paunch
+threatened to burst his frock--was the Apostolic Commissioner entrusted
+with the sale of indulgences; a heavy black beard framed in his
+high-colored face; the monk's triumphant gait and the haughty looks that
+he cast around him pointed him out as the hero of the approaching
+ceremony. He was followed by a long line of penitentiaries and
+sub-Apostolic Commissioners with white wands in their hands. A last
+squad of papal footmen, holding by leather straps a huge coffer also
+covered with crimson velvet and locked with three gilded clasps, closed
+the procession. A slit, similar to that of the poor-boxes in churches,
+was cut into the lid of the coffer. Through it the moneys were to be
+dropped by the purchasers of indulgences, or by the faithful, anxious to
+redeem the souls in purgatory.
+
+When the procession, at the passage of which the crowd prostrated itself
+religiously, completed the circuit of the church, the papal footmen who
+bore the banners grouped them as trophies upon the main altar, before
+which the stretcher, covered with gold cloth, the bull, and the big
+coffer were processionally borne. The Apostolic Commissioner with the
+cross of red wood in his hand placed himself near the coffer; the
+penitentiaries ranked themselves in front of several confessionals that
+were set up for the occasion near the choir, and all of which bore the
+pontifical arms.
+
+The excitement and curiosity awakened by the procession together with
+the peals of the organ and the chant of the priests excited a
+considerable agitation in the church. By degrees quiet was restored, the
+kneeling faithful rose again to their feet, and all eyes turned
+impatiently towards the choir. Hervé, who had been one of the first to
+prostrate himself, was among the last to rise; the lad was a prey to
+profound agony; perspiration bathed his now livid face; he was hardly
+able to breathe. Turning his wandering eyes towards Fra Girard, he said
+to the monk in broken accents:
+
+"Oh, if I only can rely upon your promises! The moment has arrived when
+I must believe. I tremble!"
+
+"Oh, man of little faith!" answered the Franciscan with severity and
+pointing to the papal commissioner, who was preparing to speak;
+"listen--and repent that you doubted. Ask God to pardon you."
+
+The silence became profound; the dealer in indulgences deftly rolled up
+the sleeves of his robe, just as a juggler in the market would have done
+in order not to be hindered in the tumultuous motions of his
+performance, and pointing to the red cross which he placed beside him,
+he cried in a stentorian voice fit to make the glass windows of the
+building rattle:
+
+"In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, Amen![5] You see
+this cross, my beloved brothers? Well, this cross is as efficacious as
+the cross of Jesus Christ! You will ask me, How so? My answer is that
+this is, so to speak, the symbol of the indulgences that our Holy Father
+has commissioned me to dispense. But what are these indulgences? you
+will then ask? What they are, my brothers? They are the most precious
+gift, the most miraculous, the most wonderful that the Lord has ever
+bestowed upon His faithful! Therefore, I say unto you--Come, come to me;
+I shall give you letters furnished with the seal of our Holy Father, and
+thanks to these letters, my brothers--would you believe it?--not only
+will the sins that you have committed be pardoned, but they will give
+you absolution for the sins that you desire to commit!"
+
+"Did you hear that?" Fra Girard whispered to Hervé. "One can obtain
+absolution both for the sins that he has committed, and for the sins
+that he intends to commit!"
+
+"But--there--are--things--crimes and outrages," stammered Hervé with
+secret horror, "that, may be, one can not obtain absolution for! Oh, woe
+is me! I feel myself sliding down a fatal slope!
+
+"Listen," replied the Franciscan, "listen to the end; you will then
+understand."
+
+The mass of people that were crowded in the church received with
+indescribable signs of satisfaction the words uttered by the Dominican
+seller of indulgences; especially did those whose purses were well lined
+hail with delight the prospect of their salvation if they but took the
+precaution of equipping themselves in advance with an absolution that
+embraced the past, the present and the future. The Apostolic
+Commissioner observed the magic effect that his words produced; in a
+jovial and familiar tone he proceeded to harangue the audience amidst
+violent contortions of both face and limbs:
+
+"Now, let us have a heart-to-heart talk, my brothers; let us reason
+together. Let us suppose that you wish to undertake a voyage into some
+strange country that is infested with thieves; fearing that you will be
+rifled of all that you carry about you before you attain the end of your
+journey, you do not wish to take your money with you. What do you do?
+You take your money to a banker, do you not? You allow him a slight
+profit, and he furnishes you with a draft, by means of which the money
+that you deposited with him is paid over to you in the strange country,
+upon your arrival there. Do you understand me well, my beloved
+brothers?"
+
+"Yes," answered several of the faithful; "we understand--proceed with
+your discourse."
+
+"Miserable sinners!" replied the Dominican suddenly changing his jovial
+tone into a thundering voice. "Miserable sinners! You understand me, say
+you? and yet you hesitate to buy from me for the small price of a few
+crowns a draft of salvation! What! Despite all the sins that you may
+render yourselves guilty of during the voyage of life, infested as that
+road is with diabolical temptations that are infinitely more dangerous
+than thieves, this draft will be paid to you in paradise in the divine
+money of eternal salvation by the Almighty, upon whom we, the bankers of
+souls, have drawn in your name--and yet you hesitate to insure to
+yourselves at so small a cost your share of the celestial enjoyments
+reserved for the blissful! No! No! You will not hesitate, my brothers!
+You will buy my indulgences!" the Dominican now proceeded to say with a
+resumption of familiar and even paternal solicitude. "Nor is this all,
+my brothers; my indulgences do not save the living only, they redeem the
+dead! Aye, the dead, be they even as hardened as Lucifer himself! But,
+you may ask, how can your indulgences deliver the dead?" cried the
+merchant of salvation again shouting at the top of his voice, "How will
+my indulgences save the dead? Can it be that you do not hear the voices
+of your parents, your friends, even of strangers to you--but what does
+that matter, seeing that you are Christians?--can it be that you do not
+hear their frightful concert of maledictions, of groans, of gnashing of
+teeth which rises from the bottom of the abyss of fire, where those poor
+souls are writhing in the furnace of purgatory--where they writhe,
+waiting for the mercy of God or the pious works of man to deliver them
+from their dreadful tortures? Can it be that you do not hear those
+miserable sinners, the piteous meanings of those unhappy people, who
+from the bottom of the yawning gulf where the flames are devouring them
+cry out to you: 'Oh, ye stony hearts! we are enduring frightful torture!
+An alms would deliver us! You can give it! Will you refuse to give it?'
+Will you refuse, my brothers? No! I know you will give the alms. I know
+you will give it when you consider that the very instant your gold
+crowns drop into this trunk," (pointing to it) "crack--psitt--the soul
+pops out of purgatory and flies into heaven like a dove liberated from
+its cage! Amen! Empty your purses, empty your purses, my friends!"
+
+The majority of the audience before the Dominican seemed little
+concerned about the deliverance of souls in pain. However blind their
+superstitious belief, it had a certain charitable side, but that side
+had no attraction whatever for the faithful ones who were attracted only
+by the expectation of being able, by means of indulgences, to give a
+loose, in perfect security of conscience, to whatever excesses or crimes
+they had in mind.
+
+A man with a gallows-bird face named Pichrocholle, one of the
+Mauvais-Garçons who hired out their homicidal daggers to the highest
+bidder, said in a low voice to a Tire-Laine, another bandit, and one of
+the worst of his kind:
+
+"As truly as the Franc-Taupin whom I was speaking about to you a short
+time ago saved my life at the battle of Marignan, I would not give six
+silver sous for the redemption of the souls in purgatory! Oh, if I only
+were rich enough to purchase a good letter of absolution--'sdeath!--I
+would pay for it gladly and spot-cash, too! Once the papal absolution
+is in your pocket, your hand is firmer at its work; it does not tremble
+when dispatching your man! With an absolution duly executed, you can
+defy the fork of Satan on the Judgment Day. But by St. Cadouin, what do
+I care for the souls in purgatory! I laugh at their deliverance! And
+you, Grippe-Minaud?"
+
+"I confess," answered the Tire-Laine, "I bother as little about the
+souls in purgatory as about an empty purse. But tell me, Pichrocholle,"
+added Grippe-Minaud with a pensive air, "letters of absolution are too
+dear for poor devils like ourselves--suppose we stole one of those
+blessed letters from the commissioner, would the theft be a sin?"
+
+"'Sdeath! How could it be? Does it not give absolution in advance? But
+those jewels are kept too safely to be pilfered."
+
+While the Mauvais-Garçon and the Tire-Laine were exchanging these
+observations, the Apostolic Commissioner rolled his sleeves still
+higher, and continued his sermon, interspersing his words with smiles or
+violent gestures according as the occasion demanded:
+
+"But, my brothers, you will say to me: You puff your indulgences a good
+deal; nevertheless there are such frightful crimes, crimes that are so
+abominable, so monstrous that your indulgences could never reach them!
+You are mistaken, my brothers. No! A thousand times no! My indulgences
+are so good, they are so sure, they are so efficacious, so powerful that
+they absolve everything--yes, everything! Do you want an example? Let us
+suppose an impossible thing--let us suppose that someone were to rape
+the holy Mother of God--an abominable act of sacrilege!"[6]
+
+A long murmur expressive of dreadful suspense and hope received these
+last words of the trafficker in indulgences; a boundless horizon was
+opened for all manner of the blackest and most unheard-of felonies.
+Among others in the crowd, Hervé remained hanging upon the lips of the
+Dominican; the lad was seized with dizziness; he imagined himself
+oppressed by a nightmare. The hollow-sounding voice of Fra Girard awoke
+him to reality. With a triumphant accent the Franciscan whispered to his
+disciple:
+
+"An insult to the Mother of God herself would be pardoned! Even such a
+crime would be reached by an indulgence! Did you hear him? Did you? An
+indulgence would cover even that!"
+
+A tremor ran through Hervé from head to foot; he made no answer, hid his
+face in his hands, and feeling himself reel like an intoxicated man and
+even his knees to yield under him, the lad found himself obliged to lean
+upon the arms of the Franciscan, who contemplated him with an expression
+of infernal joy.
+
+The merchant of indulgences had paused for a moment upon uttering his
+abominable supposition in order the better to assure himself of its
+effect; he then proceeded in a stentorian voice:
+
+"You tremble, my brothers! So much the better! That proves that you
+appreciate in the fulness of its horror the sacrilege which I cited as
+an example! Now, then, the more horrible the sacrilege, all the more
+sovereign is the virtue of my indulgences, seeing that they give
+absolution therefor! Yes, my brothers, whatever the sacrilege that you
+may commit, you will be pardoned--provided you pay for it--provided you
+pay bountifully for it! That is clearer than day! Our Lord God will have
+no power over you, he ceases to be God, having assigned His pardoning
+power to the Pope. But, you may still ask, why does our Holy Father so
+bountifully distribute the boon of his indulgences? Why?" repeated the
+Dominican in a voice of deep lament; "why? Alas! alas! alas! my
+brothers, it is in order to be enabled, thanks to the returns from the
+sales of these indulgences, to rebuild the Basilica of St. Peter and St.
+Paul in Rome with such splendor that there is none to match it in the
+world. Indeed, none other must be like that basilica, which contains the
+sacred bodies of the two apostles! And this notwithstanding--would you
+believe it, my brothers?--the Cathedral of Rome is in such a state of
+dilapidation that the holy bones, the sacrosanct bones of St. Peter and
+St. Paul are so constantly exposed to the peltings of rain and hail,
+they are so soiled and dishonored by dust and vermin that they are
+falling to pieces!"
+
+A shudder of painful indignation ran over the faithful crowd assembled
+before the Dominican when thus informed that the relics of the apostles
+were exposed to the inclemencies of the weather and the soilure of
+vermin as a result of the dilapidated state of the Basilica of Rome,
+while, since then, the most marvelous monument of architecture that
+immortalizes the genius of Michael Angelo, was reared to the admiration
+of the world. Perceiving the effect made by his peroration, the
+Dominican proceeded in a thundering voice:
+
+"No, my brothers! No! The sacred ashes of the apostles shall no longer
+remain in dirt and disgrace! No! Indulgence has set up its throne in the
+Church of St. Dominic!" and pointing to the large coffer and beating
+with his fists a tattoo upon the lid, the Apostolic Commissioner added
+with the roar of a bull: "Now, bring your money! Bring it, good people!
+Bring plenty! I shall put you the example of charity. I consecrate this
+gold piece to the redemption of souls in purgatory!"
+
+And pulling out of his pocket a half ducat which he held up glistening
+to the eyes of the crowd, he dropped it into the coffer through the slit
+in the lid, upon which he continued to strike with his fists, keeping
+time to his words as he cried:
+
+"Fetch your money! Fetch it, good people! Fetch your ducats!"
+
+The front ranks of the crowd broke in response to the summons of the
+trafficker in indulgences and hastened to empty their purses. But the
+Dominican held back the surging crowd with a gesture of his hand and
+said:
+
+"One more word, my dear brothers! Do you see these confessionals
+decorated with the armorial bearings of the Holy Father? The priests who
+will take your confessions represent the apostolic penitentiaries of
+Rome on the occasions of grand jubilees. All those who wish to
+participate in the three principal indulgences will proceed to these
+confessionals and will conscientiously notify the confessor of the
+amount of money that they are disposed to deprive themselves of in order
+to obtain the following favors:
+
+"The first is the absolute remission of all sins--past, present and
+future.
+
+"The second is freedom from participation in the works of the Holy
+Church, such as fasts, prayers, pilgrimages and macerations of all
+nature.
+
+"The third--listen carefully, my brothers, pay particular attention to
+the last words, as the saying is--this indulgence exceeds all that the
+most faithful believers can wish for!"
+
+"Listen," whispered Fra Girard to Hervé; "listen, and repent your having
+doubted the resources of the faith."
+
+"Oh, I doubt no longer, and yet I hardly dare to hope," murmured the son
+of Christian with bated breath, while the Dominican proceeded to
+announce aloud:
+
+"The third favor, my brothers, gives you the right to choose a
+confessor, who, every time that you fear you are about to die, will be
+bound--by virtue of the letter of absolution that you will have
+purchased and which you will display before him--to give you absolution
+not only for your ordinary sins, but also for those greater crimes the
+remission of which is reserved to the apostolic See, to wit, bestiality,
+the crime against nature, parricide and incest."
+
+The Dominican had hardly pronounced these words when Hervé's features
+became frightful to behold. The lad's eyes shot fire, and a smile of the
+damned curled his lips as Fra Girard stooped down to him and whispered
+in his ear:
+
+"Did I deceive you? The indulgence is absolute, even for incest."
+
+"Finally, my brothers," the Apostolic Commissioner proceeded to say,
+"the fourth favor consists in redeeming souls from purgatory. For this
+favor, my brothers, it is not necessary, as for the three first ones, to
+be contrite of heart and to confess. No, no! It is enough if you drop
+your offerings in this coffer. You will thereby snatch the souls of the
+dead from the tortures that they are undergoing; and you will be
+moreover contributing towards the holy work of restoring the Basilica of
+St. Peter and St. Paul at Rome. Now, then, my brothers," he added,
+thumping anew upon the coffer, "come forward with your money! Come
+forward with your ducats! Come!"
+
+Upon this last exhortation the railing of the choir was thrown open. The
+small number of the charitably disposed who wished to deliver the souls
+in pain began filing before the coffer into which they dropped their
+offerings after making the sign of the cross; the confessionals,
+however, in which the pontifical penitentiaries took their seats, ready
+to issue letters of absolution, were immediately besieged by a mob of
+men and women, anxious to obtain impunity in the eyes of heaven and of
+their own conscience for sins ranging from the most venial up to
+monstrous deeds that cause nature to shudder. It was a frightful sight,
+the spectacle presented by the mob around these confessionals crowding
+to the quarry of impunity for crime.
+
+Good God! Your vicars order and exploit the traffic! Behold human
+conscience upturned, shaken at its very foundation, losing even the
+sense of discrimination between vice and virtue! The moral sense is
+perverted, it is smothered by sacrilegious superstition! Mankind is
+lashed to a vertigo of folly and evil by the assurance of impunity,
+feeling certain, Oh, God of justice! of having You for an accomplice!
+Souls, until then innocent, no longer recoil before any passion however
+execrable, the bare thought of which is a crime! Does not the Pope of
+Rome absolve for all eternity, in exchange for a few gold crowns, even
+parricide and incest? If only its faith is strong enough the incestuous
+or parricidal heart knows, feels itself absolved! Oh, in honor at least
+to the religious sentiment--the divine gift implanted in man's heart,
+whatever the dogma may be in which it is wrapped--there are Catholic
+priests of austere morals who, despite their intolerance, have, in these
+accursed times, indignantly repudiated the monstrous idolatries and
+savage fetichism that even ancient paganism knew nothing of! No! No!
+Christ, your celestial gospel is and will remain the most scathing
+condemnation of the horrors that are committed in your venerated name.
+Those papal penitentiaries in the confessionals emblazoned with the
+pontifical arms, those new dealers in merchandise in the Temple dare to
+sell for cash patents of salvation! Alas! After a few hurried words
+exchanged with Fra Girard, Hervé was one of the first to hurry to the
+confessionals and kneel down; he did not long remain there; those near
+him heard the papal penitentiary first utter a cry of surprise; silence
+ensued, broken by the intermittent sobs of the lad; the chinking of the
+money that was being counted out to the priest in the confessional
+announced the close of the absolutional conversation. Hervé issued out
+of the tribunal of penitence holding a parchment with a convulsive
+clutch, closely followed by Fra Girard; he cleaved the compact mass of
+people, and withdrew to one of the lateral chapels; there he knelt down
+before a sanctuary of the Virgin that a lamp illumined, and by its light
+read the letter of absolution that he had just bought with his father's
+money. The pontifical letter was couched in the following terms:
+
+     May our Lord Jesus Christ have mercy upon you [here followed a
+     blank space into which the name of the owner of the letter was to
+     be inserted]; may He absolve you by the virtue of the Holy Passion.
+     And I, in virtue of the apostolical power in me vested, do hereby
+     absolve you from all ecclesiastical censures, judgments and
+     punishments that you may have deserved; furthermore _of all
+     excesses, sins and crimes that you may have committed, however
+     grave and enormous these may be, and whatever the cause thereof_,
+     even if such sins and crimes be those reserved to our Holy Father
+     the Pope and to the apostolic See--_such as bestiality, the sin
+     against nature, parricide and incest_. I hereby efface from you all
+     traces of inability, all the marks of infamy that you may have
+     drawn upon yourself on such occasions; I induct you anew as a
+     participant of the sacraments of the Church; I re-incorporate you
+     in the community of saints; I restore you to the innocence and
+     purity that you were in at the hour of your baptism, so that, at
+     the hour of your death, the door through which one passes to the
+     place of torments and pain shall be closed to you, while on the
+     contrary, the gate that leads to the Paradise of joy shall be wide
+     open to you, _and should you not die speedily, Oh, my son! this
+     token of mercy shall remain unalterable until your ultimate end_.
+
+     In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, Amen!
+
+     BROTHER JOHN TEZEL,
+
+     Apostolic Commissioner, signed by his own hand.[7]
+
+Without rising from his knees Hervé frequently interrupted the reading
+of the document with suppressed signs of pleased and blissful
+astonishment. The absolution that he was now the owner of extended to
+the past, it covered the present, it reached the future. As Fra Girard
+called the purchaser's attention to the fact, the document bore no date
+and thereby extended the apostolic efficacy over all the sins, all the
+crimes that the holder of the indulgence might commit to the end of his
+days. Hervé folded the parchment and inserted it into the scapulary that
+hung from his neck under his shirt, bowed down till his forehead touched
+the slab of the floor at the foot of the sanctuary and kissed it
+devoutly. Alas! The unfortunate lad was sincere in his frightful
+thankfulness towards the divine power that granted him the remission.
+His mind being led astray by a detestable influence, he felt himself,
+he believed himself, absolved of all the wrongs that his delirious
+imagination raved over. Fra Girard contemplated the prostrate lad with
+an expression of sinister triumph. The latter suddenly rose and, as if
+seized with a vertigo, staggered towards the railing of the chapel. The
+Franciscan held him back by the arm, and pointing at the image of the
+Virgin, arrayed in a flowing robe of silver cloth studded with pearls,
+and her head crowned with a golden crown that glistened in the
+semi-darkness of the dimly-lighted sanctuary, said in a solemn voice:
+
+"Behold the image of the mother of our Savior, and remember the words of
+the Apostolic Commissioner. Even if the horrible sacrilege that he
+mentioned were a feasible thing, it could be absolved by the letter that
+you now own. If that is so, and it may not be doubted, what then becomes
+of the remorse and the terrors that have assailed you during the last
+three months? Since the day when, distracted with despair by the
+discovery of the frightful secret that had lain concealed in the bottom
+of your heart, you came to me, and yielding, despite yourself, to the
+irresistible instinct that whispered to you: 'Only in faith will you be
+healed,' you confessed your trials to me--since that day you have hourly
+realized that your instinct guided you rightly and that my words were
+true. To-day you are assured of a place in paradise. Hervé--do you hear
+me?"
+
+"I hear," and after a moment of pensiveness: "Oh, celestial miracle for
+which, with my forehead in the dust, I rendered thanks to the mother of
+our Savior. Yes, since a minute ago, from the moment that I became the
+owner of this sacred schedule, my conscience has regained its former
+serenity, my mind is in peace, my heart is full of hope. I now only need
+to will and to dare--I shall will, I shall dare! Mine is the bliss of
+paradise!"
+
+Hervé uttered these words with calm conviction. He did not lie. No, his
+conscience was serene, his mind at peace, his heart full of hope, even
+the lines on his face seemed suddenly transfigured; their savage and
+tormented expression made room for a sort of blissful ecstasy, a slight
+flush again enlivened the cheeks that frequent fasts, macerations and
+mental conflicts had paled. The monk smiled silently at the
+metamorphosis; he took Hervé by the arm, walked with him out of the
+church, and as the two stepped out upon the street said to him:
+
+"You have now entered upon the path of salvation; your faith has been
+tried--will you still hesitate to join the ranks of the militants, who
+openly preach and cause this faith to triumph, the miraculous efficacy
+of which you have yourself experienced this day? Think of the glory of
+our holy mother the Church."
+
+"Speak not now to me of such things. My thoughts are elsewhere--they are
+near my sister Hena."
+
+"Very well; but, Hervé, never forget what I have often told you, and
+that your modesty makes you disregard. Your intelligence is exceptional;
+your erudition extensive; heaven has endowed you with the precious gift
+of a persuasive eloquence; the monastic Orders, especially the one to
+which I belong, I say so in all humility, recruit themselves carefully
+with young men whose gifts give promise of a brilliant future; this is
+enough to tell you of what priceless value you would be to our Order;
+you could make with us a rapid and brilliant career; you might even
+become the prior of our monastery. But I shall not pursue this subject;
+you are not listening to me; we shall take up the matter later. Where
+are you going so fast?"
+
+"I am going back to my father, to the printing shop of Master Robert
+Estienne."
+
+"Be prudent--above all, no indiscretion!"
+
+"Girard," answered Hervé with a slightly moved voice and after a
+second's reflection, "I know not what may happen during the next few
+days; I will, and I shall dare; can I at all events count upon obtaining
+asylum in your cell?"
+
+"Whatever the hour of the day or night may be, you may ring at the
+little gate of the convent, where the faithful repair who come to ask
+our assistance for the dying; ask the brother gateman for me; that will
+let you in and you will find an inviolable asylum within our walls; you
+will there be sheltered from all pursuit."
+
+"I thank you for the promise, and I rely upon it. Adieu. Think of me in
+your prayers."
+
+"Adieu, and let me see you soon again," answered the Franciscan as he
+followed with his eyes the rapidly retreating figure of Hervé. "Whatever
+may happen," added Fra Girard to himself, "he now belongs to us, body
+and soul. Such acquisitions are precious in these days of implacable
+struggle against heresy. God be praised!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE "TEST OF THE LUTHERANS."
+
+
+At the time of this narrative there rose at about the middle of St. John
+of Beauvais Street a large, new house built in the simple and graceful
+style recently imported from Italy. Upon a gilt sign, ornamented with
+the symbolical arms of the University of Paris, and placed immediately
+over the door, the inscription: ROBERT ESTIENNE, PRINTER was painted in
+bold letters. Heavy iron bars protected the windows of the ground floor
+against any bold attempts that might be contemplated by the bandits that
+the city was infested with, and the defensive precaution was completed
+by a heavy sheet of iron fastened with heavy nails to an already solid
+and massive door that was surmounted by a sculptured allegory of the
+Arts and Sciences, an elegant piece of work from the chisel of one of
+the best pupils of Primaticio, a celebrated Italian artist whom Francis
+I called to France. The house belonged to Master Robert Estienne, the
+celebrated printer, the worthy successor of his father in that learned
+industry, and one of the most erudite men of the century. Profoundly
+versed in the Latin, Greek and Hebrew languages, Master Robert Estienne
+raised the art of printing to a high degree of perfection. Passionately
+devoted to his art, he lavished so much care upon the publications that
+issued from his establishment, that not only did he himself correct the
+proofs of the Latin, Greek and Hebrew works which he printed, but he
+furthermore stuck the revised proofs to his office door and kept them
+there for a certain time with the offer of a reward to whomsoever should
+point out an error or blemish. Among the handsomest works published by
+Master Robert Estienne were a Bible and a New Testament, both translated
+into French. These two productions were the admiration of the learned
+and the source of profound uneasiness to the Sorbonne[8] and the clergy,
+who felt as alarmed as irritated to see the press popularize the textual
+knowledge of the holy books that condemned a mass of abuses, idolatrous
+practices and exactions which the Church of Rome had for centuries been
+introducing into the Catholic cult.
+
+Robert Estienne was recently wedded to Perrine Bade, a young and
+handsome woman, the daughter of another learned printer, and herself
+well versed in the Latin. The home of Robert Estienne presented the
+noble example of those bourgeois families whose pure morals and virile
+domestic virtues so strongly contrasted with the prevalent corruption of
+those days. Accused of being a partisan of the religious Reformation,
+and both the Sorbonne and parliament, both of which were bound by
+personal and material interests to the Catholic cause, having expressed
+their anger at him, Robert Estienne would long before have been dragged
+to the pyre as a heretic, but for the powerful protection of Princess
+Marguerite of Valois, the sister of Francis I, a woman of letters, of
+daring spirit, a generous nature, and withal secretly inclined to the
+reform. The King himself, who loved the arts and letters more out of
+vanity and the desire to imitate the princes of Italy than out of true
+intellectual loftiness, extended his protection to Robert Estienne, whom
+he considered an illustrious man whose glory would reflect upon his
+prince as a Maecenas. His rare mental equipment, his talent, and, last
+not least, the considerable wealth that he had inherited from his father
+and increased by his own labor, had won for the celebrated printer
+numerous and bitter enemies: his fellow tradesmen were jealous of the
+inimitable perfection of his works: the members of the Sorbonne, of the
+parliament and of the court, among all of whom the King and his evil
+genius, the Cardinal and Chancellor Duprat, distributed the goods
+confiscated from the heretics, had many times and oft expected to be
+about to enrich themselves with the plunder of Robert Estienne's
+establishment. But ever, thanks to the potent influence of Princess
+Marguerite, the printer's adversaries had remained impotent in their
+machinations against him. Nevertheless, knowing but too well how
+capricious and precarious royal favor is, Robert Estienne was ever ready
+for the worst with the serenity of the wise man and the clear conscience
+of a man of honor, while the affection of his young wife was a source of
+inexhaustible support in his struggle with the evil-minded.
+
+The workshop of Master Robert Estienne occupied the ground floor of the
+house. His artisans, all carefully selected by himself, and almost all
+of whom were the sons of workmen whom his father had employed before
+him, were worthy of the confidence that he reposed in them. More than
+once did they have to repel with arms the assaults of fanatical bandits,
+egged on by the monks, who pointed at the printing shop as a hot-bed of
+diabolical inventions that should be demolished and burned down. The
+populace, ignorant and credulous, rushed upon the house of Robert
+Estienne, and but for the courage displayed by the defenders of the
+establishment, the place would have been looted. Due to such
+possibilities many employers felt under the necessity of building around
+themselves a sort of bodyguard composed of their own workmen. The famous
+goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini, whom Francis I invited from Florence to
+settle in Paris, was in such constant dread of the jealousy of the
+French and Italian artists, that he never went out upon the street
+without being accompanied by several of his pupils, all armed to the
+teeth. And not long ago he had sustained a regular siege in the little
+Castle of Neste of which the King had made him a present. The fray
+lasted two full days; victory remained with Benvenuto and his private
+garrison; and Francis I was highly amused at the occurrence. Such is the
+order that reigns in the city, such the security enjoyed by the citizens
+in these sad days.
+
+Robert Estienne's establishment resembled an arsenal as much as it did a
+printing shop. Pikes, arquebuses and swords hung near the presses, the
+composers' cases or the stone tables. Although it was night, Christian
+remained on this evening at the shop; he remained behind upon his
+master's request, and was waiting for him. The artisan's face, which had
+borne the marks of worry since the conversation that he had with his son
+Hervé on the preceding night, now looked cheerful. When Hervé returned
+from the Church of St. Dominic, long after the customary hour for work
+to be begun at Master Estienne's shop, and saw his father surprised and
+displeased at the renewed absence from work, he said hypocritically:
+
+"Please do not judge me by appearances; be sure, father, that I shall
+again be worthy of you--you will pardon me a fatal slip. I begin to
+realize the danger of the influence that I was blindly yielding to."
+
+Saying this, the lad had hastened to make good the lost time, and
+diligently set to work. Shortly after, the conversation among the
+workingmen turned accidentally upon the sale of indulgences, which they
+condemned with renewed energy. So far from violently taking up the
+cudgels for the nefarious traffic, as he had done on previous occasions,
+Hervé remained silent and even looked confused. Christian drew favorable
+conclusions from his son's embarrassment.
+
+"Our last night's conversation must have borne good fruit," thought the
+artisan to himself; "the poor boy's eyes must have been opened; he must
+have realized that fanaticism was driving him down into an abyss.
+Patience! The principles in which I brought him up will win the upper
+hand. I may now hope for the better."
+
+When towards the close of the day's work he was notified by Master
+Estienne that he wished to speak with him, and was asked to remain
+behind, Christian told his son to inform Bridget of the reason of his
+anticipated delay, in order that she be not alarmed at not seeing him
+home at the usual hour. When he was finally left alone at the shop, he
+continued the paging of a Latin book by the light of a lamp. In the
+midst of this work he was interrupted by one of his friends named
+Justin, a pressman in the shop. Some urgent presswork had kept him in a
+contiguous room. Surprised at finding Christian still at work, Justin
+said:
+
+"I did not expect to find you here so late, dear comrade. The hour for
+rest has sounded."
+
+"Master Estienne sent me word asking that I wait for him after the shop
+closed. He wishes to speak with me."
+
+"That fits in with my plans. I had meant to call at your house this
+evening and propose a trip for to-morrow to Montmartre, in order to
+visit the place that you know of--the more I think of the matter, the
+more convinced am I that we could select no better place for our
+purpose."
+
+"I am inclined to believe you after all the details that you have given
+me upon the matter. But are you quite certain that the place offers us
+all the requisite guarantees of secrecy and safety?"
+
+"In order to convince ourselves fully upon the matter, I wished to
+examine the place once more with you. It is a long time since I was
+there. Maybe the place is no longer what it was. Well, shall we make the
+investigation to-morrow evening?"
+
+"Yes; I think it is high time for us to set to work, and organize our
+army, Justin! I can see no other means to combat our powerful enemies;
+they seem almost all-powerful. From day to day they become more
+threatening. On their side they have force, numbers, power, audacity,
+the judges, the trained soldiers, the priests, the jailers and
+executioners, moss-grown tradition, the ferocious fanaticism of a
+populace whose mind is poisoned and who are misled by the monks. And we,
+what have we? This," added Christian pointing to a printing press that
+stood in the center of the shop, "that instrument, that lever of
+irresistible force--thought--the mind! Courage, my friend! Let us,
+humble soldiers of reason, know how to wait. The printing press will
+change the face of the earth--and all our casqued, mitred and crowned
+tyrants will have seen their day! The printing press will be the weapon
+of emancipation!"
+
+"As well as you, Christian, I have faith in that future, whether it be
+near or far away. Thought, subtle as light itself, will penetrate
+everywhere. The midnight darkness of ignorance will be dispelled, and
+freedom will dart its rays upon all. Let us to work, Christian. The
+moment we shall have chosen our place, we will put our projects into
+execution. I shall be at your house to-morrow evening. The moon will be
+up late; her light will guide us; and--" here Justin interrupted himself
+saying: "Here is our master; I shall leave you. Until to-morrow! I
+shall be promptly on time."
+
+"Till to-morrow," answered Christian as his friend left by a door of the
+shop that opened upon a deserted side street.
+
+Master Robert Estienne, a man of about thirty years of age, was of
+middle size, and of a firm, kind and at once serious physiognomy. His
+eyes sparkled with intelligence; a few premature lines furrowed his wide
+forehead; study and concentration of mind had begun to thin out his
+hair. He wore a coat and puffed-out hose of black taffeta; a white
+crumpled cap sat upon his head, and seemed fastened under his chin by a
+light and closely cropped beard that ended in a point.
+
+"Christian," said Robert Estienne, "I have a service to ask of you, a
+great service."
+
+"Speak, Master Estienne; you know the feelings that I entertain for your
+house and all that concerns you; I am as devoted to you as my father was
+to yours. If it pleases God," added the artisan smothering a sigh, "it
+will be so with my son towards yours."
+
+"These long-continued relations between our two families honor them
+both, Christian. It is for that reason that I do not hesitate to ask a
+great service from you. This is the matter: As you know, my house is a
+thorn in the side of my enemies; without mentioning the assault that it
+had to sustain against the wretched fanatics whom the monks aroused
+against it, the place is constantly spied upon. The persecutions
+redouble in number and vehemence against all those who are suspected of
+favoring the religious Reformation, especially since printed placards
+violently hostile to the Church of Rome were posted over night in the
+streets of Paris. John Morin, the Criminal Lieutenant and worthy
+instrument of Cardinal-Chancellor Duprat, who keeps himself informed by
+the miserable spy who goes under the name of Gainier, keeps Paris in a
+state of terror through his police searches. Only the other day he
+issued an order by which the sergeants of the gendarmes are empowered at
+all hours of the day or night to search from cellar to garret the
+residence of whomsoever is accused of heresy. I am among these. Despite
+the protection of Princess Marguerite, it may happen that, at any
+moment, my domicile is invaded by the lackeys of Duprat's lieutenant."
+
+"That is unfortunately true; your enemies are powerful and numerous."
+
+"Well, now, Christian, a man whom I love like my own brother, an
+honorable man, foe to the priests, and proscribed by them, has asked me
+for asylum. He is here since last evening, in hiding. I am in constant
+apprehension of having my house searched, and my friend's place of
+refuge discovered. His life is at stake."
+
+"Great God! I can understand your uneasiness. Your friend is, indeed, in
+great peril."
+
+"Driven to this extremity, I determined to turn to you. It occurred to
+me that your happy obscurity saves you from the espionage that pursues
+me. Could you extend hospitality to my friend for two or three days, and
+take him this very evening to your house? You would be running no
+risk."
+
+"With all my heart!"
+
+"I shall never forget this service," said Master Robert Estienne, warmly
+pressing the artisan's hand; "I knew I could count upon your
+generosity."
+
+"All I wish to remind you of, sir, is that the asylum is as humble as it
+is safe."
+
+"The proscribed man has for several months been accustomed to travel
+from city to city; more than once, the generous apostle has spent the
+night in the woods and the day in some dark cavern. Any place of refuge
+is good to him."
+
+"That being so, I have this proposition to make to you. I live, as you
+know, on the Exchange Bridge; there is a garret under the roof of the
+house; it is so very low one can hardly stand in it; but it is
+sufficiently ventilated by a little window that opens upon the river.
+To-morrow morning, after my son and I shall have left the house to come
+to the shop, my wife--I shall have to take her into the secret, but I
+answer for her as for myself--"
+
+"I know it, Bridget deserves your full confidence; you may tell her
+everything."
+
+"Well, then, to-morrow morning, after we shall have left the house, my
+wife will send my daughter on some errand or other, and will, during her
+absence, transport to the garret a mattress, some bed linen and whatever
+else may be necessary in order to render the refuge bearable. To-night,
+however, our guest will have to resign himself to a simple quilt for
+bedding; but a night is soon over--"
+
+"That matters little. But how is he to be taken to your house to-night
+without the knowledge of your family? I know your domestic habits. Your
+wife and children are now waiting for you to take supper in the ground
+floor room, the door of which opens on the bridge. They will all see you
+come in with the stranger. Then also, it occurs to me, does not your
+wife's brother, the old Franc-Taupin, join you almost every evening at
+meals? That is an additional difficulty to be overcome."
+
+"That is true; and I do not intend to take him into the secret, although
+his faults--and these are numerous with the poor soldier of
+adventure--are wholly counterbalanced in my eyes by his devotion to my
+family; he fairly worships his sister and her children."
+
+"How, then, shall we manage this evening?"
+
+"I shall take the proscribed man to my house as an old friend whom I met
+and invited to supper. As customary, my son and daughter will withdraw
+to their rooms after the meal, and my wife, her brother the
+Franc-Taupin, if he calls this evening, and I will remain alone with my
+guest. I shall then request my wife's brother to go out for a pot of
+wine in order that we close the day pleasantly. The wine is sold at a
+tavern near the wharf and at some little distance from my house. I shall
+profit by the Franc-Taupin's absence in order to apprize my wife in a
+few words of the secret; my guest will go up into the garret: and when
+my brother-in-law returns I shall tell him that our guest feared it
+would grow too late, and left, requesting me to present his regards to
+the Franc-Taupin and bid him adieu. As you see, the matter can be safely
+and secretly arranged."
+
+"Yes, very well. But, Christian, there is a matter that I must seriously
+call your attention to. It is not an impossible thing that, despite all
+your precautions, the proscribed man may be discovered in your house by
+the police of Duprat's lieutenant; it is my duty to remind you that, in
+such an event, you run the risk of imprisonment, perhaps even of a
+severer, more terrible punishment; remember that justice can not be
+relied upon in these days. The ecclesiastical tribunals are implacable;
+it is with them--torture or death."
+
+"Master Estienne, do you think me accessible to fear?"
+
+"No, I know your devotion to me. But I wish you to feel sure that were
+it not for the strictness of the surveillance that is kept over my
+house, and that renders it impossible for me to offer asylum to the
+friend whom I entrust to you, I would not then expose you to dangers
+that I would otherwise be anxious myself to brave. I first thought of
+hiding him in my cottage at St. Ouen; that country-seat is secluded and
+far enough from the village. But for several reasons that I am not yet
+free to communicate to you, my friend should remain hidden in the very
+heart of Paris. I repeat it, Christian: if, however improbable, it
+should betide that you are put to trouble, if harm should come to you by
+reason of the service that you will have rendered me, your wife and your
+children will find protection and support in my family."
+
+"Master Estienne, I shall never forget that my father, laboring under
+the shameless calumnies of the successor of the printer John Saurin,
+would have himself and his family died of hunger and despair but for the
+generous assistance of your father. Whatever I may do, never could I pay
+that debt of gratitude to you and yours. My modest havings and myself
+are at your disposal."
+
+"My father acted like an upright man, that was all; but if you
+absolutely insist upon considering yourself in our debt, your noble
+assistance in this instance will be to us one more proof of your
+gratitude. But I have not yet told you all, worthy Christian. Yielding
+no doubt to a feeling of delicacy, you have not asked me in behalf of
+whom I solicited asylum with you."
+
+"The proscribed man is worthy of your friendship; he is an apostle,
+Master Estienne; need I know more?"
+
+"Without imparting to you a secret that is not mine, I feel free to
+inform you that this proscribed man is the bravest of the apostles of
+the Reformation. I owe only to your personal attachment the service that
+you render to me, seeing that, in granting asylum to my friend, you are
+not yet aware whether you are in accord with his ideas. Your generous
+action is dictated by your affection towards me and mine; in my turn, I
+now contract a debt of gratitude towards you and yours. And once upon
+this subject, Christian," added Master Estienne in penetrating accents,
+"allow me frankly to state my thoughts to you with respect to your son.
+We have recently talked more than once upon the worry that he caused
+you; I regret the circumstance doubly; I expected great things from
+Hervé. He has developed a variety of aptitudes in other directions
+besides the mechanical part of our art in which he begins to excel. The
+lad's precocious knowledge, his exceptional eloquence--all these
+qualities ranked him in my eye among that small number of men who are
+destined to shine in whatever career they embrace. Finally, that which
+enhanced with me Hervé's intellectual powers was the goodness of his
+heart and the straightforwardness of his character. But his habits have
+latterly become irregular; his one-time affectionate, open and
+communicative nature has undergone a change. I have hitherto refrained
+from letting him perceive the grief that his conduct caused me. In the
+midst of all this I imagine he has preserved some love and respect for
+me. Would you authorize me to have a serious and paternal conversation
+with him? It may have a salutary effect."
+
+"I thank you, Master Estienne, for your kind offer. I am glad to be able
+to say that I have reasons to think that since to-day my son has turned
+to better thoughts; that a sudden and happy change has come over him,
+because--" Christian could not finish his sentence. Madam Estienne, a
+handsome young woman of a sweet and grave countenance, precipitately
+entered the shop and handing to her husband an open letter said to him
+in a moved voice:
+
+"Read, my friend; as you will see, there is not a minute to lose;" and
+turning aside to Christian: "Can we count with you?"
+
+"Absolutely and in all things, madam."
+
+"There is no longer any doubt!" cried Master Estienne after he read the
+letter. "Our house will be searched, this very night perhaps; they are
+on my friend's tracks."
+
+"I shall run for him," said Madam Estienne; "Christian and he will go
+out by the side street. I think the house is watched on the St. John of
+Beauvais Street side."
+
+"Master Estienne," said the artisan to his employer, "in order to make
+assurance doubly sure I shall go down to the end of the side alley and
+reconnoiter whether the passage is clear; I shall explore it
+thoroughly."
+
+"Go, my friend, you will find us in the small yard with the proscribed
+man."
+
+Christian left the shop, crossed the small yard, drew the bolt of a door
+that opened into the side alley and stepped out. He found the lane
+completely deserted, from end to end not a soul was in sight. Although
+it was night there was light enough to see a long distance ahead. Having
+convinced himself that the issue was safe, Christian returned to the
+door of the yard where he found Master Estienne pressing in his own the
+hand of a man of middle size and clad in plain black.
+
+"Master Estienne," said Christian to his employer, "the alley is
+deserted; we can go out without being seen by anyone."
+
+"Adieu, my friend," said Master Estienne in a trembling voice to the
+proscribed man. "You may rely upon your guide as upon me. Follow him
+and observe all that he may recommend to you for your safety. May heaven
+protect your precious life!"
+
+"Adieu! Adieu!" answered the unknown who seemed to be no less moved than
+the printer; saying which he followed Christian. After issuing from the
+alley and walking for a while in the direction of the Exchange Bridge,
+the two men arrived at a gate which they had to pass in order to cross
+the Cour-Dieu. At that place their progress was delayed by a compact
+mass of people who were gathered near the gate, in the center of which
+was a turnstile intended to keep horses and wagons from entering the
+square. Many patrolmen were seen among the crowd.
+
+"What is the meaning of this gathering?" inquired Christian from a man
+of athletic carriage, with the sleeves of his shirt turned up, a
+blood-bespattered apron and a long knife by his side.
+
+"St. James!" exclaimed the butcher in a tone of pious satisfaction; "the
+reverend Franciscan fathers of the Cour-Dieu have been struck by a good
+idea."
+
+"In what way?" again Christian asked. "What is their idea? Inform us of
+what is going on."
+
+"The good monks have placed upon the square in front of the door of
+their convent a lighted chapel at the foot of a beautiful station of the
+Holy Virgin, and a mendicant monk stands on either side of the statue,
+with a club in one hand and a purse in the other--"
+
+"And what is the purpose of the chapel and the mendicant monks and their
+clubs?"
+
+"St. James!" and the butcher crossed himself; "thanks to that chapel the
+Lutheran dogs can be discovered as they pass by."
+
+"How can they be recognized?"
+
+"If they pass before the chapel without kneeling down at the feet of the
+Holy Virgin, and without dropping a piece of money into the purse of the
+mendicant monks, it is a proof that the painim are heretics--they are
+immediately set upon, they are slain, they are torn to shreds. Listen!
+Do you hear that?"
+
+Indeed, at that moment, piercing shrieks half drowned by an angry roar
+of many voices went up from the interior of the Cour-Dieu. As the
+turnstile allowed a passage to only one person at a time, the approaches
+of the square were blocked by a crowd that swelled from moment to moment
+and that was swayed with the ardent desire to witness the _Test of the
+Lutherans_, as the process was called. Every time that the cries of a
+victim ceased, the clamor subsided, and the mob awaited the next
+execution. The butcher resumed:
+
+"That painim has ceased to scream--his account is settled. May the fire
+of St. Anthony consume those laggards who are getting so slowly through
+the gate! I shall not be able to witness the killing of a single one of
+those accursed fellows!"
+
+"My friend," said the mysterious companion of Christian to the butcher,
+"those Lutherans must be very great criminals, are they not? I ask you
+because I am a stranger here--"
+
+A score of voices charitably hastened to answer the unknown man, who,
+together with Christian was so completely hemmed in by the crowd that
+they had no choice but patiently to wait for their turn at the
+turnstile.
+
+"Poor man, where do you come from?" said some, addressing the unknown.
+"What! You ask whether the Lutherans are criminals? Why, they are
+infamous brigands!"
+
+And thereupon they vied with one another in citing the felonies that the
+reformers were guilty of:
+
+"They read the Bible in French!"
+
+"They do not confess!"
+
+"They do not sing mass!"
+
+"They believe neither in the Pope, nor the saints, nor in the virginity
+of Mary, nor in holy relics!"
+
+"Nor in the blood of our Savior!--nor in the drop of milk of his holy
+mother!--nor in the miraculous tooth of St. Loup!"
+
+"And what do those demons substitute for the holy mass? Abominable
+incantations and orgies!"
+
+"Yes, yes--it is so!"
+
+"I, who now speak to you, knew the son of a tailor who was once caught
+in the net of those ministers of the devil. I'll tell you what he
+saw--he told me all about it the next day. The Lutherans assembled at
+night--at midnight--in a large cave, men, young girls and women to
+celebrate their _Luthery_. A rich bourgeois woman, who lived on the same
+street with the tailor attended the incantation with her two daughters.
+When all the canting hypocrites were assembled, their priest donned a
+robe of goatskin with a headgear of spreading oxhorns; he then took a
+little child, spread the poor little fellow upon a table lighted by two
+tall wax candles, and, while the other heretics sang their psalms in
+French, interspersed with magical invocations, their priest cut the
+child's throat!"
+
+"The assassins! The monsters! The demons!"
+
+"The priest of Lucifer thereupon gathered the child's blood in a vase
+and sprinkled the assembly with the warm gore! He then tore out the
+child's heart and ate it up! That closed the celebration of the
+Luthery."
+
+"Holy St. James, and shall we not bleed these sons of Satan to the last
+man?" cried the butcher, carrying his hand to his knife, while the
+proscribed man exchanged significant glances with Christian and remarked
+to those standing near him:
+
+"Can such monstrosities be possible? Could such things have happened?"
+
+"Whether they are possible! Why, Brother St. Lawrence-on-the-gridiron, a
+reverend Carmelite who is my confessor, told me, Marotte, there never
+was an assembly of those heretics held without at least one or two
+little children being sacrificed."
+
+"Jesus, God! Everybody knows that," pursued the first narrator; "the
+tailor's son that I am talking about witnessed the heretical orgy; he
+saw everything with his own eyes; then, after the Lutherans had been
+sprinkled with the child's blood as a sort of baptism, their priest
+spoke up and said: 'Now, take off your clothes, and pray to God in our
+fashion. Long live hell and the Luthery!' As soon as he said this, he
+put out the two wax candles, whereupon all the he and she canting
+hypocrites, with as much clothing on as Adam and Eve, men, women and
+young girls, all thrown helter-skelter in the dark--well, you
+understand--it is an abomination!"[9]
+
+"What a horror! Malediction upon them!"
+
+"Mercy! May God protect us from such heretics!"
+
+"Confession! Such infamies portend the end of the world!"
+
+"Brother St. Lawrence-on-the-gridiron, the reverend Carmelite friar, my
+confessor, told me, Marotte, that all the Lutheries closed in the same
+fashion. The good father felt so indignant that he gave me accurate
+details upon the devilish heretics; they were details that made my
+cheeks burn red and hot like a piece of coal."
+
+These snatches of reports, that summed up the stupid and atrocious
+calumnies spread about by the monks against the reformers, were
+interrupted by new shrieks and vociferations that went up from the
+Cour-Dieu. Listening with secret disgust and silent indignation to the
+calumnious indignities that were huckstered about by an ignorant and
+credulous populace, Christian and the unknown man in his charge had
+followed the stream of the crowd, and presently found themselves under
+the vault of the gate that led to the square, whence they could take in
+at a glance what was happening there. A sort of altar lighted with wax
+candles rose in front of the main entrance to the Franciscan Convent; a
+life-sized statue of the Virgin wrought in wood and gorgeously attired
+in a robe of gold brocade and with her face painted like a picture,
+surmounted the altar. Several Franciscan monks, among whom Christian
+recognized Fra Girard were stationed near the lighted chapel. Two of
+them, holding large velvet purses in their hands, were posted one on
+either side of the statue. A large crowd of tattered men and women, of
+cynical, repulsive or brutal countenances, all armed with clubs and
+grouped near the door of the convent, stood waiting for the moment when,
+at a signal from the monks, they were to rush upon the ill-starred
+passer-by who was designated as suspected of heresy. Each passer-by had
+inevitably to cross the square at only a slight distance from the statue
+of the Virgin. If they knelt down before it and dropped their alms into
+the purse of the mendicant friars, no danger threatened them. But if
+they failed to fulfil this act of devotion, the ferocious band that
+stood in waiting would be let loose at the signal from the monks, and
+would rush upon the Lutheran, beat him with their sticks, and not
+infrequently leave him lying dead upon the square. All the persons who
+were just ahead of Christian and the unknown man proceeded straight to
+the altar, and either out of fear or out of piety knelt down before the
+image of the Virgin and then rose and deposited their offerings in the
+purse held out by the Franciscans. A man, still young but frail and
+short of stature, behind whom Christian stood, said to himself in an
+undertone just as he was about to thread the turnstile and emerge into
+the square:
+
+"I am a Catholic, but by the blood of God! I prefer to be cut to pieces
+rather than submit to such extortion. May the devil take the monks!"
+
+"You will be wrong," said Christian to him in a low voice. "I revolt as
+much as you at the indignity. But what is to be done against force?
+Submit to the ignominy."
+
+"I shall protest at the peril of my life! Such excesses dishonor
+religion," the man answered Christian, and stepping out of the gate into
+the square with a firm step, he crossed the place without turning his
+head in the direction of the altar. Hardly, however, had he passed by
+when the tattered mob who stood near the monks, ready at the latters'
+beck, rushed forward in pursuit of the unhappy fellow; they overtook
+him, surrounded, and bawled at him: "Heretic!" "Lutheran!" "He insults
+the image of the mother of the Savior!" "Down on your knees!" "The
+canting hypocrite!" "Down on your knees!" "Death to the heretic!"
+
+While these fanatics surrounded their victim, Christian said to his
+companion:
+
+"Let us profit by the tumult to escape from these ferocious beasts;
+unfortunately it were idle to seek to snatch that senseless but
+stout-hearted man from the clutches of his assailants."
+
+Christian and the unknown man in turn stepped out of the gate into the
+square and were hurriedly walking towards the opposite issue without
+stopping at the altar when, being caught sight of by the monks, the
+latter cried out:
+
+"There go two other heretics! They are trying to escape without kneeling
+before the holy Virgin! Stop them! Bring them back and make them empty
+their purses!"
+
+The voices of the Franciscans did not reach the ears of the demoniac
+pack, greedy as it was for its prey; they emitted savage yells as they
+beat to death, not a heretic, but a Catholic, whose sin consisted in
+refusing to submit to an adoration imposed upon him in a brutal manner,
+and which he otherwise would cheerfully have complied with. After the
+unhappy fellow had bravely defended himself with his cane, the only
+weapon that he carried, he was finally overwhelmed by numbers and fell
+livid, bleeding, and almost unconscious upon the pavement. A
+horrid-looking shrew seized him by the hair and while she dragged the
+almost lifeless body towards the altar other dastards from the dregs of
+the mob struck him in the face with their feet.
+
+"Mercy!" cried the unhappy fellow in a faint voice. "Jesus!--My
+God!--Have pity upon me!--They are murdering a good Catholic!"
+
+These were the brave fellow's last words. His voice was soon heard no
+more. The butcher with whom Christian had exchanged a few words ran
+towards and joined the assassin mob. He piously knelt down before the
+statue of the Virgin, then rose, drew his knife, and brandishing it in
+the air cried:
+
+"St. James! Let me bleed the damned Lutheran! It will be worth an
+indulgence to me! You know, bleeding is my profession!"
+
+The sanguinary sally was received with loud outbursts of laughter; room
+was made for the butcher near the bleeding body; he squatted upon its
+still palpitating chest, slashed his knife through the prostrate man's
+throat, cut the head from the trunk, seized it by the hair, and, holding
+up the shocking trophy to the gaze of the mob, he cried with wild
+ecstasy:
+
+"The heretic dog would not bow down before the mother of the Savior--he
+shall now plant his forehead on the pavement at her feet!"
+
+So said, so done. Followed by the demented band at his heels, the
+butcher ran back to the altar, holding the livid head in his hands, red
+and streaming with the warm blood of the victim; he knelt down himself,
+and slammed the head face down upon the ground at the feet of Mary,
+amidst the savage acclaim of his fellow assassins, all of whom piously
+threw themselves down upon their knees like himself.
+
+"Oh, monsieur, this is frightful!" murmured Christian suffocating for
+breath as his companion and he stepped out of the square. "To think that
+such horrors are perpetrated in the name of the benign mother of Christ!
+Oh, the wretches, as stupid as they are bloodthirsty!"
+
+"Ignorance, misery and fanaticism!--that is their excuse. Let us not
+blame these unhappy people; they are what the monks have made them,"
+answered the unknown with a bitter and desolate smile. "Oh, these monks,
+these monks! When will society be finally purged of the infernal breed!"
+
+Christian and his companion hastened their steps towards the artisan's
+house, nor dared they to turn and look behind.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+MONSIEUR JOHN.
+
+
+"Fear not; I have a certain means of regaining the good graces of my
+family"--such were among the last words said by Hervé to Fra Girard as
+they stepped out of the Church of St. Dominic, where he purchased the
+letter of indulgence that absolved him in advance from all his future
+misdeeds. Hervé was, alas! true to his promise. Back long in advance of
+his father that evening under the paternal roof, he pursued his plan of
+infernal hypocrisy, and succeeded in awaking in his mother's breast the
+same hopes for the better that he awoke in the breast of Christian.
+Seeing Hervé pray her feelingly to suspend her judgment with regard to
+himself on the theft that he was suspected of; seeing him admit that,
+however late, he now realized the fatal effect of a dangerous influence
+over himself; finally, seeing her son respond with unexpected
+effusiveness to the affectionate greeting of his sister, Bridget said to
+herself, as Christian had done: "Let us hope; Hervé is returning to
+better sentiments; the painful conversation of last night has borne its
+fruit; our remonstrances have had a salutary effect upon him; the
+principles that we have inculcated in him, will regain their sway. Let
+us hope!"
+
+With a heart, now as brimful of joy as it was of distress on the
+previous evening, the happy mother busied herself with preparing the
+evening meal. No less joyful than Bridget at the return of Hervé's
+tenderness, Hena was radiant with happiness, and the sentiment enhanced
+her beauty. Barely in her seventeenth year, lithesome and generously
+built, the young girl wore her golden-blonde hair braided in two strands
+coiled over her head and crowning her blooming cheeks. The gentleness of
+her features, that were of angelic beauty, would have inspired the
+divine Raphael Sanzio. White as a lily, she had a lily's chaste
+splendor; candor and kindness stood out clear in the azure of her eyes.
+Often did those eyes rest upon that naughty yet so dearly beloved
+brother, of whom the poor child had feared she was disliked. Seated
+beside him, and engaged at some needle-work, she now felt herself, as in
+former days, filled with sweet confidence in Hervé, while the latter,
+once more affectionate and jovial as ever before, entertained himself
+pleasantly with his sister. By a tacit accord, neither made any allusion
+to the recent and painful past, and chatted as familiarly as if their
+fraternal intimacy had never suffered the slightest jar. Despite his
+self-control and profound powers of dissimulation, Hervé was ill at
+ease; he felt the necessity of speaking, and sought distraction in the
+sound of words in order to escape the obsession of his secret thoughts.
+He rambled at haphazard from one subject to the other. Brother and
+sister were thus engaged as Bridget absented herself for a moment on
+the floor above in pursuit of some household duty.
+
+"Hervé," the young girl was saying to her brother, thoughtfully, "your
+account interests me greatly. How old would you take that monk to be?"
+
+"I could not tell; perhaps twenty-five."
+
+"He had a face that was at once handsome, sad and benign, did he not?
+His beard is of a somewhat lighter hue than his auburn hair; his eyes
+are black, and he is very pale; he has a sympathetic countenance."
+
+While thus chatting with her brother, Hena proceeded to sew and could
+not notice the expression of surprise that Hervé's face betrayed. His
+feelings notwithstanding, he answered:
+
+"That is a very accurate description. One must have observed a person
+very attentively in order to preserve so life-like a picture of him. But
+what induces you to believe that the monk in question is the handsome
+auburn-haired monk, whose picture you have just sketched?"
+
+"Why, did you not just tell me, dear brother, that you recently
+witnessed a touching action of which a monk was the author? Well, it
+struck me that probably he was the friar that I described. But proceed
+with the story."
+
+"But who is that monk? Where did you see him? How did you happen to know
+him?" Hervé interrogated his sister in short, set words, inspired by an
+ill-suppressed agonizing feeling of jealousy. The naïve girl, however,
+mistaking the sentiment that prompted her brother's question, answered
+him merrily:
+
+"Oh! Oh! Seigneur Hervé, you are very inquisitive. First finish your
+story; I shall tell you afterwards."
+
+Affecting a pleasant tone, Hervé replied as he cast upon his sister a
+sharp and penetrating look: "Oh! Oh! Mademoiselle Hena, you twit me with
+being inquisitive, but, it seems to me, that you are no less so. Never
+mind, I shall accommodate you. Well, as I was saying, when passing this
+morning by the porch of St. Merry's Church, I saw a crowd gathered, and
+I inquired the reason. I was answered that a babe, six months old at the
+most, had been left over night at the portal of the church."
+
+"Poor little creature!"
+
+"At that moment a young monk parted the crowd, took up the child in his
+arms, and with tears in his eyes and his face marked with touching
+compassion, he warmed with his breath the numb hands of the poor little
+waif, wrapped the baby carefully in one of the long sleeves of his robe,
+and disappeared as happy as if he carried away a treasure. The crowd
+applauded, and I heard some people around me say that the monk belonged
+to the Order of the Augustinians and was called Brother St.
+Ernest-Martyr."
+
+"Why 'Martyr'--and he so charitable?"
+
+"You do not seem to know, sister, that when taking orders a monk
+renounces his family names and assumes the name of some saint--such as
+St. Peter-in-bonds, or St. Sebastian-pierced-with-arrows, or St.
+Lawrence-on-the-gridiron, or St. Anthony-with-the-pig--"
+
+"Oh, what mournful names! They make one shudder. But the last one is
+really grotesque."
+
+"Well," proceeded Hervé, without detaching his prying eyes from Hena,
+"Brother St. Ernest-Martyr was hastily walking away with his precious
+burden when I heard someone remark:
+
+"'I am quite sure the good monk will take the poor little one to Mary La
+Catelle'--"
+
+"I thought so!" exclaimed Hena ingenuously; "I knew it was he; it is my
+monk!"
+
+"How, your monk?" asked Bridget smiling, her heart dilating with joy as
+she descended the stairs and saw her son and daughter engaged in cordial
+conversation as was their former wont. "Of what monk are you talking,
+Hena, with so much unction?"
+
+"Do you not know, mother, La Catelle and her school? Do you remember
+that charming woman?"
+
+"Certainly, I do. I remember the young widow Mary La Catelle. The school
+that she founded for poor children is a work of touching charity, which,
+however, also owes a good deal to John Dubourg, the linen draper of St.
+Denis Street, and to another rich bourgeois, Monsieur Laforge. They both
+generously sustain La Catelle and her sister Martha, the wife of Poille,
+the architect, who shares with her the maternal cares that she bestows
+upon poor orphans whom she takes up in her house--a place which has
+justly earned the name of 'the house of God'."
+
+"Do you remember, mother," Hena proceeded with her reminiscences, "that
+when we went to the house of La Catelle, it happened to be school hour?"
+
+"Yes, an Augustinian monk was instructing a group of children who stood
+around him or sat at his feet, and some were seated on his knees."
+
+"Well mother, I listened to the monk as he was explaining to the
+children the parable of: 'Wicked are they who live on the milk of a
+sheep, who clothe themselves in her fleece, and yet leave the poor beast
+without pasture.' He uttered upon that subject words imprinted with such
+sweet and tender charity, and yet so easy for the intelligence of
+children to grasp, that tears came to my eyes."
+
+"And I shared your sister's emotion, Hervé," replied Bridget, addressing
+her son, who, silent and absorbed in his own thoughts, had dropped out
+of the conversation. "You can not imagine with what charming benignity
+the young monk instructed those little ones; he measured his words to
+their intelligence, in order to indoctrinate them with the simple and
+pure evangelical morality. Mary La Catelle assured us that his knowledge
+was no less than his virtue."
+
+Two raps at the street door from without interrupted the conversation.
+
+"At last!" said Bridget to Hervé. "This is surely your father. The
+streets are not quite safe at night. I prefer to see him indoors. I
+hardly think we shall see my brother this evening. The hour for supper
+is long gone by," observed Bridget, stepping towards her husband, to
+whom Hervé had opened the house door.
+
+Christian came in accompanied with the unknown personage, a young man
+of, however, a striking countenance by reason of its expression of
+deliberate firmness. His black eyes, instinct with intelligence and
+fire, were set so close that they imparted a singular character to his
+pale and austere visage. At the sight of the unexpected visitor Bridget
+made a gesture of surprise.
+
+"Dear wife," said Christian, "I have brought Monsieur John along for
+supper. He is an old friend whom I accidentally met to-day."
+
+"He is welcome to our house," answered Bridget, while the two children
+looked at the stranger with curiosity. As was her custom, Hena embraced
+her father affectionately; but Hervé, looking at him with a timid and
+repentant eye, seemed doubtful whether to follow his sister's example.
+The artisan opened his arms to his son and whispered in his ear as he
+pressed him to his heart:
+
+"I have not forgotten your fair promises of this morning," and turning
+to his guest: "This is my family--my daughter is an embroiderer, like
+her mother; my eldest son is, like myself, a printer in Monsieur Robert
+Estienne's workshop; my second son, who is apprenticed to an armorer, is
+now traveling in Italy. Thanks to God our children are wise and
+industrious, and deserve to be loved as my worthy wife and I love them."
+
+"May the blessing of God continue upon your family," answered Monsieur
+John in an affectionate voice, while Hena and her brother arranged the
+covers and set upon the table the dishes that had been prepared for the
+family meal.
+
+"Bridget," said Christian, "where is your brother?"
+
+"I had just been wondering at his absence, my friend; I would feel
+uneasy, if it were not that I rely upon his bravery, his long sword--in
+short, upon his general appearance, which is not exactly attractive to
+sneaking night thieves," added Bridget with a smile. "Neither
+Tire-Laines nor Guilleris will be very anxious to attack a Franc-Taupin.
+We need not wait for him; if he comes he will know how to make up for
+lost time at table, and will take double mouthfuls."
+
+The family and their guest sat down to table, with Monsieur John placed
+between Christian and Bridget. Addressing her, he said:
+
+"Such order and exquisite propriety reigns in this house, madam, that
+the housekeeper deserves to be complimented."
+
+"Household duties are a pleasure to me and to my daughter, monsieur;
+order and cleanliness are the only luxuries that we, poor people, can
+indulge in."
+
+"_Sancta simplicitas!_" said the stranger, and he proceeded with a
+smile: "It is a good and old motto--Holy simplicity. You will pardon me,
+madam, for having spoken in Latin. It was an oversight on my part."
+
+"By the way of Latin," put in the artisan, addressing his wife, "did
+Lefevre drop in during the day?"
+
+"No, my friend; I am as much surprised as yourself at the increasing
+rareness of his calls; formerly few were the days that he did not visit
+us; perhaps he is sick, or absent from Paris. I shall inquire after him
+to-morrow."
+
+"Lefevre is a learned Latinist," said Christian, addressing Monsieur
+John; "he is one of my oldest friends; he teaches at the University. He
+is a rough and tough mountaineer from Savoy. But under his rude external
+appearance beats an excellent heart. We think very highly of him."
+
+Christian was about to proceed when he was interrupted by the following
+ditty that came from the street, and was sung by a sonorous voice:
+
+    "A Franc-Taupin had an ash-tree bow,
+    All eaten with worms, and all knotted its cord;
+    His arrow was made out of paper, and plumed,
+    And tipped at the end with a capon's spur.
+    _Derideron, vignette on vignon! Derideron!_"
+
+"It is uncle! His favorite song announces him!" said Hena joyfully, as
+she rose to open the house-door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE FRANC-TAUPIN.
+
+
+Josephin, Bridget's brother, surnamed Tocquedillon the Franc-Taupin,
+stepped into the room. A soldier of adventure since his fifteenth year,
+he had run away from the paternal home, and soon thereafter enrolled
+with the Franc-Taupins, a sort of irregular militia, whose duty it was
+to dig the trenches intended to cover the approaches of the assailants
+at the siege of a city. These mercenary soldiers were named
+"Franc-Taupins" because, like the franc archers, they were "frank" or
+free from taxation, and because their underground work bore great
+resemblance to that of the _taupe_--mole. Once out of their trenches,
+the saying was, the Franc-Taupins displayed but little courage. Whether
+justly or unjustly, the poltroonery of the Franc-Taupin became
+proverbial, as evidenced by the favorite song of Bridget's brother. This
+personage, however, was anything but a poltroon. Just the reverse. After
+he had twice or three times turned up the earth at as many sieges, he
+disdained to belong to a corps of such cowardly renown, and enrolled in
+another irregular militia, one that stood in general dread--the
+Adventurers or Pendards, of whom a contemporaneous writer drew the
+following and, unfortunately, but too truthful picture:
+
+"What a vagabond, flagitious, murderous set are these Pendards! They are
+deniers of God, ravishing wolves, violators of women, devourers of the
+people! They drive the good man out of his house, empty his pot of wine
+and sleep in his bed. Their garb matches their disorderly habits. They
+wear shirts with long sleeves, open in front and exposing their hirsute
+chests; their streaked hose do not cover their flesh; their calves are
+left bare and they carry their socks in their belts for fear of wearing
+them out. Poultry trembles in the hen-coops at their approach, and so
+does bacon in the pantry. Brawling, roistering, audacious, ever with
+their mouths wide open, they love nothing better than to guzzle in
+company the wine that they have jointly stolen."
+
+Despite his intrepidity in war, and without resembling at all points
+this picture of the Pendards, Tocquedillon the Franc-Taupin, preserved
+strong features of the same. For all that, however, he adored, venerated
+his sister, and from the moment that he sat down at her hearth he would
+seem metamorphosed. Nothing in either his words or his conduct would
+then recall the audacious adventurer. Timid, affectionate, realizing how
+unbecoming the slang of the tavern or of even worse places would be in
+the presence of Bridget's children, of whom he was as fond as of her
+herself, he always controlled himself and never uttered in their
+presence any but decorous language. For Christian he had as much love as
+respect. As the saying goes, he would have gone through fire for the
+family. The Franc-Taupin was at this time about thirty years of age; he
+was lean, bony and about six feet high. Scarred with innumerable wounds,
+and partly blinded in battle, he wore a large black patch over his left
+eye. He kept his hair close cropped, his beard cut into a point under
+his chin, and his moustache twisted upward. His nose was pimply through
+excessive indulgence in wine, and his thick-lipped mouth, slit from ear
+to ear, exposed two rows of desultory shark's teeth every time that, as
+a true roisterer, he gave a loose to his imperturbable mirthfulness.
+
+The moment he stepped into the room, the Franc-Taupin deposited his old
+and weather-beaten sword in a corner, embraced his sister and her two
+children, shook hands cordially with Christian, bowed respectfully to
+the unknown man, and timidly took his usual place at the family table.
+
+Christian came to the relief of his brother-in-law's embarrassment and
+said to him jovially:
+
+"We would have felt uneasy at your absence, Josephin, if we did not know
+that you are of those who, with their swords at their side, defy the
+world and are able to defend themselves against all assailants."
+
+"Oh, brother, the best sword in the world will not protect one against a
+surprise; the surprise that I have just experienced has knocked me down.
+As my surprise tastes strongly of salt, I am dying with thirst--allow me
+to empty a cup." After his cup was emptied the Franc-Taupin proceeded
+with a scared look: "By the bowels of St. Quenet, what did I see! I'm
+quite certain that I am not deceived; I have only one eye left, but it
+is good for two. By all the devils, I saw him! I saw him distinctly! A
+singular encounter!"
+
+"Whom did you see, Josephin?"
+
+"I saw, just now, just before nightfall, here, in Paris, Captain Don
+Ignatius Loyola, a Spanish nobleman--a devil of a fighter and an
+inveterate lover of amorous adventures--a terrible man."
+
+At the mentioning of Ignatius Loyola's name the guest at Christian's
+table shuddered, while Christian himself asked the Franc-Taupin:
+
+"But who is that Spanish captain the sight of whom in Paris affects you
+so greatly?"
+
+"Did you really know the man?" inquired Monsieur John in an accent of
+deep interest. "Did you know Ignatius Loyola personally?"
+
+"I should think I did! I was his page."
+
+"And so, Loyola was a captain?" again inquired Monsieur John, more and
+more interested in what the Franc-Taupin said. "You must, then, have
+some information on the man's life, his character, his habits. Please
+tell us something about him."
+
+"By the bowels of St. Quenet! I was continuously with him for three
+whole months! By all the devils, I never left his side, either day or
+night!"
+
+"What were his morals?"
+
+"Oh! Oh! friend guest, I would not like to answer that question in my
+sister's presence--it is too racy a story."
+
+"Friend Christian," said Monsieur John, "I notice that you are
+surprised at my curiosity concerning the Spanish captain. You will some
+day understand that the information in question interests you as well.
+It will be an interesting history for you to know."
+
+"Hena, Hervé," said the artisan, "supper is nearly ended, my children;
+it is growing late; you may retire."
+
+"And I," put in Bridget, "have some embroidery to finish; I shall go
+upstairs and work at it with Hena; I shall come down later and put away
+the dishes. You can call for me, Christian, if you need anything. You
+and Josephin can entertain our guest."
+
+Hervé embraced his father with an affectation of increased tenderness,
+and withdrew to his bedroom; Bridget and her daughter went upstairs. The
+unknown man and Christian remained alone with the Franc-Taupin, and the
+latter proceeded, laughing:
+
+"My sister and her children being out of the way, my tongue is at
+freedom. Tell me, brother, did you ever hear the story of the greyhound?
+The handsomest bitches sighed after him; he remained insensible to all
+their tender growls; one day a monk's frock was thrown upon him, and he
+immediately became as amorous as one possessed. Well, Captain Loyola was
+as possessed for love adventures as the greyhound in the story, without,
+however, having need of a monk's frock to give him the start; and--but I
+was almost forgetting. Do you know, brother, in whose company I saw the
+fire-eater and hell-rake this evening? With your friend Lefevre."
+
+Christian remained for an instant speechless with astonishment; and
+turning to Monsieur John, he said:
+
+"I must admit that great is my astonishment. Lefevre, whose name I
+mentioned to you before, is an austere man, wholly absorbed in
+scientific pursuits and in study. What can he have in common with the
+Spanish libertine? I am unable to explain the mystery."
+
+"If you are surprised, brother, no less so am I," replied the
+Franc-Taupin. "Captain Loyola, whom fourteen or fifteen years ago I knew
+as the handsomest, gayest and most dissolute of cavaliers, dressed in
+velvets, silks and lace, looks to-day as tattered as any tramp or
+starving beggar. The transformation is so radical, that I never would
+have thought of looking for my frisky Spanish captain under the black
+smock-frock of a halepopin, had it not been for Lefevre, who, stopping
+me near the booths of the market place, which I was then crossing,
+inquired after you. It was then that I looked more attentively at his
+seedy companion and recognized--Don Ignatius!"
+
+"The man's relations astonish me so much, Josephin, that I am no less
+impatient than our guest to hear you."
+
+"Well, it was in the year 1521, during the siege of Pampeluna," the
+adventurer began, "and shortly after my enrollment with the
+Franc-Taupins. I was digging a trench with them before the place; we
+were throwing up the earth like veritable moles. The Spaniards made a
+sortie in order to destroy our works. At the first shot of the Spanish
+arquebuses, all my companions threw themselves flat down, with their
+noses in the hole. Their cowardice angered me. I took up my pick and
+rushed into the melee, plying my improvised weapon upon the Spaniards. A
+blow with a mace over my head knocked me down half dead. When I
+recovered consciousness I found myself lying upon the battle field among
+several of our men, all prisoners like myself. A company of Spanish
+arquebusiers surrounded us. Their captain, with the visor of his casque
+raised and mounted upon a Moorish horse as black as ebony, the housings
+of which were of red velvet embroidered with silver, was wiping his
+long, blood-stained sword upon the animal's mane. The captain was Don
+Ignatius Loyola. Moustache turned up in Castilian style, goatee, an
+olive complexion, intrepid mien, haughty and martial bearing--such was
+his portrait. He had noticed me pounding his soldiers with my pick, and
+took a fancy both to my pick and my youth. When he saw that I had
+regained consciousness, he started to laugh and addressed me in French:
+'Will you be my page? Your wideawake face denotes an intelligent
+scapegrace; I shall furnish you a silver-embroidered red livery and a
+ducat a month, and you can eat your fill at my residence.' Oh, brother,
+an offer to eat my fill, to me whose stomach had long been as hollow as
+the barrel of St. Benoit and as open as an advocate's purse! The
+prospect of putting on a beautiful silver-embroidered livery, when my
+hose had for some time been reporting to me from which corner the wind
+blew! The thought of pocketing every month a ducat, when all my earnings
+during the whole campaign had so far been a wooden bowl that I plundered
+somewhere, and that I used for a hat! In token of glad acceptance I
+seized my pick that lay near me, threw it as far away as I could, and I
+told Don Ignatius that I accepted, and would follow him to the very
+devil's residence. The long and short of the affair was that I entered
+Pampeluna with my new master."
+
+"I feel more and more mystified," interjected Christian; "what service
+could a page, ignorant of the country's language, render to Don
+Ignatius?"
+
+"The devil take it! That was the very reason why I was employed by the
+cunning slyboots of a Don Ignatius. No sooner did I arrive at his
+residence, than an old majordomo, the only one of his men who spoke
+French, rigged me up in new clothes, from my feet to my head,--puffed
+hose of red velvet, white satin jacket, short cloak with silver
+trimmings, ruffs and bonnet after the Spanish style. Thus behold me,
+brother, attired as a genuine court page. In those days I had both my
+eyes--two luminaries of deviltry, besides the cunning nose of a fox cub.
+Thus dressed up in spick and span dashing new clothes, the majordomo led
+me to Captain Loyola, 'Do you know,' he asked me, 'why I take you, a
+Frenchman, for my page? It is because, as you do not know Spanish, you
+can not choose but be discreet towards the people in my house and those
+outside.'"
+
+"That is not badly planned," remarked Christian; "Don Ignatius had, I
+suppose, many amorous secrets to conceal?"
+
+"By the bowels of St. Quenet! I knew him to have as many as three
+sweethearts at a time: a charming merchant's wife, a haughty
+marchioness, and a bedeviled gipsy girl, the most beautiful daughter of
+Bohemia that ever trilled a tambourine. But Captain Loyola, a veritable
+Franc-Taupin in matters of love, courted behind concealed trenches. He
+reveled in mystery. 'What is not known does not exist' was, with him, a
+favorite maxim that the old majordomo, his master's echo, often repeated
+to me."
+
+"'What is not known does not exist,'" repeated Monsieur John pensively.
+"Yes, judging by the motto, the man must be just what he has been
+described to me to be."
+
+"Just listen," Josephin proceeded; "I shall describe to you the
+experiences that I made the first evening that I served Don Ignatius as
+page. You will then be able to judge of the scamp's calibre. A
+fifteen-days' truce was agreed upon between the French and the
+Spaniards, as a result of the sortie at which I was taken prisoner. As a
+longheaded man, Captain Loyola proposed to profit by the truce in his
+amorous intrigues. Towards midnight he summoned me to his side. The
+devil! If the fellow looked martial in battle outfit, he looked frisky
+in his court costume! A jacket slashed with gold-embroidered velvet,
+puffed hose of white satin, shoes turned like a crawfish, plumed bonnet,
+a gold bejeweled chain on his neck! What shall I say? He shone and
+glittered, and besides, smelled of balsam! A veritable muskrat! He hands
+for me to carry a silken ladder and a guitar; takes his dagger and
+sword; and wraps himself up to the eyes in a taffeta mantle of light
+yellow. The old majordomo opens a secret door to us; we issue out of the
+house; after crossing a few narrow streets, we arrive at a deserted
+little square. My master glides under a balcony that is shut with
+lattices, takes the guitar from my hands, and there you have him
+warbling his roundelay. In response to the carol of the moustachioed
+nightingale, one of the shutters of the balcony opens slightly, and a
+bouquet of pomegranate blossoms drops at our feet. Don Ignatius picks it
+up, extracts from amidst the flowers a little note concealed among them,
+and gives me the guitar together with the bouquet to hold for him. I
+imagined our evening performance concluded. By the bowels of St. Quenet,
+it had only commenced! Don Ignatius fanned the sparks of his
+libidinousness with his guitarade, on the same principle that one fans
+the sparks of his thirst by chewing on a pork-rind dipped in mustard.
+But by the way of thirst, brother, let us imbibe that pot; appetite
+comes with eating, but thirst goes with drinking. He who drinks without
+being thirsty drinks for the thirst that is to come. Thirst is an
+animal's quality, but to crave for drink is a quality of man. By St
+Pansard and St. Goguelu, let's moisten, let's moisten our whistles! Our
+tongues will dry up soon enough! Unhappy Shrove-Tuesday, the patron of
+pots and sausages--and the devil take the Pope and all his friarhood!"
+
+"Josephin," said Christian, smiling and filling the Franc-Taupin's cup,
+as he broke into the midst of the latter's flow of bacchic invocations,
+"I know you to be an expert in the matter of quaffing, but our guest and
+myself are more curious about the end of your story."
+
+"God's head! As truly as the mere shadow of a Carmelite convent is
+enough to cure any woman of sterility, I shall not allow the end of the
+adventure of Don Ignatius to drown at the bottom of this cup! There, it
+is now empty!"
+
+Saying this, the Franc-Taupin passed the back of his hand over his
+moustache, moist with wine, wiped it dry, and proceeded:
+
+"Well, as I was saying, after his guitarade, Don Ignatius proceeded with
+his nocturnal adventure on the streets of Pampeluna. We moved away, and
+pulled up next before a pretentious dwelling. My master plants himself
+under a balcony at some distance from the main entrance; passes his long
+sword over to me to keep with the guitar, and retains no weapon other
+than his dagger; he then disengages himself of his mantle also, which he
+throws over my arm and says to me: 'You will hold the lower end of the
+ladder while I climb up to the balcony; you will then keep a sharp
+lookout near the door of this house; if you see anyone go in, you will
+run quickly under this window and clap your hands twice; I shall hear
+your signal.' This being agreed upon, Don Ignatius himself claps his
+hands three times. Immediately thereupon I see through the darkness of
+the night, a white form lean over the balustrade and drop us a cord. My
+master ties his ladder to it; the white form draws it up; the upper end
+of the ladder is fastened to the balcony; I steady it by holding the
+lower rung in my hands; and there you have Captain Loyola clambering up
+nimbly and light of heel, like a tom-cat running over a roof-pipe. As to
+myself, no less distressed than the dog of the cook who is turning the
+roast on the spit over a fire, and looks at the savory meat out of the
+corner of his eyes without partaking of it, I run and place myself in
+ambush near the door. The devil! A few minutes later, what is that I
+see? Several seigneurs, lighted by lackeys with torches in their hands
+turn into the street. One of them walks straight to the door near which
+I stand on the watch, and enters the house where my master is regaling
+himself. Obedient to the watchword, but forgetting that the flames of
+the torches are lighting me, I run to the balcony and clap my hands
+twice. By the bowels of St. Quenet, I am perceived! Two lackeys seize me
+at the moment when, notified by my signal, Captain Loyola is straddling
+the balustrade in order to descend into the street. He is recognized by
+the light of the torches. 'It is he!' 'There he is!' cry the seigneurs
+who stand in a bunch in the street. Although discovered, Don Ignatius
+glides bravely down the ladder, touches ground and calls: 'Halloa,
+there, page, my sword!' 'Don Ignatius of Loyola, I am Don Alonzo, the
+brother of Donna Carmen,' says one of the cavaliers. 'I am ready to give
+you satisfaction,' answers the captain proudly. But by the bowels of St.
+Quenet, it was with Don Ignatius's duels as with his amorous
+appointments: before the one was well finished the next commenced.
+Suddenly, the man whom I had seen enter the house, in short, the
+husband, Don Hercules Luga, appeared at the balcony; he held a bleeding
+sword in his hand. He leans forward into the street and cries: 'Friends,
+justice is done to the woman! There now remains justice to be done to
+her accomplice. Hold him. I am coming down!'"
+
+"Poor woman!" said Christian. "The death that he was the cause of must
+have horrified the libertine."
+
+"Him? The devil! Horrified at so little? Judge for yourself. At the
+moment he learned of the death of his inamorata he receives his sword
+from the hands of Don Alonzo, who had taken it away from me. Don
+Ignatius pricks its point into the tip of his shoe, and without winking
+bends the blade in order to satisfy himself on its temper. That shows
+how frightened he was at the death of his lady-love. The husband, Don
+Hercules, comes out of the house, steps up to my master and says to him:
+'Don Ignatius of Loyola, I received you as a friend at my hearth; you
+have led my wife astray; you are a felon, unworthy of knighthood!' And
+what do you imagine, brother, is the answer that Captain Loyola made to
+that? If you can guess, I shall be willing to die of thirst. But no; a
+pox on these funereal prognostics! I prefer to drink, to drink until my
+soles sweat wine!"
+
+"Proceed, Josephin; proceed with your story."
+
+"'Don Hercules,' answers Captain Loyola loftily, 'in leading Carmen
+astray, it was not _your_ woman[10] that I led astray, but _a_ woman, as
+any other! You insult me by accusing me of a felony. You shall pay
+dearly, and on the spot, for such an insult. I shall kill you like a
+dog.'"
+
+"Did you grasp that? Can you imagine a more odious subtlety?" asked
+Christian of Monsieur John. "What a hypocritical distinction! The
+libertine seduced the unfortunate woman, but not his friend's wife--only
+the _woman_, as a _woman_! Just God, such subtle quibbling! and that
+while his victim's corpse is still warm!"
+
+"That is, indeed, the man as he has been described to me," repeated the
+guest, with a pensive air. "What I am learning is a revelation to me."
+
+"The issue of the duel could not be doubtful," proceeded the
+Franc-Taupin. "Captain Loyola enjoyed the reputation of being the most
+skilful swordsman in Spain. He fully deserved his reputation. Don
+Hercules drops dead upon the ground. Don Alonzo endeavors to avenge his
+sister and brother-in-law, but the young man is readily disarmed by Don
+Ignatius, who, raising his sword, says: 'Your life belongs to me; you
+have insulted me by sharing the unworthy suspicions of Don Hercules, who
+accused me of having betrayed his friendship. But go in peace, young
+man, repent your evil thoughts--I pardon you!' After which Captain
+Loyola repaired to the gypsy girl and spent with her the rest of the
+night. I heard the two (always like the cook's dog) laugh, sing and
+carouse, clinking their glasses filled with Spanish wine. We returned
+home at dawn. Now tell me, brother Christian, what do you think of the
+gallant? You may judge by the experience of that night the number of
+pretty women whom the captain Loyolized!"
+
+"Oh, the man's infernal hypocrisy only deepens the blackness of his
+debaucheries and swordsman's prowess!"
+
+Absorbed in his private thoughts, Monsieur John remained in a brown
+study. Presently he said to the Franc-Taupin:
+
+"You followed Loyola to war. Was the captain's regiment well
+disciplined? How did he treat his soldiers?"
+
+"His soldiers? By the bowels of St. Quenet! Imagine, not men, but iron
+statues, that, with but a gesture, a wink of his eye, Don Ignatius
+either moved or petrified, as he chose. Broken in and harnessed to his
+command like so many machines, he said: 'Go!'--and they went, not only
+into battle but whithersoever he ordered. They were no longer
+themselves, but he. What the devil, Captain Loyola controlled men and
+women like horses--by the identical methods."
+
+"What methods, let us hear them, Josephin."
+
+"Well, one day a wild stallion of Cordova was brought to him; the animal
+was savage, a veritable demon; two strong stablemen were hardly able to
+hold him by the halter. Don Ignatius ordered the wild beast to be taken
+to a small enclosed yard, and remained there alone with him. I was
+outside, behind the gate. First I heard the stallion neigh with fury,
+then with pain, and then there was silence. Two hours later Captain
+Loyola issued from the yard mounted on the animal which steamed with
+foam and still trembled with fear, but as docile as a curate's mule."
+
+"That is wonderful!" cried Christian. "Was the man possessed of a magic
+charm with which to curb wild beasts?"
+
+"Exactly so, brother, and his talisman consisted in a set of reins so
+fearfully and skilfully contrived that, if the horse yielded passive
+obedience to the hand that guided him, he felt no pain whatever; but at
+the slightest show of resistance, Captain Loyola set in motion a certain
+steel saw contrivance supplied with sharp points and fastened in the
+bit. Immediately the animal would neigh with pain, remain motionless and
+sink down upon his haunches, whereupon Don Ignatius would pat it with
+his hand and give it some cream cakes. By the bowels of St. Quenet! Iron
+reins and cream cakes--this was the trick wherewith the captain
+Loyolized men, women and horses!"
+
+"And did his soldiers love him, despite his inflexible yoke?" asked
+Monsieur John.
+
+"Did they love him? The devil! Do you forget the cream cakes? Puddings,
+sausages, capons, fatted geese, pouches filled with Val-de-Peñas wine,
+gay wenches, high jinks in the barracks; in the enemy's country, free
+pillage, free rape, fire, blood and sack, and long live the saturnalia!
+These were the cream cakes of Captain Loyola. Whenever occasion
+required, he would treat his soldiers to these dainties out of his own
+pocket like a magnificent seigneur; but to allow his soldiers to
+reflect, to think, to reason, to will?--Never! To ask why this and why
+that? Never! 'Kill,' the captain would say, and the response was:
+'Listen, he says kill--we kill!' But it is your friend, your brother,
+your father, your sister, your mother that he orders you to kill. 'Makes
+no difference, he said kill--we kill, and we kill;' and then come the
+cream cakes and more cream cakes, otherwise the reins begin to play, and
+they play so severely--clubbings, strappings, croppings of ears,
+hanging by the limbs and other devices of the devil. 'Our dear master,'
+often did the old majordomo say to me, 'our dear master is everything to
+all of us, provided all of us let him have his own will untrammeled;
+omnipotence is the secret joy of the dear Don Ignatius; to possess a
+woman, curb a mettlesome horse, manoeuvre his men of iron as one bends a
+reed--that is his enjoyment! He delights in absorbing souls. As to
+bodies, he fondles, caresses, indulges, dandles, fattens and greases
+them--provided they move at his will.' It is ever so, he who holds the
+soul holds the body."
+
+Christian hesitated to believe the account of the Franc-Taupin; he could
+hardly give credence to the monstrous description. Monsieur John looked
+less surprised, but more alarmed. He said to Josephin, who, having
+wished to help himself to some more wine, sighed at finding the pot
+empty:
+
+"But by what combination of circumstances could Ignatius Loyola, such as
+you described him to us and such as, I do believe, he was, metamorphose
+himself to the extent of coming here, to Paris, and seat himself on the
+benches of the Montaigu College among the youngest of the students?"
+
+"What!" cried Christian, stupefied. "Is Ignatius Loyola to-day a simple
+student?"
+
+"He attended the College," replied Monsieur John; "and one day he
+submitted to be publicly whipped in punishment for a slip of memory.
+There is something unexplainable, or frightful, in such humility on the
+part of such a man."
+
+"Ignatius Loyola! the debauchee, the skilful swordsman! The haughty
+nobleman, did he do that?" cried Christian. "Can it be possible?"
+
+"By the bowels of St. Quenet, brother," put in the Franc-Taupin in his
+turn, "as well tell me that the monks of Citeaux left their kegs empty
+after vintage! Even such a thing would sound less enormous than that
+Captain Loyola slipped down his hose to receive a flogging! The devil
+take me!" cried the Franc-Taupin vainly trying to extract a few more
+drops from the pot. "I am choked with surprise!"
+
+"But you must not be allowed to choke with thirst, good Josephin," put
+in Christian, smiling and exchanging a look of intelligence with
+Monsieur John. "The pot is empty. As soon as your story is ended, and in
+order to feast our guest, I shall have to ask you to go to the tavern
+that you know of and fetch us a pot of Argenteuil wine. That is agreed,
+brother."
+
+"St. Pansard, have pity upon my paunch! By my faith, brother, the pots
+are empty. I guess the reason why. One time I used to drink it all--now
+I leave nothing. Did you say a pot of wine? Amen!" said the Franc-Taupin
+rising from his seat. "We shall furnish our guest with a red border,
+like a cardinal! Yes, brother, it is agreed. And so I shall go for the
+pot, but not for one only--for two, or three."
+
+"Not so fast, first finish your story; I am interested in it more than
+you can imagine," said Monsieur John with great earnestness. "I must
+again ask you: To what do you, who knew Loyola so well, attribute this
+incredible change?"
+
+"May my own blood smother me; may the quartain fever settle my hash, if
+I understand it! A few hours ago I strained my remaining eye fit to give
+it a squint, in contemplating Don Ignatius. Seeing him so threadbare, so
+wan, so seedy and leaning upon his staff, I had not the courage to
+remind him of me. By the bowels of St. Quenet, I felt ashamed of having
+been page to the worn-out old crippled hunch-back."
+
+"How is that! You described him as having been such a fine-looking
+cavalier and such a skilful swordsman--and yet he was hunch-backed?"
+
+"He was crippled through two wounds that he received at the siege of
+Pampeluna. The devil! All the fathers, all the brothers, all the
+husbands whose daughters, sisters and wives the captain Loyolized, would
+have felt themselves thoroughly revenged if, like myself, they had seen
+him writhe like one possessed and howling like a hundred wolves from the
+pain of his wounds. By the bowels of the Pope, what horrible grimaces
+the man made!"
+
+"But how could so intrepid a man display such weakness at pain?"
+
+"Not at the pain itself; not that. On the contrary. As a result of his
+wounds he voluntarily endured positive torture, beside which his first
+agonies were gentle caresses."
+
+"And why did he submit to such tortures? Can you explain that?"
+
+"Yes. The truce between the Spaniards and the French lasted several
+days. At its close Captain Loyola mounted his horse, and placing himself
+at the head of his forces ordered a sortie. He made havoc among the
+enemy; but in the melee he received two shots from an arquebus. One of
+them fractured his right leg just below the knee, the other took him
+under the left hip. My gallant was carried to his house and we laid him
+in his bed. Do you know what were the first words that Don Ignatius
+uttered? They were these: 'Death and passion, I may remain deformed all
+my life!' And would you believe it? Captain Loyola wept like a woman!
+Aye, he wept, not with pain, no, by the bowels of St. Quenet, but with
+rage! You may imagine how crossed the handsome and roistering cavalier
+felt at the prospect. Imagine a limping cripple strolling under
+balconies and warbling his love songs! Imagine such a figure running
+after the señoras! What a sight it would be to have such a disjointed
+lover throwing himself at their feet at the risk of being unable to pick
+himself up again and yelling with pain: 'Oh, my leg! Oh, my knee!' Just
+think of such a lame duck attempting to try conclusions with jealous and
+irate husbands and brothers, arms in hand! Don Ignatius must have
+thought of all that--and wept!"
+
+"It is almost incomprehensible that a man of his temper could be so
+enamoured of his physical advantages," remarked Christian.
+
+"Not at all!" replied Monsieur John thoughtfully. "Oh, what an abyss is
+the human soul! I now think I understand--" but suddenly breaking off he
+asked the Franc-Taupin: "Accordingly, Don Ignatius was dominated by the
+fear of remaining crippled for life?"
+
+"That was his only worry. But I must hurry on. I have a horror of empty
+wine pots. My present worry is about the wine spigot. Well, all the
+same, after healing, Captain Loyola's legs remained, as he feared, of
+unequal length. 'Oh, dogs! Jews! Pagan surgeons!' bawled Don Ignatius
+when he made the discovery. 'Fetch me here the robed asses! the brothers
+of Beelzebub! I shall have them quartered!' Summoned in great hurry, the
+poor wretches of surgeons hastened to Don Ignatius. They trembled;
+turned and turned him about; they examined and re-examined his leg;
+after all of which, the slashers of Christian flesh and sawers of
+Christian bones declared that they could render Captain Loyola as nimble
+of foot as ever he was. 'A hundred ducats to each of you if you keep
+your promise!' he cried, already seeing himself prancing on horseback,
+prinking in his finery, strutting about, warbling love songs under
+balconies, parading, and above all Loyolizing. 'Yes, señor; the lameness
+will disappear,' answered the bone-setters, 'but, we shall have, first
+of all, to break your leg over again, where it was fractured before; in
+the second place, señor, we shall have to cut away the flesh that has
+grown over the bone below your knee; in the third place, we shall have
+to saw off a little bone that protrudes; that all being done, no doe of
+the forest will be more agile than your Excellency.' 'Break, re-set,
+cut off, saw off, by the death of God!' cried Captain Loyola 'provided I
+can walk straight! Go ahead! Start to work!'"
+
+"But that series of operations must have caused him frightful pain!"
+
+"By the bowels of St. Quenet! When the protruding bone was being sawed
+off, the grinding of Captain Loyola's teeth drowned the sound of the
+saw's teeth. The contortions that he went through made him look like a
+veritable demon. His suffering was dreadful."
+
+"And did he heal?"
+
+"Perfectly. But there still remained the left thigh in its bandages. The
+fraternity of surgeons swore that that limb would be as good if not
+better than before the injury that it sustained. At the end of six weeks
+Captain Loyola rose and tried to walk. He did walk. Glory to the
+bone-setters! He no longer limped of the right leg; but, the devil! his
+left thigh had shrunk by two inches by reason of a tendon that was
+wounded. And there was my gallant still hobbling, worse than ever. It
+had all to be done over again."
+
+"Don Ignatius's fury must have been fierce!"
+
+"Howling tigers and roaring lions would have been as bleating lambs
+beside Captain Loyola in his boiling rage. 'Dear, sweet master,' his old
+majordomo said to him, 'the saints will help you; why despair? The
+surgeons performed a miracle on your right leg; why should not they be
+equally able to do the same thing on your left thigh?' The drowning man
+clings to a straw. 'Halloa, page, run to the surgeons!' yelled my
+master at me; 'bring them here instantly!' The surgeons came. 'Here they
+are, señor.' 'I suffered the pangs of death for the cure of my right
+leg; I am willing to suffer as much or worse for the lengthening of my
+left thigh. Can you do it?' said Don Ignatius to the bones-setters.
+Whereupon they fell to feeling, pressing, kneading and manipulating the
+twisted thigh of the patient; without desisting from their work at the
+member after a while they raised their heads and mumbled between their
+teeth: 'Señor, yes, we can free you from this limp--but, firstly, we
+shall have to strap you down upon your back, where you will have to lie,
+motionless, for two months; secondly, a strap will have to be passed
+under your arms and fastened firmly to the head of your couch; thirdly,
+a weight of fifty pounds will have to be adjusted to a ring and fastened
+to your left leg, to the end that the weight slowly, steadily, and
+constantly distend your thigh. The result will then be obtained, seeing
+you will be held firm and motionless by the two straps, the one that
+binds you down to your bed and the other, under your arms, that holds
+you to the head of your couch. With the aid of these contrivances, your
+thigh will be restored to its normal condition at the end of two months,
+and the does of the forest will then be less agile than your
+Excellency.' 'Do it!' was Loyola's answer. 'Strap, distend, stretch me
+out, blood of God, provided I can walk!'"
+
+"That is frightful!" cried Christian. "It is the 'wooden horse' torture,
+prolonged beyond the point of human endurance."
+
+"By the bowels of St. Quenet! There is nothing beyond endurance to a
+gallant who is determined not to hobble. Don Ignatius underwent the
+torture for the two months. The old majordomo and myself nursed our
+master. At times he screamed--Oh, such screams! They were heard a
+thousand feet from the house. Exhausted with pain, his eyelids would
+droop in sleep, but only to be suddenly reawakened with a start by his
+shooting pains. At such times the sounds that he emitted were screams no
+longer, but the howlings of the damned. At the end of two months of
+insomnia and continuous agony, which left nothing but the skin on his
+bones, but during which he was held up at least with the hope of final
+cure, Captain Loyola's surgeons held a consultation, and allowed him to
+leave his bed of torture. He rose, walked--but, the devil! not only was
+his left thigh not sufficiently lengthened, but his right knee, that had
+been previously operated upon, had become ossified from lying motionless
+for so long a time! Captain Loyola said not a word; he became livid as a
+corpse and dropped unconscious to the floor. We all thought he was dead.
+The next day the majordomo notified me that our master did no longer
+need a page. My wages were paid me; I left Spain and returned to France
+with other prisoners who had been set free. After all that, and after
+the lapse of fourteen or fifteen years, I ran a few hours ago across Don
+Ignatius, near a booth on the market place, in the company of your
+friend Lefevre. That, brother, ends my story. Jarnigoy! Is it not racy?
+But by the bowels of St. Quenet, my tongue is parched; it cleaves to
+the roof of my mouth; my whistle burns; it is on the point of breaking
+out into flame; help! help! wine! wine! Let the wine act as water to put
+out the fire! I shall now run out for the promised nectar of
+Argenteuil!" added the Franc-Taupin, rising from his seat. "I shall be
+back in a jiffy! And then we shall drinkedrille, drinkedraille, gaily
+clink glasses with our guest. A full pot calls for a wide throat!"
+
+So saying, Josephin went out, singing in a sonorous voice his favorite
+refrain:
+
+    "A Franc-Taupin had an ash-tree bow,
+    All eaten with worms, and all knotted its cord;
+    His arrow was made out of paper, and plumed,
+    And tipped at the end with a capon's spur.
+    _Derideron, vignette on vignon! Derideron!_"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+BROTHER ST. ERNEST-MARTYR.
+
+
+The moment the Franc-Taupin left the house the stranger said to
+Christian:
+
+"Your brother-in-law's story is a revelation to me. The past life of
+Ignatius Loyola explains to me his present life."
+
+"But who is that man? Whence the interest, curiosity and even alarm that
+he seems to inspire you with?"
+
+Christian was saying these words when his wife descended from the floor
+above. The sight of her reminded him it was urgent that the stranger be
+taken to the garret before the return of Josephin. "Bridget," he
+accordingly said to his wife, "has Hena gone to bed?"
+
+"Yes; both the dear children have retired for the night."
+
+"Master Robert Estienne has confided a secret to me and asked of me a
+service, dear Bridget. For two or three days we are to hide Monsieur
+John, our guest of this evening, in this house. The garret seems to me
+to offer a safe retreat. I have temporarily got your brother out of the
+way. Take our refugee upstairs; I shall remain here to wait for
+Josephin."
+
+Bridget took up again the lamp that she had deposited upon the table,
+and said to the stranger as she prepared to lead the way upstairs:
+
+"Come, monsieur; your secret will remain with Christian and myself; you
+may rely upon our discretion."
+
+"I am certain of that, madam," answered Monsieur John; "I shall never
+forget your generous hospitality;" and addressing the artisan: "Could
+you join me later, after your brother-in-law has gone? I should like to
+speak with you."
+
+"I shall join monsieur after Josephin's departure," Christian answered
+the stranger, who followed Bridget to the upper loft.
+
+The latter two had both withdrawn when suddenly an uproar was heard in
+the street. Peals of laughter were interspersed with the plaintive cries
+of a woman. Although quite familiar with these nocturnal disorders,
+seeing that the Guilleris, the Mauvais-Garçons, the Tire-Laines and
+other bandits infested the streets at night, and not infrequently
+disturbed the carousals of the young seigneurs bent upon their
+debauches, Christian's first impulse was to go out to the help of the
+woman whose cries resounded ever more plaintive. Considering, however,
+that no decent woman would venture outside of her house at such a late
+hour, and, above all, fearing that by interfering in the affray he might
+provoke an assault upon his house and thereby put the safety of his
+guest in jeopardy, he contented himself with partly opening the window,
+whereupon, by the light of the torches held by several pages dressed in
+rich liveries, he saw three seigneurs, evidently just come from some
+orgy, surrounding a woman. The seigneurs were in an advanced stage of
+intoxication and sought to drag the woman after them; she resisted and
+held her arms closely clasped around a large cross that stood in the
+center of the bridge. The woman cried imploringly: "Oh, leave me,
+seigneurs. In the name of heaven, leave me! Mercy! Have pity for a
+woman--mercy, seigneurs!"
+
+"May the flames of St. Anthony consume me if you do not come with us,
+strumpet!" yelled one of the seigneurs, seizing the woman by the waist.
+"A street walker to put on such airs! Come, my belle, either walk or we
+shall strip you on the spot!"
+
+"You are mistaken, seigneurs," answered the poor creature panting for
+breath in the unequal struggle; "I am an honest widow."
+
+"Honest and a widow!" exclaimed one of the debauchees. "'Sdeath, what a
+windfall! We shall marry you over again."
+
+Saying which the seigneurs tried anew to tear their victim from the foot
+of the cross to which she clung with terror and screamed aloud for help.
+Attracted by the cries, a young monk, who happened to be in a nearby
+side street, ran to the scene, saw the distressed condition of the
+persecuted woman, and rushed at her aggressors, saying in a deeply moved
+voice:
+
+"Oh, brothers, to outrage a woman at the very foot of the cross! That is
+a cowardly act, condemned by God!"
+
+"What business is that of yours, you frockist, you convent rat!" cried
+one of the assailants, stepping towards the monk with a menacing
+gesture. "Do you know whom it is that you are talking with? Do you know
+that I have the power, not only to kill you, but to excommunicate you,
+you beggar? I am the Marquis of Fleurange, the colonel of the regiment
+of Normandy, and over and above that, Bishop of Coutances. So, then, go
+your ways quickly and without further ado, you tonsured knave and
+mumbler of masses. If you do not, I shall use my spiritual powers and my
+temporal powers--I shall excommunicate you and run you through with my
+sword!"
+
+"Oh, Brother St. Ernest-Martyr! Come to my help! It is I, Mary La
+Catelle!" cried the young widow, as she recognized the monk by the light
+of the torches. "For pity's sake stand by me!"
+
+"Oh, my brothers!" cried the monk indignantly, running towards Mary.
+"The woman whom you are outraging is a saint! She gathers the little
+children that are left unprotected; she instructs them; she is blessed
+by all who know her; she is entitled to your respect."
+
+"If she is a saint, I am a bishop--and between a female saint and a
+bishop the relations are close!" answered the Marquis of Fleurange with
+a winey guffaw. "She loves children! 'Sdeath, she shall be delighted! I
+shall swell her family!"
+
+"You shall kill me before you reach her!" cried the monk, vigorously
+thrusting the marquis back. The latter, being heavily in his cups,
+reeled, swore and blasphemed, while Brother St. Ernest-Martyr threw
+himself between the widow, who clung to the cross, and her assailants.
+Crossing his arms over his chest, he looked defiantly at the seigneurs
+and said to them challengingly, as he barred their way to their victim:
+
+"Come forward, if you will; but you will have to kill me before you
+touch this woman!"
+
+"Insolent frockist! You dare threaten us and to raise your hand against
+me!" yelled the colonel-bishop furious and tottering on his unsteady
+limbs; and drawing his sword in its scabbard out of his baldric, he took
+it in both his hands, and struck so hard a blow with its heavy hilt upon
+the forehead of the monk, that the latter was dazed by the blow,
+staggered backward, and fell bleeding from an ugly scalp wound at the
+feet of Mary La Catelle.
+
+Despite the caution that his guest's safety imposed upon him, Christian
+could no longer remain a passive witness of such acts of brutality; he
+entertained a respectful esteem for the young widow whose virtuous life
+he was acquainted with; moreover, he feared lest the monk, who had so
+generously interposed between the drunken seigneurs and their victim, be
+subjected to further maltreatment. Christian shut the window, armed
+himself with a heavy iron bar, slipped quietly out of his house, shut
+the door after him without making any noise, in order to prevent its
+being known from whence he came, and, seeing several of his neighbors,
+whom the disturbance had drawn to their windows, he shouted:
+
+"To your clubs, my friends, to your clubs! Will you allow women to be
+assailed, and defenseless men to be killed? To your clubs, my friends,
+to your clubs! Let us save the victims!"
+
+Saying this, Christian ran resolutely upon the three seigneurs and their
+pages. At that very moment, the Franc-Taupin returned upon the bridge
+with the pot of Argenteuil wine that he had gone after. Seeing the
+artisan by the light of the torches and hearing him summon the neighbors
+to their clubs, the Franc-Taupin deposited the pot of wine at the
+threshold of the door, drew his sword and rushed to the fray crying:
+
+"By the bowels of St. Quenet, here I am! My fine blade has not taken the
+air for a long time! It itches in my hands! Death to the enemies of the
+good people of Paris! Death to the nobles and their pages!"
+
+Several of Christian's neighbors answered his summons and issued from
+their houses, some armed with clubs, others with pikes. For a moment the
+three seigneurs stood their ground bravely; they drew close abreast of
+one another and drew their swords. Their pages, however, as much out of
+fear of being hurt in the broil as out of mischief, suddenly put out
+their torches and screamed:
+
+"Seigneurs! There is a squad of armed constables coming this way! There,
+on the bridge! Look out! Run who run can!"
+
+Upon shouting this lie the pages ran off as fast as their legs could
+carry them and left their masters and their assailants in utter
+darkness. The three seigneurs did not feel much concern on the score of
+the constables, who never dared to suppress the disorders of the
+nobility; but realizing that they had to do with eight or ten
+determined men, the assailants of the defenseless woman profited by the
+darkness in which they found themselves to slip away upon the heels of
+their pages, while Christian's neighbors called for lanthorns in order
+to raise the wounded man. The artisan ran back into his house, lighted,
+and came out with a taper. By the light the monk was discovered
+stretched out at the foot of the cross, with his head bathed in the
+blood that ran profusely from his scalp wound. On her knees beside him,
+and weeping tears of thankfulness, Mary La Catelle sought to staunch the
+wound of her defender. Brother St. Ernest-Martyr was carried into
+Christian's house with the help of the Franc-Taupin and some neighbors.
+The artisan offered asylum also to the widow, who was almost fainting
+with fright. Commissioned by her husband to conduct the stranger to the
+garret, the only window of which opened upon the river, Bridget remained
+ignorant of what was occurring upon the street. When, however, she
+returned downstairs, great was her surprise and alarm at the sight of
+Mary La Catelle, pale, her dress thrown into disorder, and leaning
+against a table compassionately contemplating the wounded young monk.
+The latter was slowly regaining consciousness, thanks to the attention
+that he was receiving from the artisan and the Franc-Taupin.
+
+"Good God!" cried Bridget, hastening to approach the young widow. "Look
+at the poor monk covered with blood. What has happened, Mary?"
+
+"I was delayed at a friend's longer than I had expected; her maid
+servant accompanied me home; we were crossing the bridge when several
+swaggering seigneurs approached and made insulting remarks to us. The
+poor servant was frightened and ran away, leaving me alone. The men
+sought to drag me away with them. Brother St. Ernest-Martyr happening
+by, came to my rescue; he received on the forehead a blow with the hilt
+of a sword and fell bleeding at my feet. Happily your husband and
+several neighbors rushed to our help; thanks to them we escaped further
+maltreatment from our assailants; but the poor monk is wounded."
+
+"Dear sister, let me have some fresh water and some lint," said the
+Franc-Taupin to Bridget. Having often been wounded in war the soldier of
+adventure had some knowledge of the dressing of wounds.
+
+"I shall go upstairs for the lint, and bring my daughter down to help
+you," answered Bridget as she proceeded to the storey above.
+
+Slightly recovered from her own fright, Mary La Catelle drew nearer to
+the monk with deepening interest. The Franc-Taupin looked around and
+said to Christian:
+
+"What has become of your guest? Did he show the white feather? I would
+have preferred he were a braver man."
+
+"No, no, Josephin. Our guest left the house shortly before the
+disturbance on the street; he feared it was growing too late for him."
+
+"Why did he not wait for me? I would have escorted him home safely after
+emptying our pot of Argenteuil. But, coming to think of it," the
+Franc-Taupin broke off, while he left Christian to hold up the head of
+the friar, "I shall pour a few drops of wine down the wounded man's
+throat; the devil! wine has the miraculous power of being as helpful to
+the sick as to the well;" and taking up the pot he approached it to his
+own lips. "Before administering the potion to others let me try it
+myself--it is the duty of all prudent pharmacists to assure themselves
+of the quality of their own medicine."
+
+While the Franc-Taupin was thoroughly "trying" the beverage, Bridget
+came down again with her daughter. The latter had hastily put on her
+clothes. Her brother also, whom the noise had awakened, dressed himself
+and came out of his room. Hervé was on the point of inquiring from his
+father what was the cause of the commotion in the house when his eyes
+alighted upon St. Ernest-Martyr, and he recognized the man whom his
+sister Hena had ingenuously called "her monk." A flash of lightning shot
+from Hervé's eyes and for an instant his looks assumed a ferocious
+expression. The lad, however, controlled his sentiments and closely
+watched his sister and the friar, to the latter of whom the Franc-Taupin
+was administering a few mouthfuls of the comforting wine. Speedily
+recalled to himself by the strengthening elixir, Brother St.
+Ernest-Martyr opened his eyes. Before him he saw, like a celestial
+apparition, the angelic countenance of Hena, who, with eyes moist with
+pity, held out to her uncle with a trembling hand the lint that he was
+using to dress the wound of the monk whose head Christian held in his
+hands. When he had completely regained consciousness and collected his
+thoughts, the monk became aware of the solicitude with which he was
+surrounded by the family that had taken him in; tears of gratitude and
+tenderness welled up in his eyes and rolled down his face, which, pale
+with the loss of blood, recalled the touching beauty that painters
+impart to the image of Christ. The expression of ineffable gratitude on
+the monk's countenance gave it at the moment so sweet a charm that Hervé
+trembled with suppressed rage. His anger was such that it even
+threatened to break out when he surprised the eyes of the monk and of
+his sister once as they accidentally met. The lad noticed that both
+dropped their eyes and seemed embarrassed. These circumstances escaped
+all the other members of the family. Brother St. Ernest-Martyr turned
+his head towards Christian and said to him in a feeble voice:
+
+"It is to you, no doubt, monsieur, that I owe my life. And yet I am a
+stranger to you. May heaven place it some day in my power to attest to
+you the gratitude with which I am penetrated. I thank you for your
+help."
+
+"Brother," answered the artisan, "I would have fulfilled my duty as a
+Christian by assisting you even if you were a stranger to me; but often
+did our mutual friend Mary La Catelle speak to us of you and of the
+esteem that you deserve. Besides, my wife often was present when you
+were teaching the little ones. She has preserved cherished recollections
+of the evangelical morality that you preached to them."
+
+"Oh, we could never sufficiently praise the good brother!" exclaimed
+Mary La Catelle. "What is known of him is like nothing beside the
+numerous acts of charity that he practices in secret--"
+
+"Sister, sister," said the monk, blushing with modesty and interrupting
+the widow, "do not exaggerate my poor deserts; I love little ones; to
+instruct them is a pleasure to me and their affection more than rewards
+me for the little that I do for them. My duty squares with my pleasure."
+
+"Well, brother, I shall say no more," replied Mary La Catelle; "I shall
+not say how highly I think of you, and how I but re-echo the sentiments
+of all who know you; I shall say nothing of how, a short time ago, you
+rushed to my defense at the risk of your life; I shall not say how, only
+yesterday, a man who fell into the river near the isle of Notre Dame was
+being carried down stream and about to sink when you threw yourself--"
+
+"Dear sister," insisted Brother St. Ernest-Martyr with a melancholy
+smile, and again interrupting the widow whose praises of the monk placed
+Hervé upon the rack, "your style of not saying things is too
+transparent. Oblige me; draw a veil over the acts that you refer to;
+anyone else would have done as much. We all in this world owe assistance
+to our fellows." As the young monk spoke these words, his eyes
+involuntarily again encountered Hena's; he sought to flee from their
+influence upon him; he rose from his stool, and said to Christian:
+"Adieu, monsieur; I am only a poor friar of the Order of St. Augustine;
+I can only preserve the deepest gratitude for your timely help. Believe
+me, the remembrance of yourself and of your sympathetic family will
+always be present in my mind. May the blessing of God rest upon your
+house."
+
+"What, brother," interposed the artisan, "your wound is barely dressed,
+and you would leave the house so soon? Rest yourself a little longer;
+you are still too weak to proceed on your route."
+
+"It is late, and I feel quite strong enough to return to my convent. I
+went with the Superior's consent to carry some consolation to a good old
+priest of Notre Dame who lies dangerously ill. Night is now far
+advanced, allow me to withdraw. I think that the fresh air will do me
+good," and respectfully bowing to Hena and her mother, blushingly he
+said to Mary La Catelle: "To-morrow will be school day, dear sister; I
+hope I shall be able to go to your house as usual, and give the children
+their lessons."
+
+"May it please God that you can keep your promise, dear brother,"
+answered the young widow; "but I am less courageous than you; I would
+not dare to return home to-night any more; I shall request Bridget to be
+so kind as to afford me asylum for the night."
+
+"Do you imagine, dear Mary, that I would have allowed you to go?"
+answered Christian's wife. "You shall share Hena's bed."
+
+After the monk's wound was dressed, the Franc-Taupin had remained
+silent, sharing, as he did, the interest felt by the whole family,
+Hervé, alas, only excepted, in poor Brother St. Ernest-Martyr. The
+latter's modest bearing, the sweetness of his countenance, the good
+words that all had for him, deeply moved Josephin, who, his soldier's
+manners and the adventurous life he led notwithstanding, was susceptible
+to generous emotions. Seeing the friar, after expressing his thanks anew
+to Christian, move towards the door, the Franc-Taupin took up his sword,
+put on his hat, and said:
+
+"My reverend man, you shall not go out alone. I shall escort you to the
+Augustinian Convent. It is common with blows received on the skull, to
+be followed after a while by dizziness. You might be seized with such a
+fit on your way. Let me offer you my arm."
+
+"Thanks, Josephin," said Bridget affectionately; "thanks for your kind
+thoughtfulness, my friend. Do accompany the worthy monk."
+
+"I am obliged to you for your offer," answered the monk to the
+Franc-Taupin; "but I can not consent to your troubling yourself by
+escorting me. The function with which I am clad, besides my robe, will
+be ample protection against marauders."
+
+"Your robe! Were it not that I know how worthy a man is inside of it, I
+would let it depart alone. By the bowels of St. Quenet! I have no love
+for frockists. Monkeys do not watch houses like dogs, they do not draw
+the plow like oxen, they do not carry loads like horses. Very much like
+the useless monkey, monks do not till the soil like the peasant, they do
+not defend the country like the soldier, they do not heal the sick like
+the physician. By the bowels of St. Quenet! These frockists deafen their
+neighborhood with the clatter of their bells, on the theory that the
+mass that is well rung is half said. They mumble their prayers in order
+to earn their fat soups, not to save souls. You, however, my reverend
+man, you who plow the field of science, you who defend the oppressed,
+you who comfort the sorrowful, you who sacrifice your life for others,
+you who are the prop of the poor, you who indoctrinate the little ones
+like a good evangelical doctor--you are not one of those mumblers of
+prayers, of those traffickers in masses, although you wear their
+costume. It might, therefore, well happen that some gang of
+Mauvais-Garçons, or of Tire-Laines, or of the associates of these _in
+partibus_, mendicant monks, might scent the honest man under your frock,
+and hurt you out of sheer hatred of good. For that reason you shall take
+my arm, by the devil, and I shall escort you whether you want it or
+not."
+
+At first alarmed at the unconventionality of the Franc-Taupin's words,
+the family of Christian soon felt easier, and, so far from interrupting
+him, took pleasure in listening to him bestowing, after his own fashion,
+praise upon the friar. Hena, above all, seemed with her ingenuous and
+delighted smile to applaud her uncle, while Hervé, on the contrary, was
+hardly able to repress his annoyance, and cast jealous side glances at
+St. Ernest-Martyr.
+
+The monk answered the Franc-Taupin: "My dear brother, if the larger part
+of my brotherhood are, indeed, such as you depict them, I would request
+you rather to pity and pardon them; if they are different from what you
+take them for, if they are worthy beings, pray devoutly that they may
+persevere in the right path. You offer me your arm; I accept it. If I
+were to refuse you, you might think that I resent your satirical
+outburst."
+
+"Resent! You, my reverend man! One might as well expect ferocity from
+the lamb. Good night, sister; good night, children," added the
+Franc-Taupin as he embraced Bridget, Hena and Hervé successively. "The
+only one wanting to my hugs is my little Odelin. But by the bowels of
+St. Quenet! I shall not do like the paymaster of my company, who pockets
+the pay of the absent men. When the darling apprentice to the armorer is
+back again, I shall pay him the full arrears of hugs due him."
+
+"The dear boy!" observed Bridget tenderly, as her thoughts flew to her
+absent son. "May he soon again be back in our midst! It looks so long to
+us before his return."
+
+"His absence grieves me as much as it does you," interjected Christian.
+"It seems to me so long since his place is vacant at our hearth."
+
+"You will see him return to us grown up, but so grown that we shall
+hardly know him," put in Hena. "How we shall celebrate his return! What
+a joy it will be to us to make him forget the trials of the journey!
+What a delight it will be to hear him tell us all about his trip to
+Milan, his experiences on the road, and his excursions in Italy!"
+
+Hervé alone had not a word on the absence of his brother.
+
+Rising from the seat into which he had dropped for a moment, the young
+monk took leave of the artisan, saying:
+
+"May the heavens continue to bless your hospitality and your happy
+home, the sanctuary of the domestic virtues that are so rare in these
+days!"
+
+"The devil, my friend! Your words are golden!" exclaimed the
+Franc-Taupin, as he offered the monk the support of his arm. "Whenever I
+step into this poor but dear house, it seems to me I leave the big devil
+of hell behind me at the door; and whenever I go out again, I feel as if
+I am quitting paradise. Look out! Who knows but Beelzebub, the wicked
+one with the cloven hoofs, is waiting for me outside? But to-night,
+seeing me in your company, my reverend man, he will not dare to grab me.
+Come, let's start, reverend sir!"
+
+So saying, the Franc-Taupin left with the monk; Bridget led La Catelle
+to Hena's chamber; and Christian climbed up to the garret for a chat
+with Monsieur John.
+
+Left alone in the lower apartment, his fists clenched and his lips drawn
+tight together, Hervé murmured moodily:
+
+"Oh, that monk--that accursed monk!" The lad relapsed into gloomy
+thoughts; suddenly he resumed: "What a scheme! Yes, yes--it will remove
+even the shadow of a suspicion. I shall follow the inspiration, whether
+it proceed from the devil or from God--"
+
+Hervé did not finish his sentence. He listened in the direction of the
+staircase by which Mary La Catelle, Bridget and Hena and his father had
+just mounted to the floor above.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+IN THE GARRET.
+
+
+Cautiously climbing the ladder that led up to the garret, Christian
+found the stranger seated upon the sill of the narrow window that opened
+upon the river. The moon, then on the wane, was rising in a sky studded
+with stars, and shed her pale light upon the austere visage of the
+unknown guest. Drawn from his absorbing thoughts, he turned towards
+Christian:
+
+"I thought I heard some noise toward the bridge. Has anything happened?"
+
+"Some seigneurs, out on a carousal, attempted to do violence to a woman.
+Several of our neighbors rushed to her aid with me and my
+brother-in-law. Thanks be to God, Mary La Catelle is safe."
+
+"What!" cried Monsieur John with deep concern, breaking in upon the
+artisan's report. "Was that worthy widow, who is associated with John
+Dubourg, the draper of St. Denis Street, with Etienne Laforge, the rich
+bourgeois of Tournay, and the architect Poille in the charitable work of
+gathering abandoned orphans, in peril? Poor woman, her charity, the
+purity of her principles and her devotion to the little ones entitle
+her to the esteem of all right-minded people."
+
+"The task that she has imposed upon herself bristles with dangers. The
+monks and friars of her quarter suspect her of partaking of the ideas
+and hopes of the reformers. Already has she been locked up in the
+Chatelet, and her school been closed. Thanks, however, to the
+intervention of one of her relatives, who is in the service of Princess
+Marguerite, a protector of the reform, Mary was set at liberty and her
+school was re-opened. But the persecutions of the heretics are
+redoubling, and I apprehend fresh dangers for our friend, whose faith is
+unshakable."
+
+"Yes, the persecutions are redoubling," rejoined Monsieur John
+thoughtfully. "Monsieur Christian Lebrenn, I know I can unbosom myself
+to you with all frankness. I am a stranger in Paris; you know the city.
+Could I find within the walls, or even without, some secluded spot where
+about a hundred persons could be gathered secretly and safely? I must
+warn you, these persons belong to the Reformation."
+
+The artisan reflected for a moment and answered: "It would be difficult
+and dangerous to assemble so large a number of people within Paris.
+Gainier, the chief spy of the Criminal Lieutenant, expends undefatigable
+activity to discover and denounce all assemblages that he suspects. His
+agents are spread everywhere. So considerable a gathering would
+undoubtedly call their attention. Outside of Paris, however, we need not
+apprehend the same watchfulness. I may be able to indicate some safe
+place to you. But before proceeding farther, I should make a
+confidential disclosure to you. A friend of mine and myself contemplate
+printing secretly a few handbills intended to propagate the reform
+movement. We are in the hope that, scattered through Paris, or posted
+over night on the walls, these placards may stir public opinion. Only
+one obstacle has, so far, held us back--the finding of some safe and
+secluded place, where, without danger of being detected, we might set up
+our little printing establishment. I understand from my friend that he
+has at last found a suitable place for our purpose. It may turn out to
+be suitable for yours also."
+
+"Is the house outside the walls of Paris?"
+
+"It is not a house; it is an abandoned quarry situated on Montmartre. My
+friend was born in that suburb; his mother still lives there; he is
+familiar with every nook and corner of that rocky hill. He is of the
+opinion that a certain wide and deep grotto which he inspected will
+guarantee to us the seclusion and safety that we are in search of. If he
+is not mistaken, the meeting that you have mentioned to me might be held
+at Montmartre. To-morrow evening I am to go with my friend to look the
+place over. When I shall have done so, I shall acquaint you with the
+circumstances, and if the place is fit, you may fix the day of your
+gathering."
+
+"Suppose that your excursion to Montmartre to-morrow evening satisfies
+you that the quarry is suitable for my meeting, that it offers perfect
+safety; in what manner could the people, whom I shall convoke, be
+furnished with the necessary directions to find the place?"
+
+"I think that would be an easy matter, after the locality had been
+carefully inspected. I shall be able to furnish you to-morrow with the
+full particulars."
+
+"Monsieur Christian, could you also tell me where I could find some
+trustworthy person whom I could commission to carry the letters of
+convocation to certain persons, who, in their turn, would notify their
+friends?"
+
+"I shall carry those letters myself, if you will, monsieur. I realize
+the gravity of such a mission."
+
+"In the name of the Cause that we both serve, Monsieur Christian, I
+thank you heartily for your generous offer," replied the stranger with
+effusion. "Oh, the times bode evil. The conversation that we had this
+evening with your brother-in-law was almost a revelation to me
+concerning the singular man, the intrepid swordsman, the former runner
+of gallant adventures, whose darksome dealings I was previously
+acquainted with."
+
+"Ignatius Loyola? And what may be his scheme?"
+
+"Some slight overtures made by him to a man whom I hold worthy of all
+credence, and whom he hoped to capture, were reported to me. I was
+thereby enabled to penetrate the infernal project pursued by Ignatius
+Loyola, and--"
+
+Bridget's voice, sounding from the middle of the ladder that led up to
+the garret, and cautiously calling her husband, interrupted the unknown.
+Christian listened and heard his wife say:
+
+"Come down quick; I heard Hervé come out of his room; I hear him coming
+upstairs; he may want to see us."
+
+The artisan made a sign to his guest that he had nothing to fear, and
+quickly descended the stairs into a dark closet, the only door of which
+opened into the chamber occupied by himself and his wife. Christian had
+just time to close noiselessly the door of the closet and to sit down,
+when Hervé rapped gently at his father's door and called him. Bridget
+opened and said to her son:
+
+"What do you want, my child?"
+
+"Dear parents, grant me a few words with you."
+
+"Gladly," responded Christian, "but let us go downstairs. Our poor
+friend Mary La Catelle is sharing your sister's bed; the woman needs
+rest; our conversation might disturb her sleep."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE PENITENT.
+
+
+Father, mother and son proceeded downstairs to the room on the ground
+floor where the distressing scene of the night before was enacted.
+Hardly had they touched the lowermost step of the staircase when Hervé
+threw himself upon his knees, took his father's hands, kissed them
+tearfully and murmured in a smothered voice:
+
+"I beg your pardon--for my past conduct--pardon me--my good parents!"
+
+"God be praised! We were not deceived in the boy," was the thought that
+rushed to the minds of Christian and Bridget as they exchanged a look of
+profound satisfaction. "The unfortunate lad has been touched by
+repentance."
+
+"My son," said the artisan, "rise."
+
+"No, not before I have obtained from you and my mother forgiveness for
+my infamous act;" and he added, amid sobs: "It was myself, I, your
+son--it was I who stole your gold!"
+
+"Hervé," replied Christian, deeply moved by the manifestations of
+remorse which he took to be sincere, "last night, in this same room,
+your mother and I said to you: 'If you forgot yourself for a moment and
+committed the theft, admit it--you will be forgiven.'"
+
+"And we shall gladly keep our promise," added Bridget. "We pardon you,
+seeing that you repent. Rise."
+
+"Oh, never more so than at this moment am I penetrated with the
+unworthiness of my conduct. Good God! So much kindness on your part, and
+so much baseness on mine! My whole life shall be consecrated to the
+atonement of my infamy!" said Hervé, rising from the floor.
+
+"I shall not conceal it from you, my boy," proceeded Christian with
+paternal kindness. "I was quite prepared for this admission of your
+guilt. Certain happy symptoms that your mother and myself noticed
+to-day, led us to expect your return to the right path, to the
+principles of honesty in which we brought you up."
+
+"Did I not tell you so, yesterday?" broke in Bridget. "Could our son
+really become unworthy of our tenderness, unworthy of the example that
+we set to him, as well as to his sister and brother? No; no; we will
+regain him; he will see the error of his ways. So you see, dear, dear
+boy," she added embracing him effusively, "I knew you better than you
+knew yourself! Blessed be God for your return to the path of
+righteousness!"
+
+The consummate hypocrite threw himself upon his mother's neck, and
+answering her caresses with feigned affection, said in a moved voice:
+
+"Good father, good mother, the confession of my shameful act earned your
+pardon for me. Later I hope your esteem for me may return, when you will
+have been able to judge of the sincerity of my remorse. Let me tell you
+the cause of my repentance, the suddenness of which may astonish you."
+
+"A sweet astonishment, thanks be to God. Speak, speak, my son!"
+
+"You surmised rightly, father. Yes, led astray, corrupted by the counsel
+of Fra Girard, I pilfered your money for the purpose of consecrating it
+to works that I took to be pious."
+
+"Ah, it is with pride both for us and yourself that I say it," cried
+Bridget; "never once, while we suspected you, did we believe you capable
+of the guilty act out of love for gold, out of a craving for selfish
+enjoyment, or out of cupidity! No, a thousand times no!"
+
+"Thanks! Oh, thanks, good mother, to do me at least that justice, or,
+rather, to do it to the bringing up that I owe you! No; the fruit of my
+larceny has not been dissipated in prodigality. No; I did not keep it
+like a miser, out of love for gold. The gold pieces were all thrown into
+the chest of the Apostolic Commissioner of indulgences, for the purpose
+of obtaining the redemption of the souls in purgatory."
+
+"I believe you, my son. The charitable and generous side of that
+idolatry, that is so profitable to the cupidity of the Church of Rome,
+must have had its fascination for your heart. But how did you discover
+the fraud of that monastic traffic? Explain that to me."
+
+"This morning, after I deposited my offering in the chest of indulgences
+that was set up in the Church of St. Dominic, I heard the Apostolic
+Commissioner preach. Oh, father, all the still lingering sentiments of
+honor within me revolted at his words. My eyes were suddenly opened; I
+fathomed the depth of the abyss that blind fanaticism leads to. Do you
+know what that monk, who claimed to speak in the name of the Almighty,
+dared to say to the mass of people gathered in the church? 'The virtue
+of my indulgences is so efficacious,' the monk cried out, 'so very
+efficacious, that, even if it were possible for any man to have raped
+the mother of our Savior, that crime without name would be remitted to
+him by the virtue of my indulgences. So, then, buy them, my brothers!
+Bring, bring your money! Rummage in your purses, rummage'--"
+
+Christian and his wife listened to their son's tale in silent affright.
+The sacrilegious words which the lad reported to them caused them to
+shiver with horror and their own horror explained to them the repentance
+and remorse of Hervé.
+
+"Oh, I now see it all, my child!" cried Christian. "The sacrilegious
+monstrosity was a revelation to you! It shocked you back to your senses!
+Yes, your eyes were suddenly opened to the light; you conceived a horror
+for those infamous priests; you recoiled with dread from the fatal slope
+down which superstition was driving you!"
+
+"Yes, father, the monstrous thought was a revelation to me; the veil was
+torn; I regained my sight. I was to be either the dupe or the accomplice
+of these abominable frauds. Disgust and indignation recalled me to
+myself. It was to me as if I awoke from a painful dream. When I
+recalled that, for several months, I had been dominated by the influence
+of Fra Girard, I cursed the detestable charm under which the man had
+held me captive, and which was alienating me from a cherished, a
+venerated family. I cursed the devilish sophisms, which, exactly as you
+expressed it, father, were corrupting in my mind the most elemental
+principles of right and wrong, and led me to the commission of a theft,
+an act that was doubly infamous seeing that it was perpetrated under the
+trusting security of the paternal roof! Oh, mother, in the measure that
+I thus regained the possession of my soul, overwhelmed with shame as I
+was, and torn with remorse, I felt there was but one way of
+safety--repentance! Only one hope--your pardon! Only one refuge--your
+love. I have returned to you, beloved parents."
+
+Christian and Bridget could not suspect their son's sincerity. They
+reposed faith in his repentance, in the return of his filial devotion,
+in the horror that the past inspired him with. Father and mother
+devoutly rendered thanks to God for having restored their son to them.
+When the two closed their eyes in sleep that night their last thought
+concerned their son Hervé--alas, a treacherous happiness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+LOYOLA AND HIS DISCIPLES.
+
+
+The day after the proscribed stranger and friend of Robert Estienne had
+found an asylum in the home of Christian, the latter sallied forth after
+dark with his friend Justin for the purpose of inspecting the abandoned
+quarry where the two expected to be able to set up their secret press.
+The secluded spot was also expected speedily to serve as the trysting
+place for the leaders of the Reformation in Paris. The late moon was
+rising when the two artisans arrived in the neighborhood of the Abbey of
+Montmartre. They struck a road to the left of the church, leading to a
+hillock crowned with a cross. Arrived there they descended a steep path
+at the bottom of which was the entrance to the quarry.
+
+"Unless the recollections of my childhood deceive me," said Justin to
+Christian, "I'm under the impression that this quarry formerly had two
+openings--one being this, through which we are about to enter, the
+other, the issue of a sort of underground gallery, located at the
+opposite slope of the hill, and through which the descent is steep down
+to the bottom of the quarry. I even recall that a portion of the
+gallery bore traces of some very ancient masonry."
+
+"It probably is one of those places of refuge that, centuries ago, were
+dug into the bowels of the earth by the inhabitants of these regions, in
+the days of the invasions of the Northman pirates."[11]
+
+"Quite probable. At the same time, seeing it is well to be prepared for
+all emergencies, this quarry can be rendered an all the safer meeting
+place for our friends of the Reformation by placing a watchman at each
+entrance. The alarm being given from either side, escape could then be
+safely made by the other. The agents of the Criminal Lieutenant have a
+hundred eyes and as many ears. We cannot take too many precautions."
+
+"If your recollections are correct, that double entrance would be a
+priceless fact. The meeting place would be doubly guarded."
+
+"We can easily make sure of that," said Justin. Saying this he fumbled
+in his pocket for his tinder and flint, while Christian drew out of his
+pocket the butt of a candle that he had provided himself with for the
+occasion.
+
+The jagged opening of the grotto was overhung by an abutting ledge of
+lime rock, covered with a few inches of earth overgrown with briars and
+furze. A rather abrupt path led to the species of platform that lay
+under the beetling rock. The two artisans stepped in. They did not light
+their candle at first for fear it would be extinguished by the wind. But
+after having groped their way through the dark for a few paces, they
+struck a light, and presently the feeble flame of the candle threw its
+light into the wide though low-arched cavern. A huge boulder, about five
+or six feet high and from eight to ten through, that doubtlessly had
+been loosened and dropped from the walls of the cave, seemed to mark the
+further extremity of the underground walk.
+
+"I now remember the place exactly," said Justin; "the inside opening of
+the gallery that I spoke of to you must be on the other side of the
+stone. Let's move on. We are on the right path."
+
+Saying this, and followed by his friend, Justin stepped into a narrow
+space left between the natural wall and the boulder. Suddenly they heard
+the noise of footsteps and the voices of several persons drawing near
+from the side of the opening through which they had themselves shortly
+before entered the cavern. As much surprised as alarmed, the first
+motion of Justin was to extinguish the candle, and approaching his lips
+to the ear of Christian he whispered: "Let us not budge from this spot.
+We may here remain unseen, should these people come this way."
+
+The two artisans held their breath and remained motionless in their
+hiding place, wondering with as much astonishment as anxiety who it
+might be that was resorting at so late an hour to so solitary a spot.
+
+The personages who penetrated into the quarry had also equipped
+themselves with lighting materials. One of them lighted a large wax
+candle, the reddish glare of which illuminated the features of the new
+arrivals, seven in number. The one who came in last, cast around him
+soon as the torch was lighted, looks indicative of the retreat being
+familiar to him. He walked with difficulty, and he stooped low as he
+leaned upon a heavy staff much resembling a crutch. Yet he seemed to be
+a man in the maturity of life. Black, threadbare and shabby clothes
+outlined his tall and robust stature. A Spanish ruff of doubtful white
+set off his long and olive-hued visage that terminated in a pointed
+beard. His head was almost bare of hair. His dominating eyes, his
+imperious brow, the haughty carriage of his head--all imparted to his
+strongly marked physiognomy the impression of absolute inflexibility.
+That personage stepped forward. It was Ignatius Loyola.
+
+His six companions were James Lainez, a Spaniard; Alfonso Salmeron,
+Inigo of Bobadilla, and Rodriguez of Azevedo, Portuguese; Francis
+Xavier, a French nobleman; and lastly, Peter Lefevre, a native of the
+mountains of Savoy, the same who, for ten years, had been the intimate
+friend of Christian Lebrenn.
+
+Francis Xavier held the lighted wax candle. Lefevre carried on his
+shoulder a large bundle. Motionless and mute the six disciples of Loyola
+fixed their eyes upon their master, not in order to discover his
+thoughts--they were incapable of such audacity--but in order to
+forestall his will, whatever it might be.
+
+Looking around in silent contemplation of the interior of the grotto,
+Loyola broke the silence in a solemn voice: "I greet thee, secret
+retreat, where, as formerly in the cavern of Manres, I have often
+meditated, and matured my purposes!" He then sat down upon a nearby
+stone, crossed his hands over his staff, leaned his chin upon his hands,
+let his eyes travel slowly over his disciples, who, impassive as statues
+stood beside him, and, after an instant of silent meditation resumed:
+"My children, I said to you this evening: 'Come!' You came, ignorant of
+whither I was leading you. Why did you follow me? Answer, Xavier. To
+hear one of my disciples is to hear them all--to hear one of them
+to-day, is to hear all those who are to follow them from age to age--all
+will be but the distant echoes of my thought."
+
+"Master, you said to us: 'Come!' We came. Command, and you shall be
+obeyed."
+
+"Without inquiring whither I led you; without even seeking to ascertain
+what I might demand of you? Answer, Lefevre."
+
+"Master, we followed you without reflecting--without inquiring."
+
+"Why without reflecting, without inquiring? Answer, Lainez."
+
+"The members of the body obey the will that directs them; they do not
+interrogate that will; they obey."
+
+"Xavier," resumed Loyola, "plant your candle in some interstice of that
+boulder. Lefevre, deposit your bundle at your feet. It contains your
+sacerdotal vestments and the articles necessary to celebrate the holy
+sacrifice of the mass."
+
+Francis Xavier planted the lighted candle firmly between two stones.
+Lefevre deposited his bundle on the ground. The other disciples remained
+standing, their eyes lowered. Still keeping his seat, and with his chin
+resting on the handle of his staff, Loyola resumed:
+
+"Francis Xavier, when I first met you on the benches of the
+University--what was then your nature? What were your habits?"
+
+"Master, I was passionately given to the pleasures of life."
+
+"And you, Inigo of Bobadilla?"
+
+"Master, all obstacles upset me. I was weak and pusillanimous. My spirit
+lacked energy. My nature was cowardly and springless."
+
+"And you, John Lainez?"
+
+"Master, I had excessive confidence in myself. Extreme vanity--"
+
+"And you, Rodriguez of Azevedo?"
+
+"Master, my heart ran over with tenderness. A touching act, an
+affectionate word, was enough to bring the tears to my eyes. I was kind
+to all, was ever eager to run to the help of our fellow men. I was of a
+confiding and accessible nature."
+
+"And you, Alfonso Salmeron?"
+
+"Master, pride dominated me. I was proud of my vigor of bone and of my
+intelligence. I deemed myself a superior man."
+
+"And you, John Lefevre?"
+
+"Master, my mountaineer tenacity never looked upon any obstruction but
+to overcome it. I brooked no contradiction."
+
+"Aye! Such were you. And what are you now? Answer, John Lefevre. To hear
+one of you is to hear all the rest."
+
+"Master, we are no longer ourselves. Your soul has absorbed ours. We are
+now the instruments of your will. We are the body, you the spirit. We
+are submissive slaves, you the inflexible master. We are the clubs, you
+the hand. Without your animating breath we are but corpses."
+
+"How did you arrive at this complete self-effacement? In what manner was
+the absorption of your personalities in mine effected?"
+
+"Master, the study of your _Spiritual Exercises_ effected the miracle."
+
+Loyola seemed satisfied. With his chin resting upon his two hands
+crossed over the head of his heavy staff, he remained silent for a
+moment. Presently he resumed: "Yes, that you were; now you are this. And
+I myself, what was I, and what have I become? I shall tell you. I was a
+haughty Grandee of Viscaya, a handsome cavalier, a valiant captain, a
+daring seducer, and lucky swordsman. The hand of God suddenly smote me
+in war and rendered me a cripple. Great was my despair! To renounce
+women, dueling, horses, the battle, the command of my regiment, which I
+had broken in, drilled and fashioned by military discipline! Nailed to a
+couch of tortures, which I welcomed in the hope of removing my
+deformity, I was seized by Grace! I felt myself full of strength and of
+energy. I was possessed of an invincible craving for dominion. At that
+juncture the Holy Ghost said to me: 'Devote thyself to the triumph of
+the Catholic Church. Thy dominion shall extend in the measure of thy
+faith.' I then asked myself what services could I render the Catholic
+Church. I looked around me. What did I see? The spirit of Liberty, that
+pestilential emanation of a fallen humanity, everywhere at war with
+Authority, that sacred emanation of Divinity. I promised to myself to
+curb the spirit of Liberty with the inflexible curb of Authority,
+identically as I had formerly subjugated indomitable horses. The goal
+being set, what were the means to reach it? I looked for them. I wished
+first to experiment upon myself, to determine upon myself the extent to
+which, sustained by faith in the idea a man pursues, he can shake off
+his former self. Rich by birth, I begged my bread; a haughty Grandee, I
+exposed myself to outrage; a skilful swordsman, I submitted to insult;
+sumptuous in my habits of dress, careful of my personal appearance, I
+have lived in rags and in the gutter. Ignorant of letters, I took my
+seat at the age of thirty among children on the benches of the Montaigu
+College, where any slight inattention was visited upon me with the whip.
+Some of my purposes, being detected by orthodox priests, earned for me
+their persecution and I was ostracised. I stood it all without a murmur.
+From that time, certain that I could demand from my disciples the
+sacrifices I imposed upon myself, I made you that which you are required
+to be. You have said it. You are the members, I the spirit; you are the
+instrument, I the will. The hour for action has come; our work calls us.
+What work is that?"
+
+"That work is the insurance of the reign of authority upon earth."
+
+"What authority?"
+
+"Master, there is but one. The authority of God, visibly incarnated in
+His vicar, the Pope, who is in Rome."
+
+"Do you understand by that the spiritual or the temporal authority?"
+
+"Master, he who has authority over the soul must have authority over the
+body also. He who dictates the Divine law must dictate the human law
+also."
+
+"What must the Pope be?"
+
+"Pontiff and Emperor of the Catholic world."
+
+"Who, under him, is to govern the nations?"
+
+"The clergy."
+
+"Must temporal authority, accordingly, also belong to the Roman Catholic
+and Apostolic Church?"
+
+"All authority flows from God. His ministers are by divine right the
+masters of the nations, and must be invested with full authority."
+
+"Is that, then, the work in hand?"
+
+"Yes, master."
+
+"Are there any obstacles to its accomplishment?"
+
+"Enormous ones."
+
+"What are they?"
+
+"First of all, the Kings."
+
+"Next?" queried Loyola impatiently. "Next?"
+
+"The indocility of the bourgeois classes."
+
+"Next?"
+
+"The new heresy known by the name of the Reformation."
+
+"Next?"
+
+"The printing press, that scourge that every day and everywhere spreads
+its ravages."
+
+"Next?"
+
+"The too publicly scandalous habits of the ecclesiastics."
+
+"And lastly?"
+
+"Often the ineptness, the feebleness, the insatiable cupidity and the
+excesses of the papacy."
+
+"These, then, are the obstacles to the absolute rule of the Catholic
+world by her Church?"
+
+"Yes, master."
+
+"Is it possible to overcome these obstacles?"
+
+"We can, master, provided your spirit speaks through our mouths, and
+your will dictates our actions."
+
+"All honor to the Lord--let's begin with the Kings. What are they with
+regard to the Popes?"
+
+"Their rivals."
+
+"What should they be?"
+
+"Their first subjects."
+
+"Would it not be preferable for the greater glory and security of the
+Catholic Church that royalty were abolished?"
+
+"That would be preferable."
+
+"How are Kings to be absolutely subordinated to the Popes? Or, rather,
+how is royalty to be destroyed?"
+
+"By causing all its subjects to rise against it."
+
+"By what process?"
+
+"By unchaining the passions of an ignorant populace; by exploiting the
+old commune spirit of the bourgeoisie; by fanning the hatred of the
+seigneurs, once the peers of Kings in feudal days; by setting the people
+against one another."
+
+"Is there a last resort for the riddance of Kings?"
+
+"The dagger, or poison."
+
+"Do you understand by that that a member of the Church may and has the
+right to stab a King; may and has the right to poison a King?"
+
+"Master, it is not the part of a monk to kill a King, whether openly or
+covertly. The King should first be paternally admonished, then
+excommunicated, then declared forfeit of royal authority. After that
+_his execution falls to others_."[12]
+
+"And who is it that declares Kings forfeit of royal authority, and thus
+places them under the ban of mankind, and outside the pale of human and
+divine law?"
+
+"Either the people's voice, or an assembly of priests and theologians,
+or the decision of men of sense."[13]
+
+"Suppose royal authority is overthrown by murder, or otherwise, will not
+the power thereby fall either into the hands of the nobility and the
+seigneurs, or into those of the bourgeoisie, or into the hands of the
+populace?"
+
+"Yes, but only for a short interval. If the power falls into the hands
+of the populace, the seigneurs, that is, the nobility and the
+bourgeoisie, are to be turned against the populace. If the power should
+fall into the hands of the bourgeoisie, then the populace and the
+nobility are to be turned against the bourgeoisie; finally, in case the
+power falls into the hands of the nobility, the bourgeoisie and the
+populace are to be turned against the nobility."
+
+"Civil war being over, what will be the state of things?"
+
+"All powers being annihilated, the one destroyed by the other, only the
+Catholic Church will remain standing, imperishable."
+
+"You spoke of operating upon the populace, upon the bourgeoisie, upon
+the nobility, to the end of using these several classes for the
+overthrow of royal power, and subsequently of letting them loose against
+one another. What lever will you operate upon them?"
+
+"The direction of their conscience, especially that of their wives,
+through the confessional."
+
+"In what manner do you expect to be able to direct their conscience?"
+
+"By establishing maxims so sweet, so flexible, so comfortable, so
+complaisant to men's passions, vices and sins that the larger number of
+men and women will choose us for their confessors, and will thereby hand
+over to us the direction of their souls.[14] To direct the souls of the
+living is to secure the empire of the world."
+
+"Let us consider the application of this doctrine," said Loyola.
+"Suppose I am a monk, you, I suppose," he added addressing his disciples
+successively, "are my confessor. I say to you: 'Father, it is forbidden,
+under penalty of excommunication, to doff, even for an instant, the garb
+of our Order. I accuse myself of having put on lay vestments.'"
+
+"'My son,' I would answer," responded one of the disciples of Ignatius,
+"'let us distinguish. If you doffed your religious garb in order not to
+soil it with some disgraceful act, such as going on a pickpocket
+expedition, or patronizing a gambling house, or indulging in debauchery,
+you obeyed a sentiment of shame, and you do not then deserve
+excommunication.'"[15]
+
+"Now," resumed Loyola, "I am a trustee, under obligation to pay a life
+annuity to someone or other, and I desire his death that I may be free
+of the obligation; or, say, I am the heir of a rich father, and am
+anxious to see his last day--I accuse myself of harboring these
+sentiments."
+
+"'My son,' I would answer, 'a trustee may, without sin, desire the death
+of those who receive a pension from his trust, for the reason that what
+he really desires is, not the death of his beneficiary, but the
+cancellation of the debt. My son,' I would answer the penitent, 'you
+would be committing an abominable sin were you, out of pure wickedness,
+to desire the death of your father; but you commit no manner of sin if
+you harbor the wish, not with parricidal intent, but solely out of
+impatience to enjoy his inheritance.'"[16]
+
+"I am a valet, and have come to accuse myself of acting as go-between in
+the amours of my master, and, besides, of having robbed him."
+
+"'My son,' I would answer, 'to carry letters or presents to the
+concubine of your master, even to assist him in scaling her window by
+holding the ladder, are permissible and indifferent matters, because, in
+your quality of servant, it is not your will that you obey, but the will
+of another.[17] As to the thefts that you have committed, it is clear
+that if, driven by necessity, you have been forced to accept wages that
+are too small, you are justified in recouping your legitimate salary in
+some other way.'"[18]
+
+"I am a swordsman. I accuse myself before the penitential tribunal of
+having fought a duel."
+
+"'My son,' I would answer, 'if in fighting you yielded, not to a
+homicidal impulse, but to the legitimate call to avenge your honor, you
+have committed no sin.'"[19]
+
+"I am a coward. I rid myself of my enemy by murdering him from ambush.
+I come to make the admission to you, my confessor, and to ask
+absolution."
+
+"'My son,' I would answer, 'if you committed the murder, not for the
+sake of the murder itself, but in order to escape the dangers which your
+enemy might have thrown you into, in that case you have not sinned at
+all. In such cases it is legitimate to kill one's enemy in the absence
+of witnesses.'"[20]
+
+"I am a judge. I accuse myself of having rendered a decision in favor of
+one of the litigants, in consideration of a present made to me by him."
+
+"'Where is the wrong in that, my son?' I would ask. 'In consideration of
+a present you rendered a decision favorable to the giver of the gift.
+Could you not, by virtue of your own will, have favored whom you
+pleased? You stand in no need of absolution.'"[21]
+
+"I am a usurer. I accuse myself of having frequently derived large
+profits from my money. Have I sinned according to the law of the
+Church?"
+
+"'My son,' I would answer, 'this is the way you should in future conduct
+yourself in such affairs: Someone asks a loan of you. You will answer:
+"I have no money to loan, but I have some ready to be honestly invested.
+If you will guarantee to reimburse me my capital, and, besides that, to
+pay me a certain profit, I shall entrust the sum in your hands so that
+you may turn it to use. But I shall not loan it to you."[22] For the
+rest, my son, you have not sinned, if, however large the interest you
+may have received from your money, the same was looked upon by you
+simply as a token of gratitude, and not a condition for the loan.[23] Go
+in peace, my son.'"
+
+"I am a bankrupt. I accuse myself of having concealed a considerable sum
+from the knowledge of my creditors."
+
+"'My son,' I would answer, 'the sin is grave if you retained the sum out
+of base cupidity. But if your purpose was merely to insure to yourself
+and your family a comfortable existence, even some little luxury, you
+are absolved.'"[24]
+
+"I am a woman. I accuse myself of having committed adultery, and of
+having in that way obtained considerable wealth from my paramour. May I
+enjoy that wealth with an easy conscience?"
+
+"'My daughter,' I would answer, 'the wealth acquired through gallantry
+and adultery has, it is true, an illegitimate source. Nevertheless, its
+possession may be considered legitimate, seeing that no human or divine
+law pronounces against such possession.'"[25]
+
+"I have stolen a large sum. I accuse myself of the theft, and ask for
+your absolution."
+
+"'My son,' I would answer, 'it is a crime to steal, unless one is driven
+thereto by extreme necessity; and even less so if grave reasons prompt
+the act.'"[26]
+
+"I am rich, but I give alms sparingly, if at all. I accuse myself."
+
+"'My son,' I would answer, 'charity towards our fellows is a Christian
+duty. Nevertheless, if superfluity is needed by you, you commit no sin
+by not depriving yourself of those things which, in your eyes, are
+necessaries.[27] I absolve you.'"
+
+"I coveted a certain inheritance. I accuse myself of having poisoned the
+man from whom I was to inherit. May I retain the property?"
+
+"'My son,' I would answer, 'the possession of property, acquired by
+unworthy means, and even through manslaughter, is legitimate, so far as
+possession is concerned. You may retain the property.'"[28]
+
+"I am summoned to take an oath. My conscience forbids, my interest
+orders me to commit perjury. You are my confessor. I wish to consult you
+on the matter."
+
+"'You can, my son, reconcile your interest and your conscience. This
+way--I suppose you will be asked: "Do you swear you did not commit such
+and such an act?" You will answer aloud: "I swear before God and man
+that I have not committed that act," and then you add mentally: "_On
+such and such a day_." Or, you are asked: "Do you swear you will never
+do such or such a thing?" You will answer: "I swear," and mentally you
+add: "_Unless I change my mind; in which case I shall do the
+thing_."'"[29]
+
+"I am an unmarried woman. I have yielded to a seducer. I fear the anger
+and reproaches of my family."
+
+"'My daughter,' I would answer, 'take courage. A woman of your age is
+free to dispose of her body and herself. Have all the lovers you please.
+I absolve you.'"[30]
+
+"I am a woman, passionately addicted to gambling. I accuse myself of
+having purloined some moneys from my husband, in order to repay my
+losses at the gaming table."
+
+"'My daughter,' I would answer, 'seeing that, between man and wife,
+everything is, or ought to be, in common, you have not sinned by drawing
+from the common purse.[31] You may continue to do so. I absolve you.'"
+
+"I am a woman. I love ornaments. I accuse myself."
+
+"'My daughter,' I would answer, 'if you ornament yourself without impure
+intentions, and only in order to satisfy your natural taste for
+ornamentation, you do not sin.'"[32]
+
+"I accuse myself of having seduced the wife of my best friend."
+
+"'My son,' I would answer, 'let us distinguish: If you treacherously
+seduced the woman just because she was the wife of your best friend,
+then you have sinned. But if you seduced her, as you might have done any
+other woman, you have not outraged friendship.[33] It is a natural thing
+to desire the possession of a handsome woman. You have not sinned. There
+is no occasion for absolution.'"
+
+"Well done!" exclaimed Loyola. "But I notice you grant absolution for
+all that human morality and the Fathers of the Church condemn."
+
+"Master, you said: 'Absolved penitents will never complain.'"
+
+"What is the object of the complaisance of your doctrines in all
+circumstances?"
+
+"At this season an incurable corruption reigns among mankind. Rigor
+would estrange them from us. Our tolerance for their vices is calculated
+to deliver the penitents to us, body and soul. By leaving to us the
+direction of their souls, this corrupt generation will later relinquish
+to us the absolute education of their children. We will then raise those
+generations as may be suitable, by taking them in charge from the cradle
+to the grave; by molding them; by petrifying them in such manner that,
+their appetites being satisfied, and their minds for all time delivered
+from the temptation of those three infernal rebels--Reason, Dignity and
+Freedom--those generations will bless their sweet servitude, and will
+be to us, master, what we are to you--servile slaves, body and soul,
+mere corpses!"
+
+"Among the obstacles that our work will, or may encounter, you mentioned
+the papacy."
+
+"Yes, master, because the elections of the sacred college may call to
+the pontifical throne Popes that are weak, stupid or vicious."
+
+"What is the remedy at such a juncture?"
+
+"To organize, outside of the papacy, of the college of cardinals, of the
+episcopacy, of the regular clergy and of the religious Orders, a society
+to whose members it shall be strictly forbidden ever to be elected Pope,
+or to accept any Catholic office, however high or however low the office
+may be. Thus this society will ever preserve its independence of action
+for or against the Church, free to oppose or uphold its Chief."
+
+"What shall be the organization of that redoubtable society?"
+
+"A General, elected by its own members, shall have sovereign direction
+over it."
+
+"What pledge are its members to take towards him?"
+
+"Dumb, blind and servile obedience."
+
+"What are they to be in his hands?"
+
+"That which we are in yours, O, master! Instruments as docile as the
+cane in the hand of the man who leans upon it."
+
+"What will be the theater of the society's work?"
+
+"The whole world."
+
+"Into what parts will it divide the universe?"
+
+"Into provinces--the province of France, the province of Spain, the
+province of Germany, the province of England, the province of India, the
+province of Asia, and others. Each will be under the government of a
+'provincial,' appointed by the General of the society."
+
+"The society being organized, what name is it to assume?"
+
+"The name of the SOCIETY OF JESUS."
+
+"In what manner is the Society of Jesus to become a counterpoise to the
+papacy, and, if need be, dominate the papacy itself, should the latter
+swerve from the route it should pursue in order to insure the absolute
+government of the nations of the world to the Catholic Church?"
+
+"Independent of the established Church, from whom it neither expects nor
+demands aught--neither the purple, nor the cross, nor benefices--the
+Society of Jesus, thanks to its accommodating and tolerant doctrines,
+will speedily conquer the empire of the human conscience. It will be the
+confessor of Kings and lackeys, of the mendicant monk and the cardinal,
+of the courtesan and the princess, the female bourgeois and her cook, of
+the concubine and the empress. The concert of this immense clientage,
+acting as one man under the breath of the Society of Jesus, and inspired
+by its General, will insure to him such a power that, at a given moment,
+he will be able to dictate his orders to the papacy, threatening to
+unchain against it all the consciences and arms over which he disposes.
+The General will be more powerful than the Pope himself."
+
+"Besides its action upon the conscience, will the Society of Jesus
+dispose over any other and secondary levers?"
+
+"Yes, master, and very effective ones. Whosoever, whether lay or
+clerical, poor or rich, woman or man, great or small, will blindly
+surrender his soul to the direction of the Society of Jesus, will always
+and everywhere, and against whomsoever, be sustained, protected,
+favored, defended and held scathless by the Society and its adherents.
+The penitent of a Jesuit will see the horizon of his most ardent hopes
+open before him; the path to honors and wealth will be smoothed before
+his feet; a tutelary mantle will cover his defects, his errors and his
+crimes; his enemies will be the Society's enemies; it will pursue them,
+track them, overtake them and smite them, whoever and wherever they may
+be, and with all available means. Thus the penitent of a Jesuit may
+aspire to anything. To incur his resentment will be a dread ordeal."
+
+"Accordingly, you have faith in the accomplishment of our work?"
+
+"An absolute faith."
+
+"From whom do you derive that faith?"
+
+"From you, master; from you, Ignatius Loyola, whose breath inspires us;
+from you, our master, him through whom we live."
+
+"The work is immense--to dominate the world! And yet there are only
+seven of us."
+
+"Master, when you command, we are legion."
+
+"Seven--only seven, my sons--without other power than our faith in our
+work."
+
+"Master, faith removes mountains. Command."
+
+"Oh, my brave disciples!" exclaimed Ignatius Loyola rising and
+supporting himself with his staff. "What joy it is to me to have thus
+imbued you with my substance, and nourished you with the marrow of my
+doctrine! Be up! Be up! The moment for action has come. That is the
+reason I have caused you to gather this evening here at Montmartre,
+where I have so often come to meditate in this hollow, this second to
+that cavern of Manres, where, in Spain, after long years of
+concentration, I at last perceived the full depth, the immensity of my
+work. Yes, in order to weld you together in this work, I have broken,
+bent and absorbed your personalities. I have turned you into instruments
+of my will as docile as the cane in the hand of the man who leans upon
+it. Yes, I have captured your souls. Yes, you are now only corpses in my
+hands. Oh, my dear corpses! my canes! my serfs! my slaves! glorify your
+servitude. It delivers to you the empire of the world! You will be the
+masters of all the men! You will be supreme rulers of all the women!"
+
+Loyola's disciples listened to him in devout silence. For a moment he
+remained steeped in the contemplation of his portentous ambition,
+meditating universal domination. Presently he proceeded:
+
+"We must prepare ourselves by means of the holy sacrifice of the mass
+for the last act of this great day. We must receive the body of Jesus,
+we who constitute his intrepid militia! We the Jesuits!" And addressing
+himself to Lefevre: "You have brought with you the necessaries for the
+celebration of mass. Yonder rock"--pointing to the boulder behind which
+Christian and Justin were concealed--"yonder rock will serve us for
+altar. Come, to work, my well-beloved disciple."
+
+Lefevre opened the bundle which he had taken charge of. He drew from it
+a surplice, a chasuble, a Bible, a stole, a chalice, a little box of
+consecrated wafers, and two small flasks with wine and water. He clothed
+himself in sacerdotal garb, while one of the disciples took the wax
+candle, knelt down and lighted the improvised altar upon which the other
+Jesuits were engaged in disposing the rest of the requisites for the
+celebration of the divine sacrifice. It was done before Loyola and his
+disciples. The voice of Lefevre, as he droned the liturgy, alone
+disturbed the silence of the solitude upon which the wax candle cast a
+flickering ruddy glow. The time for communion having come, the seven
+founders of the Society of Jesus received the Eucharist with unction.
+The service over, Loyola rose again to his feet, and with an inspired
+mien said to his disciples:
+
+"And now, come, come."
+
+He walked away, limping and followed by his acolytes, leaving behind
+them the religious implements on the block of stone.
+
+Soon as the Jesuits moved away, Christian and Justin cautiously emerged
+from their hiding place, astounded at the secret they had just had
+revealed to them. Christian could still hardly believe that Lefevre,
+one of his oldest friends, and whose sentiments inclined him to the
+Reformation, had become a priest, and was one of the most ardent
+sectarians of Loyola.
+
+"They are gone," Justin whispered to his companion; "I have not a drop
+of blood left in my veins. Let's flee!"
+
+"What imprudence! We might run against those fanatics. I doubt not they
+will come back. Let us wait till they have departed."
+
+"No, no! I will not stay here another minute. I am overcome with fear."
+
+"Then let us try to escape by the other issue, which, as you were
+telling me, runs behind this rock. Come, be brave!"
+
+"I am not sure whether that passage is not now obstructed. It would be
+dangerous to enter it without a light. A light would betray us. Let's
+return upon our steps."
+
+More and more frightened, Justin walked rapidly towards the entrance of
+the quarry. Christian followed, unwilling to leave him alone. The moment
+they were about to emerge from the subterranean cavern, their ears were
+struck by the sound of human voices coming from above. The moon was now
+high in the sky, and lighted the only path that led to the abbey.
+
+"We can not leave this place without being seen," observed Justin in a
+low and anxious voice. "Those men have gathered upon the platform above
+the entrance of the cave."
+
+"Listen," said Christian, yielding to an irresistible impulse of
+curiosity; "listen, they are talking."
+
+The artisans remained motionless and mute. For a moment a solemn silence
+reigned. Presently the voice of Ignatius Loyola reached them as if it
+descended from heaven.
+
+"Do you swear?" came from the founder of the Society of Jesus. "Do you
+swear in the name of the living God?"
+
+"In the name of God," responded the Jesuits. "We swear! We shall obey
+our master!"
+
+"My sons," Loyola's voice resumed solemnly, "from this place you can see
+the four cardinal points of that world whose empire I parcel out among
+you, valiant soldiers of the Society of Jesus. Down yonder, towards the
+north, lie the land of the Muscovite, Germany, England. To you, Germany,
+England and the land of the Muscovite--John Lainez."
+
+"Master, your will be done!"
+
+"Yonder, to the east, Turkey, Asia, the Holy Land. To you, Turkey, Asia
+and the Holy Land--Rodriguez of Acevedo."
+
+"Master, your will be done!"
+
+"Yonder, towards the west, the new America and the Indies. To you, the
+new America and the Indies--Alfonso Salmeron."
+
+"Master, your will be done!"
+
+"Yonder, to the south, Africa, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the islands of
+Corsica and Sardinia, and the Balearic Isles. To you, Africa, Italy,
+Spain, Portugal, the islands of Corsica and Sardinia and the Balearic
+Isles--Inigo of Bobadilla. Behold your empire."
+
+"Master, your will be done!"
+
+"Finally, here at our feet, Paris, the capital of France, a world in
+itself. To you, Paris, to you, France--John Lefevre."
+
+"Master, your will be done!"
+
+"Beginning with to-morrow, gird up your loins. Depart, staff in hand,
+alone, unknown. To work, soldiers of Jesus! To work, Jesuits! The
+kingdom of earth is ours! To-morrow I depart for Rome, to offer or force
+upon the Pope our invincible support."
+
+Loyola's voice died away. Hearing the sectarians descending from the
+platform, Christian and Justin hurried back to their hiding place,
+behind the huge rock upon which were the implements that Lefevre had
+used in the celebration of the mass. The latter soon came back, followed
+by his companions. He doffed his sacerdotal vestments, and approached
+the improvised altar to gather the sacred vessels. So busied, his hand
+struck against the chalice, which rolled down and fell behind the rock
+at the place where the two artisans were crowding themselves from sight.
+John Lefevre walked back of the rock after the chalice which had fallen
+close to Christian's feet. The latter saw the Jesuit approach; stoop
+down and pick up the vase, without seeming, in the demi-gloom, to notice
+his old friend, whom his hand almost touched, and rejoin the other
+disciples.
+
+"Lefevre has seen us!" thought Christian to himself. "It is impossible
+he should not have noticed us. And yet, not a word, not a gesture
+betrayed upon his countenance the astonishment and uneasiness into which
+he must have been plunged by our presence at this place, and the
+knowledge that we are in possession of the secret of his society."
+
+While Christian was absorbed by these thoughts, Lefevre, ever
+imperturbable, returned to his bag the objects which he used in
+celebrating the mass, walked out of the cavern with his companions, and
+whispered a few words into the ear of Loyola. A slight tremor ran
+through the frame of the latter, who, however, immediately recovered his
+composure, and whispered back his answer to Lefevre. The latter lowered
+his head in token of acquiescence. Thereupon the founder of the Society
+of Jesus and his disciples disappeared in the windings of the road and
+reached Paris.
+
+Such was the origin of that infernal society.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+MOTHER AND DAUGHTER.
+
+
+As soon as Christian returned home, late towards midnight, he hastened
+to communicate to his guest the occurrences at Montmartre. Monsieur John
+concluded it was urgent to assemble the chiefs of the Reformation in the
+abandoned quarry, where there was no danger of apprehending the return
+of the Jesuits, seeing that Ignatius Loyola was to depart immediately
+for Rome, while his disciples were to scatter to the distant countries
+parceled out to them. Finally, if, as Christian persisted with good
+reason in believing, Lefevre had noticed the presence of the two
+artisans at the Jesuit conventicle, it would be an additional reason to
+keep them from returning to the spot. Accordingly, Monsieur John decided
+to convoke the chiefs of the Reformation in Paris for six o'clock in the
+afternoon of the following day at Montmartre. To this effect he prepared
+a letter giving the directions to the trysting place. Justin was to
+proceed in time to make certain that the second issue was practicable.
+Furthermore, it was agreed between Bridget and her husband that she
+would absent herself together with her daughter before sunset, in order
+to allow the stranger to leave the house unnoticed by Hena. On his
+part, Christian was to pretend an invitation to supper with a friend, in
+order to engage his son's company in a walk, and was to dismiss him when
+he thought that Monsieur John had departed. The program was carried out
+as agreed. When Bridget and Hena returned home after a short walk along
+the banks of the Seine, the proscribed man had quitted his hospitable
+refuge, and betaken him to the Montmartre Gate, where Christian was to
+await him, and conduct him to the place of meeting.
+
+The artisan's wife and daughter busied themselves at their trade of
+embroidery. They worked in silence by the light of a lamp--Bridget
+musing over Hervé's repentance, while Hena, lost in revery, frequently
+allowed her needle to drop inactive on her lap. The young girl was
+absorbed in her own thoughts, a stranger to what went on around her. The
+hour of nine struck from the distant clock in the tower of St.
+James-of-the-Slaughter-House.
+
+"Nine o'clock," observed Bridget to herself. "My son can not be long in
+coming back. With what joy shall I not embrace him this evening! What a
+heavy load did not his repentance roll off my heart! The dear child!"
+
+And addressing Hena without removing her eyes from her needlework:
+
+"God be blessed! Dear child, you will no longer have cause to complain
+of Hervé's indifference. No, no! And when my little Odelin comes back
+from Italy we shall then all live together again, happy as of old. I am
+awaiting with impatience the return of Master Raimbaud, the armorer,
+who will bring us back our gentle Odelin."
+
+Not receiving any answer from her daughter, Bridget looked up and said
+to her:
+
+"I have been speaking to you some time, dear daughter. You do not seem
+to hear me. Why are you so absentminded?"
+
+Hena remained silent for an instant, then she smiled and answered
+naïvely:
+
+"Singular as it may be, why should I not tell you, mother? It would be
+the first time in my life that I kept a secret from you."
+
+"Well, my child, what is the reason of your absent-mindedness?"
+
+"It is--well, it is Brother St. Ernest-Martyr, mother."
+
+Dropping her embroidery, Bridget contemplated her daughter with extreme
+astonishment. Hena, however, proceeded with a candid smile:
+
+"Does that astonish you, mother? I am, myself, a good deal more
+astonished."
+
+Hena uttered these words with such ingenuousness, her handsome face,
+clear as her soul, turned to her mother with such trustfulness, that
+Bridget, at once uneasy and confident--uneasy, by reason of the
+revelation; confident, by reason of Hena's innocent assurance--said to
+her after a short pause:
+
+"Indeed, dear daughter, I am astonished at what I learn from you. You
+saw, it seems to me, Brother St. Ernest-Martyr only two or three times
+at our friend Mary La Catelle's, before that unhappy affair of the
+other evening on the bridge."
+
+"Yes, mother. And that is just the extraordinary thing about it. Since
+day before yesterday I constantly think of Brother St. Ernest-Martyr.
+And that is not all. Last night I dreamt of him!"
+
+"Dreamt of him!" exclaimed Bridget.
+
+So far from evading her mother's gaze, Hena's only answer was two
+affirmative nods of the head, which she gave, opening wide her beautiful
+blue eyes, in which the childlike and charming astonishment, that her
+own sentiments caused her, was depicted.
+
+"Yes, mother; I dreamt of him. I saw him picking up at the door of a
+church a poor child that shook with cold. I saw him pick up the child,
+hold it in his arms, warm it with his breath, and contemplate it with so
+pitying and tender an air, that the tears forced themselves to my eyes.
+I was so moved that I woke up with a start--and I really wept!"
+
+"That dream is singular, my daughter!"
+
+"Singular? No! The dream is explainable enough. Day before yesterday
+Hervé was telling me of the charitable nature of Brother St.
+Ernest-Martyr. That same evening we saw the poor monk carried into our
+house with his face bleeding. That I should have been deeply impressed,
+and should have dreamt of him, I understand. But what I do not
+understand is that when I am awake, wide awake, I should still think of
+him. Look, even now, when I shut my eyes"--and, smiling, Hena suited the
+action to the words--"I still see him as if he stood there, with that
+kind face of his that he turns upon the little children."
+
+"But, my dear daughter, when you think of Brother St. Ernest-Martyr,
+what is the nature of your thoughts?"
+
+Hena pondered for an instant, and then answered:
+
+"I would not know how to explain it to you, mother. When I think of him
+I say to myself: 'How good, how generous, how brave is Brother St.
+Ernest-Martyr! Day before yesterday he braved the sword to defend Mary
+La Catelle; another day, on the Notre Dame Bridge, he leaped into the
+water to save an unhappy man who was drowning; he picks up little
+deserted children, or gives them instruction with so much interest and
+affection that their own father could not display more solicitude in
+them.'"
+
+"Thinking over it, dear child, there is nothing in all that but what is
+perfectly natural. The brother is an upright man. Your thoughts turn
+upon his good deeds. That's quite simple."
+
+"No, mother, it is not quite so simple as you put it! Are not you all
+that is best in this world? Is not my father as upright a man as Brother
+St. Ernest-Martyr? Are not you two my beloved and venerated parents? And
+yet--that is what puzzles me, how comes it that I oftener think of him
+than of either of you?"
+
+And after a pause the young maid added in an accent of adorable candor:
+
+"I tell you, mother, it is truly extraordinary!"
+
+Several impatient raps, given at the street door interrupted the
+conversation. Bridget said to her daughter:
+
+"Open the window, and see who it is that knocks. Probably it is your
+brother."
+
+"Yes, mother; it is he; it is Hervé," said Hena, opening the window.
+
+She descended to the floor below.
+
+"My God!" thought Bridget to herself in no slight agitation. "How am I
+to interpret the confidence of Hena? Her soul is incapable of
+dissimulation. She has told me the whole truth, without being aware of
+the sentiments the young monk awakens in her. I can hardly wait to
+inform Christian of this strange discovery!"
+
+The sound of Hervé's steps hurriedly ascending the stairs drew Bridget
+from her brown study. She saw her son rush in, followed by his sister.
+As he stepped into the room he cried with a troubled countenance:
+
+"Oh, mother! mother!" and embracing her tenderly he added: "Oh, mother!
+What sad news I bring you!"
+
+"Dear child, what is it?"
+
+"Our poor Mary La Catelle--"
+
+"What has happened to her?"
+
+"This evening, as I was about to leave the printing shop, father asked
+me to accompany him part of the way. He was going to a friend's, with
+whom he was to take supper this evening. Father said: 'La Catelle's
+house is on our way, we shall drop in and inquire whether she is still
+suffering from her painful experience of the other evening'--"
+
+"Yesterday morning," Bridget broke in, "after I took her home with your
+sister, we left Mary calm and at ease. She is a brave woman."
+
+"Notwithstanding her firm nature and her self-control, she succumbed to
+the reaction of that night's excitement. Last night she was seized with
+a high fever. She was bled twice to-day. A minute ago we found her in a
+desperate state. A fatal end is apprehended."
+
+"Poor Mary!" exclaimed Hena, clasping her hands in despair, and her eyes
+filling with tears. "What a misfortune! This news overwhelms me with
+sorrow!"
+
+"Unhappily her sister-in-law left yesterday for Meaux with her husband,"
+remarked Hervé. "La Catelle, at death's door, is left at this moment to
+the care of a servant."
+
+"Hena, quick, my cloak!" said Bridget rising precipitately from her
+seat. "I can not leave that worthy friend to the care of mercenary
+hands. I shall run to her help."
+
+"Good, dear mother, you but forestall father's wishes," observed Hervé,
+as his sister hurried to take Bridget's cloak out of a trunk. "Father
+told me to hurry and notify you of this misfortune. He said he knew how
+attached you were to our friend, and that you would wish to spend the
+night at her bed, and render her the care she stands in need of."
+
+Wrapping herself in her cloak, Bridget was about to leave the house.
+
+"Mother," said Hena, "will you not take me with you?"
+
+"How can you think of such a thing, child, at this hour of night!"
+
+"Sister, it is for me to escort mother," put in Hervé; and, with a
+tender voice, accompanied with the offer of his forehead for Bridget to
+kiss, the hypocrite added:
+
+"Is it not the sweetest of my duties to watch over you, good mother?"
+
+"Oh," said Bridget, moved, and kissing her son's forehead, "I recognize
+you again, my son!" With this passing allusion to the painful incidents
+of the last few days, which she had already forgiven, the unsuspecting
+mother proceeded: "A woman of my age runs no risk on the street, my son;
+besides, I do not wish your sister to remain alone in the house."
+
+"I am not afraid, mother," Hena responded. "I shall bolt the door from
+within. I shall feel easier that way than to have you go out without
+company at this hour of night. Why, mother, remember what happened to La
+Catelle night before last! Let Hervé go with you."
+
+"Mother," put in Hervé, "you hear what my dear sister says."
+
+"Children, we are losing precious time. Let us not forget that, at this
+hour, our friend may be expiring in the hands of a stranger. Good-bye!"
+
+"How unlucky that just to-day our uncle should have gone to St. Denis!"
+put in Hervé with a sigh. But seeming to be struck with an idea he
+added: "Mother, why could not both Hena and I accompany you?"
+
+"Oh, darling brother, you deserve an embrace, twenty embraces, for that
+bright thought," said the young girl, throwing her arms around Hervé's
+neck. "It is agreed, mother, we shall all three go together."
+
+"Impossible. The house can not be left alone, children. Who will open
+the door to your father when he comes home? Besides, did not Master
+Simon send us yesterday a little bag of pearls to embroider on the
+velvet gown for the Duchess of Etampes? The pearls are of considerable
+value. I would feel very uneasy if these valuable articles remained
+without anybody to watch them. Knowing you are here, Hervé, I shall feel
+easy on that score," remarked Bridget with a look of affectionate
+confidence that seemed to say to her son: "Yesterday you committed
+larceny; but you are now again an honorable boy; to-day I can entrust
+you with the guardianship of my treasure."
+
+Hervé divined his mother's thoughts. He raised her hand to his lips and
+said:
+
+"Your trust in me shall be justified."
+
+"Still, this very evening, shortly before nightfall, we left the house
+all alone for a walk along the river," objected Hena. "Why should we run
+any greater risk now, if we go out all three of us?"
+
+"Dear daughter, it was then still light; the shops of our neighbors were
+still open; burglars would not have dared to make a descent upon us at
+such a time. At this hour, on the contrary, all the shops being closed,
+and the streets almost deserted, thieves are in season."
+
+"And it is just at such an hour that you are going to expose yourself,
+mother."
+
+"I have nothing about me to tempt the cupidity of thieves. Good-bye!
+Good-bye, my children!" Bridget said hastily, and embracing Hena and her
+brother: "To-morrow morning, my dear girl, your father will take you to
+La Catelle's, where you will find me. We shall return home together.
+Hervé, light me downstairs."
+
+Preceded by her son, who carried the lamp, Bridget quickly descended the
+stairs and left the house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+HERVE'S DEMENTIA.
+
+
+No sooner had Hervé closed the street door upon his mother than he
+slowly re-ascended the stairs to the upper chamber, saying to himself:
+
+"It will take my mother an hour to reach La Catelle's house; at least as
+long to return; father will not be home until midnight; I have two full
+hours to myself. They shall be turned to profit."
+
+Pressing with a convulsive hand against his heart the scapulary
+containing Tezel's letter of absolution, Hervé entered the room in which
+Hena was left alone.
+
+From the threshold Hervé saw his sister on her knees. Astonished at her
+posture, he stepped towards her and asked:
+
+"Hena, what are you doing?"
+
+"I was praying to God that He may guard mother, and restore our friend
+to health," answered the young girl, rising; and she proceeded with a
+sigh: "My heart feels heavy. May no misfortune threaten us."
+
+Saying this, the confiding girl sat down to her embroidery. Her brother
+took a seat beside her on a stool. After a few seconds he broke the
+silence:
+
+"Hena, do you remember that about three months ago I suddenly changed
+towards you?"
+
+Not a little surprised at these opening words, the young girl answered:
+
+"Why recall those evil days, brother? Thank heaven, they are over; they
+will not return."
+
+"Do you remember," Hervé proceeded without noticing his sister's words,
+"do you remember that, so far from returning, I repelled your caresses?"
+
+"I do not wish to remember that, Hervé; I do not think of it now."
+
+"Hena, the reason was I had made a strange discovery in my heart--I
+loved you!"
+
+The young girl dropped her needle, turned suddenly towards her brother,
+and, fixing upon him her astonished eyes, looked at him for a moment in
+silence. Thereupon, smiling, and in accents of tender reproach, she
+said:
+
+"How! Were you so long making the discovery that you loved me? And did
+the discovery seem to you--strange?"
+
+"Yes," answered Hervé, ignoring the childlike reproach implied in his
+sister's words; "yes, the discovery was slow--yes, it seemed to me
+strange. Long did I struggle against that sentiment; my nights were
+passed sleepless."
+
+"You slept no more because you loved me? That's odd!"
+
+"Because I loved you--"
+
+"Come, Hervé, it is not handsome to joke about so painful a subject. Do
+you forget the sorrow that fell on us all when, all of a sudden, we saw
+you become so somber, so silent, and almost to seem indifferent to us?
+Our dear little Odelin, who departed since then to Milan with Master
+Raimbaud, was probably less saddened by the thought of leaving us, than
+by your coolness for us all."
+
+"Remorse gave me neither peace, nor rest. Alas, I say correctly,
+remorse."
+
+"Remorse?" repeated the young girl stupefied. "I do not understand you."
+
+"The tortures of my soul, coupled with a vague instinct of hope, drove
+me to the feet of a holy man. He listened to me at the confessional. He
+unrolled before my eyes the inexhaustible resources of the faith. Well,
+my remorse vanished; peace re-entered my heart. Now, Hena, I love you
+without remorse and without internal struggles. I love you in security."
+
+"Well, if that is the game, I shall proceed with my embroidery," said
+the young girl; and picking up her needle, she resumed her work, adding
+in a playful tone: "Seeing that the Seigneur Hervé loves me without
+remorse and in security, all is said--although, for my part, I do not
+fathom those big words 'struggles' and 'tortures' with regard to the
+return of the affection of the Seigneur Hervé for a sister who loves him
+as much as she is beloved." But speedily dropping the spirit of banter
+and sadly raising her eyes to her brother's, she continued: "Here, my
+friend, I must quit jesting. You have long suffered. You seemed whelmed
+with a secret sorrow. Come, what was the cause? I am still in the dark
+thereon. Acquaint me with it."
+
+"The cause was love for you, Hena!"
+
+"Still at it? Come, Hervé, I am but a very ignorant girl, beside you who
+know Latin. But when you say that the cause of your secret sorrow was
+your attachment for me--"
+
+"I said love, Hena--"
+
+"Love, attachment, tenderness--is it not all one?"
+
+"You spoke to me day before yesterday of Brother St. Ernest-Martyr."
+
+"I did. And only a short time ago I was talking about him with mother--"
+Suddenly breaking off, Hena exclaimed: "Good God! Dear, good mother!
+When I think of her being all alone at this hour on the street, without
+anyone to protect her!"
+
+"Be not alarmed. Our mother runs no danger whatever."
+
+"May heaven hear you, Hervé!"
+
+"Let us return to Brother St. Ernest-Martyr, of whom you were just
+before speaking with mother. Do you love the monk in the same manner
+that you love me?"
+
+"Can the two things be compared? I have spent my life beside you; you
+are my brother--on the other hand, I have seen that poor monk but five
+or six times, and then for a minute only."
+
+"You love him--do not lie!"
+
+"My God! In what a tone you speak, Hervé. I have nothing to conceal."
+
+"Do you love that monk?"
+
+"Certainly--just as one loves all that is good and just. I know the
+generous actions of Brother St. Ernest-Martyr. You, yourself, only a
+few days ago, told me a very touching deed done by him."
+
+"Do you constantly think of the monk?"
+
+"Constantly, no. But this very evening I was saying to mother that I was
+astonished I thought so frequently of him."
+
+"Hena, suppose our parents thought of marrying you, and that the young
+monk, instead of being a clergyman, was free, could become your husband
+and loved you--would you wed him?"
+
+"What a crazy supposition!"
+
+"Let us suppose all I have said--that he is not a monk and loves you; if
+our parents gave their consent to the marriage, would you accept that
+man for your husband?"
+
+"Dear brother, you are putting questions to me--"
+
+"You would wed him with joy," Hervé broke in with hollow voice, fixing
+upon his sister a jealous and enraged eye that escaped her, seeing the
+embroidery on which she was engaged helped her conceal the embarrassment
+that the singular interrogatory to which she was being subjected threw
+her into. Nevertheless, the girl's natural frankness regained the upper
+hand, and without raising her eyes to her brother, Hena answered:
+
+"Why should I not consent to wed an honorable man, if our parents
+approved the marriage?"
+
+"Accordingly, you love the monk! Yes, you love him passionately! The
+thought of him obsesses you. Your grief and the sorrow that day before
+yesterday you felt when he was carried wounded into the house, the tears
+I surprised in your eyes--all these are so many symptoms of your love
+for him!"
+
+"Hervé, I know not why, but your words alarm me, they disconcert me,
+they freeze my heart, they make me feel like weeping. I did not feel
+that way this evening when I conversed with mother about Brother St.
+Ernest-Martyr. Besides, your face looks gloomy, almost enraged."
+
+"I hate that monk to death!"
+
+"My God! What has he done to you?"
+
+"What has he done to me?" repeated Hervé. "You love him! That is his
+crime!"
+
+"Brother!" cried Hena, rising from her work to throw herself on the neck
+of her brother and holding him in a tight embrace. "Utter not such
+words! You make me wretched!"
+
+Convulsed with despair, Hervé pressed his sister passionately to his
+breast and covered her forehead and hair with kisses, while Hena,
+innocently responding to his caresses, whispered with gentle emotion:
+
+"Good brother, you are no longer angry, are you? If you only knew my
+alarm at seeing you look so wicked!"
+
+A heavy knock resounded at the street door, followed immediately by the
+sonorous and merry voice of the Franc-Taupin singing his favorite song:
+
+    "A Franc-Taupin had an ash-tree bow,
+    All eaten with worms, and all knotted its cord;
+    _Derideron, vignette on vignon!! Derideron!_"
+
+A tremor ran through Hervé. Quickly recalling himself, he ran to the
+casement, opened it, and leaning forward, cried out: "Good evening,
+uncle!"
+
+"Dear nephew, I am back from St. Denis. I did not wish to return to
+Paris without telling you all good-day!"
+
+"Oh, dear uncle, a great misfortune has happened! La Catelle is dying.
+She sent for mother, who left at once. I could not accompany her, being
+obliged to remain here with Hena in father's absence. We feel uneasy at
+the thought that mother may have to come back all alone on this dark
+night."
+
+"All alone! By the bowels of St. Quenet, of what earthly use am I, if
+not to protect my sister!" replied Josephin. "I shall start on a run to
+La Catelle's, and see your mother home. Be not uneasy, my lad. When I
+return I shall embrace you and your sister, if you are not yet in bed."
+
+The Franc-Taupin hastened away. Hervé shut the window, and returned in a
+state of great excitement to Hena, who inquired:
+
+"Why did you induce uncle to go to-night after mother? She is to stay
+all night at La Catelle's. Why do you not answer me? Why is your face so
+lowering? My God! What ails you? Brother, brother, do not look upon me
+with such eyes! I am trembling all over."
+
+"Hena, I love you--I love you carnally!"
+
+"I--do not comprehend--what--you say. I do not understand your words.
+You now frighten me. Your eyes are bloodshot."
+
+"The kind of love you feel for that monk--that love I feel for you! I
+love you with a passionate desire."
+
+"Hervé, you are out of your mind. You do not know what you say!"
+
+"I must possess you!"
+
+"Good God, am I also going crazy? Do my eyes--do my ears deceive me?"
+
+"Hena--you are beautiful! Sister, I adore you--"
+
+"Do not touch me! Mercy! Hervé, brother, you are demented! Recognize
+me--it is I--Hena--your own sister--it is I who am here before you--on
+my knees."
+
+"Come, come into my arms!"
+
+"Help! Help! Mother! Father!"
+
+"Mother is far away--father also. We are alone--in the dark--and I have
+received absolution! You shall be mine, will ye nil ye!"
+
+The monster, intent upon accomplishing his felony in obscurity, knocked
+down the lamp with his fist, threw himself upon Hena, and gripped her in
+his arms. The girl slipped away from him, reached the staircase that led
+to the lower floor, and bounded down. Hervé rushed after her, and seized
+her as she was about to clear the lowest steps. The distracted child
+called for help. Holding her with one hand, her brother tried to gag her
+with the other, lest her cries be heard by the neighbors. Suddenly the
+street door was thrown open, flooding the room with moonlight, and
+disclosing Bridget on the threshold. Thunderstruck, the mother perceived
+her daughter struggling in the arms of her brother, and still, though in
+a smothered voice, crying: "Help! Help!" The wretch, now rendered
+furious at the danger of his victim's escaping him, and dizzy with the
+vertigo of crime, did not at first recognize Bridget. He flung Hena
+behind him, and seizing a heavy iron coal-rake from the fireplace, was
+about to use it for a club, not even recoiling before murder in order to
+free himself from an importunate witness. Already the dangerous weapon
+was raised when, by the light of the moon, the incestuous lad discovered
+the features of his mother.
+
+"Save yourself, mother," cried Hena between her sobs; "he is gone crazy;
+he will kill you. Only your timely help saved me from his violent
+assault."
+
+"Infamous boy!" cried the mother. "That, then, was your purpose in
+removing me from the house. God willed that half way to La Catelle's I
+met her brother-in-law--"
+
+"Be gone!" thundered back Hervé, a prey to uncontrollable delirium; and
+raising the iron coal-rake which he had lowered under the first impulse
+of surprise at the sight of his mother, he staggered towards Bridget
+yelling: "Be gone!"
+
+"Matricide! Dare you raise that iron bar against me--your mother?"
+
+"All my crimes are absolved in advance! Incest--parricide--all are
+absolved! Be gone, or I kill you!"
+
+Hardly were these appalling words uttered, when the sound of numerous
+and rapidly approaching steps penetrated into the apartment through the
+door that Bridget had left open. Almost immediately a troop of
+patrolling archers, under the command of a sergeant-at-arms, and led by
+a man in a black frock with the cowl drawn over his head, halted and
+drew themselves up before the house of Christian. The Franc-Taupin had
+met them a short distance from the Exchange Bridge. A few words,
+exchanged among the soldiers, notified him of the errand they were on.
+Alarmed at what he overheard, he had quickly retraced his steps and
+followed them at a distance. The sergeant in command stepped in at the
+very moment that Hervé uttered the last menace to his mother.
+
+"Does Christian Lebrenn dwell here?" asked the soldier. "Answer
+quickly."
+
+Ready to sink distracted, Bridget was not at first able to articulate a
+word. Hena gathered strength to rise from the floor where Hervé had
+flung her, and ran to Bridget, into whose arms she threw herself. Hervé
+dropped at his feet the iron implement he had armed himself with, and
+remained motionless, savage of mien, his arms crossed over his breast.
+The man whose face was hidden by the cowl of his black frock--that man
+was John Lefevre, the disciple of Ignatius Loyola--whispered a few words
+in the ear of the sergeant. The latter again addressed Bridget, now in
+still more peremptory tones:
+
+"Is this the dwelling of Christian Lebrenn, a typesetter by trade?"
+
+"Yes," answered Bridget, and greatly alarmed by the visit of the
+soldiers, she added: "My husband is not at home. He will not be back
+until late."
+
+"You are the wife of Christian Lebrenn?" resumed the sergeant, and
+pointing to Hena and then to Hervé: "That young girl and that young man
+are your children, are they not? By order of Monsieur John Morin, the
+Criminal Lieutenant, I am commissioned to arrest Christian Lebrenn, a
+printer, his wife, his son and his daughter as being charged with
+heresy, and to take them to a safe place."
+
+"My husband is not at home!" cried Bridget, her first thought being to
+the safety of Christian, although herself stupefied with fear at the
+threatened arrest. That instant, and standing a few steps behind the
+archers, the Franc-Taupin, taller by a head than the armed troop before
+him, caught the eyes of Bridget. With a sign he warned her to keep
+silent. He then bent his long body in two, and vanished.
+
+"Do you want to make us believe your husband is not at home?" resumed
+the sergeant. "We shall search the house." Then turning to his men:
+"Bind the hands of that young man, of the young girl and of the woman,
+and keep guard over the prisoners."
+
+John Lefevre, his face still concealed under the cowl of his frock,
+could not be recognized by Bridget. He knew the inmates of the house, at
+whose hearth he had often sat as a friend. He motioned to the sergeant
+to follow him, and taking a lanthorn from the hand of one of the
+archers, mounted the stairs, entered the chamber of the married couple,
+and pointing with his finger to a cabinet in which Christian kept his
+valuables, said to him:
+
+"The papers in question must be in there, in a little casket of black
+wood."
+
+The key stood in the lock of the cabinet. The sergeant opened the two
+doors. From one of the shelves he took down a casket of considerable
+proportions.
+
+"That is the one," said John Lefevre. "Give it to me. I shall place it
+in the hands of Monsieur the Criminal Lieutenant."
+
+"That Christian must be hiding somewhere," remarked the sergeant,
+looking under the bed, and behind the curtains.
+
+"It is almost certain," answered John Lefevre. "He rarely goes out at
+night. There is all the greater reason to expect to find him in at this
+hour, seeing he spent part of last night out of the house."
+
+"Why did they not try to arrest him during the day at the printing
+office of Monsieur Estienne?" the sergeant inquired while keeping up his
+search. "He could not have been missed there."
+
+"As to that, my friend, I shall say, in the first place, that, due to
+the untoward absence of Monsieur the Criminal Lieutenant, who was
+summoned early this morning to Cardinal Duprat's palace, our order of
+arrest could not be delivered until too late in the evening. In the
+second place, you know as well as I that the artisans of Monsieur
+Estienne are infected with heresy; they are armed; and might have
+attempted to resist the arrest of their companion. No doubt the archers
+would have prevailed in the end. But Christian might have made his
+escape during the struggle, whereas the chances were a thousand to one
+he could be taken by surprise at his house, in the dark, along with his
+family."
+
+"And yet he still escapes us," observed the sergeant, after some fresh
+searches. Noticing the door of Hena's chamber, he entered and rummaged
+that room also, with no better results, and said: "Nothing in this
+direction either."
+
+"Come, let us investigate the garret. Give me the lanthorn, and follow
+me. If he is not there either, then we must renounce his capture for
+to-night. Fortunately we got the woman and the children--besides this,"
+added the Jesuit, tapping upon the casket under his arm. "We shall find
+Christian, sure enough."
+
+Saying this, John Lefevre opened the panel leading to the nook where
+stood the ladder to the attic; he climbed it, followed by the sergeant,
+arrived in the garret which had served as refuge to the unknown, noticed
+the mattress, some crumbs of bread and the remains of some fruit, pens
+and an inkhorn on a stool, and, scattered over the floor, fragments of
+paper covered with a fine and close handwriting.
+
+"Somebody was hiding here, and spent some time, too!" exclaimed the
+sergeant excitedly. "This mattress, these pens, indicate the presence of
+a stranger of studious habits;" and running to the dormer window that
+opened upon the river, he mused: "Can Christian have made his escape by
+this issue?"
+
+While the archer renewed his search, vainly rummaging every nook and
+corner of the garret, John Lefevre carefully collected the bits of paper
+that were strewn over the floor, assorted them, and kneeling down beside
+the stool, on which he placed the lanthorn, examined the manuscript
+intently. Suddenly a tremor ran over his frame, and turning to the
+sergeant he said:
+
+"There is every reason to believe that Christian Lebrenn is not in the
+house. I think I can guess the reason of his absence. Nevertheless,
+before quitting the place we must search the bedroom of his two sons. It
+is in the rear of the ground floor room. Let us hurry. Your expedition
+is not yet ended. We shall probably have to leave Paris to-night, and
+carry our investigation further."
+
+"Leave Paris, reverend Father?"
+
+"Yes, perhaps. But I shall first have to notify the Criminal Lieutenant.
+What a discovery! To be able at one blow to crush the nest of
+vipers!--_ad majorem Dei gloriam!_"[34]
+
+John Lefevre and the sergeant re-descended to the ground floor. After a
+few whispered words to the soldier, the Jesuit departed, carrying with
+him the casket in which the chronicles of the Lebrenn family were
+locked.
+
+The chamber occupied by Hervé was ransacked as vainly as had been the
+other apartments of the house. During these operations Bridget had
+striven to allay the fright of her daughter. Hervé, somber and sullen,
+his hands bound like his mother's and sister's, remained oblivious to
+what was happening around him. Giving up the capture of Christian, the
+sergeant returned to his prisoners and announced to Bridget that he was
+to carry both her and her children away with him. The poor woman
+implored him to take pity on her daughter who was hardly able to keep
+her feet. The sergeant answered harshly, that if the young heretic was
+unable to walk she would be stripped and dragged naked over the streets.
+Finally, addressing his archers, he concluded:
+
+"Three of you are to remain in this house. When Christian raps to be let
+in you will open the door, and seize his person."
+
+Bridget could not repress a moan of anguish at hearing the order.
+Christian, she reflected, was fatedly bound to fall into the trap, as he
+would return home unsuspecting. The three archers locked themselves up
+on the ground floor. The others, led by their chief, left the house,
+and, taking Bridget and her two children with them, marched away to lead
+them to prison.
+
+"For mercy's sake," said the unhappy mother to the sergeant, "untie my
+hands that I may give my daughter the support of my arm. She is so
+feeble that it will be impossible for her to follow us."
+
+"That's unnecessary," answered the sergeant. "On the other side of the
+bridge you will be separated. You are not to go to the same prison as
+your daughter."
+
+"Good God! Where do you mean to take her to?"
+
+"To the Augustinian Convent. You are to go to the Chatelet. Come, move
+on, move quickly."
+
+Hervé, who had until then remained sullenly impassive, said impatiently
+to the sergeant:
+
+"If I am to be taken to a convent, I demand to go to the Cordeliers."
+
+"The Criminal Lieutenant is to decide upon that," replied the sergeant.
+
+After a short wait, the archers took up their march. Alas! How shall the
+pain and desolation of Hena and her mother be described at learning they
+were not to be allowed even the consolation of suffering this latest
+trial in each other's company? Nevertheless, a ray of hope lighted
+Bridget's heart. Her last words with the sergeant had been exchanged
+near the cross that stood in the middle of the bridge, and close to
+which the archers were passing at the time. Christian's wife saw the
+Franc-Taupin on his knees at the foot of the crucifix, gesticulating
+wildly, raising his head and crying out like a frantic devotee:
+
+"Lord! Lord! _Thy eye has seen everything. Thy ear has heard
+everything_; there is nothing hidden from Thee. Have pity upon me,
+miserable sinner, that I am! Thanks to Thee _he will be saved_. I hope
+so! In the name of the most Holy Trinity."
+
+"There is a good Catholic who will not fail to be saved," said the
+sergeant, making the sign of the cross and looking at the kneeling
+figure of the Franc-Taupin, who furiously smote his chest without
+intermission, while the archers redoubled their pace and marched away,
+dragging their prisoners behind them.
+
+"God be blessed!" said Bridget to herself, understanding the information
+that Josephin meant to convey. "My brother has seen everything and heard
+everything. He will remain in the neighborhood of the house. He expects
+to save Christian from the danger that threatens him. He will inform
+Christian that his daughter has been taken to the Augustinian Convent
+and I to the Chatelet prison."
+
+Such indeed was the purpose of the Franc-Taupin. When the archers had
+disappeared he drew near to Christian's house and contemplated it sadly
+and silently by the light of the moon. Accidentally his eyes fell upon a
+scapulary that had dropped near the threshold. He recognized it, having
+more than once seen it hanging on the breast of Hervé. The strings of
+the relic had snapped during the struggle of Hena with her brother, and
+the bag being thus detached from Hervé's neck it had slipped down
+between his shirt and his jacket, and dropped to the ground. The
+Franc-Taupin picked up the relic, and opened it mechanically. Finding
+therein the letter of absolution, he ran his eye hurriedly over the
+latter, and at once replaced it in the scapulary.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+CALVINISTS IN COUNCIL.
+
+
+While the events narrated in the previous chapter were occurring at his
+house, Christian Lebrenn was climbing in the company of his mysterious
+guest the slope of Montmartre, along the path that led to the abbey.
+
+"Monsieur Lebrenn," said Monsieur John, who had been in deep silence, "I
+should feel guilty of an act of ingratitude and of mistrust were I any
+longer to withhold from you my name. Perhaps it is not unknown to you. I
+am John Calvin."
+
+"I feel happy, monsieur, in having given asylum to the chief of the
+Reformation, to the valiant apostle who has declared war to Catholicism,
+and who propagates the new ideas in France."
+
+"Alas, our cause already counts its martyrs by the thousands. Who knows
+but I may soon be added to their number? My life is in the hands of the
+Lord."
+
+"Our enemies are powerful."
+
+"Among these, the most redoubtable ones will be the Jesuits, the
+sectarians whose secret you surprised. Their purposes were not so well
+concealed but that I already had intimation of the endeavors of their
+chief to gather around himself active, devoted and resolute men. Hence
+the lively interest I felt in the narrative of your relative, the
+one-time page of Ignatius Loyola, when the latter was still a military
+chieftain. That revelation, coupled with yours, has given me the key to
+the character of the founder of the Society of Jesus, his craving after
+power, and the means that he uses in order to satisfy his ambition. The
+military discipline, that turns the soldier into a passive instrument of
+his captain, is to be applied to the domination of souls, which are to
+be rendered no less passive, no less servile. His project is to center
+in himself, to direct and to subjugate human conscience, thanks to a
+doctrine that extenuates and encourages the most detestable passions.
+Ignatius Loyola said the word: 'The penitent of a Jesuit will see the
+horizon of his most ardent hopes open before him; all paths will be
+smoothed before his feet; a tutelary mantle will cover his defects, his
+errors and his crimes; to incur his resentment will be a dreaded
+ordeal.'"
+
+"I shuddered as I heard that man distribute the empire of the world
+among his disciples in the name of such an impious doctrine. It cannot
+choose--the painful admission must be made--but impart to the Jesuits a
+formidable power until man be regenerated. Thanks, however, to God, the
+Reformation also now counts fervent adepts."
+
+"The disciples of the Reformation are still few in number, but their
+influence upon the masses of the people is no less extensive, due to the
+moral force of our doctrine. All straightforward, pure and generous
+souls are with us. Men of learning, poets, merchants, enlightened
+artisans like yourself, Monsieur Lebrenn; rich men, bourgeois, artists,
+professors; even military men will gather this evening at our meeting to
+confess the true Evangelium."
+
+"Civil war is a fearful extremity. All the same, the day may come when
+the men of arms will be needed by the Reformation."
+
+"May that untoward day never arrive! My opinion is that patience,
+resignation and respect for the laws and the Crown should be carried to
+the utmost limit possible. Nevertheless, should the sword have to be
+drawn, not for the purpose of imposing the Evangelical church through
+violence, but for the purpose of defending our lives, and the lives of
+our brothers, I should not, then, hesitate to call upon the men of arms
+who are partisans of the Reformation. Among these, it is my belief, we
+shall number a young man who has barely emerged from adolescence, and
+who gives promise of becoming a great captain at maturer age. He is
+called Gaspard of Coligny. His father bore himself bravely in the late
+wars of Italy and Germany. He died leaving his sons still in their
+childhood. Madam Coligny raised them in the Evangelical faith. About a
+year ago I found a place of refuge under her roof, at her castle of
+Chatillon-on-the-Loing, in Burgundy. I there met her eldest son,
+Gaspard. The precocious intellectual maturity of the lad, his devotion
+to our cause, awakened in me the best of hopes. He will be one of the
+pillars of the new temple--besides a terrible enemy raised against the
+Pope and Satan."
+
+"Monsieur," put in Christian, interrupting John Calvin in a low voice,
+"we are shadowed. I have noticed for some little while three men not far
+behind us, who seem to be timing their steps to ours."
+
+"Let us stop, let us allow them to pass. We shall ascertain whether they
+are bent upon following us. They may be friends, like ourselves bound to
+our assembly."
+
+Christian and John Calvin halted. Shortly they were passed by three men
+clad in dark colors, and all three carrying swords. One of these seemed,
+as he passed closely by John Calvin, to scan his face intently in the
+moonlight. A moment later, after having proceeded a little distance with
+his friends, he left them, retraced his steps, and walking towards
+Christian and his companion, said, courteously touching his cap with his
+hand:
+
+"Monsieur Calvin, I am happy to meet you."
+
+"Monsieur Coligny!" exclaimed the reformer gladly. "You did come--as I
+hoped you would."
+
+"It was natural I should respond to the summons of him whose doctrines I
+share, and for whom my mother entertains so much esteem and affection."
+
+"Are the two gentlemen you are with of our people, Monsieur Coligny?"
+
+"Yes. One is French, the other a foreigner, both devoted to our cause. I
+have felt safe to bring them to our assembly. I vouch for them, as for
+myself. The foreigner is a German Prince, Charles of Gerolstein, a
+cousin of the Prince of Deux-Ponts, and, like him, one of the boldest
+followers of Luther. My other friend, a younger son of Count Neroweg of
+Plouernel, one of the great seigneurs of Brittany and Auvergne, is as
+zealous in favor of the Reformation as his elder brother for the
+maintenance of the privileges and dominion of the Church of Rome."
+
+"Sad divisions of the domestic hearth!" observed John Calvin with a
+sigh. "It is to be hoped the truth of the Evangelium may penetrate and
+enlighten all the hearts of the great family of Christ!"
+
+"May that era of peace and harmony soon arrive, Monsieur Calvin,"
+replied Gaspard of Coligny. "The arrival of that great day is anxiously
+desired by my friend Gaston, the Viscount of Plouernel and captain of
+the regiment of Brittany. With all his power has he propagated the
+Reformation in his province. To draw you his picture with one stroke, I
+shall add that my mother has often said to me I could not choose a wiser
+and more worthy friend than Gaston Neroweg, the Viscount of Plouernel."
+
+"The judgment of a mother, and such a mother as Madam Coligny, is not
+likely to go astray regarding her son's choice of his friends," answered
+John Calvin. "Our cause is the cause of all honorable people. I would
+like to express to your friends my great gratification at the support
+they bring to us."
+
+Gaspard of Coligny stepped ahead to inform his friends of John Calvin's
+wish that they be introduced to him.
+
+Upon hearing the name of the Viscount of Plouernel, Christian had
+started with surprise. Accident was bringing him in friendly contact
+with one of the descendants of the Nerowegs, that stock of Frankish
+seigneurs which the sons of Joel the Gaul had, in the course of
+generations, so often encountered, to their sorrow. He felt a sort of
+instinctive repulsion for the Viscount of Plouernel, and cast upon him
+uneasy and distrustful looks as, accompanied by Gaspard of Coligny and
+Prince Charles of Gerolstein, he stepped towards John Calvin. While the
+latter was exchanging a few words with his new friends, Christian
+examined the descendant of Neroweg with curiosity. His features
+reproduced the typical impress of his race--bright-blonde hair, aquiline
+nose, round and piercing eyes. Nevertheless, the artisan was struck by
+the expression of frankness and kindness that rendered the young man's
+physiognomy attractive.
+
+"Gentlemen," said John Calvin, whose voice interrupted the meditations
+of Christian, "I am happy, in my turn, to introduce you to one of ours,
+Monsieur Lebrenn, a worthy coadjutor in the printing office of our
+friend Robert Estienne. Monsieur Lebrenn has incurred no little danger
+in affording hospitality to me. Moreover, it is to him we are indebted
+for the discovery of the locality where we are to meet to-night."
+
+"Monsieur," replied Gaspard of Coligny addressing Christian with
+emotion, "my friends and I share the sentiments of gratitude that
+Monsieur John Calvin entertains for you."
+
+"Besides that, Monsieur Lebrenn," added Neroweg, the Viscount of
+Plouernel, "I am delighted to meet one of the assistants of the
+illustrious Robert Estienne. All that we, men of arms and war, have to
+place at the service of the cause of religious liberty is our sword; but
+you and your companions in your pursuit, you operate a marvelous
+talisman--the press! Glory to that invention! Light follows upon
+darkness. No longer is Holy Writ, in whose name the Church of Rome
+imposed so many secular idolatries upon the people, an impenetrable
+mystery. Its truth owes to the press its second revelation. Finally,
+thanks to the effect of the press, the hope is justified that
+Evangelical fraternity will one day reign on earth!"
+
+"You speak truly, Monsieur Plouernel. Yes, the invention of the press
+bears the mark of God's hand," observed John Calvin. "But the night
+advances. Our friends are surely waiting for us. Let us move on, and
+join them."
+
+With Gaspard of Coligny on one side, and the Viscount of Plouernel on
+the other, John Calvin, the great promoter of the new doctrines,
+proceeded to climb the slope of the hill of Montmartre.
+
+Much to his regret, the extreme astonishment that the affable words of
+the descendant of the Plouernels threw him into, deprived Christian of
+the power to formulate an answer. He followed John Calvin in silence,
+without noticing that, for some time, Prince Charles of Gerolstein was
+examining him with increasing attention. This seigneur, a man in the
+full vigor of life, tall of stature, of a strong but open countenance,
+fell a little behind his friends and joined Christian, whom he thus
+addressed after walking a few steps beside him:
+
+"Believe me, monsieur, if, a minute ago, I failed to render just praise,
+as my friends did, to the courageous hospitality you accorded John
+Calvin, I do not, therefore, appreciate any the less the generosity of
+your conduct. It was that your name fell strangely upon my senses. It
+awoke within me numerous recollections--family remembrances."
+
+"My name, Prince?"
+
+"Spare me that princely title. Christ said: 'All men are equal before
+God.' We are all brothers. Your name is Lebrenn? Is Armorican Brittany
+the cradle of your family?"
+
+"Yes, monsieur. It is."
+
+"Did your family live near the sacred stones of Karnak, before the
+conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar?"
+
+Christian looked at Charles of Gerolstein without attempting to conceal
+his astonishment at meeting a stranger acquainted with incidents that
+ran back so many centuries in his family's history. The Prince pursued
+his interrogatory:
+
+"Towards the middle of the Eighth Century, one of your ancestors, Ewrag
+by name, and son of Vortigern, one of the most intrepid defenders of the
+independence of Brittany, and grandson of Amael, who knew Charlemagne,
+left his native land to take up his home in the lands of the far North."
+
+"Yes, after the great Armorican insurrection. During that uprising the
+Bretons appealed for aid to the Northman pirates, who had established
+themselves at the mouth of the Loire. Ewrag afterwards embarked for the
+North with those sea-faring peoples."
+
+"Did he not leave behind two brothers?"
+
+"Rosneven and Gomer."
+
+"Ewrag, who first settled down in Denmark, had a grandson named Gaëlo.
+In the year 912 he was one of the pirate chiefs who came down and
+besieged Paris under the command of old Rolf, later Duke of Normandy.
+Gaëlo was recognized as a member of your family by Eidiol, at that time
+dean of the Parisian skippers."
+
+"Yes, indeed. Gaëlo was taken wounded into the house of my ancestor
+Eidiol. While dressing the wound of the Northman pirate, the words
+'Brenn--Karnak' were discovered, traced with indelible letters on his
+arm. It was a custom, often followed in those disastrous days, when ware
+or slavery frequently scattered a family to the four winds. They hoped,
+thanks to the indelible marks, to recognize one another should fresh
+upheavals happen to throw them again in one another's way."
+
+"After wedding the Beautiful Shigne, one of the Buckler Maidens who
+joined the expedition of Rolf, Gaëlo returned to the North. Since then
+there have been no tidings of him."
+
+"Yes. For all these past centuries we have remained in ignorance
+concerning that branch of our family. But, monsieur, I cannot understand
+how you, a German Prince, can possess such exact information of my
+humble family, which, besides, is of Gallic race. I wish you would
+explain yourself."
+
+Christian was interrupted by John Calvin, who, turning back, said to
+him:
+
+"Here we are at the top of the hill. Which path are we to follow now
+out of the many in sight? Be so good as to lead us out of this maze."
+
+"I shall walk ahead, and show you the path to follow," answered
+Christian.
+
+As Christian hastened his steps to take the lead of the group, the
+Prince of Gerolstein said to him:
+
+"I can not at this moment carry on the conversation that for a thousand
+reasons I am anxious to hold with you. Where could I meet you again?"
+
+"I live on the Exchange Bridge, facing the right side of the cross as
+you come from the Louvre."
+
+"I shall call upon you to-morrow evening, Monsieur Lebrenn;" and
+extending his hand to the artisan, Prince Charles of Gerolstein added:
+"Give me your hand, Christian Lebrenn, we are of the same blood. The
+cradle of my own stock is old Armorican Gaul. The course of the
+centuries, and the accidents of conquest have raised my house to
+sovereign rank, but it is of plebeian origin."
+
+After cordially clasping the hand of the amazed Christian, the Prince
+rejoined John Calvin and his friends. At that moment, Justin, who had
+been stationed on the lookout at the head of the rocky path that led to
+the quarry, walked rapidly up to his fellow workman, saying:
+
+"I had begun to feel uneasy. All the persons who have been convoked to
+the meeting have arrived long ago. I counted sixty-two. I am here on the
+lookout. Master Robert Estienne requested one of our friends to plant
+himself near the mouth of the excavation leading to the underground
+issue of the cavern. You know that gallery, cut behind the large rock,
+which recently sheltered us from the eyes of Loyola and his disciples. I
+inspected the passage this morning. It is open."
+
+"In case of danger you will run and notify the assembly. I understand."
+
+"From his side also Master Robert Estienne's friend will give the alarm
+in case of need. It is not likely the quarry will be invaded by both
+passages at once. One will always remain free. Our friends can
+deliberate in perfect safety."
+
+"If the gathering is not disturbed by some accident, friend Justin, I
+shall return by this path and we shall reenter Paris together."
+
+"Agreed. Our arrangements are made."
+
+A moment later, Christian, John Calvin and his friends entered the
+quarry. There they found assembled the leading partisans of the
+Reformation in Paris--lawyers, literary men, rich merchants, seigneurs,
+courtiers and men of arms and of science. Thus, besides Gaspard of
+Coligny, Prince Charles of Gerolstein and the Viscount of Plouernel,
+there were present the following personages of distinction: John
+Dubourg, a Parisian draper of St. Denis Street; Etienne Laforge, a rich
+bourgeois; Anthony Poille, an architect, and brother-in-law of Mary La
+Catelle, who, herself, had been invited as one of the most useful
+promoters of the Reformation; Clement Marot, one of the most renowned
+poets of those days; a young and learned surgeon named Ambroise Paré,
+the hope of his art and science, a charitable man who opened his purse
+even to the sufferers whom he attended; and Bernard Palissy, a potter,
+whose work will be imperishable, and who is as well versed in alchemy as
+he is celebrated in sculpture. A small number of chiefs of guilds were
+also present. The guilds, being plunged in ignorance, were still under
+the influence of the monks, and entertained a blind hatred for the
+Reformation. A few wax candles, brought along by several of the persons
+present, lighted the bowels of the cavern and threw a flickering glamor
+upon those grave and thoughtful faces. When John Calvin entered the
+cavern he was recognized by some of the reformers. His name immediately
+flew from mouth to mouth. Those who had not yet seen him drew nearer to
+contemplate him. The resolute stamp of his character was reflected upon
+his pensive countenance. A profound silence ensued. The reformers ranked
+themselves in a circle around their apostle. He stepped upon a block of
+stone in order to be better heard, and proceeded to address them:
+
+"My dear brothers, I have just traversed the larger portion of France. I
+have conferred with most of our pastors and friends in order to
+determine in concert with them the articles of faith of the Evangelical
+religion, the basis of which was laid by the immortal Luther. If the
+formula of our common belief is adopted by you, such as it has been
+adopted by most of our friends, the unity of the reformed church will be
+an established thing. This is our Credo:[35]
+
+"'We believe and confess that there is one only God, a sole, spiritual,
+eternal, invisible, infinite, incomprehensible, immutable essence, who
+is all-powerful, all-wise, all-good, all-just and all-merciful.'"
+
+"That we believe; that we confess," answered the reformers.
+
+"'We believe and confess,'" continued Calvin, "'that God manifests
+Himself as such to man by creation, and by the preservation and guidance
+of creation; furthermore, by the revelation of His Word, gathered by
+Moses, and which constitutes what we call Holy Writ, contained in the
+canonical books of the Old and the New Testament.'"
+
+"That is the Book; the only Book; the Code of good and evil; the
+instructor of men and of children alike; the divine source of all
+goodness, all power, all consolation, all hope!" responded the
+reformers.
+
+"Moses was a disciple of the priests of Memphis. I can well see how he
+gave out this or that Egyptian dogma, as emanating from divine
+revelation--but that remains, however, a hypothesis. I do not accept the
+pretended sacredness of the texts," said Christian Lebrenn, apart; while
+Calvin continued:
+
+"'We believe and confess that the Word contained in the sacred books,
+which proceed from God to man, is the norm of all truth; that it is not
+allowable for man to change the same in aught; that custom, judgments,
+edicts, councils and miracles must in no manner be opposed to Holy Writ,
+but, on the contrary, must be reformed by it.'"
+
+"We want the Word of God pure and simple. We want it disengaged of all
+the Romish impostures, that, for centuries, have falsified and
+perverted it," the reformers replied.
+
+"Here," said Christian, again to himself, "here starts the freedom of
+inquiry. That is the reason for my adherence to the Reformation." Calvin
+resumed:
+
+"'We believe and confess that Holy Writ teaches us that the divine
+essence consists of three persons--the Father, the Son and the Holy
+Ghost, and that this Trinity is the source of all visible and invisible
+things. That is our belief.'"
+
+"It is an article of faith with us; it is the foundation of our
+religion," chorused the reformers, while Christian Lebrenn added, to
+himself:
+
+"This also belongs to the domain of hypothesis--and of religious
+absurdities. One more article of faith to be rejected."
+
+"'We believe and confess,'" continued Calvin, "'that man, having been
+born pure and clean in the image of God, is, through his own sin, fallen
+from the grace he had received, and that all the descendants of Adam are
+tainted with original sin, down to the little children in their mothers'
+wombs. That is our belief on these subjects.'"
+
+"We are bound to accept all that is found in the sacred books. The will
+of the Lord is impenetrable--let it be done in all things. Our reason
+must humble itself before that which seems incomprehensible," was the
+response of the reformers.
+
+"Oh, God of Love and Mercy!" exclaimed Christian Lebrenn, apart. "To
+proclaim in Thy name that Thy will smites the unborn child even in its
+mother's womb! Just God! Thou who knowest all things--past, present and
+to come--Thou knewest Thy creature, man, who is not but because Thou
+hast said, Be! was bound to fall into sin. Thou knewest it. Generations
+upon generations, all guiltless of the sin of the first man, were to
+undergo the terrible chastisement that it has pleased Thee to inflict
+upon them. Thou knewest it. And yet, Thou art supposed to have said:
+'Man, you will fall into sin. The original stain shall mark your
+children even in their mothers' wombs'! Merciful God! Pardon the
+infirmity of my intellect. I cannot believe a father will devote his own
+children to eternal misery. I cannot believe a father can take pleasure
+in allowing his children's mind to waver between justice and injustice,
+especially when he knows beforehand they are fatedly certain to elect
+iniquity, and when he knows the consequence of their choice will be
+fearful to themselves and to all their posterity. Just God! What is the
+constant aim of the thoughts and efforts of every honorable man, within
+the limits of his faculties? To give his children such an education as
+will keep them from the path of vice; an education that may justify him
+to say: 'My children will be upright men!' And yet, Thou, almighty God,
+Thou art supposed to have said: 'I _will_ that the evil inclinations of
+my children carry the day over the good ones; I _will_ that they become
+criminals, and that they be forever damned!' Never shall I accept such a
+doctrine."
+
+John Calvin continued his Credo:
+
+"'We believe and confess that, as a consequence of original sin, man,
+corrupt of body, blind of mind, and depraved of heart, has lost all
+virtue, and, although he has still preserved some discernment of right
+and wrong, falls into darkness when he aspires to understand God with
+the aid of his own intelligence and human reason. Finally, although he
+should have the will to choose between right and wrong, his will being
+the captive of sin, he is fatedly devoted to wrong, is destined to
+malediction, and is not free to choose the right but by the grace of
+God.'"
+
+"Such," responded the reformers, "is the will of the Lord. We fall into
+darkness if we strive to understand God with the aid of our own reason."
+
+"No! No!" Christian said to himself, "God never said: 'My creatures,
+instead of loving Me and adoring Me in all the splendor of My glory,
+shall adore Me in the darkness of their intelligence, dimmed by My
+will.' No! God has not said: 'Man, you shall be fatedly devoted to
+wrong! You shall be for all time a captive of sin! I enclose you within
+an iron circle from which there is no escape but by My grace!' If God's
+omnipotence made man sinful or good, why punish or reward him? Another
+article of faith to be rejected."
+
+"'We believe and confess,'" Calvin proceeded, "'that Jesus Christ, being
+God's wisdom and His eternal Son, clad himself in our flesh to the end
+of being both God and man in one person. We worship Him so entirely in
+His divinity, that we strip Him of His humanity. We believe and confess
+that God, by sending us His Son, wished to show His ineffable goodness
+toward us, and by delivering Him to death and raising Him from the
+dead, wished that justice be done and heavenly life be gained for us.'"
+
+"Glory to God!" cried the reformers. "He has sent us His Son to redeem
+us with His blood! God has been crucified for the salvation of man!"
+
+Communing with himself, Christian Lebrenn only said: "Another absurdity
+laid by Calvin at the door of the Godhead. Can God condemn man for the
+pleasure of afterwards redeeming him? O, Christ! Poor carpenter of
+Nazareth, the friend of the afflicted, the penitent and the
+disinherited, you do not wrap yourself in an impenetrable cloud. I see
+your pale and sweet smile encircled by a bloody aureola, and bearing a
+stamp that is truly human. Your divine words are accessible even to the
+intelligence of children. Your Evangelical morality should and will be
+the code of all humankind. The chains of the slave will be broken, said
+you now more than fifteen hundred years ago; and yet, the Pharisees, who
+call themselves your priests, have, during all these centuries, owned
+slaves, later serfs, and to-day they count their vassals by the
+thousands. Love ye one another, said you; and yet, the Pharisees, who
+call themselves your priests, caused, and to this hour continue to
+cause, torrents of Christian blood to flow. I do not share the belief of
+the reformers, but I remain with them body and soul so long as they
+combat the cruelties, the iniquities and the idolatries of the Roman
+Church! I remain body and soul with them so long as they devote their
+lives to the triumph of your doctrine, O, Christ! in the name of
+equality and human fraternity! In that does the real strength lie, the
+real power of the Reformation. Of what concern to us are those Mosaic
+dogmas concerning original sin, the fatedness of evil, the inherent
+wickedness of man? The Reformation _acts_ valiantly, it _acts_
+generously, it _acts_ in a Christian spirit in seeking to restore your
+Church, O, Christ! to its simplicity and pristine purity by combating
+the Pope of Rome."
+
+Calvin continued: "'We believe and confess that, thanks to the sacrifice
+our Lord Jesus Christ offered on the cross, we are reconciled to God and
+fit to be held and looked upon as just before Him. Accordingly, we
+believe that we owe to Jesus Christ our full and perfect deliverance. We
+believe and confess that, without disparagement of virtues and deserving
+qualities, we depend upon them for the remission of our sins only
+through our faith, and the law of Jesus Christ.'"
+
+"The law and faith in Jesus Christ is embraced in that" responded the
+reformers. "It is our code. The law and faith in Jesus Christ--that
+means love towards our fellow men; it means equality; it means
+fraternity; it means revolt against the idolatries, in whose name the
+greatest malefactors are and believe themselves absolved of their crimes
+by the purchase of indulgences! Only through faith and the practice of
+the Evangelical law will our sins be remitted."
+
+"'We believe and confess,'" proceeded Calvin, "'that whereas Jesus
+Christ has been given us as the only intermediary between us and God,
+and since He recommends to us that we withdraw into seclusion in order
+to address, in private and in His name, our prayers to His Father, all
+the inventions of men concerning the intercession of martyred saints is
+but fraud and deception, schemed in order to lead mankind aside from the
+straight and narrow path. Furthermore, we hold purgatory to be an
+illusion of the same nature, likewise monastic vows, pilgrimages, the
+ordinance of celibacy to clergymen, auricular confession, and the
+ceremonial observance of certain days when a meat diet is forbidden.
+Finally we consider illusions the indulgences and other idolatrous
+practices through which grace and salvation are expected, and we regard
+them as human inventions calculated to shackle human conscience.'"
+
+"That is the essence of the Reformation," said Christian Lebrenn, apart.
+"The reform of action, the militant reform. Hence it is that my dignity
+as a man, my mind and my heart are with it. It is a long step towards
+the reign of pure reason, planted upon the freedom of inquiry. The road
+is cleared. Man is in direct communion and communication with God
+through prayer, without the intervention of any church. No more
+Popes--the incarnation of divine and human autocracy, as Ignatius Loyola
+understands it! No more dissolute and savage pontiffs, claiming to be
+Your vicars, O, God of mercy! No more saints, no more purgatory! Down
+goes the traffic in indulgences! No more monastic vows--the idle monks
+shall become honest and industrious citizens! No more priestly
+celibacy--the pastors shall themselves become heads of families! No more
+auricular confession--a bar to Ignatius Loyola, whose aim is to take
+possession of the conscience of mankind by means of the tribunal of
+penitence; through the conscience of mankind, the soul of man; through
+the soul, the body; and thus to rear the most frightful theocratic
+tyranny! O, sweet carpenter of Nazareth! May the Reformation triumph!
+May your Evangelical law in all its pristine purity become the law of
+the world! The power of the casqued, the mitred or the crowned
+oppressors will then have ceased to be! No more Kings, no more priests,
+no more masters!"
+
+"No more Popes! No more cardinals, or bishops! No more idolatry! No more
+celibacy! No more adoration of images! No more confession! No more
+intermediaries between God and man! Such is our confession, such our
+belief," cried the reformers in answer to Calvin, who continued:
+
+"'We believe and confess those Romish inventions to be pure idolatries.
+We reject them. Sustained by the authority of the sacred books, by the
+words and acts of the apostles--I Timothy 2; John 16; Matthew 6 and 10;
+Luke 11, 12 and 15; the Epistle to the Romans 14, and other Evangelical
+texts--we believe and confess that where the word of God is not received
+there is no Church. Therefore we reject the assemblages of the papacy,
+whence divine truth is banished, where the sacraments are corrupted,
+adulterated and falsified, while superstitious and idolatrous practices
+flourish and thrive in their midst.'"
+
+"Yes," answered the assembled reformers, "let us draw away from the
+usurping Roman Church--that impure Babylon; that sink of all vices;
+that notorious harlot; that poisoned well, whence flow all the ills that
+afflict humanity! No more Popes, bishops, priests or monks!"
+
+"'We believe and confess,'" Calvin continued, "'that all men are true
+pastors wherever they may be, provided they are pure of heart, and that
+they recognize for sole sovereign and universal bishop our Lord Jesus
+Christ. Therefore we repudiate the papacy; we protest that no church,
+even if it call itself "Catholic," can lay claim to any authority or
+dominion over any other church.'"
+
+"Therefore we do repudiate the Church of Rome! Christ is our Pope, our
+bishop! There should be no intermediary between him and us!" responded
+the reformers.
+
+"'We believe and confess,'" Calvin went on, "'that the offices of
+pastors, deans and deacons must proceed from the election of their own
+people, whose confidence they will thus show they have earned. We
+believe that, in order to exercise their functions, they should
+concentrate within them the general rules of the church, without
+attempting to decree, under the shadow of the service of God, any rules
+to bind human conscience.'"
+
+"Freedom of conscience--that means human emancipation!" Christian
+exclaimed to himself. "All honor to the Reformation for proclaiming that
+great principle! May it remain faithful thereto!"
+
+The reformers meanwhile answered: "Yes, we wish to elect our own
+pastors, as they were elected in the primitive church;" and John Calvin
+continued:
+
+"'We believe and confess that there are but two sacraments--baptism,
+that cleanses us of the soilure of original sin; and communion, which
+nourishes us, vivifies us spiritually by the substance of Jesus Christ,
+a celestial mystery accessible only through faith.
+
+"'Finally, we believe and confess that God has willed that the peoples
+on earth be governed; that He has established elective or hereditary
+kingdoms, principalities, republics and other forms of government. We
+therefore hold as unquestionable that their laws and statutes must be
+obeyed, their tributes and imposts paid, and all the duties that belong
+to citizens and subjects must be fulfilled with a frank and good will,
+even if such governments be iniquitous, _provided the sovereign empire
+of God remains untouched_. Therefore we repudiate those who would reject
+government and authority, and who would throw society into confusion
+through the introduction of community of goods among men, and thereby
+upset the order of justice.'"
+
+"No! No!" was Christian's muttered comment at these words. "Man must not
+submit to an iniquitous authority! No! No! John Calvin himself realizes
+the offensiveness to human dignity of such a resignation, and its
+contradiction to the very spirit of the Reformation. Is not the
+Reformation itself a legitimate revolt against the iniquity of the
+pontifical authority, and, if need be, against whatever temporal power
+might seek to impose the Roman cult upon the reformers? Indeed, after
+having set up the principle, 'The peoples must submit to their
+governments, even if these be iniquitous,' Calvin adds, '_provided the
+sovereign empire of God remains untouched_.' No obedience is due an
+authority that would raise its hand against the sacred rights of man, or
+aught that flows therefrom."
+
+"Such, dear brothers," concluded John Calvin, "is our confession of
+faith. Do you accept it?"
+
+"Yes, yes!" cried the reformers. "We accept it. We shall practice it. We
+shall uphold it, at the risk of our property, our freedom and our life!
+We swear!"
+
+"This, then, is the confession of faith of those 'heretics' whom the
+Catholic clergy represents to ignorant and duped people as monsters
+steeped in all manner of crimes, and vomited upon earth out of hell, as
+inveterate foes of God and man," said Calvin. "What do these 'heretics'
+confess? They confess the fundamental dogmas of the Christian Church, as
+revealed by the Divinity itself. But these 'heretics' reject the
+inventions, the abuses, the idolatries and the scandals of the Church of
+the Popes. In that lies our crime, an unpardonable crime! We attack the
+cupidity, the pride and the despotism of the priesthood!
+
+"Here, on this very spot where we are now gathered in council in order
+to confess the most sacred of rights, the freedom of conscience, seven
+priests have pledged themselves with a terrible oath to secure the
+absolute omnipotence of Rome over the souls of men, and to found the
+reign of theocratic government over the whole earth! The new
+organization is named the Society of Jesus. It is intended to and will
+become a formidable instrument in the hands of our enemies. The
+circumstance is a symptom of the dangers that threaten us. Let us
+prepare to combat that new militia everywhere it may show itself.
+
+"Our Credo, our confession of faith is fixed. This confession will be
+that of all the Evangelical churches of France. And, now, what attitude
+must we assume in the face of the redoubled persecutions that we are
+threatened with? Shall we submit to them with resignation, or shall we
+repel force with force? I request our friend Robert Estienne to express
+his views upon this head."
+
+"It is my opinion," replied Robert Estienne, "that we should address
+fresh petitions to King Francis I, praying that it may please him to
+allow us to exercise our religion in peace, while conforming ourselves
+to the laws of the kingdom. Should our petition be denied, then we
+should draw from the strength of our convictions the necessary fortitude
+to sustain persecution to the extreme limit possible. Beyond that we
+shall have to take council again."
+
+"I share the opinion of Robert Estienne," said John Dubourg. "Let us
+resign ourselves. An upright man should drain the cup of bitterness and
+pain sooner than let loose upon his country the horrors of a fratricidal
+conflict."
+
+"Monsieur Coligny, what is your opinion?"
+
+"Monsieur," replied the young noble, "I am, I think, the youngest man in
+this assemblage; I shall accept the opinion that may prevail."
+
+"Speak. You are a man of arms. We should know your opinion," returned
+Calvin.
+
+"Since you insist, monsieur," Coligny began, "I should here declare
+that my family owes a good deal to the kindness of the King. It has
+pleased him to entrust me--me who am barely passed the age of
+youth--with a company of his army. I am, accordingly, bound to him by
+bonds of gratitude. But there is to me a sentiment superior to that of
+gratitude for royal favors--that sentiment is the duty that faith
+imposes. While deploring the cruel extremities of civil war, which I
+hold in horror; while deeply regretting ever to have to draw my sword
+against the King, or, rather, against his ill-omened advisers, I should
+feel constrained to resort to that fatal extremity if, persecution
+having reached the limits of endurance, it became necessary to defend
+the lives of our brothers, driven face to face with the alternative,
+'Die, or abjure your faith!' As to pronouncing myself with regard to the
+opportune moment for the conflict, in case, which God forfend, the
+conflict must break out, I leave the decision to more experienced heads
+than my own. At the moment of action, my property, my sword, my
+life--all shall be at the service of our cause. I shall do my duty--all
+my duty."
+
+Ambroise Paré, the surgeon, was the next to speak. "Both Christ and my
+professional duties," he said, "command me to bestow my care upon friend
+and enemy alike. I could not, accordingly, brothers, bring hither any
+but words of peace. Let us be inflexible in our belief. But let us force
+our persecutors themselves to acknowledge our moderation. Let us tire
+their acts of violence with our patience and resignation. Let us leave
+the swords sheathed."
+
+"Patience, nevertheless, has bounds!" objected the Viscount of
+Plouernel. "Has not our resignation lasted long enough? Does it not
+embolden the audacity of our enemies? Would you resort yet again to
+humble petitions? Very well. Let us pray, let us implore, once more. But
+if we are answered with a denial of justice, let us, then, resolutely
+stand up against our persecutors. We are the majority, in several
+mercantile cities, and several provinces. Let us, then, repel force with
+force. Our enemies will recoil before our attitude, and will then do
+justice to our legitimate wishes. I hold that to carry our forbearance
+any further would be to expose our party to be decimated day by day.
+Then, when the hour of battle shall have come--it is fatedly bound to
+come--we shall find ourselves stripped of our best forces. In short, let
+us make one more peaceful effort to secure the free exercise of our
+religion. Should our appeal be denied--to arms!"
+
+"Brothers," advised Prince Charles of Gerolstein, "I am a foreigner
+among you. I come from Germany. I there assisted at the struggles and
+the triumph of the Reformation preached by the great Luther. In our old
+Germany we did not appeal and request. We affirmed the right of man to
+worship his Creator according to his own conscience. Workingmen,
+seigneurs, bourgeois--all proclaimed in chorus: 'We refuse to bend under
+the yoke of Rome; whosoever should seek to impose it upon us by the
+sword will be resisted with the sword.' To-day, the Reformation in
+Germany defies its enemies. Germany is not France; but men are men
+everywhere. Everywhere resolution has the name of resolution, nor are
+its consequences anywhere different. We are bound to uphold our rights
+by our arms."
+
+"Monsieur Christian Lebrenn, what is your opinion on the grave subject
+before us?" asked Calvin. The printer replied:
+
+"History teaches us that to request from Popes and Kings a reform of
+superstition and tyranny is absolutely idle. Never will the Church of
+Rome voluntarily renounce the idolatries and abuses that are the sources
+of its wealth and power. Never will a Catholic King--consecrated by the
+Church and leaning upon it for support, as it leans upon
+him--voluntarily recognize the Reformation. The Reformation denies the
+authority of the Pope. To attack the Pope is to attack royal authority.
+To overthrow the altar is to shatter the throne. All authority is
+interdependent. What is it that we demand? The peaceful exercise of our
+creed, while conforming to the laws of the kingdom. But the laws of the
+kingdom expressly forbid the exercise of all creeds, except that of the
+Catholic Church. Either we must confess our faith and then expose
+ourselves to the rigors of the law, or escape them by abjuration; or,
+yet, resist them, arms in hand. Are we to obtain edicts of tolerance? We
+should entertain no such hope. But, even granted we obtained them, our
+security would be under no better safeguard. An edict is revocable. The
+end of it all is fatedly one of three conclusions--abjuration,
+martyrdom, or revolt. The blood of martyrs is fruitful, but the blood of
+soldiers, battling for the most sacred of rights, is also fruitful. We
+neither should, nor can we, I hold, hope for either the authorization,
+or tolerance, of our cult. Sooner or later, driven to extremities by
+persecution, we shall find ourselves compelled to repel violence with
+violence. Let us boldly face the terrible fact. But, suppose, for the
+sake of our peace of conscience, we said: 'It still depends upon the
+Church of Rome and the King of France to put an end to the torture of
+our brothers, and to prevent the evils of a civil and religious war.' To
+that end a decree conceived in these terms will suffice: '_Everyone may
+freely and publicly exercise his religion under the obligation to
+respect the religion of others_.' Such a decree, so just and simple,
+consecrating, as it does, the most inviolable of rights, is the only
+equitable and peaceful solution of the religious question. Do you
+imagine that such a decree would be vouchsafed to our humble petition?"
+
+"Neither King nor Pope, neither bishops, priests nor monks would accept
+such a decree," was the unanimous answer. Christian continued:
+
+"Nevertheless, in order to place the right on our side, let us draw up
+one last petition. If it is rejected, let us then run to arms, and
+exterminate our oppressors. It is ever by insurrection that liberty is
+won."
+
+"Will Brother Bernard Palissy let us know his views?" asked Calvin when
+Christian had finished.
+
+With a candor that breathed refinement, the potter replied: "I am but a
+poor fashioner of earthen pots. Seeing the issue is to shatter them
+resolutely--according to the opinion of our friend the printer--I shall
+tell you what happened to me the other day. I was wondering how it came
+about that the Evangelical religion--benign, charitable, peaceful, full
+of resignation, asking for naught but for a modest place in the sun of
+the good God in behalf of its little flock--should have so many
+inveterate enemies. Being a little versed in alchemy, 'Let's see,' said
+I to myself, 'when, mixing the varnish, colors and enamel with which I
+decorate my pottery, I encounter some refractory substance, what do I
+do? I submit it to the alembic. I decompose it. In that way I ascertain
+the different substances of which it consists. Well now, let me submit
+the enemies of the Reformation to the alembic in order to ascertain what
+there is in their composition to render them so very refractory.' First
+of all, I submit to my philosophic alembic the brains of a canon. I ask
+him: 'Why are you such a violent enemy of the Evangelical faith?' 'Why!'
+the canon makes answer, 'because, your clergymen being men of science as
+well as preachers, our flocks will also want to hear us preach as men of
+knowledge. Now, then, I know nothing about preaching, and still less
+about reading or writing. Since my novitiate I have been accustomed to
+taking my comfort, to ignorance, to idleness. That's the reason I
+sustain the Church of Rome, which sustains my ignorance, my delightful
+comfort and my idleness.' Through with that monk, I experimented with
+the head of an abbot. It resisted the alembic. It shook itself away,
+bit, roared with vindictive choler, resisting strenuously to have that
+which it contained within seen by me. Nevertheless, I succeeded in
+separating its several parts, to wit: the black and vicious choler, on
+one side; ambition and pride, on the other; lastly, the silent thoughts
+of murder that our abbot nourished towards his enemies. That done, I
+discovered that it was his arrogance, his greed and his vindictiveness
+that kept him in a refractory temper toward the humility of the
+Evangelical church. I afterwards experimented upon a counsellor of
+parliament, the finest Gautier one ever laid eyes upon. Having distilled
+my gallant in my alembic I found that his bowels contained large chunks
+of church benefices, which had fattened him so much that he almost burst
+in his hose. Seeing which I said to him: 'Come, now, be candid, is it
+not in order to preserve your large chunks of church benefices that you
+would institute proceedings against the reformers? Isn't it damnable?'
+'What is there damnable in that?' he asked me. 'If it were damnable
+there must be a terrible lot of damned people, seeing that in our
+sovereign court of parliament, and in all the courts of France, there
+are very few counsellors or presidents without some slice of an
+ecclesiastical benefice which helps them to keep up the gilding, the
+trappings, the banquets and the smaller delights of the household, as
+well as the grease in the kitchen. Now, then, you devil's limb of a
+potter' (he was talking to me) 'if the Reformation were to triumph,
+would not all our benefices run to water, and, along with them, all our
+small and large pleasures? That's why we burn you up, you pagans!' At
+hearing which I cried: 'Oh, poor Christians, where are you at? You have
+against you the courts of parliament and the great seigneurs, all of
+whom profit from ecclesiastical benefices. So long as they will be fed
+upon such a soup they will remain your capital enemies.' That is my
+reason, brothers, for believing we shall be persecuted all our lives.
+Let us therefore take refuge with our captain and protector Jesus
+Christ, who one day will wipe out the infliction of the wicked and the
+wrong that will have been done us.[36] Therefore, let us suffer; let us
+be resigned, even unto martyrdom; and, according to the judgment of a
+poor potter, let us not break the pots. Of what use are broken pots?"
+
+"Will our celebrated poet Clement Marot acquaint us with his views?"
+asked Calvin.
+
+"Brothers," said the man thus called upon, "our friend Bernard Palissy,
+one of the great artists of these days--and of all future days--spoke to
+you in his capacity of a potter. I, a poet, shall address you on the
+profit that can be drawn from my trade for our cause. Why not make one
+more endeavor to use the methods of persuasion before resorting to the
+frightful extremity of civil war? Why not endeavor to draw the world
+over to our side by the charm of the Evangelical word? Listen, the other
+day a thought flashed through my mind. The women are better than we.
+This acknowledgment is easily made in the presence of our sister, Mary
+La Catelle, whom I see here. She is the living illustration of the truth
+of what I say. None among us, even the foremost, excels her in
+tenderness or pity for the afflicted, in delicate and touching care for
+deserted children. I therefore say the women are better than we, are
+more accessible than we to pure, lofty and celestial sentiments.
+Furthermore, to them life is summed up in one word--_love_. From
+terrestrial love to divine love it is but one aspiration higher. Let us
+endeavor to elevate the women to that sublime sphere. The common but
+just saying, Little causes often produce great results, has inspired me
+with the following thought. I asked myself: 'What do the women usually
+sing, whether they be bourgeois or workingmen's wives?' Love songs. The
+impure customs of our times have given these songs generally a coarse,
+if not obscene turn. As a rule, the mind and the heart become the echo
+of what the mouth says, of what the ear hears, of what engages our
+thoughts. Would it not be a useful thing to substitute those licentious
+songs with chaste ones that attract through love? Hence I have
+considered the advisability of putting in verse and to music the sacred
+canticles of the Bible which are so frequently perfumed with an adorable
+poetic flavor. My hope is that little by little, penetrated by the
+ineffable influence of those celestial songs, the women who sing them
+will soon be uttering their sentiments, not with the lips only but from
+the depth of their hearts. Our aspirations will then be realized."
+
+Clement Marot was about to recite some of the charming verses composed
+by himself, when Justin suddenly broke in upon the assemblage crying:
+
+"Danger! Danger! A troop of archers and mounted patrolmen are coming up
+the road to the abbey. I have seen the glitter of their casques. Flee
+by the opposite issue of the quarry!"
+
+A great tumult ensued upon the artisan's words. Justin took up one of
+the candles, ran to the gallery that was masked by the huge boulder, and
+entered the narrow passage, ordering all the others to follow him.
+
+"Brothers!" cried out the Viscount of Plouernel, "let all those of us
+who are men of arms remain here and draw our swords. The patrol will not
+dare to lay hands upon any of us. The court must reckon with our
+families. As to you, Calvin, and the rest of our friends whom no
+privilege shelters from the pursuit of our enemies, let them flee!"
+
+"You can leave the place in all safety," added Gaspard of Coligny; "the
+armed patrol, finding us ready to cross irons with them, will not push
+their search any further."
+
+"Should they push forward so far as to discover this other issue," put
+in Prince Charles of Gerolstein, "we shall charge upon them vigorously,
+and shall force them back far enough to leave the passage free for our
+retreat."
+
+John Calvin, whose life was so precious to the Evangelical church, was
+the first to follow upon the heels of the torch-bearer Justin. The other
+reformers pressed close behind. The gallery, narrow at the entrance,
+widened by degrees, until it opened into an excavation surrounded by
+bluffs, up one of which a narrow path wound itself to the very top of
+the ravine, with the tierred fields and woods stretching beyond on the
+further slope of the hill of Montmartre. Robert Estienne, Clement Marot,
+Bernard Palissy and Ambroise Paré remained close to Calvin. Christian
+Lebrenn assisted Mary La Catelle to cross the rocky ground. When the
+fugitives were all again assembled in the hollow of the excavation, John
+Calvin addressed them, saying:
+
+"Before separating, brothers, I renew to you the express recommendation
+not to attempt a rebellion, which, especially at this season, would only
+subserve the cause of our enemies. Resignation, courage, perseverance,
+hope--such must be our watchwords for the present. Our hour will come.
+Assured, after this night's council, of the adhesion of the reformers of
+Paris to the Credo of the Evangelical church, I shall continue my
+journey through France to engage our brothers in the provinces to
+imitate the example of Paris by opposing the violence of our enemies
+with patience." And turning to Christian: "Monsieur Lebrenn, you uttered
+a sentiment the profoundness of which has impressed me strongly. A
+simple decree to the effect that all are free to profess publicly their
+own creed while respecting the creed of others, you said, would prevent
+frightful disasters. Let the blood, that may some day flow, fall upon
+those who, by denying justice, will have kindled the flames of civil
+war! Anathema upon them! For the very reason that equity and right are
+on our side we are in duty bound to redouble our moderation."
+
+After touching adieus, exchanged by Calvin and his co-religionists, it
+was agreed to return to Paris in separate groups of threes and fours, to
+the end of not awakening the suspicion of the guards at the Montmartre
+and St. Honoré Gates, who were no doubt apprized of the expedition of
+the patrol against a nocturnal assembly of heretics held on Montmartre.
+Day was about to dawn. John Calvin, Robert Estienne, Clement Marot,
+Ambroise Paré, Bernard Palissy and a few others ascended the path that
+led out of the ravine, and took their way across-fields in the direction
+of the St. Honoré Gate. Other little groups formed themselves, each
+striking in a different direction. Christian, Justin, John Dubourg,
+Laforge, who was another rich bourgeois, Mary La Catelle and her
+brother-in-law the architect Poille, took the road to the Montmartre
+Gate, where they arrived at sunrise. Although their group consisted of
+only six persons, they decided, out of excessive caution, not to enter
+Paris but by twos--first John Dubourg and Laforge; then Mary La Catelle
+and her brother-in-law; lastly Justin and Christian. Their entrance,
+thought they, would awaken no suspicion, seeing that already the
+peasants, carrying vegetables and fruit for the market, crowded in the
+neighborhood of the gate with their carts. Soon separated from their
+friends in the midst of the medley of market carts, Justin and Christian
+were but a few steps from the arched entrance of the gate when suddenly
+they heard a loud clamor, and these words, repeated by a mob of voices:
+"Lutherans! Lutherans! Death to the heretics!" A pang of apprehension
+shot through the hearts of Christian and his companion. Some of their
+companions who preceded them must have been recognized at the gate. To
+rush to their assistance would have been but to share their fate.
+
+"Let us not attempt to enter Paris at this hour," suggested Justin to
+Christian, "we are workmen in the printing shop of Robert Estienne. That
+would be enough to cause us to be suspected of heresy. Gainier, the spy
+of the Criminal Lieutenant, has surely given the mob our description.
+Let us go around the rampart and enter by the Bastille of St. Antoine.
+That gate is so far from Montmartre that it is possible the alarm has
+not been given from that side."
+
+"My wife and children would be in mortal agony not to see me home this
+morning," answered Christian. "I shall make the attempt to go through,
+under shelter of the tumult which, unhappily for our friends, seems to
+be on the increase. Do you hear those ferocious cries?"
+
+"I do not care to run the danger. Adieu, Christian. I have neither wife
+nor children. My prolonged absence will cause uneasiness to no one. I
+prefer to go to the Bastille of St. Antoine. We shall meet shortly, I
+hope, at the printing shop. May God guard you!"
+
+The two friends separated. Christian, whose anxiety increased every
+minute, thinking of Mary La Catelle and those with her, decided to enter
+Paris at all risks. Nevertheless, noticing not far from where he stood a
+peasant driving a cart filled with vegetables and overspread with a
+cloth held up by hoops, he said to the rustic, drawing a coin from his
+pocket:
+
+"Friend, I am exhausted with fatigue. I need a little rest. Would you be
+so good as to take me in your cart only as far as the center of the
+city?"
+
+"Gladly, climb in and go to sleep, if you can," answered the peasant as
+he pocketed the coin.
+
+Christian climbed in, ensconced himself in a corner of the wagon and
+raised a little fold of the cloth in order to catch a glimpse of what
+was going on outside, seeing the tumult waxed louder and more
+threatening. Alas! Hardly had the wagon passed through the gate and
+entered the city when Christian saw at a little distance Mary La
+Catelle, her brother-in-law Poille, John Dubourg and Laforge--all four
+manacled. A troop of archers held back with difficulty the furious mob
+that loudly clamored for the lives of the "heretics," those "heathens,"
+those "Lutheran stranglers of little children"! Pale, yet calm, the four
+victims looked serenely upon the surging mass of fanatics. With her eyes
+raised to heaven and her arms crossed over her bosom, Mary La Catelle
+seemed resigned to martyrdom. The imprecations redoubled. Already the
+most infuriate of the populace were picking up stones to stone the
+victims to death. The wagon in which Christian was concealed slowly
+pursued its way and saved the artisan the harrowing spectacle of the
+mob's murderous preparations. Later he learned the details of the arrest
+of his friends. La Catelle and her brother-in-law, who had long ago been
+reported by the spy Gainier as hardened heretics, had been recognized
+and seized by the agents of the Criminal Lieutenant, who had been posted
+since midnight at the Montmartre Gate. John Dubourg and Laforge, who
+came a few steps behind La Catelle, having yielded to a generous
+impulse and run to her assistance, were, in punishment for the very
+nobility of their act, likewise suspected, arrested and manacled.
+Christian also learned later that Lefevre was the informer against the
+meeting of the reformers at Montmartre. The bits of paper Lefevre had
+picked up while directing the search of the sergeant in the garret of
+Christian's house, proved to be bits of Calvin's draft convoking the
+assembly, and on one of these the word Montmartre was to be read. Armed
+with this evidence, Lefevre had hastened to impart his suspicions to the
+Criminal Lieutenant, and caused the patrol to be ordered afield; but
+these, finding themselves confronted with the seigneurs at the entrance
+of the quarry, and seeing these determined to resist them, had not dared
+to effect an arrest.
+
+Christian jumped out of the wagon in the center of Paris and hastened
+his steps towards his house. Hardly had he stepped upon the Exchange
+Bridge when he saw the Franc-Taupin running towards him. Josephin had
+watched all night for the artisan's return. He informed him of the
+arrest of his wife and children, of the danger that awaited him if he
+entered his house, and induced him to take refuge in a place of safety.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+HENA'S DIARY.
+
+
+     After being separated from her mother, Hena Lebrenn was taken to
+     the Augustinian Convent and locked up. One day during her
+     confinement she narrated the incidents of her incarceration in a
+     letter destined for Bridget, but which never reached the
+     ill-starred mother, due to a series of distressful circumstances.
+     Hena wrote:
+
+"December, 1534. At the Convent of the Augustinians.
+
+"Joy of heaven! I am given the assurance, dear mother, that you
+will receive this letter. My thoughts run wild in my head. I wish I
+could tell you, all at once, all that has happened to me since our
+separation until this moment. Alas! I have so many things to
+communicate to you. You all--yourself and my good father, and my
+uncle Josephin--will be so astonished, and perhaps so chagrined, to
+know that this very day--
+
+"But I must go back with my narrative, and begin with that unhappy
+day when we were led away, you to the Chatelet prison, I to this
+place. I am ignorant of what may have happened to you and to
+father. All my questions on those topics have ever remained
+unanswered. They assure me you are in good health--that is all. I
+hope so; I believe it. What interest could they have in deceiving
+me regarding your lives?
+
+"Well, I was brought to this place in the dark of night, and locked
+up in a little cell, without having seen a soul except the
+turning-box attendant. What would it avail to tell you how I wept?
+In the morning the attendant informed me that I would be visited at
+noon by the Madam Superior. I asked leave to write to my family in
+order to inform them of my whereabouts. I was answered that the
+Mother Abbess would have to decide about that. She called upon me
+at noon. At first, I thought I had before me a lady of the court,
+so superbly ornamented she was. There was nothing in her dress to
+recall the religious garb. She is young and handsome. Methought I
+could read kindness on her face. I threw myself at her feet,
+imploring her to have pity upon me, and to have me taken to my
+parents. This was her answer:
+
+"'My dear daughter, you have been brought up in impiety. You are
+here in order to labor at your salvation. When you are sufficiently
+instructed in our holy Roman Catholic and apostolic religion, you
+shall take the eternal vows to enter our Order of the Augustinians.
+You will then be allowed to see your parents again. You are not to
+leave this cell before taking the veil. You will be allowed out
+every day only to take a little walk under the archway of the
+cloister, in the company of one of our sisters. It depends upon
+yourself how promptly you will have gained the religious
+instruction necessary to enter our Order, after which you will be
+allowed to receive your family once a week in the convent parlor.'
+
+"'But, madam,' I answered the Abbess, 'I have not the religious
+vocation. Even if I had, I would not take vows without the sanction
+of my father.'
+
+"'Your father is in heaven; He is our Lord God. Your mother also is
+in heaven; she is the holy Virgin Mary. Your obedience is due to
+those divine parents, not to your carnal and heretical parents.
+These have infected you with a pestilential heresy. The Lord, in
+His mercy, has willed, for the salvation of your soul, that you be
+removed from that school of perdition. The pale of our holy mother
+the Church is open to you. Come back to it. Be docile and you shall
+be happy. Otherwise, greatly to my regret, I shall employ rigor,
+and constrain you to your own welfare. Beginning with to-morrow,
+one of our brothers of the Order of St. Augustine will come to
+impart religious instruction to you. You are to have no intercourse
+with your parents before you have taken the vows. It depends, then,
+upon yourself how soon you will see your parents again. Think it
+over well.'
+
+"Without wishing to hear me any further, the Mother Superior left
+me alone.
+
+"The choice left to me was to embrace the monastic life, or give up
+the hope of ever seeing you again, dear father! dear mother! The
+bare thought made me shudder. I thought of resisting the orders of
+the Abbess. I thought that, if they were made to know my
+determination, they would set me free. Great was my error!
+
+"Towards evening one of the sisters came and proposed to take a
+walk with me under the archway of the cloister. I declared to her
+that no human power could compel me to take vows that would forever
+separate me from my beloved parents. The nun, a woman with a sharp
+and wicked face, recommended to me to think before speaking, adding
+that, if I obstinately refused salvation, they would know how to
+lead me to obedience by severe treatment. Our promenade ended, I
+returned to my cell. My supper was brought to me. I went to bed
+steeped in sadness.
+
+"At midnight I was rudely waked up. The old turning-box attendant
+came in, accompanied by four others, large and strong women. One of
+them carried a lanthorn. I was afraid. I sat up on my couch, and
+asked what they wanted of me.
+
+"'Rise and follow us,' answered the old nun. I hesitated to obey.
+She then added: 'No resistance, otherwise these sisters will take
+you by force.'
+
+"I resigned myself. I started to put on my dress, but the nun threw
+upon my couch a sort of horsehair sack which she had brought with
+her.
+
+"'That is the only dress you are henceforth to use!' she said.
+
+"I robed myself in the haircloth, and was about to put on my shoes
+when the nun again put in:
+
+"'You are to walk barefoot. Your rebellious flesh must be
+mortified.'
+
+"The expression on the faces of that woman and of her companions
+looked to me pitiless. I realized the uselessness of resistance or
+of prayer. Barefoot and clad in the haircloth I followed the nuns.
+One of them lighted our way with her lanthorn. We crossed the
+cloister and several long passages. A solitary low window, shaded
+from within by a red curtain through which a bright light shone,
+opened upon one of these passages. While passing the place I heard
+a man's voice singing, accompanying himself on an arch-lute. The
+song was received with peals of laughter that proceeded from
+several men and women, gathered in the apartment. Their words
+reached our ears distinctly. They seemed to me to be such as no
+honorable woman should hear.
+
+"The nun hastened her steps, and we entered a little court. One of
+the turning-box attendants opened a door; by the light of the
+lanthorn I noticed a staircase that descended under ground. Seized
+with fear I drew back, but pushing me forward by the shoulders the
+nun said:
+
+"'Go on! Go on! We are taking you to a place where you will
+meditate at leisure over your obstinacy.'
+
+"I followed the turning-box attendant with the lanthorn. I
+descended the steps of the stone staircase. The moisture froze my
+naked feet. At the bottom of the staircase was a vaulted gallery
+upon which several doors opened. One of them was opened, and I was
+made to step into a vault where I saw a box shaped like a coffin
+and filled with ashes, a wooden prie-dieu surmounted by a cross,
+and near the bed of ashes an earthen pitcher and a piece of bread
+on the floor.
+
+"'This is to be your dwelling place until you shall have recovered
+from your stubbornness,' said the nun to me. 'If solitude and
+mortification do not subdue your rebellious spirit, recourse shall
+be had to other chastisements.'
+
+"I was left alone in the vault without a light. When the door was
+closed and locked upon me, I threw myself upon my couch of ashes. I
+was shivering with cold. The haircloth smarted me insupportably.
+The darkness frightened me. I recalled, poor dear mother, my own
+little chamber near yours, my bed that was so neat and white, and
+the kiss that every evening you came into my room and gave me
+before I fell asleep. I sobbed aloud. Little by little my tears
+ceased to flow. Numb with cold I slumbered till morning, the light
+of day reaching me through the airhole of my dungeon. I admit it,
+dear mother, and you will forgive my weakness, dejected by the
+sufferings of that first night, fearing I would be condemned to
+remain a long time in that dungeon, I resigned myself to agree to
+all that might be demanded of me. I wished above all to quit that
+gloomy place. I awaited impatiently the return of the nun, in order
+to make my submission to her. No one came, neither that day nor for
+about a week. I thought I would lose my senses. Every minute I
+shivered with fear. The very silence of that species of tomb
+inspired me with wild terrors. I moaned and called out to you, dear
+father and mother, as if you could hear me. I then fell down upon
+my couch of ashes, worn out. How sad was my soul!
+
+"By little and little, however, I became accustomed to my prison,
+to my haircloth robe, to my bread, black and hard. Calmness
+returned to me. I said to myself: 'I am the victim of a wicked
+scheme. My parents have taught me it was our duty to sustain
+courageously the trials of life, and never to bow down before
+cowardice or slander. I shall perish in this convent, or leave it
+to return to my family.' I now waited for the nun, no longer in
+order to make my submission to her, but to announce to her my firm
+determination to resist her wishes. Vain expectations! For about
+another week no one came near. Instead of weakening, my
+determination grew more exalted in my solitude. I spent my days
+thinking of you. Often did the tension of my mind become so strong
+that I imagined I saw, I heard you. I then was no longer in that
+subterraneous dungeon; I was by your side, at our house. Every
+morning at awakening, I invoked heaven's blessing upon you. Then I
+would say to myself: 'Good morning, father, good morning, mother.'
+I would tell you all about my affliction and my sufferings; you
+encouraged me not to succumb in my cruel trial. Your wise and
+tender words comforted me. Then also my thoughts would wander to--
+
+"I have hesitated to tell you the truth. But you taught me to abhor
+untruth and dissimulation. I shall continue. Only, dear mother, I
+know not whether, when you receive this letter, you will still be a
+prisoner and separated from father. If, on the contrary, you are
+again together, perhaps you should not let him know the passage you
+are about to read. Perhaps, and it is my ardent hope, father is
+ignorant of the circumstance that he whom I called brother--did--in
+a fit of insanity--
+
+"My hand trembles at the bore recollection of that incident.
+
+"During that horrible evening, before your unexpected return home,
+before I could understand the meaning of Hervé's words, he had
+himself enlightened me concerning the nature of the feelings that I
+entertained for Brother St. Ernest-Martyr. I have no doubt of it,
+at this hour. It was love I entertained for him. In the depth of my
+prison, during my nights of affliction, I could not prevent myself
+from thinking of you, without my thoughts running to him.
+
+"That is the admission that a minute ago I hesitated to make. If
+that attachment is a guilty one, good mother, forgive me, it is
+involuntary.
+
+"My thoughts wandered in my prison, beloved parents, no less to
+Brother St. Ernest-Martyr than to yourselves, resolved, as I was,
+to die here or rejoin you. Suddenly a cruel thought, that had not
+before occurred to me, flashed through my mind. To live by your
+side would be to live under the same roof with Hervé! I
+attributed--I still attribute the occurrences of that fatal night
+to a temporary derangement of his reason. You, no doubt, withheld
+the incident from father's knowledge. Hervé, once again returned to
+sanity, must have cursed his temporary aberration. His repentence
+must have moved you. One is indulgent towards crazy people!
+Nevertheless the mere thought of seeing him again caused me to
+shudder. The only hope that had hitherto sustained me, the hope of
+spending my life near you, as of yore, drooped its wings. It
+seemed to me impossible ever after to support the sight of Hervé.
+As I was a prey to these new and painful thoughts, one morning the
+door of my cell was opened and the turning-box attendant entered,
+followed by the other nuns.
+
+"'Are you now more docile?' she asked. 'Do you now consent to
+receive the religious instruction necessary to take the vows of the
+Order of the Augustinians?'
+
+"'No!' I screamed. 'You will gain nothing from me, either by
+persuasion, or force. I shall remain faithful to my belief!'
+
+"At a sign from the nun two of the turning-box attendants fell upon
+me. Despite all my struggles, my tears, and my cries, they stripped
+me of my haircloth robe, the only clothing I had on; they held me
+fast; and their two other companions flagellated me mercilessly.
+Shame and pain--my shoulders and bosom ran blood under the
+lacerating lashing--wrung from me a cowardly entreaty. I promised
+absolute submission. My obedience appeased my torturers. I was
+taken back to my nun's cell. For a first proof of my submission I
+was to consent that very day to confess to one of the Augustinian
+monks under whose direction the convent stood, and one of whom was
+to be charged with imparting religious instruction to me. Towards
+noon I was conducted to the chapel. Oh, mother, what a surprise was
+in store for me! At the very first words that the monk, who
+occupied the confessional, addressed to me, I recognized the voice
+of St. Ernest-Martyr. I took myself for saved. I gave him my name;
+I informed him of our arrest; I conjured him to hunt up my father
+and my dear uncle Josephin, who surely must have remained at large,
+and notify them where you and I were held in confinement. Alas, my
+hopes were but short-lived! Brother St. Ernest-Martyr, himself an
+object of suspicion to the other monks and especially to the Abbot
+of the convent, was not allowed to go out. For several days he had
+been a prisoner in his own cell, which he left only to fulfil his
+ministry in the Augustinian Convent, which he reached through an
+underground passage that joined the two monasteries. I asked him
+whether it would be possible for him to have a letter reach my
+family. He doubted whether I would be allowed to write;
+furthermore, he did not, on his part, see any means by which my
+missive could reach its destination, such was the surveillance
+under which he himself was held. I narrated to him the recent
+ordeals and the trials that I underwent since my entrance in the
+convent. I heard him cry in the dark. I then entreated him to
+counsel me. He answered:
+
+"'Sister, even if you experienced a decided religious vocation, and
+your parents gave their consent, even then I would urge you to
+reflect before pronouncing those eternal vows. But you have not
+that vocation, you are kept here against your will and without your
+parents' knowledge. What is to be done under such trying
+circumstances? To refuse to receive the veil, as you have hitherto
+done, is to expose yourself to fresh ill-treatment and severities,
+under which you would perish; to enter a religious Order, even if
+forced thereto, is to renounce forever all tender family joys.
+Before deciding, sister, endeavor to gain time. I shall help you by
+urging upon our Abbess the necessity of delay in order to complete
+your religious education. Your father and uncle have undoubtedly
+set on foot inquiries concerning your whereabouts. Keep up the hope
+that their efforts will be successful. Your father will move Robert
+Estienne, and he the Princess Marguerite to obtain your liberation.
+Rely upon my ardent wish to be useful to you. It is my duty to
+console you, and to sustain you in your cruel plight. I shall not
+fall short in my duty.'
+
+"This, dear mother, was the advice of Brother St. Ernest-Martyr. I
+followed it. In the meantime it remained impossible for him either
+to leave the convent, or write to you. He dared not trust such a
+secret to any of the other monks. They would in all likelihood have
+betrayed him to the Abbot.
+
+"Alas, dear mother, yet another misfortune was to befall me;
+Brother St. Ernest-Martyr ceased to be my religious instructor. A
+few days after our first conference he was replaced by another
+Augustinian monk.
+
+"So many afflictions threw me upon a sick bed. I became seriously
+ill. By the grief that the absence of St. Ernest-Martyr caused me I
+realized how much I loved him. Of this love he is ignorant; he does
+not even suspect it; he shall never know it. My heart breaks at the
+mere thought of what remains for me to tell you.
+
+"The new Augustinian monk, who was charged to catechise me,
+inspired me with such instinctive repulsion that I could not
+conceal its manifestations. He complained to the Mother Superior
+of my ill will towards him. The Abbess summoned me before her, and
+notified me that, whether instructed or not, I was to take the vow
+the day after the next, adding that I would then be allowed to see
+my family.
+
+"I entreated the Superior to grant me one more day to reflect upon
+so grave a step. My entreaty was granted. I then reasoned as
+follows: To refuse to become a nun is to expose myself to renewed
+acts of violence and flagellations the very recollection of which
+render me purple with shame; it is also to renounce the only hope
+of seeing from time to time my beloved parents. On the other hand I
+feel that my love for Brother St. Ernest-Martyr will end but with
+my life; seeing I can not be his, to renounce him is to renounce
+the world, and all family joys. Why, then, not take the veil?
+
+"I was alone, without an adviser, weakened with suffering, beset by
+nuns who alternately resorted to persuasion and threats. I
+despaired of ever finding the means of informing you of my fate,
+good mother. I resigned myself to take the vow--
+
+"This morning the ceremony was celebrated. I was christened in
+religion with a sad name. I am called St. Frances-in-the-Tomb.
+To-night I am to spend in prayers in the chapel of the Virgin,
+according to the custom for maids who have taken the veil.
+
+"My vows being pronounced, the Abbess caused me to be supplied with
+writing material--paper, pen and ink--promising me that this
+letter would be forwarded to my family.
+
+"I am wrong for having taken so grave a step without your consent,
+good mother, and without the consent of father.
+
+"I break off at this place. The convent clock strikes nine. I am to
+be taken to the chapel, where I am to watch all night. May God have
+mercy upon me.
+
+"To-morrow, good mother, I shall finish this letter which I shall
+carry concealed in my corsage. I shall tell you then what were my
+thoughts.
+
+"Until to-morrow, mother. I shall then close my confidences."
+
+     The sequel of this chronicle will instruct you, sons of Joel,
+     concerning the events that led to Christian's coming into
+     possession of the letter of the ill-starred Hena, as also of the
+     following fragments of the diary written by Ernest Rennepont, in
+     religion St. Ernest-Martyr, during the time that he also was held a
+     prisoner under surveillance in the Augustinian Convent.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+DIARY OF ST. ERNEST-MARTYR.
+
+
+"Lord God! Have mercy upon me! I have just seen the young girl. I have
+confessed her in the convent of our Augustinian sisters. She is
+imprisoned there. They wish to compel her to take the vows. Poor victim!
+
+"When I recognized her voice; when, in the shadow of the confessional, I
+perceived her angelic face, my heart thrilled with an insensate joy. I
+then trembled, and wept. Oh, Thou who seest to the bottom of the heart
+of man, Thou knowest, my God! my first thought was to leave the tribunal
+of penitence. I did not deem myself worthy of sitting in that place. But
+in her distress, the child had only me for her support. She thanked
+Thee, oh, my God! with such fervor for having sent me across her path,
+that my first impulse weakened, and I remained."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"To Thee, my divine Master, I make my confession. Yes; the first time I
+saw that young girl at the house of Mary La Catelle, as I was engaged in
+teaching the children at her school, I was struck by the beauty of Hena
+Lebrenn, her modesty, her candor, her grace! Without knowing it, Mary
+La Catelle rendered still more profound the deep impression her friend
+had made upon me, by recounting to me her virtues, her goodness, the
+truthfulness of her character. Yes; I confess it; since that day, and
+despite my reason that said to me: 'Such a love is insane;' despite my
+faith that whispered to me: 'Such a love is guilty;' despite all, the
+mad passion, the criminal passion gained every day a more powerful sway
+over my being. Our meeting to-day, by unveiling to me without reserve
+that ingenuous and charming soul, has forever riveted my chains. I love
+her passionately. I shall carry that love with me to the grave--"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Impossible to leave my convent! I am the object of constant
+surveillance. Suspicion and hatred mount guard around me. How is Hena's
+family to be apprized of the constraint she is placed under? The days
+are passing away. I shudder at the thought of the Mother Superior
+compelling her to pronounce the vows, regardless of the observations I
+made to her that Hena's religious instruction is not yet sufficiently
+advanced. Were I sufficient of a wretch to listen to the voice of an
+execrable selfishness, I would rejoice at the thought that Hena, not
+being granted to me, would be none else's after her ordination as a nun.
+No! Were it in my power, I would restore the unfortunate girl to her
+family. I would open the gates of the convent--"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"A family!--a wife!--children!--the tenderest of sentiments, the
+dearest, the most sacred that can elevate the soul to the height of Thy
+providential purposes, O, heavenly Father!--a family--that ineffable
+sanctuary of domestic virtues--is forever barred to me! A curse upon
+those who founded the first convents!
+
+"And who is it that bars me from that sanctuary? Is it Thy will, O, God
+of justice--Thou who gavest a companion to man? No! No! Neither the Word
+revealed by the prophets, nor the Word of Thy Son, our Redeemer, ever
+said to Thy priests: 'You shall remain without the pale of mankind; you
+are above, or below, the duties imposed by the sacred mission of
+assuring the happiness of a wife, raising children in the love and
+practice of right, and giving them the bread of the soul and the bread
+of the body!'
+
+"The reformers, those heretics, they have remained faithful to Thy
+divine precepts. Their pastors are husbands and fathers."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"At this moment the noise and the songs of orgy penetrate to the very
+recesses of my cell. Mysteries of corruption and debauchery! The poor,
+ignorant people believe in the celibacy of the monks and the chastity of
+the nuns! Monks and nuns give themselves over to all manner of
+abominations!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Before ever I met Hena at the home of Mary La Catelle, Thou knowest,
+Oh, my God! I was seized with the justice of the reforms that were
+proclaimed in Thy name by the Lutherans. I was in communion with them,
+if not in the communion of lips, at least in that of the soul. The
+adoration of images and saints, the arrogance of the clergy, auricular
+confession which places infamous priests in possession of the secrets of
+the domestic hearth, the redemption of sins and souls for a money price,
+the traffic in indulgences--so many iniquities, so many outrages against
+morality, rendered me indignant. My soul opened to the light."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"I have had a strange dream!
+
+"Having become a pastor of the reformed religion, I had married Hena. We
+lived in a village, located in a smiling valley. I gave lessons to the
+lads. Hena gathered the girls around her. God blessed our union. Two
+beautiful children drew closer the bonds of our mutual tenderness. Oh,
+sacred family joys! Hena, my beloved wife!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Fool that I am! Instead of allowing my thoughts to dwell upon that
+dream, could I but tear it out of my memory. Until now I had, at least,
+found some bitter comfort in the word--_Impossible_. I am a monk. An
+insurmountable obstacle separates me from Hena. My grief fed upon the
+most mournful of thoughts. Astray in a labyrinth from which there was no
+exit, no ray of hope penetrated to the depth of my despair.
+
+"But now, after that tempting dream, I find myself saying:
+
+"'And yet I could be happy. I could embrace the Evangelical religion,
+become one of its pastors, remain guiltless of faithlessness to my vow
+of devoting myself to the service of God, and yet wed Hena. The reform
+ministers are not held to celibacy.'"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Mercy, Oh, my God! However intense the hope, it has evaporated. I have
+fallen back into the very depth of despair. In order to wed Hena, she
+must love me! Can her heart ever have beaten for a man clad in a monk's
+frock?"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Who made me a monk? Could I, at the age of thirteen, be endowed with
+judgment enough to decide upon my vocation, and understand the
+significance of monastic vows? Was it not in mere obedience to my father
+that I entered as a novice the Order of the Augustinian monks? That was
+my first step in religious life. Subsequently, partly through lassitude,
+partly through habit, partly through submission, I proceeded to
+consecrate myself to this gloomy and sterile life. I bowed before the
+paternal will. Thus goes the world! To my elder brother freedom to
+choose his career and a wife; to him the hereditary patrimony; to him
+family joys; to me the cloister; to me the vows that shackle me to
+celibacy and poverty! Such are the iniquities of the Catholics."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"A slow fever undermines and consumes me. I am only the shadow of my
+former self.
+
+"The religious education that every day I impart to Hena in the shadow
+of the confessional is torture to me. I have become so nervously
+sensitive that the sweet sound of my penitent's voice makes every fiber
+of my brain to twitch. Her breath, that occasionally reaches my face
+through the grating of the confessional, makes my forehead to be bathed
+in perspiration that burns, and then freezes my temples. I have not the
+courage to endure this torture any longer. I shall go crazy. To see, to
+feel near me the young girl the thought of whom fills my soul, and to be
+forever on guard, in order to restrain myself, to watch every single
+word I utter, its inflection, my hardly repressed sighs, the tears that
+her sorrows and my own draw from my eyes in order to conceal my secret
+from her! I am at the end of my strength. Fever and sleeplessness have
+used up my life. I can hardly drag myself from my cell to the church of
+the Augustinian monks. Call me to Your bosom, O Lord God! Have pity upon
+me. Mercy! Shorten my torments!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"There is no longer any doubt. Hena will be forced to take the vows.
+Yesterday I went to the convent of the Augustinian sisters to inform the
+Mother Superior that my weakened health commanded me absolute rest, and
+I could not continue the religious education of the young novice.
+
+"'Is Hena Lebrenn at last in a condition to take the veil?' she asked
+me.
+
+"'Not yet,' I answered.
+
+"'In that case,' replied the Mother Superior, 'the Lord will enlighten
+her with His grace when it shall please Him. It is His concern. Obedient
+to the orders I have from my ecclesiastical superiors, the girl must
+take the veil within a week. Some other of our Augustinian brothers will
+take charge of completing the education of the novice, somehow or other.
+It is the reverend Father Lefevre who sent her here. She has a brother
+who also was snatched from perdition. The task was easy with him. So far
+from refusing to take the vows, he requested to be allowed to enter the
+Order of the Cordeliers, and has been taken to their convent and placed
+near Fra Girard. The father and mother are devil-possessed heretics. A
+curse upon them.'
+
+"And thus, in violation of all law and equity the two children have been
+wrested from their family, and will evermore be separated from it. I
+would give my life to inform Christian Lebrenn and his wife of the fate
+that is reserved for his daughter. Alas, there is no means of seeing
+them."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"To-morrow Hena takes the vows at the convent of the Augustinian
+sisters. I was informed of it by the monk who replaced me as her
+catechiser. My God! The poor girl is lost forever to her family.
+
+"And yet a glimmer of hope remains. The surveillance at first exercised
+over me becomes less rigorous, now that my life is ebbing away, and I
+hardly leave my couch. If this evening, to-night, I can leave the
+convent, I shall notify Monsieur Lebrenn of the imminent danger that
+threatens his daughter. Perchance, thanks to the influence of Robert
+Estienne, the Princess Marguerite may yet be able to obtain the freedom
+of Hena before she has taken the veil.
+
+"My God! Vouchsafe my prayer and deliver me speedily of life. I shall
+ask to be buried in my frock, where I keep hidden these leaves, the only
+confidants of my love."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+THE TAVERN OF THE BLACK GRAPE.
+
+
+"The Black Grape" was the device roughly painted on the escutcheon of a
+tavern that served for rendezvous to all sorts of bandits, who at that
+season infested the city of Paris. Even the archers of the patrol held
+in awe the semi-underground cut-throats' resort. They never ventured
+into the tortuous and dark alley at about the middle of which the old
+sign of the Black Grape, well known by all the thieves, creaked and
+swung to the wind. Three men, seated at a table in one of the nooks of
+that haunt, were discussing some important project, judging from the
+mystery in which they wrapped their conversation. Pichrocholle, the
+Mauvais-Garçon, and his pal Grippe-Minaud, the Tire-Laine, who, several
+months before, had attended the sale of indulgences in St. Dominic's
+Church, were two of the interlocutors in the consultation they were for
+some time holding with Josephin, the Franc-Taupin. Strange
+transformation! The adventurer, once a man of imperturbable good nature,
+was unrecognizable. His now somber and even savage physiognomy revealed
+a rooted grief. He left his pot of wine untouched. What stronger
+evidence of his grief!
+
+"St. Cadouin!" said Pichrocholle with a tone and gesture of devout
+invocation. "We are here alone. You can now tell us what you want of us,
+Josephin."
+
+"Pichrocholle, I met you in the war--"
+
+"Yes, I was an arquebusier in the company of Monsieur Monluc. I got
+tired of killing in battle, and without profit to myself, Italians,
+Spaniards, Swiss and Flemings, whom I did not know, and decided to kill
+for cash Frenchmen whom I did know. I became a Mauvais-Garçon. I now
+place my dagger and my sword at the service of whoever pays me. Tit for
+tat."
+
+"'Tis but to be a soldier, only in another manner," explained
+Grippe-Minaud. "But this trade requires a certain courage that I do not
+possess. I prefer to tackle honest bourgeois on their way home at night
+without any other weapon than--their lanthorns."
+
+"Pichrocholle," proceeded the Franc-Taupin, "I saved your life at the
+battle of Marignan. I extricated you from two lansquenets, who, but for
+my help, would have put you through a disagreeable quarter of an hour. I
+believe I bore myself as a true comrade."
+
+"St. Cadouin! Do you take me for an ingrate? If you have any service to
+ask of me, speak freely without fear of a refusal."
+
+"When I ran across you a few minutes ago, it occurred to me you were the
+man I needed--"
+
+"Is it some enemy you wish to rid yourself of? All you have to do is to
+place me before him."
+
+Josephin shook his head negatively, and pointed with his finger at his
+own long sword, that lay across the table before him. It would have been
+quite enough for such a contingency.
+
+"You are yourself able to rid yourself of an enemy," replied the
+Mauvais-Garçon. "I know it. What, then, is the job?"
+
+The Franc-Taupin proceeded with a tremulous voice while a tear rolled
+down from his eye:
+
+"Pichrocholle, I had a sister--"
+
+"How your voice trembles! You could not look any sadder. Pichrocholle,
+the pots are empty, and no money to fill them with!" said Grippe-Minaud.
+
+"'Sdeath, my sister!" cried the Franc-Taupin in despair. "There is a
+void in my heart that nothing can fill!" and he hid his face in his
+hands.
+
+"A void is useful when it is made in the purse of a bourgeois,"
+commented Grippe-Minaud, while his companion remarked:
+
+"Come, now, Josephin, you had a sister. Is it that you have lost her?
+Proceed with your story."
+
+"She is dead!" murmured the Franc-Taupin, gulping down a sob; but
+recovering, he added: "I still have a niece--"
+
+"A niece?" asked the Mauvais-Garçon. "Is it she we must help? Is she
+young and handsome--?"
+
+The bandit stopped short at the fierce look that the Franc-Taupin shot
+at him. Presently he resumed:
+
+"I knew you one time for a jollier fellow."
+
+"I laugh no more," rejoined the Franc-Taupin with a sinister smile. "My
+cheerfulness is gone! But let us come to the point. My sister died in
+prison. I succeeded at least in being allowed to see her before she
+closed her eyes, and to receive her last wishes. She leaves behind three
+children--a girl and two boys, but the elder does not count."
+
+"How's that? Explain the mystery."
+
+"I am coming to that. My sister's daughter was seized and taken to the
+convent of the Augustinian sisters, where she is now detained."
+
+"St. Cadouin! What is there to complain about? To have a niece in a
+convent, is almost like having an angel on your side in paradise!"
+Saying which the Mauvais-Garçon crossed himself devoutly by carrying his
+thumb from his nose to his chin, and then across from one corner to the
+other of his mouth.
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed Grippe-Minaud, "And I have neither sister, daughter nor
+niece in a convent! They would pray for the remission of my sins. I
+could then be unconcerned for the hereafter, like a fish in the water!"
+
+"And their prayers would not cost you a denier!" added Pichrocholle with
+a sigh.
+
+"Oh, if only my daughter Mariotte had not run away at the age of
+fourteen with a jail-bird, she would now be in a convent, praying for
+her good father, the Tire-Laine! By the confession! That was the dream
+of my life," whereupon the thief crossed himself as the Mauvais-Garçon
+had done.
+
+The words of the two bandits suited the Franc-Taupin. They were fresh
+proofs of the mixture of superstition and crime that marked the bandits'
+lives. Their fanaticism squared with his own projects. He proceeded with
+his story, to which his two comrades listened attentively:
+
+"My niece has no religious vocation. She was taken to the convent, and
+is held there by force. She must come out. Will you help me to carry her
+off?'
+
+"St. Cadouin!" cried the Mauvais-Garçon, terror stricken, and crossing
+himself anew. "That would be sacrilege!"
+
+"To violate a holy place!" came from Grippe-Minaud, who grew pale and
+crossed himself like Pichrocholle. "By the confession! My hair stands on
+end at the bare thought of such a thing!"
+
+Dumb and stupefied, the two brigands looked at each other with dilated
+eyes. The Franc-Taupin seemed in no wise disconcerted by their scruples.
+After a moment of silence he proceeded:
+
+"Mauvais-Garçons and Tire-Laines are good Catholics, I know. Therefore,
+be easy, my devout friends, I have the power to absolve you."
+
+"Are you going to make us believe you are an Apostolic Commissioner?"
+
+"What does it matter, provided I guarantee to you a plenary indulgence?
+Eh, comrades!"
+
+"You--you--Josephin? You are mocking us! And yet you claim you have lost
+your taste for mirth!"
+
+Separated from the two thieves by the full length of the table, the
+Franc-Taupin placed his sword between his legs, planted his bare dagger
+close before him, and then drew a parchment out of the pocket of his
+spacious hose. It was Hervé's letter of absolution, which the
+Franc-Taupin had picked up from the threshold of his sister's house when
+the Lebrenn family was arrested. He unfolded the apostolic schedule; and
+holding it open in plain view of both the brigands, he said to them:
+
+"Look and read--you can read."
+
+"A letter of absolution!" exclaimed the Mauvais-Garçon and the
+Tire-Laine, with eyes that glistened with greed as they carefully ran
+over the parchment. "It bears the seals, the signatures--there is
+nothing lacking!"
+
+"I saw day before yesterday a schedule like that in the hands of the
+Count of St. Mexin, who paid me two ducats to dispatch a certain fat
+advocate, a husband who stands in the way of the love affairs of the
+advocatess with the young seigneur," said the Mauvais-Garçon.
+
+"By the confession!" cried Grippe-Minaud, re-crossing himself. "The
+letter is complete! It gives remission even for _reserved cases_. Thanks
+to this absolution, one can do anything! Anything, without danger to his
+soul!"
+
+After reading and contemplating with ecstasies the apostolic schedule,
+the two bandits exchanged a rapid and meaning look, which, however, did
+not escape the Franc-Taupin, thoroughly on his guard as he was. He drew
+back quickly, rose from his seat, dashed the precious parchment back
+into his pocket, took a few steps away from the table, and standing
+erect, his right foot forward, his sword in one hand, his dagger in the
+other, thus addressed the two desperadoes:
+
+"By the bowels of St. Quenet, my lads! I knew you for too good a brace
+of Catholics not to wish to stab me to death in order to get possession
+of this absolving schedule, which remits all past, present and future
+crimes. Come on, my dare-devils, I have only one eye left, but it is a
+good one!"
+
+"You are crazy! It is not right to mistrust an old friend that way,"
+expostulated Pichrocholle. "You misunderstood our intentions."
+
+"We only wanted to examine more closely that blessed and priceless
+letter," added the Tire-Laine. "By the confession! Happy man that you
+are to possess such a treasure!" and he crossed himself. "Saints of
+paradise, but grant me such a windfall, and I shall burn twenty wax
+candles come Candlemas!"
+
+"It depends upon you whether you shall own this treasure or not,"
+proceeded the adventurer. "I shall give you this letter of absolution,
+if you help me, to-night, to carry off my niece from the convent of the
+Augustinian sisters. By virtue of this apostolic schedule, you will be
+absolved of all your sins--past, present and future, and of this night's
+sacrilege for good measure. Thenceforth, you will be privileged fairly
+to swim in crime, without concern for your souls, as Pichrocholle just
+said. Paradise will then be guaranteed to you!"
+
+"But," remarked the Mauvais-Garçon, shaking his head, "this letter
+absolves only one Christian--we are two."
+
+"The job being done, you will cast dice for the schedule," Josephin
+answered readily. "There will be one to lose and one to gain. The
+chances are equal for you both."
+
+The two bandits consulted each other with their eyes. Pichrocholle spoke
+up:
+
+"But how do you come into possession of that letter? Those absolutions
+are the most expensive. St. Cadouin! The least that they cost, I hear,
+is twenty-five gold crowns."
+
+"It is none of your business from whom I hold the schedule. 'Sdeath, my
+sister! All the gold in the world will not pay for the tears that piece
+of parchment has caused to flow!" answered the Franc-Taupin, whose
+visage expressed a profound grief as he thought of the revelations
+Bridget made to him about Hervé.
+
+Recovering his composure the adventurer added:
+
+"Will you, yes or no, both of you, lend me a strong hand to-night, in
+order to carry off my niece from the convent of the Augustinian sisters,
+and for another expedition? It is a double game we have to play."
+
+"St. Cadouin! We are to make two strokes. You never told us about
+that--"
+
+"The second expedition is but child's play. To seize a little casket."
+
+"What does the casket contain?" queried the Tire-Laine, all interest.
+
+"Only papers," answered the Franc-Taupin, "besides a few trinkets of no
+value. Moreover, seeing you are scrupulous Catholics, I shall add, for
+the sake of the peace of your souls, that the casket which I wish to
+recover, was stolen from my brother-in-law. You will be aiding a
+restitution."
+
+"Josephin, you are trying to deceive us!" remarked the Mauvais-Garçon.
+"People do not attach so much importance to a bunch of papers and
+worthless trinkets."
+
+"When the casket is in our possession you may open it--if there be any
+valuables in it, they shall be yours."
+
+"There is nothing to say to that," rejoined Pichrocholle, looking at the
+Tire-Laine. "That's fair, eh? We shall accept the proposition."
+
+"Quite fair," returned the latter. "But let us proceed in order. The
+abduction of the nun--by the navel of the Pope! I shiver at the bare
+thought. Should the cast of the dice not give me the letter of
+absolution, I remain guilty of a sacrilege!"
+
+"That is your risk," answered the Franc-Taupin; "but if you gain the
+indulgence--there you are, my Catholic brother, safe for all eternity,
+whatever crimes you may commit."
+
+"By the limbs of Satan! I know that well enough! It is that very thing
+that lures me."
+
+"And me too," put in the other brigand. "But how are we to manage things
+in order to enter the convent?"
+
+"I shall explain my plan to you. My brother-in-law is in hiding for fear
+of being arrested. My niece, who was taken to the Augustinian Convent,
+was compelled to take the vows to-day."
+
+"How do you know that?"
+
+"I had gone, as latterly I often get into the humor of doing, and
+planted myself before my sister's house--and dreamed."
+
+"To what end?"
+
+"In order to contemplate that poor house, deserted to-day, and where,
+every time I returned from the country, Bridget, her husband and her
+children gave me a pleasant reception. You devout fellows talk of
+paradise. That house was a paradise to me. So that, even to-day, I
+roamed into the neighborhood as an erring soul, my eyes fastened upon
+that closed window where I had so often seen the dear faces of my sister
+and her daughter smiling upon me when I knocked at their door--"
+
+The expression on the face, the tone of the voice of the Franc-Taupin,
+touched even the two bandits, hardened men though they were. Josephin
+smothered a sob and proceeded:
+
+"As I was saying a short while ago, I was roaming around the house when
+I saw a monk approaching me. Oh, a good monk! So pale, so worn that I
+had trouble to recognize him. But he, although he had met me only once,
+recognized me by my port and by the plaster on my eye. He asked me
+whether he could have a speedy word with my sister, or my
+brother-in-law. 'My sister is dead, and my brother-in-law is in hiding,'
+I answered the monk. He thereupon informed me that my niece was locked
+up in the convent of the Augustinian sisters, where he, an Augustinian
+monk, was her confessor; that, himself subjected several months to a
+rigorous sequestration, he had only just succeeded in coming out, seeing
+that the surveillance under which he was held had somewhat begun to
+relax. Poor monk, he looked so wan, so emaciated, so feeble that he
+could hardly keep himself on his feet. Uninformed concerning the
+misfortunes of our family, his errand was to impart to the parents of my
+niece what he knew about her. He ran the risk, in the event of his
+outing being discovered, of being pursued and punished. I took him to
+the place where my brother-in-law has found a safe retreat. On the way
+thither I learned the following from the monk: My niece took the veil
+to-day. According to the custom in such cases, she is to pass the night
+alone in prayer in the oratory of the Virgin, which is separated from
+the church of the convent by an enclosure of the cloister. Now,
+attention, my lads, to the directions that the monk gave me. The walls
+of the court-yard of the chapel run along St. Benoit's Alley. Just
+before sunset, I went over the place and examined the walls. They are
+not very high. We can easily scale them, while one of us will keep watch
+on the outside."
+
+"That shall be I!" broke in Grippe-Minaud nervously. "That post for me!
+I have the eye of a lynx and the ear of a mole!"
+
+"You shall be the watcher. Pichrocholle and I shall scale the wall. The
+monk will be waiting for me near the chapel, ready to aid us should
+anyone attempt to oppose my niece's abduction. I shall find her in the
+oratory; she will follow me; we shall force open one of the garden
+gates; and before dawn I shall have the daughter with her father, who is
+in perfect safety. Immediately after, it will then be just early dawn,
+we shall undertake the second expedition."
+
+"The casket that we are to take?"
+
+"Nothing easier. We shall go, all three, to Montaigu College, and shall
+ask the porter for the number of Abbot Lefevre's chamber. He is the
+thief of the casket."
+
+"Horns of Moses!" cried Grippe-Minaud crossing himself. "An Abbot! To
+raise our hands against another anointed of the Lord!"
+
+"Two sacrileges in one day!" added the Mauvais-Garçon shaking his head
+thoughtfully. "That weighs heavy on one's conscience."
+
+"What about the letter of absolution!" interjected the Franc-Taupin
+impatiently. "By the devil, whose frying pan you are afraid of, my
+precious Catholics! Have you faith--yes or no?"
+
+"That's so," responded Pichrocholle, "there is the schedule of
+absolution. It covers us! Thanks to its beneficent virtue, one of us
+shall be white as the inside of a snowball."
+
+"Accordingly," the Franc-Taupin proceeded, "we shall ask for Abbot
+Lefevre, under the pretext of some urgent matter that we must
+communicate to him; we go up to his room; we knock at the door. Our man
+will still be in bed. We throw ourselves upon him. You two bind and gag
+him. I shall look for the casket in question--and shall find it. I am
+certain of that. We then tie our Abbot to the bed, keeping him gagged
+all the while, lest he scream and give the alarm. We close the door
+after us--and we make tracks for the nearest place of safety."
+
+"Oh, that would be the merest child's play, provided no priest were
+concerned," broke in the Tire-Laine; "besides the abduction of your
+niece, the violation of a sanctuary!"
+
+"Yesterday I despatched my seventh man," put in the Mauvais-Garçon.
+"Accordingly, my conscience is not very well at ease, because, to obtain
+absolution for a murder, I would have to pay more than the murder
+fetches me. But a lay murder is but a peccadillo beside a
+sacrilege!--And then, if after the expedition that you propose to us,
+the dice should fail to give me the apostolic schedule? What then! St.
+Cadouin! I would dream only of the eternal flames ever after."
+
+"That is your risk," again replied Josephin imperturbably. "The hour
+approaches. Have you decided? Is it yes? Is it no? Must I look for
+assistance elsewhere?"
+
+"When will you deliver the letter to us?"
+
+"Just as soon as my niece is safely with her father, and the casket is
+in my hands. Agreed?"
+
+"And if you deceive us? If after the expeditions have been successfully
+carried out, you refuse to deliver the letter to us?"
+
+"By the bowels of St. Quenet! And if, taking advantage of a moment when
+I may not be on my guard, you should stab me to-night, that you may
+seize the letter before rendering me the services which I expect of you?
+The risks are equal, and compensate each other. Enough of words!"
+
+"Oh, Josephin, such a suspicion against me--me your old comrade in
+arms!"
+
+"By the confession! To take us--us who have drunk out of the same pot,
+for capable of so unworthy an action!"
+
+"God's blood! Night draws near. We shall need some time to prepare for
+the escalade," ejaculated the Franc-Taupin. "For the last time--yes or
+no?"
+
+The two bandits consulted each other for a moment with their eyes. At
+the end of the consultation Pichrocholle reached out his hand to the
+Franc-Taupin, saying:
+
+"Upon the word of a Mauvais-Garçon, and by the salvation of my
+soul--'tis done! You can count with me to the death."
+
+"Upon the word of a Tire-Laine, and by the salvation of my soul--'tis
+done! You may dispose of me."
+
+"To work!" ordered the Franc-Taupin.
+
+Josephin left the tavern of the Black Grape accompanied by the two
+bandits.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+THE COTTAGE OF ROBERT ESTIENNE.
+
+
+The cottage or country-house, that Robert Estienne owned near St. Ouen,
+on the St. Denis road, was located in a secluded spot, and at a
+considerable distance from the village. The byroad which led to the
+entrance of the residence ran upon a gate of grated iron near a little
+lodge occupied by the gardener and his wife. The principal dwelling rose
+in the center of a garden enclosed by a wall. The day after that on
+which the Franc-Taupin, the Mauvais-Garçon and the Tire-Laine held their
+conference at the tavern of the Black Grape, Michael, Robert Estienne's
+gardener, having returned from the field late in the afternoon, and
+being not a little out of sorts at not finding his wife Alison at their
+home, the key of which she had carried away with her, was grumbling,
+storming and blowing upon his fingers numb with the December chill.
+Finally his wife, no doubt returning from the village, hove in sight,
+and wended her way towards the gate.
+
+"Where the devil did you go to?" Michael called out to Alison as he saw
+her from a distance. "Could you not at least have left the key in the
+door? The devil take those forgetful women!"
+
+"I went--to confession," answered the gardener's wife avoiding her
+husband's eyes, and pushing open the gate. "I took the key with me
+because you were afield."
+
+"To confession!--To confession!" replied Michael with a growl. "And I
+was freezing to death."
+
+"All the same I must see to my salvation. You sent me this morning with
+a letter to our master. The curate was good enough to wait for me at the
+confessional after dinner. I availed myself of his kindness."
+
+"Very well. But, may the devil take it! I wish you would try to gain
+paradise without exposing me to be frozen to death."
+
+The couple had barely stepped into the lodge when Michael stopped to
+listen in the direction of the gate and said, surprisedly:
+
+"I hear the gallop of a horse!"
+
+The brave Michael stepped out again, looked through the grating of the
+gate, recognized Robert Estienne, and called out:
+
+"Alison, come quick; it is our master!"
+
+Saying this the gardener threw open the gate to Robert Estienne. The
+latter alighted from his horse, and giving the reins to his servant
+said:
+
+"Good evening, Michael. Any news?"
+
+"Oh, monsieur, many things--"
+
+"Does my guest run any danger? Has any indiscretion been committed?"
+
+"No, thanks to God, monsieur. You may be easy on that score. You can
+rely upon my wife as upon myself. No one suspects at the village that
+there is anyone hiding at the house."
+
+"What, then, has happened, since my last call? Alison brought me this
+morning a note from the friend to whom I am giving asylum. But although
+the note urged my coming here, it indicated nothing serious."
+
+"No doubt the person who is here, monsieur, reserves for his own telling
+the news that he is no longer alone at the house."
+
+"How is that?"
+
+"Day before yesterday, the tall one-eyed fellow who comes here from time
+to time, and always at night, called in broad daylight, mounted upon a
+little cart, drawn by a donkey and filled with straw. He told me to
+watch the cart, and he went in search of your guest. The two came out
+together, and out of the straw in the cart they pulled--a monk!"
+
+"A monk, say you!--A monk!"
+
+"Yes, monsieur, a young monk of the Order of Saint Augustine, who looked
+as if he had not another hour to live, so pale and weak was he."
+
+"And what has become of him?"
+
+"He remained here, and your guest said to me: 'Michael, I beg you to
+keep the arrival of the monk an absolute secret. I shall inform Monsieur
+Estienne of the occurrence. Your master will approve the measures I have
+taken.'"
+
+"Did you follow his recommendation?"
+
+"Yes, monsieur, but that is not all. Last night the big one-eyed fellow
+came back just before dawn. He was on horseback, and behind him,
+wrapped in a cloak on the crupper of his mount, he brought--a nun! I
+went immediately to notify your guest. He came out running, and almost
+fainted away at the sight of the nun. Bathed in tears he returned with
+her into the house, while the big one-eyed man rode off at a gallop. It
+was daylight by that time. Finally, towards noon to-day, the big
+one-eyed man returned once more, but this time clad in a peasant's
+blouse and cap. He brought a little casket to your guest, and then went
+off--"
+
+Astounded at what the gardener was telling him, Robert Estienne walked
+up to the house, where he rapped in the nature of a signal--two short
+raps and then, after a short pause, a third. Instantly Christian opened
+the door.
+
+"My friend, what is the matter? What has happened?" cried Robert
+Estienne, struck by the profound change in the appearance of the
+artisan, who threw himself into the arms of his patron, murmuring
+between half-smothered sobs:
+
+"My daughter!--My daughter!"
+
+Robert Estienne returned Christian's convulsive embrace, and under the
+impression that some irreparable misfortune had happened, he said in
+sympathetic accents:
+
+"Courage, my friend! Courage!"
+
+"She has been found!" cried Christian. The light of unspeakable joy
+shone in his eyes. "My child has been restored to me! She is here! She
+is with me!"
+
+"True?" asked Robert Estienne, and recalling the gardener's words he
+added: "Was she the nun?"
+
+"It is Hena herself! But come, come, monsieur; my heart overflows with
+joy. My head swims. Oh, never have I needed your wise counsel as much as
+now! What am I now to do?"
+
+Christian and his patron had all this while remained at the entrance of
+the vestibule. They walked into a contiguous apartment.
+
+"For heaven's sake, my dear Christian, be calm," remarked Robert
+Estienne. "Let me know what has happened. Needless to add that my advice
+and friendship are at your service."
+
+Recovering his composure, and wiping with the back of his hand the tears
+that inundated his face, the artisan proceeded to explain:
+
+"You are aware of the arrest of my wife, my daughter and my eldest son
+at our house. I would also have been arrested had I been found at home.
+My brother-in-law, who lingered in the neighborhood of my house,
+notified me of the danger I ran, and made me retrace my steps. Thanks to
+Josephin and yourself I found a safe refuge, first in Paris itself, and
+then here, in this retreat which seemed to you to offer greater
+security."
+
+"Did I not by all that but repay a debt of gratitude? Your hospitality
+to John Calvin is probably the principal cause of the persecution that
+you and your family have been the victims of. Despite my pressing
+solicitations, Princess Marguerite, whose influence alone has hitherto
+protected me against my enemies, declined to attempt aught in your
+behalf. Cardinal Duprat said to her: 'Madam, the man in whom you are
+interesting yourself is one of the bitterest enemies of the King and the
+Church. If we succeed in laying hands upon that Christian Lebrenn he
+shall not escape the gallows, which he has long deserved!' Such set
+animosity towards you, a workingman and obscure artisan, passes my
+comprehension."
+
+"I now know the cause of that bitter animosity, Monsieur Estienne.
+Before proceeding with my narrative, the revelation is due to you. It
+may have its bearings upon the advice that I expect from you."
+
+Christian opened the casket that contained the chronicles of his family,
+brought to him that very noon by the Franc-Taupin. He took from the
+casket a scroll of paper and placed it in Robert Estienne's hand,
+saying:
+
+"Kindly read this, monsieur. The manuscripts to which this note refers
+are the family chronicles that I have occasionally spoken of to you."
+
+Robert Estienne took the note and read:
+
+
+    "IGNATIUS LOYOLA, GENERAL OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS
+    "A. M. D. G.
+    "(_Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam_)
+
+     "Despite the incorrectness of their style and other defects of
+     form, the within manuscripts may, especially since the invention of
+     the printing press, become a weapon of great mischief.
+
+     "This narrative, transmitted from century to century at the
+     domestic hearth to obscure generations of common people could not,
+     before the invention of the printing press, have any evil effect
+     further than to perpetuate execrable traditions within a single
+     family. It is so no longer. These rhapsodies are stamped with the
+     race hatred borne by the Gauls towards the Franks, the conquered
+     towards the conquerors, the serf towards the seigneur, the subject
+     towards the Crown and the Church. To-day these rhapsodies could be
+     multiplied indefinitely through the printing press, and thus
+     diffused among the evil-minded people, ever but too prone to
+     rebellion against the pontifical and royal authorities. Enlightened
+     by these narratives upon historical events that should forever be a
+     _closed book_ to them, if they are to entertain a feeling of blind
+     submission, a sense of respect, and a wholesome dread for the
+     throne and the altar, the evil-minded common people would in the
+     future engage with ever greater audacity in those revolts that not
+     a single century has hitherto been wholly free from,--a state of
+     things that the Society of Jesus, with the aid of God, will reduce
+     to order.
+
+     "Therefore, it is urgent that these manuscripts be destroyed
+     without delay, as proposed by our beloved son Lefevre, and that the
+     traditions of the _Lebrenn_ family be shattered by the following
+     means:
+
+     "To cause the father and mother to be sentenced as heretics. The
+     proofs of their heresy are plentiful. The torture and the pyre for
+     the infamous wretches.
+
+     "To lock up in a convent the son and the daughter (Hena and Hervé)
+     now in Paris, and compel them to take the vows.
+
+     "As to the youngest son, Odelin, fifteen years of age, and at
+     present traveling in Italy with Master Raimbaud, an armorer, who is
+     also reported to be a heretic, the return of the lad to Paris must
+     be awaited, and then the identical course pursued towards
+     him--capture him, lock him up in a convent, and compel him to take
+     the vows. He is fifteen years old. Despite the taint of his early
+     bringing-up, it will be easy to operate upon a child of that age.
+     If, contrary to all likelihood, he can not be reduced to reason, he
+     shall be kept in the convent until eighteen. Then he shall be
+     pronounced guilty of heresy, and burned alive.
+
+     "_I insist_--it is important, not only to destroy the said
+     manuscripts, but also to shatter the traditions of the Lebrenn
+     family, and extinguish the same, either by delivering it to the
+     secular arm on crimes of heresy, or by burying its last scions
+     forever in the shadow of the cloister.
+
+     "The fact must be kept well in mind--there is no such thing as
+     small enemies. The slightest of causes often produces great
+     effects. At a given moment, on the occasion of a rebellion, one
+     resolute man may be enough to carry the populace with him. Due to
+     its secular traditions, the Lebrenn family might produce such a
+     man. Such an eventuality must be prevented; the family must be
+     uprooted.
+
+     "If, supposing the impossible, the measures herein indicated should
+     fail of success, if this dangerous stock should perpetuate itself,
+     then, it is necessary that our ORDER, equally perpetual, always
+     keep its eye upon these _Lebrenns_, who are certain to generate
+     infamous scoundrels.
+
+     "The instance of this family is one instance among the thousand
+     that go to prove the necessity of the register I have often
+     mentioned. I ORDER that one be kept in each division by the
+     provincial of our Society. I ORDER that the names of the families
+     upon whom the attention of our Society should be particularly
+     directed, be inscribed in these registers. These records, preserved
+     and transmitted from century to century, will furnish our Society
+     the means of surveillance and of action upon future generations.
+     Such is my will.
+
+     "Our beloved son Lefevre will therefore start the register for the
+     _province of France_ by entering in it the name of the _Lebrenn_
+     family. There shall also be entered the names of _Robert Estienne_,
+     of _Gaspard of Coligny_, of the _Prince of Gerolstein_, of
+     _Ambroise Paré_, of _Clement Marot_, of _Bernard Palissy_, of the
+     _Viscount of Plouernel_ and of others, too numerous to recite at
+     this place, but who will be found on the heretics' lists furnished
+     by Gainier to the Criminal Lieutenant, who shall furnish the said
+     documents without delay to our beloved son Lefevre, whom may God
+     guard.
+
+     "I. L."
+
+"Ignatius Loyola!" explained Christian translating the initials I and L
+pronounced by Robert Estienne, who gazed upon the artisan dumbfounded.
+The latter proceeded with a mournful and bitter tone: "The orders of
+Ignatius Loyola were followed. My wife--" and he choked a sob, "my wife
+was arrested and imprisoned for a heretic. Blessed be Thou, Oh, God! she
+died in prison. Her death saved her, no doubt, from the stake! My
+daughter was taken to the convent of the Augustinian sisters, where the
+poor child was yesterday compelled to pronounce eternal vows. My son
+Hervé--Oh, the monster no longer deserves to be called a son--"
+
+"What is there against him?"
+
+"A letter of my daughter, written to her mother, whose death she was not
+aware of, put me on the scent of a horrible secret. This morning I
+questioned my brother-in-law, who, happier than I, had the opportunity
+of seeing Bridget in her prison. He unveiled to me a distressful
+mystery--"
+
+"Proceed with your tale, my friend."
+
+Wiping away the cold perspiration that bathed his forehead, the artisan
+went on to say: "Hervé entered the Convent of the Cordeliers, not
+against his will, but joyfully! He will not part from Fra Girard, the
+demon who led him astray. They are now waiting for my son Odelin to
+return from Italy. Alas, the boy is on his way to Paris and I have not
+been able to notify Master Raimbaud of what has happened, not knowing
+where to address a letter to him. They will fall into the hands of our
+enemies."
+
+"Just heavens!" exclaimed Robert Estienne, struck by a sudden thought
+and breaking in upon Christian. "There can be no doubt about it. A
+minute ago, as I listened to your account of how the orders of Ignatius
+Loyola were followed, I wondered how--even in these sad days when the
+freedom and lives of our citizens are at the mercy of the good or ill
+will of Cardinal Duprat and his agent, the Criminal Lieutenant, John
+Morin--I wondered how the plot concocted against your whole family could
+be executed with such rapidity. I now wonder no longer. Ignatius Loyola
+exercises a powerful influence over the Cardinal, who has joined the
+Society of Jesus."
+
+"Is, then, the Society of Jesus already so highly connected?"
+
+"No doubt about it! When I went to entreat the intercession of Princess
+Marguerite in behalf of Mary La Catelle, John Dubourg, Laforge and
+others of our friends, my protectress inquired from me whether I knew a
+certain nobleman, still young of years and lame of foot, who almost
+every day held protracted conferences with the Cardinal, over whom he
+wielded an absolute sway. Thanks to the information I had from you, I
+was able to enlighten the Princess concerning the chief of the new Order
+of Jesuits. It is evident that it was with the connivance of the
+Cardinal that Ignatius Loyola was enabled to smite your family. But what
+I could not yet understand was the reason that drove that man to pursue
+you with such inveteracy and to aim at your very life."
+
+"Ignatius Loyola undoubtedly does not pardon my having surprised the
+secret of his Order. Lefevre, one of his disciples and a former friend
+of mine, saw me on the occasion of that fatal night concealed behind a
+big boulder at the bottom of the quarry. He affected not to notice me,
+in order not to awaken my suspicions, and the very next day he led the
+archers of the patrol to my house, seized my family papers, with which I
+had made him acquainted, and climbed to the garret, where, finding some
+scraps of letters left behind him by John Calvin, he must by those means
+have been put upon the track of the council of the reformers held at
+Montmartre. Only an hour or two after the arrival of our co-religionists
+the quarry was invaded by the archers."
+
+"But how did your family chronicles and the note about them fall back
+into your hands?"
+
+"Also through the efforts of my wife's brother, the soldier of adventure
+I have often spoken of to you. Josephin, that is my brother-in-law's
+name, was going to our house when Bridget and my children were arrested.
+He saw them taken away. He also saw a man, clad in a black frock, with
+the cowl over his head, carry off the casket that contained our legends.
+That man was my friend Lefevre. Once out of my house, and no longer
+deeming it necessary to conceal his face, he raised his cowl and
+Josephin recognized him. The discovery was a revelation to me. That
+night my brother-in-law could not attempt to free my wife and children
+from the hands of the archers. He remained in the neighborhood on the
+watch for me. It was by him I was apprized of the arrest of my family.
+At length, yesterday, having encountered near my house an Augustinian
+monk, who left the convent surreptitiously, he learned from him that my
+daughter had been made to take the veil. Once posted upon where Hena
+was to be found, the Franc-Taupin decided to abduct her from the
+cloister, helped therein by two other resolute fellows. He succeeded in
+the perilous undertaking. Finally, having no doubt that the casket
+containing my family chronicles was in Lefevre's possession, he repaired
+early in the morning to Montaigu College with his two trusty companions,
+and took away from the Jesuit the casket in which, jointly with our
+family chronicles, was the note of Ignatius Loyola. These he brought to
+me at noon to-day."
+
+"What devotion! Thanks to the brave adventurer, your daughter is
+restored to you! The monk to whom you have extended hospitality is, I
+suppose, the same who escaped from the convent, and placed the
+Franc-Taupin in position to deliver your daughter. The situation begins
+to look less dangerous."
+
+"Yes, Monsieur Estienne. And now I implore you, lighten my path with
+your advice. My head swims. I am a prey to cruel perplexities."
+
+"Are you afraid your daughter may be traced to this house?"
+
+"That fear is terrible enough, but is not what troubles me most."
+
+"What is it that troubles you?"
+
+Christian sobbed aloud: "You do not yet know all. The monk is Brother
+St. Ernest-Martyr."
+
+"He is a true disciple of Christ! Often did Mary La Catelle tell me he
+inclined towards the Reformation."
+
+"Listen, Monsieur Estienne. The monk was hardly in the house, where he
+arrived worn to a skeleton by a slow fever, when he lost consciousness.
+I gave him all the care I could. I divested him of his frock, laid him
+in my bed, and watched over him. A few leaves of paper dropped out of
+his clothes. I picked them up. As I ran my eyes over them I read the
+name of my daughter. I admit that I yielded to an impulse of curiosity,
+blameworthy, perhaps, but irresistible. I opened the leaves. What a
+discovery!"
+
+"The leaves of paper--"
+
+"Contained fragments of a sort of diary, to which the thoughts of the
+young monk were confided. From them I learned that he was chosen for the
+confessor and instructor of my daughter at the convent of the
+Augustinian sisters--and he became enamored of her. He loves Hena to
+distraction!"
+
+"Does he know you to be aware of his secret?"
+
+"Yes. When he recovered consciousness he saw the fragments of his
+journal in my hands. He uttered a cry of fear. 'Be calm,' I said to him;
+'it is the soul of an honest man that stands reflected in these
+revelations. I can only pity you.'"
+
+"Is your daughter here in the house with him?"
+
+"My daughter," answered Christian, turning to Robert Estienne a face
+bathed in tears, "my daughter is not aware of the young monk's
+passion--and, in her turn, she loves him."
+
+"Unhappy child!"
+
+"Her love is killing her. It was one of the reasons that decided her to
+take the veil. She has told me all, with her natural candor."
+
+"Have Hena and the young monk met since they are here?"
+
+"No. The poor young man--his name was Ernest Rennepont before he took
+orders--the moment he learned from me of my daughter's presence in the
+house, wanted to deliver himself forthwith to the Superior of his Order,
+lest we be all taken for accomplices in his flight. I firmly objected to
+his determination, seeing it meant the loss of his life."
+
+"Then these young folks are unaware that their love is reciprocated?"
+
+"It will be her death, Monsieur Estienne, it will be her death! I lose
+my head endeavoring to find a way out of this tangle of ills. What am I
+to do? What shall I decide? I asked you to come to me without saying
+why, because I rely upon your great wisdom. You may, perhaps, be able to
+light the chaos of these afflictions which cause me to stagger with
+despair. I see only pitfalls and perils around us."
+
+Christian paused.
+
+Robert Estienne remained a few minutes steeped in silent reflection.
+
+"My friend," said the latter, "you know the life of Luther as well as I.
+That great reformer, a monk like Ernest Rennepont, and, like him, one
+time full of faith in the Roman Church, withdrew from her fold on
+account of the scandals that he witnessed. Do you think Ernest
+Rennepont is ready to embrace the Reformation?"
+
+"I do not know his intentions in that regard. But when he saw I was
+informed of his love for Hena, he exclaimed: 'Miserable monk that I am,
+by loving Hena I have committed a crime in the eyes of the Church. And
+yet, God is my witness, the purity of my love would do honor to any
+upright man, not condemned to celibacy.'"
+
+"Let us return to Luther. That reformer always took the stand with
+irresistible logic against the celibacy of clergymen--"
+
+"Great God!" cried Christian breaking in upon Robert Estienne. "What
+recollections your words awaken in my memory! The fragments of the diary
+written by the unfortunate monk mention a dream in which he saw himself
+a pastor of the Evangelical religion, and husband of Hena, giving, like
+herself, instruction to little children."
+
+"Why should not Ernest Rennepont conform his conduct with the precepts
+of Luther?"
+
+"Oh, monsieur!" murmured Christian, carrying both his hands to his
+burning temples. "Hope and doubt disturb my reason. I dare not give
+myself over to such a thought, out of fear that I be miserably
+disillusioned. And yet, your words bear the stamp of wisdom and good
+will."
+
+"My friend, let us reason calmly. Control your anxiety for a moment. The
+young monk is a man of heart; we may not doubt that. Has not his conduct
+during these recent circumstances increased your affection for him?"
+
+"It is true. I esteem him greatly."
+
+"Does not, as he expressed it, his pure and noble love for Hena do honor
+to any upright man?"
+
+"I firmly believe so after reading the pages which Ernest Rennepont
+believed he wrote for none but his own eyes."
+
+"Now, my friend, let us suppose he embraces the reformed religion. His
+knowledge, his good habits and his liking for teaching little
+children--all that would render him worthy of being a minister of the
+new church. I feel almost certain our friend would present his name with
+joy to our brothers for election, and these will acclaim him their
+pastor. Never could the Evangelical word have a worthier interpreter."
+
+"Oh, Monsieur Estienne, have mercy! Do not cheer my heart with such
+supreme hopes, destined, perhaps, to be dashed."
+
+"Alas, you have suffered so much, that I can well understand your
+hesitation to foster a consoling hope. But reflect an instant, and you
+will admit that the hope is in no wise an exaggerated one. Let us sum
+up--Ernest Rennepont renounces his Order, embraces the Reformation, is
+chosen a pastor, and he can then contract marriage. Granting all this,
+do you not believe your daughter will consent to the union, if you
+approve of it?"
+
+"She is dying of that fatal love, believing herself separated from
+Ernest Rennepont by an unbridgeable chasm of impossibilities. She surely
+would not refuse to wed the man she loves."
+
+"Well, then, my friend, what other obstacles do you see? Do not these
+expectations, so far from being deceptive, become certainties? Does not
+the grief of the unfortunate couple change into ineffable bliss? You
+remain worried, dejected."
+
+"Monsieur Estienne, the project is too beautiful!"
+
+"Christian! How can you, a man of sense and firmness, succumb to such
+weakness of spirit!"
+
+"The death of my wife, the lamentable position in which my beloved
+daughter finds herself, the crime of the wretch whom I can no longer
+call my son--so many sorrows, heaped one upon the other, have cracked
+the springs of my soul. I feel myself overwhelmed and nerveless."
+
+"And yet, at no time have you been in greater need of energy. You say,
+my friend, that the plan is too beautiful? But, should it be realized,
+do you not still run grave dangers? Do you forget that your freedom and
+life are both threatened? Do you forget that, at this very hour, they
+are seeking to track Ernest Rennepont and your daughter? Regain courage
+with the hope of triumphing over your enemies. We must carry on the
+struggle without truce or let."
+
+"Thanks, Monsieur Estienne; thanks! Your words comfort me. Yes;
+nevertheless, the plan you propose and which would snatch my daughter
+from the despair that is killing her--that plan is yet far from being
+accomplished."
+
+"This is what I shall do. Should the errand embarrass you, I shall
+myself see Ernest Rennepont, shall propose to him to embrace the
+Reformation and become a pastor of the new church in order to verify his
+dream--provided Hena accepts the union. When we shall have made sure of
+Ernest Rennepont's consent, you shall see your daughter. I do not
+believe there is any doubt about her answer. The marriage being agreed
+upon, we must make haste. The disappearance of Hena and the forceful
+restitution of your family archives will redouble the zeal of your
+persecutors. Neither you, your daughter, nor her husband would any
+longer be safe in the neighborhood of Paris. I have already considered
+the emergency when this retreat would cease to offer security to you. I
+have a friend who is a printer in La Rochelle, a fortified town, rich,
+industrious, well armed, wholly devoted to the Reformation, and so full
+of reliance on the power of her municipal franchise, her ramparts and
+the bravery of her numerous inhabitants, as confidently to defy our
+enemies. You and yours will be there in perfect safety. You can live
+there on the fruit of your labor. Better than anyone else, I know how
+skilled a mechanic you are. Finally, if you should have to leave Paris
+before the return of Odelin--"
+
+"Oh, Monsieur Estienne, I tremble at the thought of that Lefevre on the
+watch for the lad's return in order to kidnap him! What a blow that
+would be to me! What a fate have our enemies in store for my poor
+Odelin!"
+
+"I shall take charge of that. To-morrow I shall see Madam Raimbaud. Her
+husband has probably notified her when she may expect him home from
+Italy. If so, and even otherwise, your brother-in-law, the Franc-Taupin,
+who already has given you so many proofs of his devotion, will be able
+to aid us in preventing your son from being kidnapped. I greatly rely
+upon his assistance."
+
+"May heaven hear you!"
+
+"Travelers from Italy usually enter Paris by the Bastille Gate."
+
+"Yes. Besides, seeing that Master Raimbaud, like most all armorers,
+resides in the neighborhood of that fortress, it is almost certain he
+will come by the suburb of St. Antoine. That point is settled."
+
+"If Madam Raimbaud is informed upon the date of her husband's arrival,
+the Franc-Taupin must be placed on watch along the road from Italy, or
+near the Bastille. He will then warn your son not to enter the city, and
+deliver to him a letter from you directing him to meet you in La
+Rochelle. I shall take charge of supplying Odelin with the necessary
+funds for the journey. When in La Rochelle, near you, he will continue
+his armorer's trade. And now, Christian, I share your prevision. The
+times are approaching when, more than ever, there will be work for those
+whose occupation is the forging of implements of war. Come, courage! Let
+us reserve ourselves for the struggle."
+
+"How can I express my gratitude to you. You think of everything."
+
+"My friend, for the space of two generations your family and mine have
+mutually rendered each other so many services that it is impossible to
+say on which side the debt lies heavier. Let us not lose an instant's
+time. Take me to Ernest Rennepont. So soon as I shall know his mind, I
+shall inform you. You will then propose the marriage to your daughter
+with the caution that the occasion requires. In her present delicate
+condition, after all the sufferings she has undergone, care must be
+taken not to shock her even with joy. Joy may kill, as well as despair."
+
+Christian led Robert Estienne to the apartment of the young monk, and
+leaving the two alone, impatiently awaited the issue of their interview,
+whereupon he was to see Hena.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+FOR BETTER AND FOR WORSE.
+
+
+Sister St. Frances-in-the-Tomb, as Hena Lebrenn was christened in
+religion, occupied in the cottage a chamber contiguous to that of her
+father. The young girl still wore the nun's garb. The pallor of her
+visage, framed in the folds of her coif and her long white veil, was
+hardly distinguishable from the dull whiteness of the linen. Pain and
+resignation were traced on her features, that emaciation rendered almost
+transparent. Seated near a window, her hands clasped over her knees, and
+her large blue eyes raised to heaven, she seemed to contemplate without
+seeing them the somber clouds which the north wind drove before it with
+weird moanings. Hena's thoughts turned upon the events of the last three
+days. Despite her decision to devote herself to a nun's life, as the
+only means of again seeing her family, to live never again under the
+same roof with her brother whose passion for her inspired the maid with
+invincible horror, and to bury forever in the chilly shadows of the
+cloister her fatal love for St. Ernest-Martyr--despite these sentiments,
+on the night that, her vows being pronounced, she was praying in the
+solitude of the Virgin's chapel, she welcomed her uncle Josephin as a
+liberator, and never hesitated an instant to flee with him from the
+convent of the Augustinian sisters. She was ignorant of her mother's
+fate. The hope of soon, after so cruel a separation, being again in the
+embrace of the parents she loved so dearly, occupied all her thoughts.
+When, upon seeing Christian again, the young girl learned of her
+mother's death, the persecutions that he himself was the object of, and
+the presence of Brother St. Ernest-Martyr in the same retreat, her head
+reeled. Weakened by suffering and bewildered by so many unexpected
+events, the girl's mind threatened for a moment to go astray. Her native
+vigor carried, however, the day. She said to herself:
+
+"My duty is clear. I shall stay near my father. I shall endeavor with my
+tenderness to soften his sorrow for the loss of my mother. He must flee
+this place. I shall accompany him in his exile. I shall also take my
+mother's place to my brother Odelin. I shall not endeavor to forget
+Brother St. Ernest-Martyr. But, while preserving this love sacred in the
+recesses of my heart, to you, O, my God, I pray--grant through Your
+infinite mercy that this love do not kill me--grant to preserve my life
+for the sake of my father, who stands in need of my care and my
+affection!"
+
+Such were the reflections of the young girl, when, some hours after his
+interview with Robert Estienne, she saw Christian enter her chamber. The
+printer's face reflected suppressed happiness. Tears, sweet tears they
+now were, flowed from his eyes. Despite his desire not to betray his joy
+before his daughter, lest he cause her too deep an emotion, he could
+not withhold pressing her repeatedly to his heart, and covering her face
+with kisses. Touched by such tender effusion, and struck by the change
+in her father's appearance, Hena cried:
+
+"God be praised, father, you bring me good news! Are you no longer
+pursued? You will no longer have to keep in hiding?"
+
+Christian shook his head, and still holding his daughter in his arms,
+contemplated her, enraptured. He sat down; placed her on his knees, as a
+little child is placed; and in a voice that trembled with emotion, said:
+
+"Yes, my dear Hena; yes, my beloved child, I have good news for you--but
+not what you thought. We are soon to leave this retreat, where our
+persecutors might discover us, and we shall go far away from here, in
+order to escape all pursuit."
+
+"And yet, father, your voice trembles with joy. I read happiness on your
+face."
+
+"The good, the unexpected tidings that I bring--concern you--you
+alone--"
+
+"Me alone, father?"
+
+"No; not you alone--what is good to you, is it not good to me also?"
+
+Hena looked at her father, surprised. The latter hesitated to say more,
+fearing the consequences of too sudden a revelation. He paused for a
+moment and proceeded:
+
+"Do you know, my child, what the pastor of the reformed religion is?"
+
+"I believe he is a minister of the Evangelium; is it not?"
+
+"Yes, the pastors spread the Evangelical word. But, contrary to the
+Catholic priests, who are condemned to celibacy by the Church, the
+ministers of the reformed cult are free to contract matrimony, and to
+fulfil its obligations."
+
+A smile of sadness flitted over Hena's lips. Her father followed her
+closely with his eyes. He fathomed her secret thoughts.
+
+"The right of its ministers to be husbands and fathers, recognized by
+the Evangelical church, has induced several Catholic priests to break
+with Rome and embrace the Reformation."
+
+Dropping her head upon her father's shoulder, Hena wept. Christian drew
+himself slightly back in order to raise the tear-bedewed visage of his
+daughter, whom he still kept upon his knees, his arms around her, and
+his heart beating with hope.
+
+"Hena, no doubt you have been thinking to yourself: 'Alas, Brother St.
+Ernest-Martyr is a Catholic priest!'"
+
+"You have guessed my thoughts, dear father. I thought to myself there
+was nothing for me but to bow before so fatal a state of things. But let
+us talk about that good news which you seem so anxious to impart to me."
+
+"Very well, dear child--but in order not to have to return again to a
+matter painful to you, I shall begin by saying that Brother St.
+Ernest-Martyr, or rather Ernest Rennepont, which is his real name,
+withdraws himself from the Catholic Church and embraces the
+Reformation."
+
+Christian felt Hena trembling convulsively upon his knees. The poor
+child carried both her hands to her face, whence fresh drops of tears
+flowed down upon her robe.
+
+"My dear child," resumed the artisan, hardly able to repress his
+gladness, "there is still another confession which I expect from your
+frankness. You are saying to yourself, are you not: 'Ernest Rennepont
+abjured his vows--he is free--he can now choose a wife--if he would only
+love me!'"
+
+"Father, good father, let us drop such thoughts!"
+
+"Oh, my beloved child!" cried the artisan radiant with joy. "Oh, my only
+support, my only consolation! Courage! Courage! Not now any more in
+order to resist sorrow--but to defend you--from the transports that an
+unexpected happiness often causes us--"
+
+"An unexpected happiness, father?"
+
+"Yes, the gladsome tidings that I bring to you are--first, Ernest
+Rennepont's resolution to become a pastor of the Evangelical church.
+Thus he is free to marry, without discontinuing his services to God.
+Yes, and do you know, Hena, that if the most cherished wish of his heart
+is verified, do you know, Hena, who would be the wife of his choice? It
+would be--it would be you--you, my treasure! Ernest Rennepont loves you
+to distraction since the day he first saw you at Mary La Catelle's."
+
+Despite the precautions taken by her father, Hena could not resist the
+shock of the revelation. Still holding his daughter upon his knees,
+Christian saw her lose color, her head dropped upon his shoulder, she
+lost consciousness. He rose, carried the girl to her bed, at the head of
+which he knelt down, and awaited the end of the crisis that the excess
+of joy had brought on. A moment later he heard a rap at the door. He
+asked:
+
+"Is it you, Monsieur Estienne?"
+
+"Yes--and I am not alone."
+
+"Do not come in now," answered Christian. "Hena is in a swoon. I fear
+that in recovering consciousness the sight of her betrothed might cause
+an immediate relapse."
+
+Certain motions of Hena, and the light flush that by degrees returned to
+her cheeks, announced the girl's gradual recovery. Her eyes remained
+half shut. She turned her haggard face towards her father. Presently,
+fixing upon him her still partly veiled eyes, she seemed to interrogate
+her confused recollections.
+
+"No, my dear child," said the artisan; "it is not a dream. You are not
+the sport of an illusion. Ernest Rennepont renounces the monastic life;
+he embraces the Evangelical creed, of which he will be a pastor. He has
+long loved you with the purest and noblest love. I surprised the secret
+of his soul. Never did father wish for his daughter a husband more
+worthy of esteem and affection." And pointing with his finger to the
+door: "He is there, accompanied by our friend, Monsieur Estienne. Do you
+feel yourself strong enough to receive them, my poor, dear child? Would
+you like to have them come in?"
+
+"He loves me!" cried Hena, taking her father's hands and kissing them.
+"He loves me, also! Since when?"
+
+"Yes, yes--he will tell you all that himself," answered Christian with a
+smile of ineffable happiness. "He is there. He awaits but your consent
+to come to you, my dear child."
+
+Hena sat up on her couch, placed one of her hands on her heart to
+restrain its throbs and still too much moved to speak, made to her
+father an affirmative sign. The artisan thereupon introduced Robert
+Estienne, supporting on his arm Ernest Rennepont. At that moment the
+sound of a horse's hoofs was heard from the yard. Yielding to an
+involuntary sense of uneasiness, Christian ran to the window, and was at
+once put at ease at seeing his brother-in-law the Franc-Taupin alighting
+from his mount. Hena and Ernest Rennepont, strangers to what went on
+around them, saw but each other. When the young man was near enough to
+the couch on which Hena was seated, he dropped on his knees before her,
+clasped his hands, and raised up to her his pale visage, now radiant
+with celestial bliss. Unable to utter a word, the two contemplated each
+other, absorbed. Robert Estienne could not hold back the tears that
+gathered in his eyes. The artisan stepped towards the two lovers, took
+Hena's hand, placed it in Ernest Rennepont's, who had remained on his
+knees, and said in a voice broken with emotion:
+
+"Be betrothed--never have nobler hearts been worthier of each other."
+
+Christian was pronouncing these solemn words when the Franc-Taupin
+entered. Already informed by his brother-in-law of the mutual love of
+the two young folks, the soldier of adventure thrilled with joy at
+seeing them united.
+
+"Know the rest, my friend," said the artisan to Josephin. "My daughter
+and he who from this day is my son owe their liberty to you. You are
+entitled to know all that concerns them. Ernest Rennepont renounces his
+monastic vows; he abjures Catholicism and embraces the Reformation, of
+which he is to be a pastor. As you know, the Evangelical pastors can
+marry."
+
+"It is my advice that the marriage be promptly concluded," answered the
+Franc-Taupin in a low voice as he led Christian and Robert Estienne to
+the window, while the betrothed couple remained under the spell of a
+profound ecstasy, hearing nothing, seeing nothing of what happened
+around them. The Franc-Taupin proceeded in a low voice: "I have come
+from Paris in a hurry. I heard an announcement made to the sound of
+trumps, to the effect that Sister St. Frances-in-the-Tomb and Brother
+St. Ernest-Martyr are adjudged relapsed, and subject to the punishment
+visited upon such a sin--the stake!"
+
+"The stake!" muttered Robert Estienne, shivering with horror, while
+making an instant sign intended to check an exclamation of terror that
+Christian was on the point of giving vent to.
+
+"Time presses," proceeded the Franc-Taupin. "My brother-in-law, his
+daughter and the young monk must leave this house this very night. It
+will not be safe to-morrow."
+
+"I am of your opinion," answered Robert Estienne. "This is the way we
+shall proceed: You, Josephin, will return to Paris on the spot with a
+letter from me to one of our pastors, urging him to come here this very
+evening in order to take the abjuration of Ernest Rennepont, and give
+his nuptial benediction to the betrothed couple. Immediately after, Hena
+and her husband will set out, with you, and Christian, who will take my
+horse. His daughter will ride on the crupper."
+
+"The young monk shall ride behind me on my nag," said the Franc-Taupin.
+"I shall escort the fugitives to a distance of five or six leagues from
+Paris."
+
+"When you come back here bring with you lay clothes for the young
+couple," said Robert Estienne, handing his purse to the Franc-Taupin.
+"You will also pay the price of your nag to the stableman from whom you
+have the animal. Ernest Rennepont shall keep it, and ride on it with
+Christian and his daughter to La Rochelle. Only there will they all
+three be safe. There is not an instant to lose. Quick, to horse,
+Josephin, to horse! The lives of us all are at stake."
+
+The Franc-Taupin left hurriedly, casting a tender look upon Hena and
+Ernest Rennepont. The two, their hearts in heaven, remained ignorant of
+the new dangers that threatened them. The eyes of the Society of Jesus
+were open.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Midnight soon arrived. Robert Estienne, Christian, his daughter, Ernest
+Rennepont and the Franc-Taupin assembled in the parlor of the country
+house, the unsafe refuge that they were soon to quit. An old man, with
+long white hair, the pastor of the Evangelical church, responded to the
+call of Robert Estienne, in order to receive the abjuration of the
+betrothed couple and bestow upon them his nuptial benediction. A table
+with a few wax candles stood at the rear of the apartment. On the table
+were also an ink-horn, pens, paper, and a little pocket Bible with
+silver clasps. Hena and Ernest Rennepont were in front of the table.
+Behind it stood the pastor. Robert Estienne, Christian and the
+Franc-Taupin assisted the betrothed couple. The agitation caused by so
+many unexpected events, and the intoxication of repressed happiness
+animated the recently pallid countenances of the bride and bridegroom.
+Wrapped in meditation, and their thoughts turning to the past, they
+raised their souls to God in a transport of speechless gratitude. They
+implored the mercy of their Creator. There was nothing terrestrial in
+their love. They saw in the consecration of their marriage only the
+right to devote themselves to each other, to vie in mutual sacrifices
+and abnegation, and to serve the holy cause of progress. They knew the
+perils that the apostles of the new doctrine must confront.
+
+Taking from the table a sheet of paper, the pastor read in a solemn
+voice the following act of abjuration:
+
+"'On this 19th day of December, 1534, appeared before us Ernest
+Rennepont, called in his religion Brother St. Ernest-Martyr, and Louise
+Hena Lebrenn, called in her religion Sister St. Frances-in-the-Tomb, who
+declare they desire to renounce the Roman idolatry, and swear to confess
+the Evangelical religion, to live and die in the faith, and to
+participate in the holy sacrament of communion. Upon these conditions
+Louise Hena Lebrenn and Ernest Rennepont have been informed that they
+will be admitted to the Evangelical church'[37]--Be pleased to sign the
+act of abjuration."
+
+Hena and Ernest signed the act with steady hands. Thereupon they knelt
+down upon two seats brought in by Christian and the Franc-Taupin. The
+pastor resumed, and addressed the couple with a moved voice:
+
+"You, Hena Lebrenn, and you, Ernest Rennepont, will you live together in
+the marriage state that God himself has instituted, and which St. Paul
+represents as among the most honorable of conditions? If that is your
+intention, Hena Lebrenn and Ernest Rennepont, make your will known. Are
+you willing to be united to each other?"
+
+"Yes," answered Ernest, raising his eyes as if to take heaven for his
+witness.
+
+"Yes," answered Hena in her turn.
+
+"Then," resumed the pastor, "may the Lord deign to bless your wishes.
+You, Ernest Rennepont, do you declare, here before God, that you have
+taken and do hereby take Hena Lebrenn, here present, for your wife? Do
+you promise to live holily with her, to be true to her, as is the duty
+of a good and faithful husband, and God commands you by His word?"
+
+"Yes!" answered Ernest Rennepont.
+
+"And you, Hena Lebrenn, do you declare here before God, that you have
+taken and do hereby take Ernest Rennepont, here present, for your
+husband? Do you promise to love him, to live holily with him, and to
+keep your troth to him as is the duty of a faithful wife, and as God
+commands you by His word?"
+
+"Yes," answered Hena, with her eyes modestly cast down.
+
+"Keep your promises to each other," said the pastor in conclusion.
+"Seeing God has united you in the sacred bonds of matrimony, live
+together in peace, in unity, in purity, helpful to each other, and
+faithful to your pledge, obedient to the divine command. Oh, Lord God!
+Lord of wisdom and of goodness!" added the Evangelical pastor, joining
+his venerable hands in prayer, "since it has pleased Thee to call this
+man and this woman to the holy state of matrimony--should it be Thy will
+that children be born to them, cause them, as worthy husband and wife,
+to raise their offspring in piety and to train them to virtue."[38]
+
+The touching solemnity of the ceremony was suddenly interrupted by the
+precipitate entrance of Michael, the gardener. Pale and distracted he
+rushed to the house and threw the door open, crying:
+
+"Monsieur Estienne--malediction upon me! You are betrayed!"
+
+A moment of silent stupor ensued upon these words. Hena threw herself
+instinctively into her father's arms. Ernest Rennepont approached her.
+The Franc-Taupin dashed to the window and listened in the direction of
+the yard, while the pastor raised his eyes heavenward, saying:
+
+"Oh, Lord, if Thou reservest me for martyrdom, the victim is ready, may
+Thy will be done!"
+
+"We are betrayed, Michael?" cried Robert Estienne. "Who could have
+betrayed us?"
+
+"My wife--Oh, that accursed confession! Alison revealed to our curate
+that a monk and a nun were here in hiding. My wife has just admitted it
+to me amid tears. The curate departed post haste to Paris, immediately
+after confessing and extracting the secret from her. Death and a curse
+upon the infamous wretch!"
+
+And throwing himself at the feet of Robert Estienne, Michael cried with
+clasped hands:
+
+"My good and worthy master! Do not take me for a wicked or dishonorable
+man. I am not guilty of the treason!"
+
+"To horse!" bellowed the Franc-Taupin. "We must depart at once! The
+curate will have notified his bishop, the bishop will have notified
+Cardinal Duprat, and he will have issued orders to the Criminal
+Lieutenant. By this time the archers must be on the road to St. Ouen.
+Let us lose not an instant--to horse! Mine is saddled--have yours
+saddled, Monsieur Estienne. Christian will take his daughter on the
+crupper of his horse. I shall take Ernest Rennepont on my nag--and, away
+at a gallop! We shall soon be out of reach."
+
+Putting the word to the deed, the Franc-Taupin dashed out of the parlor,
+dragging Ernest Rennepont with him almost against his will. Realizing
+the wisdom of the Franc-Taupin's orders, Christian put one arm around
+Hena, sustained and led her in the steps of the Franc-Taupin. Robert
+Estienne and the pastor hastened to follow them, while the despairing
+gardener lamented his fate, repeating:
+
+"That accursed confession! The infamous curate!"
+
+The Franc-Taupin was hurrying his horse out of the stable and Robert
+Estienne was precipitately saddling his own with the help of Michael,
+when Alison, running in all in a flurry from the bypath that led to the
+outer gate of the cottage, cried:
+
+"Oh, my poor man, all is lost! The mounted archers are here! I heard the
+tramp of their horses down the avenue. I saw their muskets glistening
+through the hedges along the road."
+
+"Is the iron gate locked?" asked the Franc-Taupin, the only one to
+preserve coolness in the presence of the imminent danger. "Is the gate
+strong?"
+
+"It is strong and locked--double locked," answered the gardener. "The
+key is in my house."
+
+"It will take them some time to force the gate," observed the
+Franc-Taupin; and addressing Robert Estienne: "Is there any issue,
+besides the gate, to leave the place?"
+
+"None other--the garden is enclosed by a wall."
+
+"Is the wall high?"
+
+"About ten feet."
+
+"Then," replied the Franc-Taupin, "we need not despair."
+
+At that moment the clank of sabres and muskets was heard down the
+principal avenue, and a voice called out:
+
+"Open! In the name of the King, open!"
+
+"There are the archers!" cried Hena stricken with terror. "It is done
+for us!"
+
+"I shall deliver myself up!" cried Ernest Rennepont, rushing out towards
+the alley. "The archers may thereby be induced not to push their search
+any further. May the all-powerful God protect you!"
+
+The Franc-Taupin seized Hena's bridegroom by the sleeve of his coat, and
+prevented him from taking another step. Turning to the gardener, he
+asked:
+
+"Have you a ladder?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Fetch it quick."
+
+Michael obeyed, while the archers redoubled their clamor and threatened
+to force the gate if it was not opened.
+
+"Monsieur Estienne," said the Franc-Taupin, "go forward quickly and
+speak with the archers. Ask them what brings them here, at this hour.
+Engage them in conversation all you can. Keep them outside. Gain time. I
+take charge of the rest. If you can succeed in keeping the soldiers off
+for about ten minutes, we shall have won. They will find no one else at
+the house."
+
+Robert Estienne turned to Christian, who still held Hena in his arms:
+
+"Come, Christian! Courage! Coolness! The situation is hedged in with
+dangers; but it is not forlorn." Saying this he walked to the iron gate,
+at the moment when the gardener reappeared carrying a long ladder on his
+shoulder.
+
+"What is there outside of the garden," asked the Franc-Taupin, "a
+highroad or fields?"
+
+"Fields, sir; they are separated from the walls by a path and hedges.
+Beyond are meadows, as far as the eye extends."
+
+Josephin listened a moment, and noticing that the clamor of the archers
+at the gate had subsided, he said:
+
+"Courage! All's well! Monsieur Estienne is parleying with the soldiers.
+We shall have time to flee." And addressing the gardener: "Lead us
+quickly to the furthest end of the garden."
+
+Michael led the fugitives along a narrow path. After having walked about
+three hundred paces, he stepped before a wall, against which he placed
+the ladder.
+
+"Quick!" ordered the Franc-Taupin, again stopping to listen. "The
+archers are becoming impatient. They are about to force the gate."
+
+Christian was the first to ascend the ladder; he climbed to the top of
+the wall, straddled it, and, stooping down, reached his hand out to
+Hena. He took firm hold of her, raised her, and seated her, still
+holding her in his arms, in front of him on the top of the wall, where
+he was successively joined by Ernest Rennepont and the Franc-Taupin. The
+latter drew the ladder up, with the help of the gardener, tipped it over
+to the other side, and quickly planted it outside the wall. One by one
+the fugitives descended and alighted upon a path bordered by thick and
+high hedges.
+
+"We are saved!" cried Christian, passionately clasping Hena to his
+heart. "We are saved, my dear child!"
+
+"Not yet!" came thundering upon their ears.
+
+An archer rose from behind the hedge where he had been lying in ambush.
+Immediately he sounded the alarm at the top of his voice:
+
+"Here, comrades! Here! This way!"
+
+To leap over the hedge at a bound; to seize the archer by the throat
+with one hand, while with the other he drew his sword--these were the
+rapid moves of the Franc-Taupin. It was too late. The alarm given by the
+soldier was heard. Several other foot soldiers, who came on the cruppers
+of the mounted archers, and were posted around the walls, hurried to the
+spot, preceded by a sergeant, and all cried in chorus:
+
+"Kill all who resist! Keep only the monk and the nun alive!"
+
+A melee ensued in the semi-darkness of the night. After superhuman
+efforts to tear his daughter from the soldiers, Christian was hewed down
+with a sword. Ernest Rennepont and Hena remained in the hands of the
+armed men. After almost strangling the soldier who had given the alarm,
+the Franc-Taupin profited by the darkness to creep on hands and feet to
+a hedge under which he blotted himself from sight. From his hiding place
+he heard Christian drop to the ground and call out in a fainting voice:
+"I am killed--help! help!"
+
+The artisan was left for dead by the archers. Obedient to the orders
+from their chief, their main object was the capture of the monk and the
+nun, whom they now carried safely away. Little by little silence
+returned to the sequestered region. Soon the sound of a retreating troop
+of horsemen announced the departure of the archers for Paris. The
+Franc-Taupin emerged from his place of concealment, ran to Christian,
+knelt beside him, opened his coat and shirt soaked in blood, and placed
+his hand upon his heart. He felt it beat.
+
+"There is but one chance of safety for Christian," said the Franc-Taupin
+to himself. "If the gardener has not been arrested, he will consent to
+grant asylum to the wounded man. Let me endeavor to snatch my
+brother-in-law from death--after that, I swear, you shall be avenged,
+Oh, my sister! Avenged shall be also your daughter, whose horrid fate I
+well foresee!"
+
+Michael and his wife consented to take in the wounded man, and nurse him
+in Robert Estienne's house. The latter and the pastor were taken
+prisoners to Paris by the archers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+ON THE ROAD TO PARIS.
+
+
+On the 21st of January, 1535, a few weeks after the seizure of Hena
+Lebrenn and Ernest Rennepont at the cottage of Master Robert Estienne,
+two riders crossed the Charenton bridge on their way to Paris. Master
+Raimbaud, the armorer, one of the riders, was a man in robust middle
+age, and of an open and resolute countenance. His headgear consisted of
+a broad-brimmed felt hat; he wore a coat of mail over his jacket, and
+large traveling boots on his sturdy legs. A cutlass hung from his side,
+his holsters were furnished with pistols, and his wide brown coat flowed
+down over the crupper of his horse. The other rider, Odelin Lebrenn, was
+then just fifteen. His candid and pleasant features, slightly browned by
+the sun of Italy, recalled those of his sister Hena. A black bonnet,
+ornamented with a little red feather and placed slightly aslant over the
+lad's blonde hair, left wholly exposed the smiling face that radiated
+with increasing joy in the measure that he approached the end of his
+journey. The apprentice and his master were at that moment ascending a
+steep hill, at a steady pace. Despite the steepness of the hill,
+however, Odelin's mount frequently broke out into a trot,
+surreptitiously urged thereto by the spurs of the boy. Master Raimbaud
+smiled under his brown beard, as he guessed the cause of Odelin's
+impatience, while he himself kept his own horse well in hand. He had
+just once more baffled the innocent manoeuvre of his apprentice, who had
+run ahead:
+
+"Well, Odelin," he called after him, "there is your horse again breaking
+out into a trot. One would think he'd got the devil at his heels."
+
+"Master Raimbaud, it is not my fault," answered the youngster, somewhat
+abashed, and reining in, to his regret. "My horse forces my hand. It
+must be the flies that torment him. That's why he runs ahead."
+
+"God's head! Flies in the month of January, my boy!" replied the armorer
+jovially, as he came abreast of his apprentice. "You must be thinking
+yourself still in summer on the roads of Milan."
+
+"Well, I shall not insist on my fib, Master Raimbaud. I must admit to
+you that the nearer we approach Paris, where my mother, and father, and
+sister, and brother, and my good uncle Josephin are expecting me, I feel
+such a thrill of joy, that without my knowledge my spurs approach the
+flanks of my horse--and then the beast starts trotting."
+
+"I can understand your impatience, my lad. It does credit to your heart.
+But endeavor to control yourself a little. We have ridden a long stretch
+to-day. We should not wind our horses. Certain of the joy in wait for
+you, what is the use of running after it?"
+
+"That's true, Master Raimbaud," replied Odelin, red with emotion and
+his eyes dimmed with moisture. "Within two hours I shall see again all
+those whom I love; I shall embrace them--"
+
+"And I shall add to their happiness at seeing you back again, by telling
+them how well pleased I have been with you during our trip."
+
+"How could I otherwise than endeavor to please you, Master Raimbaud? If
+I were your own son you could not treat me with greater tenderness, or
+more attention."
+
+"For the simple reason that a worthy son would not behave differently
+toward me than yourself, my little Odelin. Such are the fruits of the
+bringing up you have received from your worthy father and your excellent
+mother."
+
+"Oh, Master Raimbaud, when I think of the caresses that await me!"
+
+"Look to your spurs, my lad! Look to your spurs. We shall now soon be at
+the top of the hill. Stop your horse a moment. One of the straps of your
+valise is loose. Fasten it."
+
+"Oh, heaven! If I had lost my valise!" cried the apprentice, reddening
+at the thought. Stopping his horse, he turned in his saddle, and
+hastened to fasten the strap, enumerating with childish glee as he did
+so the treasures contained in the bag: "Had I lost you, my dear valise,
+it would then have been adieu to my little presents--the brooch of
+chiseled silver for my mother, the Quintus Curtius printed in Bologna
+for my good and learned father, a vermillion pin for my handsome sister
+Hena, a bronze writing case, with all its accessories, for the studious
+Hervé--"
+
+"And that famous flask of Imola wine for your uncle, the Franc-Taupin,
+who will be delighted to taste the Italian nectar."
+
+"That's not all, Master Raimbaud; I also have for my uncle a fine steel
+Milanese dagger, which I forged myself at the workshop of Master Gaspard
+during my idle moments. Oh, dear uncle, I would fear to offend him if I
+brought him a wine flask only."
+
+"Come, the strap is now fast. Let us resume our way. Once we reach the
+top of the hill we shall start on a trot, my impatient fellow. I said a
+trot, did you understand? No galloping! We must husband the strength of
+our mounts."
+
+Master Raimbaud and his apprentice resumed their route at a rapid pace.
+Already they descried in the distant horizon the numerous spires and
+belfries of the churches of Paris. As they were passing before an
+isolated house on the road, the battered sign of which announced it as a
+roadside tavern, they heard someone loudly call out to them:
+
+"Master Raimbaud! Odelin! Halloa! Halloa, there!"
+
+"It is my uncle!" cried the lad, startled, and quickly making his horse
+rear on its haunches. "I recognize my uncle's voice!"
+
+"He must have come out to meet us, apprized by my wife of the day of our
+arrival," explained the armorer, also reining in. But looking to the
+right, and to the left, and all around him, he added, not a little
+surprised: "Where the devil may the Franc-Taupin be niched? He is not
+in heaven, I suppose, although the voice seemed to come from above."
+
+No less astonished than his patron, Odelin also looked in all
+directions, when he saw, emerging from the tavern which they had ridden
+by, a tall Capuchin friar with his face almost wholly concealed in the
+cowl of his frock, and a chaplet of large beads girdling his waist. The
+monk moved with long strides towards the travelers.
+
+"Good God!" cried Odelin as the cowl of the monk who ran towards them
+was blown back by the wind. "My uncle Josephin has become a Capuchin
+friar!"
+
+"God's head!" exclaimed the armorer, sharing the astonishment of his
+apprentice. "May the fire of my forge consume me if I ever expected to
+see such a metamorphosis! The Franc-Taupin a Capuchin friar!"
+
+Seeing that his nephew, upon whom he kept his eyes fixed, was about to
+jump down to the ground, the soldier of fortune checked him with a wave
+of his hand, saying:
+
+"Remain on horseback, my boy!"
+
+And addressing the armorer:
+
+"Master Raimbaud, let us go into the tavern. It is a safe place, and
+there is a stable for your horses. We have matters to talk over."
+
+"Halt here? No, indeed! I am in too great a hurry to embrace my wife. A
+few hours later, if you should feel so disposed, we may empty a pot of
+wine at my own house, my gay friend!" answered the armorer,
+misunderstanding the Franc-Taupin's invitation. "Everything in its
+season. Business before pleasure. I wish to be back in Paris before
+night. So, then, good-bye!"
+
+"Master Raimbaud, you can not enter Paris before dark and without great
+precautions," said the Franc-Taupin in a low voice. "Follow me into the
+tavern. You can stable your horses there, and I shall impart to you
+grave tidings, the saddest that you can imagine--but not a word of that
+to Odelin."
+
+"Be it so! Let us go in," answered Master Raimbaud, turning his horse's
+head, while evil presentiments assailed him. Ignorant of the secret
+information whispered by his uncle to the armorer, the apprentice
+followed the two into the tavern, asking himself with increasing
+wonderment how the Franc-Taupin could have become a friar.
+
+Josephin pulled down over his face the cowl of his frock and led the two
+travelers to the yard of the tavern, from which access was had to the
+stable.
+
+"Unsaddle the horses, my friend," said Master Raimbaud to Odelin, "and
+give them feed. Join us in the tavern when that is attended to."
+
+"What, Master Raimbaud, are we to stay here when we are barely two hours
+from Paris!"
+
+"Mind the horses, my boy. I shall tell you afterwards why we must stop
+here."
+
+Obedient to his master's orders, Odelin unwillingly alighted and threw
+himself upon his uncle's neck, saying with a voice broken with
+affectionate remembrances: "My dear uncle! How are mother, father,
+sister and brother? All well at home?"
+
+Without answering his nephew, Josephin held him in a close embrace. The
+boy felt upon his cheeks the tears that flowed from his uncle's eyes.
+
+"Uncle, you weep!"
+
+"With joy, my boy!" answered Josephin in a broken voice. "It is out of
+joy to see you after such a long absence." And disengaging himself from
+his nephew's arms, he proceeded: "You will join us presently. Ask the
+tavern-keeper the way to the room in the attic facing the road." Then
+turning to the armorer: "Come, Master Raimbaud, come!"
+
+Overjoyed at having met his uncle, and consoling himself with the
+thought that, after all, the hour of seeing his family, so impatiently
+awaited, might not be greatly delayed, Odelin busied himself with
+unsaddling the horses and furnishing them with provender. The
+goodhearted boy, thereupon, in his hurry to offer the Franc-Taupin the
+little presents he brought him from Italy, rummaged in his valise for
+the flask of Imola wine and the dagger that he himself forged for him.
+The boy was anxious to show his affection to Josephin even before he was
+back home in Paris.
+
+The Franc-Taupin led Master Raimbaud to a room on the top floor of the
+tavern, facing the highroad. There he informed the armorer of the death
+of Bridget and of the capture of Hena and Ernest Rennepont, who were
+since held imprisoned as relapsed sinners; and, finally, of Christian's
+departure for La Rochelle. The Franc-Taupin's hopes had been verified.
+The presence of his brother-in-law at Robert Estienne's country house
+was not suspected. The last ineffectual searches, undertaken by the
+archers at the house, sheltered him against any further visitations. The
+influence of Princess Marguerite, and the luster shed upon the reign of
+Francis I by the marvelous productions of Robert Estienne's printing
+establishment, combined to save the printing master once more--alas, it
+was to be the last time!--from the hatred of his enemies. Although a
+relapsed monk and nun were found on his premises, he was set free and
+left unmolested. Accordingly, Christian awaited in safety the time when,
+healed of his wound by the skill of the surgeon Ambroise Paré, who
+visited him secretly, he could take his departure for La Rochelle. The
+casket containing the narratives of the Lebrenn family had been
+concealed by the Franc-Taupin with admirable foresight among the brush
+of the garden, on the very night after the archers seized Hena. As soon
+as Christian was able to undertake the journey, he assumed the disguise
+of a traveling seller of chaplets and relics. The religious traffic was
+essential to his safety along the road. Carrying on his back his pack of
+religious trumpery, among which his family legends were secreted, he
+tramped to La Rochelle, where he arrived safe and sound.
+
+Dumbfounded by these revelations, seeing the deep interest he harbored
+for Christian and his family, Master Raimbaud exclaimed in distraction:
+
+"Poor Odelin! What an unexpected blow for the unhappy boy! Only a short
+time ago the mere thought of seeing his family threw him into
+transports of joy--and now he is to learn--Oh, it is horrible!"
+
+"Horrible!" echoed the Franc-Taupin in sinister accents. "But blood
+calls for blood! A soldier of adventure since my fifteenth year, already
+I had become a wolf--now I shall be a tiger! The reformers will draw the
+sword to avenge their martyrs--no quarter for the assassin priests! By
+my sister's death!" proceeded the Franc-Taupin, livid with rage and
+raising his clenched fist heavenward, "call me a wooden-bowled cripple
+and a lame poltroon if I do not tear up the papists with my very teeth!
+But," restraining himself, he resumed: "Let us consider what now most
+presses. Master Raimbaud, here is a letter from your wife. I know its
+contents. She conjures you not to go back to your establishment, and to
+take shelter in the place of safety that she mentions. She will join you
+there in order to consider with you what is to be done. She is a
+cautious and resolute woman."
+
+"My good Martha alarms herself unnecessarily," observed the armorer
+after reading his wife's letter. "However violent the persecution of the
+reformers may be, and although a heretic myself, I have nothing to fear.
+I work for several seigneurs of the court; I have fashioned their finest
+arms; they will not refuse me their protection."
+
+"Master Raimbaud, do the papist court jays, with the feathers of
+peacocks and the talons of vultures, owe you any money?"
+
+"Indeed, they owe me large sums."
+
+"They will burn you to cancel their debts. Make no doubt of that."
+
+"God's head! You may be telling the truth, Josephin! I must consider
+that."
+
+"Well, then, return secretly to Paris; remain in hiding a few days,
+gather all your valuables--and flee to La Rochelle. Place yourself
+beyond the reach of the tigers' claws. It is the best thing you can do."
+
+"But what of the poor lad--Odelin?"
+
+"My nephew and myself will accompany you to La Rochelle. I scent battle
+and carnage in that quarter. When I say 'battle' I see things red. Here
+is to the red! I love wine--I shall drink blood! Oh, blood! You shall
+flow streaming and warm from the breast of the papists, like wine from
+the bung-hole of a cask. By my sister's death! Oh, for the day when I
+shall avenge Bridget--Hena--my two poor martyrs!"
+
+After a moment's silent reflection the armorer blurted out: "My head
+reels under so many afflictions. I forgot to ask you where is
+Christian's daughter, Hena?"
+
+"She is a prisoner at the Chatelet. Her trial is on," and burying his
+face in his hands the soldier of adventure added in heartrending tones:
+"She will be pronounced guilty, sentenced, and brought to the
+stake--burned alive as a relapsed nun."
+
+"Great God, is such barbarity possible?"
+
+"Hena!" Josephin proceeded without answering Master Raimbaud, "you sweet
+and dear creature! Image of my sister! Poor child whom, when a baby, I
+rocked upon my knees--you shall be avenged--"
+
+The Franc-Taupin could not utter another word; he broke down into sobs.
+
+"Unhappy Christian!" exclaimed Master Raimbaud pitifully. "What must not
+have been his agony!"
+
+"We had to fabricate a tale before we could induce him to depart,"
+answered the Franc-Taupin, wiping his burning eye with the back of his
+hand. "Monsieur Estienne assured Christian that the Princess had
+obtained grace for Hena's life, but under the condition that she was to
+spend her existence in some convent far away from Paris. Christian then
+decided to flee and preserve himself for his only remaining child,
+Odelin. He is now safe at La Rochelle."
+
+"And Hervé? You have not mentioned him."
+
+"By my sister's death! Do not mention the name of that monster. I could
+strangle him with my own hands, child of Bridget's though he be. He has
+joined the Cordelier monks. He has already preached in their church upon
+the necessity of exterminating the heretics. The Queen was present on
+the occasion. They extol the eloquence of the young monk. Death and
+damnation!" Shivering with horror and disgust, the Franc-Taupin
+proceeded after a pause: "Never again mention the monster's name in my
+hearing! May hell swallow him up!"
+
+Uninformed upon the events that led to Hervé's taking orders, the
+armorer was no less stupefied at the news of the young man's having
+become a monk than at hearing Josephin give vent to his execration of
+his sister's son. Nevertheless, unwilling to aggravate the sorrow of
+the Franc-Taupin, he refrained from dwelling upon a subject that so
+greatly inflamed him.
+
+"The tidings you have brought me have so upset me that it did not yet
+occur to me to ask you the reason for your assuming the garb you wear--"
+
+"The reason is quite simple," Josephin broke in; "I was described to the
+spies of the Criminal Lieutenant; and probably informed against by the
+two bandits who helped me in the abduction of my niece from the convent.
+My size and the plaster over my eye make me an easy mark for capture. I
+took the robe of a Capuchin mendicant because it best enables me to
+conceal my face. These friars have no convent of their own in the city.
+A few of them straggle into Paris from time to time from their hives at
+Chartres or Bourges, to pick up crumbs. If any one of them, coming from
+Chartres, addresses me, I would say: 'I am from Bourges.' To those from
+Bourges I shall say: 'I am from Chartres.' I have been established in
+this tavern for the last three days. I told the inn-keeper that I
+expected a stranger upon business of my Order. I pay for my lodging
+regularly every morning. The inn-keeper has not manifested any curiosity
+about me. Thus, in short, runs the explanation of my disguise. For your
+own guidance, Master Raimbaud, I shall add that the exasperation of the
+Catholics against the reformers is just now at white heat. They even
+talk of slaughtering the Huguenots in mass."
+
+"What are these threats, this increased hatred, attributed to?"
+
+"To certain printed placards clandestinely posted on the walls of Paris
+by the activity of Christian's friend Justin. The placards scourge the
+priests, the monks and all other papists. A large number of heretics
+have already been arrested and sentenced to the stake; others have been
+massacred by the brutified populace--that _huge she-greyhound, with
+bloody craw_, as the monks say when they refer to the poor and ignorant
+masses. You may judge from that what dangers you would run in Paris,
+were you to attempt to enter the city openly, you who are pointed at as
+a heretic. My nephew Odelin runs the same danger. They are ready to
+seize him the moment he steps into your house."
+
+"What! They want to arrest a child?"
+
+"Children become men with time--and they fear men. I should have stabbed
+you to death, Ignatius Loyola, when I was your page! It is you who order
+the father and mother to be burned as heretics, and the three children
+to be clapped into cloisters to the end of uprooting a stock that you
+pronounce accursed! But the father has escaped death, and I shall know
+how to thwart your search after his last child! After that--battle and
+carnage! By my sister's death--I shall cause the blood of papists to run
+like water. Time presses--let us make haste. You can not return home,
+Master Raimbaud, any more than my nephew could safely step into your
+house. This is the plan I submitted to Monsieur Robert Estienne, and
+which he approves: I have provided myself with a second Capuchin frock
+for Odelin. He and I will go to Paris, our bags on our backs, without
+awakening suspicion. We shall turn in at a friend's on St. Honoré
+Street, where Monsieur Estienne will call to see us. It is a safe place.
+Monsieur Estienne has taken upon himself the painful task of informing
+Odelin concerning the misfortunes that have smitten his family.
+To-morrow evening we leave Paris again in our disguise, and I shall take
+my nephew to his father at La Rochelle. Should you also decide to change
+your residence, and to move to La Rochelle with your wife, we may agree
+upon some town near Paris in which Odelin and myself could join you.
+This is for you to consider and decide."
+
+"Your plan seems wise to me, Josephin; I shall probably decide to follow
+it. From what is happening in Paris, I perceive I would not be safe
+there."
+
+"Well, then, Master Raimbaud, leave the horses behind in the tavern. One
+of your employees may come to-morrow for them. Do not enter Paris until
+after dark and keep your head well hooded. Proceed straight to the house
+that your wife mentions to you--"
+
+The Franc-Taupin was interrupted in the directions he was issuing by the
+entrance of his nephew, holding in one hand a flask wrapped in fine
+paper, and in the other a steel dagger. He held out the two objects with
+a radiant face to Josephin, saying with exquisite kindness:
+
+"Dear uncle, I forged this dagger for you out of the best steel there
+was in Milan; I bring you this flask of old Imola wine for you to
+celebrate this happy day and to drink to the speedy reunion of our
+family."
+
+So poignant was the contrast between the lad's words and the sad reality
+of which he still remained in ignorance, that Master Raimbaud and the
+Franc-Taupin exchanged sad glances and remained silent. Josephin's cowl,
+now resting wholly upon his shoulders, left his face entirely exposed.
+So visible were the traces of sorrow and mental suffering that face
+revealed, that Odelin, now seeing his uncle for the first time wholly
+uncovered, drew back a step. Immediately he also noticed the profound
+sadness of Master Raimbaud. Alarmed at the silence of the two, Odelin
+felt oppressed. He felt a vague presentiment of some great misfortune.
+Touched by the token of his nephew's affection, the Franc-Taupin took
+the flask and the dagger, examined the weapon, placed it in his belt
+under his frock, and muttered to himself:
+
+"Ah, a good blade. You are given to me by the son--you shall wreak
+vengeance for the mother, the father--and their daughter!" He then
+placed the flask down beside him, and embracing Odelin, added aloud:
+"Thank you, my dear boy. The dagger will be useful to me. As to the
+flask--tastes change--I drink wine no more. Now to business. I have a
+note for you from your father. Post yourself upon its contents."
+
+"But am I not to see father shortly, at home?"
+
+Not a little astonished, Odelin read:
+
+     My dearly beloved Odelin.--Do everything your uncle Josephin may
+     tell you, without asking any questions. Do not feel alarmed. I
+     shall soon embrace you. I love you as ever, from the bottom of my
+     heart.
+
+     Your father,
+
+     CHRISTIAN.
+
+Despite his vague and increasing uneasiness, Odelin felt quieted by
+those words of his father's: "I shall soon embrace you." He said to the
+Franc-Taupin:
+
+"What must I do, uncle?"
+
+The soldier of fortune took a bundle from his bed, drew out of it a
+Capuchin's robe, and said to his nephew:
+
+"The first thing to do, my boy, is to put this robe over your clothes,
+and when we are out of doors you will take care to keep the cowl over
+your face, as I am doing now."
+
+"I?" asked Odelin, startled. "Am I to put on such a costume?" But
+recalling the instructions of his father, he added: "I forgot that
+father wrote me to obey you, uncle, without asking any reasons for your
+orders. I shall put on the robe, immediately."
+
+"Fine," said Master Raimbaud, forcing a smile on his lips in order to
+quiet Odelin. "There you are, from an armorer's apprentice transformed
+into a Capuchin's apprentice! The change does not seem to be to your
+taste, my little friend."
+
+"It is my father's will, Master Raimbaud. I but obey. Truth to say,
+however, I do not fancy a monk's garb."
+
+"I am a better papist than yourself, little Odelin," put in the
+Franc-Taupin ironically, as he helped his nephew to don his disguise; "I
+love the monks so well that I hope soon to start bestowing upon every
+one of them whom I may meet--the red skullcap of a Cardinal! Now,
+shoulder that wallet and bend your back; and then with a dragging leg,
+and neck stuck out, we shall imitate as well as we can the gait of that
+Roman Catholic and Apostolic vermin."
+
+"How comical I shall look to mother and to my sister Hena when they see
+me arrive thus accoutred!" observed Odelin with a smile. "Dear uncle, if
+father is the only one informed of my disguise, I shall knock at the
+door of our house, and beg for an alms with a nasal twang. Just think of
+their surprise when I throw up my cowl! _Corpo di Bacco!_ as the
+Italians say, we shall laugh till the tears run down our cheeks."
+
+"Your idea is not bad," answered the Franc-Taupin, embarrassed. "But it
+is getting late. Bid Master Raimbaud good-bye, and let us depart."
+
+"Is Master Raimbaud to stay here?"
+
+"Yes, my boy--"
+
+"Who is to see to the horses?"
+
+"Do not trouble yourself about that; they will have their provender."
+
+The armorer embraced his apprentice, whom he loved almost as an own son
+and bade him be of good cheer.
+
+"Your adieu sounds sad, Master Raimbaud, and as if our separation were
+to be a long one," observed Odelin with moistening eyes. "Uncle! Oh,
+uncle! My alarm returns, it grows upon me. I can not account for the
+sadness of Master Raimbaud, and I do not understand the mystery of this
+disguise to enter Paris--"
+
+"My dear boy, remember your father's instructions," said Josephin. "Put
+me no questions to which I can not now make an answer."
+
+The boy resigned himself with a sigh. Shouldering his wallet, he
+descended after his uncle. As the latter heard the clink of Odelin's
+spurs on the stairs, he turned to him:
+
+"I forgot to make you take off your spurs. Remove them while I go and
+pay the inn-keeper. Wait for me outside at the cross road."
+
+"Uncle, may I put into my wallet a few little presents that I bring from
+Italy for the family?"
+
+"Do about that as you please," answered the Franc-Taupin.
+
+While Odelin walked into the stable to remove his spurs and take out of
+his valise the articles which he wished to take with him, Josephin went
+to settle his score with the inn-keeper. The latter, who hugged his
+taproom, did not see young Odelin come down in his Capuchin vestments.
+To the Franc-Taupin he said: "You leave us early, my reverend. I hoped
+you would pay us a longer visit. But I can understand that you are in a
+hurry to reach Paris to witness the great ceremony."
+
+"What ceremony have you in mind, my good man?"
+
+"A traveler informed us that the bells and the chimes have been ringing
+in Paris with might and main since morning. All the houses along the
+road that the superb procession is to traverse were decorated with
+tapestry by orders of the Criminal Lieutenant, who also ordered that a
+lighted wax candle be held at every window. He also told us that the
+King, the Queen and all the Princes, as well as a crowd of great
+seigneurs and high dignitaries were to assist at the ceremony--the most
+magnificent that will yet have been seen--"
+
+"Good evening, my host," said Josephin, anxious to put an end to the
+conversation and join his nephew who waited for him outside. To himself
+he was saying:
+
+"What can the ceremony be that the inn-keeper has been informed about?
+After all, the event can only be favorable to us. The crowds that the
+streets will be filled with will facilitate our passage, and help us to
+reach unperceived the retreat designated by Monsieur Estienne."
+
+The Franc-Taupin and his nephew walked rapidly towards Paris where they
+arrived as the sun was dipping the western horizon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+JANUARY 21, 1535.
+
+
+January 21, 1535! Alas, that date must remain inscribed in characters of
+blood in our plebeian annals, O, sons of Joel! If there is justice on
+earth or in heaven--and I, Christian Lebrenn, who trace these lines,
+believe in an avenging, an expiatory justice--some day, on that distant
+day predicted by Victoria the Great, the 21st of January may be also a
+day fatal to the race of crowned executioners, the princes, the nobles,
+and the infamous Romish priests.
+
+You are about to contemplate, O, sons of Joel--you are about to
+contemplate the pious work of that King Francis I, that chivalrous King,
+that Very Christian King, as the court popinjays love to style him. A
+chivalrous King--he is false to his troth! A knightly King--he sells
+under the auctioneer's hammer the seats on the courts of justice and in
+the tribunals of religion! A very Christian King--he wallows in the
+filthiest of debauches! In order to impart a flavor of incest to
+adultery, he shares with one of his own sons, the husband of Catherine
+De Medici, the bed of the Duchess of Etampes. Finally, he expires
+tainted with a loathsome disease after ten years of frightful
+sufferings! At this season, however, the miscreant is still in full
+health, and is engaged in honoring God, his saints and his Church with a
+human holocaust. Hypocrisy and ferocity!
+
+A magnificent solemnity was that day to be the object of edification to
+all the good Catholics of Paris, as the inn-keeper announced to the
+Franc-Taupin. Read, O sons of Joel, the ordinance posted in Paris by
+order of the Very Christian King Francis I:
+
+     On Thursday the 21st day of January, 1535, a solemn procession will
+     take place in the honor of God our Creater, of the glorious Virgin
+     Mary, and of all the blessed Saints in Paradise. Our Seigneur, King
+     Francis I, has been informed of the errors that are rife in these
+     days, and of the placards and heretical books that are posted or
+     scattered around the streets and thoroughfares of Paris by the
+     vicious sectarians of Luther, and other blasphemers of the sacred
+     Sacrament of the altar, the which accursed scum of society aims at
+     the destruction of our Catholic faith and of the constitutions of
+     our mother, the Holy Church of God.
+
+     Therefore, our said Seigneur Francis I has held a Council, and, in
+     order to repair the injury done to God, has decided to order a
+     general procession, the same to close with the torture and
+     execution of several heretics. At the head of the procession shall
+     be carried the sacred Eucharist and the most precious relics of the
+     city of Paris.
+
+     First, on the 17th day of the said month of January, proclamation
+     shall be made to the sound of trumpets, throughout the
+     thoroughfares of Paris, ordering that the streets through which the
+     said procession is to pass shall be swept clean, and all the houses
+     ornamented with beautiful tapestry. The owners of the said houses
+     shall stand before their doors, bare-headed and holding a lighted
+     taper in their hands.--_Item_, on the Wednesday following, the 20th
+     of the said month, the principals of all the Universities of Paris
+     shall meet and orders shall be issued to them to cause the students
+     of the said Colleges to be locked up, with the express injunction
+     that the same shall not be allowed outside until the procession
+     shall have passed, in order to obviate confusion and tumult.
+     Furthermore the students shall fast on the eve and the day of the
+     procession.--_Item_, provosts of the merchant guilds and the
+     aldermen of the city of Paris shall cause barriers to be raised at
+     the crossing of the streets through which the said procession is to
+     pass, in order to prevent the people from crossing the lines of the
+     marchers. Two soldiers and two archers shall be placed in charge of
+     each one of the said barriers.--_Item._ halting places shall be
+     erected in the middle of St. Denis and St. Honoré Streets, at the
+     Cross-of-Trahoir, and at the further end of the Notre Dame Bridge,
+     the latter of which shall be decorated with a gilded lanthorn,
+     historical paintings of the holy Sacrament, and a dais of evergreen
+     from which shall hang a number of crowns, and bannerets bearing the
+     following sacred device: IPSI PERIBUNT, TU AUTEM PERMANEBIS (_They
+     shall perish, but you, Holy Mother Church, shall remain forever_).
+
+     The same device shall be inscribed on the cards attached to the
+     swarm of little birds that are to be set free along the passage of
+     the said procession.[39]
+
+The program of the ceremony was followed out point by point. The
+Franc-Taupin and Odelin entered Paris by the Gate of the Bastille of St.
+Antoine. They were wrapped in their Capuchin hoods, and took the route
+of St. Honoré Street. That thoroughfare was lighted by the tapers which,
+obedient to the royal decree, the householders held at the doors of
+their dwellings. Lavish tapestries, hangings and rich cloths ornamented
+with greens carpeted the walls of the houses from top to bottom. Men,
+women and children crowded the windows. A lively stream of people moved
+about gaily, loudly admiring the splendors of the feast. Arrived near
+the Arcade of Eschappes, which ran into St. Honoré Street, the
+Franc-Taupin and Odelin were forced to halt until the procession had
+passed before they could cross the street. All the crossings were closed
+with barriers and guarded by soldiers and archers.
+
+Thanks to the respect that their monastic garb inspired, Josephin and
+his nephew were allowed to clear the barrier which separated them from
+the first ranks of the procession, and finally to fall in line with the
+same.
+
+Romish idolatry and royal pride exhibited themselves in the midst of the
+pomp and circumstance of the occasion. King, Queen, Princes, Princesses,
+Cardinals, Archbishops, Marshals, courtiers, ladies in waiting, high
+dignitaries of the courts of justice, magistrates, consuls, bourgeois,
+guilds of artisans--all were about to batten upon the torture and death
+of the heretics, whose only crime consisted in the practice of the
+Evangelical doctrine in its pristine purity.
+
+Read, O, sons of Joel, the narrative of this execrable ceremony,
+transmitted by a spectator, an ardent Catholic and fervent royalist, Dom
+Felibien. Preserve the pages in our family annals, they are the
+irrefutable witnesses of the religious fanaticism of those days of
+ignorance, under clerical domination and monarchic despotism. Dom
+Felibien says:
+
+     "At the head of the procession marched the Swiss of the King's
+     guard. They preceded the Queen, who was richly attired in a robe of
+     black velvet lined with lynx skin. She rode a white palfrey with
+     housings of frizzled gold cloth, and was accompanied by mesdames
+     the King's daughters, likewise richly accoutred in robes of crimson
+     satin embroidered with gold thread, and riding beautiful and
+     splendidly caparisoned palfreys. Many other dames and princesses,
+     besides a troop of knights, seneschals and palace dignitaries on
+     horseback, pages, lackeys and Swiss Guards on foot marched beside
+     the Queen.
+
+     "After her came the Cordelier monks in large numbers, carrying many
+     relics, each holding a little lighted taper with profound devotion.
+
+     "After these came the preaching Jacobin friars, also carrying many
+     relics. Each bore a chaplet of Notre Dame, and all were devoutly
+     engaged in prayer to God.
+
+     "After these, the Augustinian monks, marching in similar order, and
+     also carrying many relics.
+
+     "After these, the Carmelites, in the same order, and, in their wake
+     all the parish priests of the city of Paris, each with his cross,
+     robed in their capes, and carrying relics surrounded with numerous
+     tapers.
+
+     "After these, the collegiates of the churches, carrying many relics
+     and holy bodies, the latter surrounded by many tapers.
+
+     "After these, the Mathurins, dressed all in white. They marched
+     devoutly wrapped in prayer and holding tapers.
+
+     "After these, the friars of St. Magloire carrying the shrine of
+     Monsieur St. Magloire.
+
+     "After these, the friars of St. Germain-des-Prez, carrying the
+     shrine of Monsieur St. Germain-le-Vieil, who, as far back as man's
+     memory went, had never before been known to leave the precincts of
+     St. Germain. To the right of the holy body, the said friars, each
+     with a lighted white wax candle; to the left, the friars of St.
+     Martin-of-the-Fields, carrying the shrine of St. Paxant, a martyr.
+     The two shrines abreast and beside each other.
+
+     "After these the relics of Monsieur St. Eloi in the shrine of the
+     said Saint, carried by locksmiths, each wearing a hat of flowers.
+
+     "After these, Monsieur St. Benoit, with other shrines containing
+     the bodies of Saints belonging to the said city.
+
+     "After that, a huge relic of solid gold and inestimable value,
+     studded with precious stones and enclosing the bones of several
+     Saints, the whole carried on the shoulders of sixteen bourgeois of
+     the city of Paris. Beside this relic was to be seen that of the
+     great St. Philip, an exquisite coffer from Notre Dame of Paris.
+
+     "After these, came in beautiful order the shrines of Madam St.
+     Genevieve, carried by eighteen men, naked (except for their
+     shirts), with hats of flowers on their heads, and by four monks,
+     also in their shirts, with bare legs and feet. Then the shrine of
+     Monsieur St. Martel, reverently carried by the goldsmiths, dressed
+     in dress of state. That shrine also had not in the memory of man
+     been carried beyond the bridge of Notre Dame. In order to secure
+     the safe and orderly carriage of these shrines through the large
+     concourse of people, all of whom were curious to see and draw near
+     them, a number of archers and other officers were detailed to
+     escort the same.
+
+     "After these, the monks of St. Genevieve and St. Victor,
+     barefooted, each holding a lighted taper and praying to God with
+     great devotion.
+
+     "After these, the canons and priests of St. Germain-of-Auxerre,
+     chanting canticles of praise put to music.
+
+     "After these, the secular doctors and regulars of the four
+     faculties of the University of Paris. The rector and his beadles,
+     the latter carrying before him their maces of gold and silver.
+
+     "After these, the doctors of theology and medicine in large numbers
+     dressed in their sacerdotal and other garbs, each holding a lighted
+     wax candle.
+
+     "After these came, marching in beautiful order on both sides of the
+     street, the Swiss Guards of the King, dressed in the velvet of his
+     livery, each armed with his halberd. The fifers and war drummers
+     marched two by two at the head of the said Swiss Guards, beating
+     upon their drums and blowing their fifes in funeral notes.
+
+     "After these, the hautboys, trumpets, cornet and clarion players,
+     all in the King's livery, and melodiously intoning the beautiful
+     hymn _Pange, lingua, gloriosi corporis mysterium_, etc., which is
+     the hymn of the holy Sacrament, and which moved all the bystanders
+     to tears, such was its power.
+
+     "After these, Monsieur Savigny, one of the captains of the King's
+     guards, establishing order and preventing tumult during the
+     procession.
+
+     "After him, came the King's heralds-at-arms, clad in their jackets
+     of silver cloth.
+
+     "After them, the choristers of the same Seigneur, those attached to
+     the domestic service as well as those attached to the holy chapel
+     of the palace. They marched together, singing: _O salutaris
+     Hostia_, and other beautiful anthems.
+
+     "After these, ten priests robed in chasubles, their heads bare, and
+     carrying the relic of Monsieur St. Louis, once King of France,
+     encased and studded with quantities of precious stones of
+     inestimable value.
+
+     "After these, the holy and precious relic of the holy CROWN OF
+     THORNS of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, an inestimable relic
+     which, as far back as the memory of man runs, was never before
+     carried in any procession whatever, and caused the hair to stand on
+     end of all those who saw it, and rendered them charmed with God, as
+     they considered His blessed passion.
+
+     "After this, the TRUE CROSS on which our Lord Jesus Christ was
+     crucified. It was taken from the Holy Chapel, besides another piece
+     of the said TRUE CROSS from Notre Dame of Paris.
+
+     "After that the ROD OF AARON, an old relic; the holy IRON of the
+     lance wherewith Longus pierced the precious side of our Savior
+     Jesus Christ; one of the HOLY NAILS with which He was nailed to the
+     cross; the SPONGE, the CARCAN, the CHAIN with which our Lord was
+     fastened to the pillar; His IMMACULATE ROBE; the SHEET in which He
+     was wrapped in the tomb as in a winding-cloth; the NAPKINS of His
+     babyhood; the REED stuck into His hand when He was crowned with
+     thorns; the TABLE OF STONE which the children of Israel hewed in
+     the desert; a DROP OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD of our Lord Jesus; finally
+     a DROP OF MILK of the glorious Virgin Mary, Mother of God. The
+     which beautiful relics, all taken from the treasury of the Holy
+     Chapel, were accompanied and carried by ten archbishops and bishops
+     dressed in their pontifical vestments, and marching two by two.
+
+     "After these, the ambassadors from the Emperor, from the King of
+     England, from Venice, and other potentates and seigneurs.
+
+     "After these, and marching abreast, the Cardinals of Tournon,
+     Veneur and Givry; the Bishop of Soissons; and Monsieur Gabriel of
+     Saluces, carrying a beautiful relic of a cross studded with several
+     precious stones.
+
+     "After these, Knights with their battle-axes escorting the precious
+     and sacred body of our Lord Jesus Christ at the sacrament of the
+     altar, which was carried by Monsieur the Bishop of Paris on a cross
+     under a canopy of crimson velvet spangled with gold fleur-de-lis,
+     the canopy being borne aloft by our Seigneurs, the King's sons, to
+     wit, Monsieur the Dauphin, Monsieur of Orleans, Monsieur of
+     Angoulème, and Monsieur of Vendosme, all the said Princes
+     bareheaded, and clad in robes of black velvet with heavy gold
+     borders and lined with white satin, and near them several counts
+     and barons to relieve them.
+
+     "After these, came the KING OUR SIRE, bareheaded, in great
+     reverence. He was clad in a robe of black velvet lined with black
+     silk, girded with a girdle of taffeta, and in his hand a large
+     white wax candle furnished with a holder of crimson velvet. Beside
+     him, the Cardinal of Lorraine, to whom, every time the holy
+     sacrament rested at the halting places, the said Seigneur our King
+     passed the wax candle, while he himself made his prayers with his
+     hands joined. Seeing the which, there was none among the
+     spectators, whether grown or little, who did not weep warm tears,
+     and who did not pray to God for the King whom the said people saw
+     in such great devotion, and performing so devout an act and so
+     worthy of remembrance for all time. And it may well be presumed
+     that neither Jew nor infidel present, seeing the example of the
+     King and his good people, failed of being converted to the Catholic
+     faith.
+
+     "After these, the parliaments, with the ushers walking before, each
+     with a staff in his hands; the four notaries; the clerks of the
+     criminal courts, dressed in scarlet gowns and wearing their furred
+     hats; messieurs the presidents with their mantles over their
+     shoulders and their mortars on their heads; the chiefs of
+     departments, and the counsellors, in red robes.
+
+     "After these, the Chief Justices, and heads of the treasury and the
+     mint; the comptrollers of the city of Paris, each with a lighted
+     white wax candle in his hand, and clad in their parti-colored robes
+     of red and blue, the city colors.
+
+     "Finally, the archers, the cross-bowmen, and the arquebusiers of
+     Paris, dressed in their uniforms, and each holding a wax
+     candle."[40]
+
+Such was that great Catholic procession!
+
+The procession wound its way through St. Honoré, St. Denis and St.
+James-of-the-Slaughterhouse Streets, and then crossed the Notre Dame
+Bridge.
+
+Cages full of birds were opened, and the little feathered brood flew
+from their prisons with open wings. The procession deployed on the
+square before the parvise of the Cathedral of Notre Dame. All the
+surrounding houses, tapestried from top to bottom, were lined with
+spectators at the windows, on the cornices, the shafts of pillars and
+the roofs. As they stood waiting for the procession to go by near the
+Arcade of Eschappes, the Franc-Taupin and his nephew caught sight of
+Hervé among the Cordelier monks, whose garb he wore.
+
+"My brother!" cried Odelin, making to rush forward towards Hervé and
+embrace him. "There is my brother!"
+
+But Josephin seized his nephew by the arm, and whispered to him:
+
+"My boy, if a single move made by you draws attention upon us, we shall
+be discovered and arrested."
+
+Odelin's exclamation, being drowned by the psalmody of the Cordeliers,
+did not reach the ears of Hervé. The latter did not even notice his
+brother, whose face was partially covered by his cowl. The Cordeliers
+passed by, then the Augustinians, the Carmelites, the Dominicans, the
+Genevievians, the Jacobins, and many other monks of differently shaped
+and colored garbs. Josephin sought to place the greatest distance
+possible between himself and Hervé. He fell in line with the Mathurins,
+who brought up the rear of the division of monks.
+
+Odelin began to feel disturbed in mind. The events in which he had
+already that day participated, his apprehensions regarding his family,
+the sight of his brother in the habits of a Cordelier monk, the
+preparations for the torture and death of the heretics, a spectacle that
+he now saw himself forced to witness--everything combined to harass his
+mind with perplexities. At times Odelin imagined himself under the
+obsession of a nightmare. His uncertain and almost stumbling step was
+noticed by the Superior of the Mathurins, who expressed his surprise
+thereat to Josephin. The Franc-Taupin merely answered that this was the
+first time the novice attended an execution of heretics.
+
+The procession having arrived before the parvise of Notre Dame, each
+division of which it was composed took the place assigned to it. A
+stage, covered with rich tent-cloth was prepared for King Francis I, the
+Queen, the Princes and Princesses of the royal family, the court ladies,
+the Cardinals, the Archbishops, the Marshals, the presidents of the
+parliaments, and the principal courtiers. The pyre faced the royal
+platform at a convenient distance, in order that the noble assemblage be
+annoyed neither by the heat nor smoke of the fire, and yet could follow
+closely the cruel details of the tragedy. The pyre consisted of a heap
+of fagots from fifteen to twenty feet long, and about six or seven feet
+high. Close to the pyre rose six machines. Each consisted of a
+perpendicular beam, the bottom driven into the earth and the top
+furnished with an iron clamp in the socket of which a cross-beam was
+attached. This beam could be made to tip forward over the fagots. At the
+forward extremity of the cross-beam, and hanging from chains, was an
+iron chair provided with a back and foot-board after the fashion of a
+swing. To the rear extremity of the cross-beam ropes and pulleys were
+attached, holding it down to the ground.
+
+The Franc-Taupin contemplated with horror those implements of torture,
+while he gave his support to poor Odelin, who shook convulsively. The
+Superior of the Mathurins, who happened to stand near Josephin,
+addressed him with a smile:
+
+"Perhaps you do not understand the value of those machines which we
+shall shortly see put into operation?"
+
+"No, dear brother, you are right. I have no idea of what those machines
+are for in this affair."
+
+"They are an invention due to the genius of our Sire the King, to whom
+the men put to the torture for coining false money already owe the rack
+on which they are executed.[41] To-day the application of these new
+machines, which you are contemplating with so much interest, is
+inaugurated in our good city of Paris. The process is very simple,
+besides ingenious. When the pyre is well aflame, the patient is chained
+fast to the chair which you see there, dangling from the end of that
+cross-beam; then, the beam acting as a lever, he is, by slacking and
+pulling in the ropes at the other end, alternately sunk down into the
+flames and pulled out again, to be re-plunged, and so on, until, after
+being plunged and re-plunged, death ensues. Do you now understand the
+process?"
+
+"Clearly, my reverend. Death by fire, as formerly practiced, put too
+speedy an end to the patient's torture."
+
+"Altogether too speedy. A few minutes of torture and all was over, and
+the heretic breathed his last breath--"
+
+"And now," broke in the Franc-Taupin, "thanks to this royal invention by
+our Sire Francis I, whom may God guard, the patient is afforded leisure
+to burn slowly--he can relish the fagot and inhale the flame! How superb
+and meritorious an invention!"
+
+"It is that, my dear brother! Your expressions are correct--quite
+so--_relish_ the fagot--_inhale_ the flame. It is calculated that the
+agony of the patients will now last from twenty to thirty minutes.
+
+"There are to-night three such pyres raised in Paris," the Superior of
+the Mathurins proceeded to explain. "The one before us, a second at the
+market place, and the third at the Cross-of-Trahoir. After our good Sire
+shall have assisted at the executions in this place, he will be able to
+visit the two others on his way back to the Louvre."[42]
+
+The colloquy with the monk was interrupted by a great noise. From mouth
+to mouth ran the word: "Silence! Silence! The King wishes to speak!"
+
+During the Franc-Taupin's conversation with the Mathurin, the King, his
+family, the court, the high dignitaries of the Church and of the kingdom
+had taken their seats on the platform. Anne of Pisseleu, Duchess of
+Etampes, who shared her favors between Francis I and his eldest son,
+drew the eyes of the multitude upon herself with the costliness of her
+apparel, which was as dazzling as her beauty, then at its prime. The
+royal courtesan cast from time to time a look of superb triumph upon her
+two rivals--the Queen of France, and Catherine De Medici, the wife of
+Henry, the King's son. The young Princess, at that season barely sixteen
+years of age, born in Florence, the daughter of Laurent De Medici and
+niece of Pope Clement VII, presented a perfect type of Italian beauty.
+Pale with chestnut hair, and white of skin, her black, passionate and
+crafty eyes frequently lingered surreptitiously with an expression of
+suppressed hatred upon the Duchess of Etampes. Whenever their eyes met
+accidentally, Catherine De Medici had for her a charming smile.
+Conspicuous among the great seigneurs seated on the platform were the
+Constable of Montmorency, Duke Claude of Guise and his brother Cardinal
+John of Lorraine, the crapulous, dissolute Prince immortalized by
+Rabelais under the name of "Panurge." These Guises--Princes of Lorraine,
+ambitious, greedy, haughty and turbulent--whom Francis I at once
+flattered and curbed, inspired him with so much apprehension that he was
+wont to allude to them in his conversations with the Dauphin in these
+words: "Be on your guard; I shall leave you clothed in a coat, they will
+leave you in your shirt." In close proximity to the Guises stood John
+Lefevre, the disciple of Ignatius Loyola, chatting with great
+familiarity with Cardinal Duprat. Already the Jesuits had gained a
+footing at the court of Francis I; they dominated the Chancellor, the
+evil genius of that King. And what was that sovereign, physically and
+morally? Here is his picture, as left by the writers of his time: "Six
+feet high; broad-shouldered, wide of girth, round faced, fat, ruddy of
+complexion, with short cropped hair, long beard, and a prominent
+nose"--features that betray sensual appetites. The Sire walked towards
+his throne, swaying to right and left. The heavy colossus affected the
+gait and postures of a gladiator. He sat down, or rather dropped into
+his seat. All present on the platform rose to their feet with heads
+uncovered, the women excepted. He addressed himself to the Princes, the
+Princesses of his family, and the dignitaries of the Church and the
+kingdom:
+
+"It will not seem strange to you, messieurs, if you do not find in me
+the mien, the countenance and the words, which I have been in the habit
+of being seen in and of using on previous occasions when I called you
+together. To-day, I do not address you as a King and Master addresses
+his subjects and servitors. I speak as being myself the subject and
+servitor of the King of Kings, of the Master of Masters--the
+All-powerful God.
+
+"Some wicked blasphemers, people of little note and of less doctrine,
+have, contrary to the honor of the holy Sacrament, machinated, said,
+proffered and written many great blasphemies. On account thereof I have
+willed that this solemn procession be held, in order to invoke the grace
+of our Redeemer. I order that rigorous punishment be inflicted upon the
+heretics, as a warning to all others not to fall into the said damnable
+opinions, while admonishing the faithful to persevere in their
+doctrines, the wavering to become firm, and those who have strayed away
+to return to the path of the holy Catholic faith, in which they see me
+persevere, together with the spiritual prelates.
+
+"Therefore, messieurs, I entreat and admonish you--let all my subjects
+keep watch and guard, not only over themselves, but also over their
+families, and especially over their children, and cause these to be so
+properly instructed that they may not fall into evil doctrines. I also
+order that each and all shall denounce whomsoever they may happen to
+know, or to suspect, of being adherents to the heresy, without regard
+to any bonds, whether of family or of friendship. As to myself," added
+Francis I in a thundering voice, "on the same principle that, had I an
+arm infected with putrefaction, I would cause it to be separated from my
+body, so if ever, should it unhappily so befall, any child of mine
+relapse into the said damnable heresies, I shall be ready to immolate,
+and to deliver him as a sacrifice to God."[43]
+
+The discourse of Francis I was listened to amid religious silence, and
+applauded enthusiastically.
+
+The prostituted pack of clergymen, courtiers and warriors who surrounded
+the Very Christian King knew the trick how to inherit the property of
+heretics. To burn or massacre the reformers was to coin money for the
+royal pack, the sovereign having the right to transmit to the good
+Catholics the wealth confiscated from condemned heretics. But, to kill
+the heretics, to torture them, to burn them alive, that did not satisfy
+the pious monarch. Human thought was to be shackled. The sovereign
+proceeded with his allocution:
+
+"It is notorious that the pestilence of heresy spreads in all directions
+with the aid of the printing press. My Chancellor shall now read a
+decree issued by me abolishing the printing press in my estates under
+pain of death."
+
+The Chancellor, Cardinal Duprat, read in a loud voice the decree of that
+_Father of Letters_, as the court popinjays styled Francis I with
+egregious adulation:
+
+     "We, Francis I, by the grace of God, King of France.--It is our
+     will, and we so order, and it pleases us to prohibit and forbid all
+     printers in general, and of whatever rank and condition they may
+     be, TO PRINT ANYTHING, UNDER PAIN OF HANGING.
+
+     "Such is our good pleasure.
+
+     FRANCIS."[44]
+
+Come! One more effort; listen to the end of this tale, O, sons of Joel.
+My hand trembles as I trace these lines, my eyes are veiled in tears, my
+heart bleeds. But I must proceed with my story.
+
+After the reading of the edict which prohibited the printing press in
+France under pain of death, the Criminal Lieutenant stepped forward to
+receive the orders of the Chancellor. He turned to the King, and the
+King commanded that the heretics be put to the torture and death without
+further delay. The gallant chat among the courtiers was hushed, and the
+eyes of the royal assembly turned towards the pyre.
+
+The Franc-Taupin and Odelin stood in the midst of the Mathurins, close
+to the spot of execution. Not far from them were ranked the Cordeliers.
+Standing between Fra Girard and the Superior General of his Order, Hervé
+seemed to be the object of the dignitary's special solicitude. Both the
+sons of Christian Lebrenn were about to witness the execution. Their
+sister Hena, sentenced together with Ernest Rennepont to the flames as a
+relapsed and sacrilegious heretic, was to figure, along with her
+bridegroom, among the victims. The frightful spectacle passed before
+the eyes of Odelin like a vision of death. Without making a single
+motion, without experiencing a shiver, without dropping a tear,
+petrified with terror, the lad gazed--like him, who, a prey to some
+stupefying dream, remains motionless, stretched upon his bed. It was a
+horrible nightmare!
+
+The order to proceed having gone from Francis I and been transmitted to
+the Mathurin monks, several of these proceeded to the portico of the
+Basilica of Notre Dame, whither the culprits had first been taken to
+make the _amende honorable_ on their knees before the church. One of the
+patients had his tongue cut out for preferring charges against the
+Catholic clergy on his way from prison to the parvise.[45] The Mathurins
+led the victims in procession to the pyre. As they approached, all the
+religious Orders intoned in a sonorous voice the funeral psalmody--
+
+    _De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine!_
+
+The heretics, to the number of six, marched two by two, bareheaded and
+barefooted, holding lighted tapers in their hands. John Dubourg and his
+friend Etienne Laforge led; behind them came St. Ernest-Martyr
+supporting the architect Poille. The wretched man had his tongue cut
+out. Blood streamed from his mouth, and dyed his long white shirt red.
+Mary La Catelle and Hena, called in religion Sister St.
+Frances-in-the-Tomb, came next. Their feet were bare, their hair hung
+down loose upon their shoulders. They were clad in long white shifts
+held at the waist with a cord. Hena pressed against her heart a little
+pocket Bible which Christian had printed in the establishment of Robert
+Estienne, and which she was allowed to keep. It was a cherished volume
+from which the Lebrenn family often read together of an evening, and
+which recalled to Hena a whole world of sweet remembrances.
+
+Hervé recognized his sister among the condemned heretics. A thrill ran
+through his frame, a deadly pallor overcast his countenance, and,
+turning his face away, he leaned for support on the arm of Fra Girard.
+The executioners had set fire to the fagots, which soon presented the
+sight of a sheet of roaring flames. As the prisoners arrived at the
+place of their torture and death, and caught sight of the seats swaying
+over the lambent flames, they readily surmised the cruel torments to
+which they were destined. In her terror, poor Hena began to emit
+heartrending cries, and she clung to the arm of Mary La Catelle. The
+taper and the little pocket Bible which she held rolled to the ground.
+The holy book fell upon a burning ember and began to blaze. One of the
+executioners stamped out the fire with his heels and threw the book
+aside. It fell near the Franc-Taupin. Josephin stooped down quickly,
+picked up the precious token and dropped it into the pocket of his wide
+frock. Petrified with terror, Odelin only gazed into space. The
+frightful cries of his sister were hardly heard by him, drowned as they
+were by the buzz and throb of the arteries in his own temples. The
+executioners were at work. Hena and the other five martyrs were seized,
+placed in their respective seats, and chained fast. All the six levers
+were then set in motion at once, and dipped over the fire. It was a
+spectacle, an atrocious spectacle--well worthy of a King! The victims
+were plunged into the furnace, then raised up high in the air with
+clothes and hair ablaze, to be again swallowed up in the flaming abyss,
+again to be raised out of it, in order once more to be precipitated into
+its fiery embrace![46]
+
+Odelin still gazed, motionless, his arms crossed over his breast, and
+rigid as if in a state of catalepsy. The Franc-Taupin looked at his
+unhappy niece Hena every time the lever raised her in the air, and also
+every time it hurled her down into the abyss of flames. He counted the
+_plungings_, as the Superior of the Mathurins humorously called them. He
+counted twenty-five of them. At the first few descents poor Hena twisted
+and writhed in her seat while emitting piercing cries; in the course of
+a few subsequent descents the cries subsided into moans; when she
+disappeared in the burning crater for the sixteenth time she was heard
+to moan no more. She was either expiring or dead. The machine continued
+to dip twenty-five times--it was only a blackened, half naked corpse,
+the head of which hung loose and beat against the back of the seat. The
+Franc-Taupin followed also with his eyes Ernest Rennepont, who was
+placed face to face with Hena. The unhappy youth did not emit a single
+cry during his torment, he did not even utter a wail. His eyes remained
+fixed upon his bride. Etienne Laforge, John Dubourg and Mary La Catelle
+gave proof of the sublimest courage. They were heard singing psalms
+amidst the flames that devoured them. Of these latter, only Anthony
+Poille, whose tongue had been cut out, was silent. The death rattle
+finally silenced the voice of the heretics. It was but charred corpses
+that the executioners were raising and dropping.
+
+When the frightful vision ceased, Odelin dropped to the ground, a prey
+to violent convulsions. Two monks helped the Franc-Taupin carry the
+young novice into a neighboring house. But before leaving the spot of
+Hena's torture and death, Josephin stopped an instant before the brazier
+which was finishing the work of consuming the corpses. There the
+Franc-Taupin pronounced the following silent imprecation:
+
+"Hate and execration for the papist executioners, Kings, priests and
+monks! War, implacable war upon this infamous religion that tortures and
+burns to death those who are refractory to its creed! Reprisals and
+vengeance! By my sister's death; by the agony of her daughter, plunged
+twenty-five times into the fiery furnace--I swear to put twenty-five
+papist priests to death!"
+
+After Odelin recovered consciousness, uncle and nephew resumed their way
+to the place of refuge on St. Honoré Street, where Robert Estienne was
+found waiting for them. The generous friend was proscribed. The next day
+he was to wander into exile to Geneva. It was with great difficulty
+that Princess Marguerite had obtained grace for his life. He informed
+Odelin of his father's flight to La Rochelle and of Bridget's death. He
+pressed upon Josephin the necessity of leaving Paris with Odelin and
+proceeding on the spot to La Rochelle, lest he fall into the clutches of
+the police spies who were on the search for them. At the same time he
+placed in Josephin's hands the necessary funds for the journey, and took
+charge of notifying Master Raimbaud should he also be willing to take
+refuge in La Rochelle.
+
+It was agreed between the three that the Franc-Taupin and his nephew
+would wait two days for Master Raimbaud at Etampes. The directions of
+Robert Estienne were instantly put into execution. That same night
+Odelin and Josephin left Paris, and reached Etampes without difficulty,
+thanks to the monastic garb which cleared the way for them. At Etampes
+Master Raimbaud and his wife joined them before the expiration of the
+second day, and the four immediately took the road to La Rochelle, where
+they arrived on February 17, 1535. The four fugitives inquired for the
+dwelling of Christian Lebrenn. His family, alas! was now reduced to
+three members--father, son and the brave Josephin. The Franc-Taupin
+delivered to his brother-in-law the pocket Bible which he picked up near
+the pyre, the tomb of Hena--that Bible is now added to the relics of the
+Lebrenn family.
+
+END OF VOLUME ONE.
+
+
+
+
+PART II.
+
+THE HUGUENOTS.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+Thirty-four years have elapsed since the martyrdom of Hena Lebrenn,
+Ernest Rennepont and the other heretics who were burned alive before the
+parvise of Notre Dame, in the presence of King Francis I and his court
+on January 21, 1535. To-day, I, Antonicq Lebrenn, son of Odelin and
+grandson of Christian the printer, proceed with the narrative broken off
+above.
+
+Safely established at La Rochelle, Christian was joined in that city by
+his son Odelin and Josephin, the Franc-Taupin. Already shattered in body
+on account of the profound sorrow caused by the death of his wife
+Bridget and the revelation concerning the incestuous attempt made by his
+son Hervé, the news of the frightful death of his daughter Hena
+overwhelmed my grandfather. He did not long survive that last blow. He
+languished about a year longer, wrote the narrative of which the
+following one is the sequel, and died on December 17 of the same year at
+La Rochelle, where he exercised his printer's trade at the establishment
+of Master Auger, a friend of Robert Estienne. The latter himself ended
+his days in exile at Geneva.
+
+Odelin Lebrenn, my father, devoted himself, as in his youth, to the
+armorer's trade. He worked in the establishment of Master Raimbaud, who
+also settled down in La Rochelle in 1535. The old armorer drove a
+lucrative trade in his beautiful arms, with England. Thanks to their
+energy and their municipal franchises, the Rochelois, partisans of the
+Reformation by an overwhelming majority, and protected by the well-nigh
+impregnable position of their city, experienced but slightly the
+persecutions that dyed red the other provinces of Gaul until the day
+when the Protestants took up arms against their oppressors. The hour of
+revolt having sounded, the Rochelois were bound to be the first to take
+the field. Having married in 1545 Marcienne, the sister of Captain
+Mirant, one of the ablest and most daring sailors of La Rochelle, my
+father had three children from this marriage--Theresa, born in 1546; me,
+Antonicq, born in 1549; and Marguerite, born in 1551. I embraced the
+profession of my father, who, upon the death of Master Raimbaud,
+deceased without heirs, succeeded to the latter's business.
+
+About four years ago, the hardship of the times brought to La Rochelle,
+where, together with other Protestants he sought refuge, Louis
+Rennepont, a nephew of Brother St. Ernest-Martyr, the bridegroom of
+Hena, who was burned together with her. Informed by his father of the
+tragic death of the Augustinian monk, Louis Rennepont conceived a horror
+for the creed of Rome, in whose name such atrocities were committed, and
+after his father's death he entered the Evangelical church. An advocate
+in the parliament of Paris, and indicted for heresy, he escaped the
+stake by his flight to La Rochelle. One day, as he strolled along the
+quay before our house, my father's sign--_Odelin Lebrenn,
+Armorer_--caught his eye. He stepped in to inquire into our
+relationship with Hena Lebrenn. From us he gathered the information that
+Hena was his uncle's wife, married to him by a Reformed pastor. Louis
+Rennepont, from that time almost a relative of ours, continued to visit
+the house. He soon seemed smitten with the grace and virtues of my
+sister Theresa. His love was reciprocated. He was a young man of noble
+heart, and of a modest and industrious disposition. Stripped of his
+patrimony by the sentence of heresy, he earned his living at La Rochelle
+with his profession of advocate. My father appreciated the merits of
+Louis Rennepont, and granted him my sister Theresa. They were married in
+1568. Their happiness justifies my father's hopes.
+
+My youngest sister Marguerite disappeared from the paternal home at the
+age of eight, under rather mysterious circumstances which I shall here
+state.
+
+Since his establishment at La Rochelle, my father was animated by a
+lively desire to take us all--mother, sisters and myself--to Brittany,
+on a kind of pious pilgrimage to the scene of our family's origin, near
+the sacred stones of Karnak. The journey by land was short, but the
+religious war included in those days Brittany also in its ravages. My
+father feared to risk himself and family among the warring factions. His
+brother-in-law Mirant, the sailor, having to cross from La Rochelle to
+Dover, proposed that my father take ship with him on his brigantine. The
+vessel was to touch at Vannes, the port nearest Karnak. Our pilgrimage
+accomplished, we were to set sail for Dover, whither my father
+frequently consigned arms, and where he would have the opportunity of a
+personal interview with his correspondent in that place. After that, my
+uncle Mirant was to return to France with a cargo of merchandise. Our
+absence would not exceed three weeks. My father accepted the proposition
+with joy. Shortly before the day of our departure my sister Marguerite
+was taken sick. The distemper was not dangerous, but it prevented her
+from joining in the trip, the day for which was set and could not be
+postponed. My parents left her behind in the charge of her god-mother,
+an excellent woman, the wife of John Barbot, a master copper-smith. We
+departed for Vannes on board the brigantine of Captain Mirant. My sister
+Marguerite recovered soon after. Her god-mother frequently took her out
+for a walk beyond the ramparts. One day the child was playing with other
+little girls near a clump of trees, and strayed away from Dame Barbot.
+When her god-mother looked for her to take her home, the child was
+nowhere to be found. The most diligent searches, instituted for weeks
+and months after the occurrence, were all in vain. The child had been
+abducted; the kidnappers remained undiscovered. Marguerite was wept and
+her loss grieved over by us all.
+
+Our pilgrimage to Karnak, the cradle of the family of Joel, left a
+profound, an indelible impression upon me. I shall later return to some
+of the consequences of that trip. Captain Mirant, my mother's brother, a
+widower after only a few years' marriage, had a daughter named Cornelia.
+I loved her from early infancy as a sister. As we grew up our affection
+for each other waxed warmer. Our parents expected to see us man and
+wife. Cornelia gave promise by her virtue and bravery of resembling one
+of those women belonging to the heroic age of Gaul, and of approving
+herself worthy of her ancestry. Having lost her mother when still a
+child, my cousin occasionally accompanied her father on his rough sea
+voyages. The character of the young girl, like her beauty, presented a
+mixture of virility, grace and strength. At the time when this narrative
+commences, Cornelia was sixteen years of age, myself twenty. We were
+betrothed, and our families had decided that we were to be united in
+wedlock three or four years later.
+
+My grand-uncle the Franc-Taupin yielded, shortly after his arrival at La
+Rochelle, to the solicitations of my grandfather Christian, who, feeling
+his approaching dissolution, entreated the brave soldier of adventure
+not to separate himself from his nephew, soon surely to be an orphan.
+The Franc-Taupin adjourned the execution of his resolution to avenge the
+death of Bridget and Hena. He remained near my father Odelin and
+enrolled himself with the archers of the city. As a consequence of our
+family sorrows, he gave up his former disorderly life. The guardianship
+of his nephew, then still a lad, brought him new duties. He earned by
+his merit the post of sergeant of the city militia. But when the
+massacre of Vassy caused the Protestants to rise from one end of Gaul to
+the other, and these finally ran to arms, the Franc-Taupin departed to
+join the insurgents. He was elected the chief of his band, and proved
+himself pitiless in his acts of reprisal. He had sworn to revenge the
+papist atrocities committed upon his sister and niece. The provinces of
+Anjou and Saintonge took a large part in the religious ware that broke
+out. My father, although married several years before, left his
+establishment to enlist himself among the volunteers of the Protestant
+army, and deported himself bravely under the orders of Coligny, Condé,
+Lanoüe and Dandelot. He was twice wounded. I accompanied him in the
+second armed uprising of 1568, when, alas! I had the misfortune of
+losing him. I took the field at his side as a volunteer, leaving in La
+Rochelle my mother, my sister Theresa, then the wife of Louis Rennepont,
+and my cousin Cornelia, who desired to join her father, Captain Mirant,
+on a cruise against the royal ships, while I was to combat on land in
+the army of Coligny.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE QUEEN'S "FLYING SQUADRON."
+
+
+The Abbey of St. Severin, situated on the Limoges road not far from the
+town of Malraye, belonged to the Order of St. Bernard. Before the
+beginning of the religious wars, the abbey was a splendid monument,
+built by the hands of _Jacques Bonhomme_,[47] like so many other
+monasteries that dot the soil of France. As a church vassal, Jacques
+Bonhomme transported either upon his own back, or, to the still greater
+injury of field agriculture, with the help of oxen, the stones, the
+lumber, the sand and the lime requisite for the erection of these
+pretentious monastic residences. He thereupon carried to the idling
+monks the tithes on his corn, on his cattle, on his poultry, on his
+eggs, on his butter, on his wine, on his oil, on the fleece of his
+sheep, on his honey, on his linen, in short, the prime of all that he
+produced with the sweat of his brow. Then came the corvee[48]--to till
+the convent lands, to sow, weed and gather the crops thereon; to keep
+the convent roads in repair; to irrigate its meadows; to dredge its
+ponds; to serve as watchman; and finally to lay down his life in its
+defense against the roving bands of vagabonds and robbers. In return
+for all these services--when either old, or sick, or exhausted with
+toil, Jacques Bonhomme could work no more--he was allowed to hold out
+his bowl at the gate of the monastery, when the monks would occasionally
+deign to fill it with greasy water from their kitchen. When the church
+vassal was at his last breath, stretched upon the straw in his hut, the
+good Fathers came to assist and solace him with their _Oremus_.[49] "God
+created man for sorrow and poverty," they would say to him; "you have
+suffered--God is pleased; you shall enjoy a famous seat in Paradise.
+Yours will be the delights of the celestial mansion."
+
+When the spirit of the Reformation penetrated some of the provinces,
+Jacques Bonhomme began to lend an ear to a new theory. "Poor, ignorant
+people, poor duped and defrauded people," said the pastors of the new
+church; "offerings to saints, masses, and purgatory are idolatries,
+tricks, frauds, sacrilegious inventions with the aid of which the
+priests and monks appropriate to themselves the silver laid by fools
+upon the altars and at the feet of wooden and stone images. Good men!
+Read the sacred Book. You will discover that God forbids the traffic on
+which thousands of frocked and tonsured idlers grow fat." In sight of
+such a revelation, based as it was upon the texts of Holy Writ, Jacques
+Bonhomme said to himself in his own rustic common sense: "'Tis so! I
+have been cheated, duped and robbed all these centuries by the Church of
+Rome!" Thereupon Jacques Bonhomme turned himself loose upon the
+convents and churches; he overthrew, broke and profaned the altars, the
+relics and the statues of saints that had so long been the objects of
+his veneration.
+
+On the other hand, in the provinces where the population remained under
+the mental domination of the clergy, Jacques Bonhomme turned himself
+loose upon the houses of Huguenots, set them on fire, slaughtered the
+men, violated the women, and dashed the brains of old men and children
+against the walls.
+
+Occupied before the religious wars by the Bernardine monks, the Abbey of
+St. Severin had been repeatedly sacked, like so many other monastic
+resorts in the districts of Poitou, Berri and Limousin. Reared on an
+admirable site--the slope of a hill shaded by a thick forest--the
+convent clearly revealed the traces of a sack, freshly undergone:
+shattered windows, doors broken open or torn from their hinges, portions
+of the walls blackened by fire, and the capitals of the columns
+mutilated by the discharge of arquebuses and the fury of the
+devastators.
+
+One day, towards the middle of the month of June, 1569, as the sun drew
+near the western horizon, the silence around the ruins of the Abbey of
+St. Severin was disturbed by the arrival of two squadrons of light
+cavalry belonging to the Catholic army. The cavalcade escorted a long
+convoy of pack-mules, the men in charge of whom wore the colors and arms
+of the royal house of France and of the house of Lorraine. The convoy
+entered the yard of the cloister. The lackeys unloaded the mules and
+took possession of the deserted abbey. True to their name, the horsemen
+were armed in the lightest manner, with Burgundian helmets and
+breastplates, together with armlets and gauntlets, besides thigh-pieces
+partly covered by their boots; small arquebuses, only three feet long
+and well polished, hung from their saddle pommels, and short swords and
+iron maces completed their outfit.
+
+The armed corps had for its commandant Count Neroweg of Plouernel, a man
+beyond sixty years of age, of rough, haughty and martial mien. From head
+to foot he was covered with armor damascened in gold. His Turkish
+silver-grey horse was cased at the neck, chest and crupper in light
+flexible sheets of chiseled and richly gilt steel. Its orange-colored
+velvet housings and saddle were ornamented with green and silver lace,
+the heraldic colors of the house of Plouernel. The jacket or floating
+coat that the Count wore above his armor was also of orange-colored
+velvet, and likewise embroidered with green and silver thread. The
+commandant of the detachment alighted from his horse; ordered the
+monastery to be searched; set up watches and sent out pickets over the
+principal roads that led to the place. He then remounted and rode away
+in the direction of Limoges, escorted by only one of the two squadrons.
+
+Immediately after the departure of the Count, the quartermasters of
+Queen Catherine De Medici, assisted by her serving-men and those of
+Charles of Guise, Cardinal of Lorraine, fell to work on the task of
+imparting to the devastated halls of the abbey the most presentable
+appearance possible, with the view of lodging the Queen and the prelate
+whose arrival they expected. The mules, to the number of more than
+sixty, carried a complete traveling equipment on their pack-saddles, or
+in large trunks strapped to their backs--tent cloths, lambrequins,
+tapestry, easels, dismantled beds, curtains, mattresses, silver vessels,
+besides an abundance of eatables and wines with the necessary kitchen
+utensils, and even ice, in leather bags. The valets set to work with a
+will, and with a promptitude truly marvelous they tapestried the
+apartments destined for the Queen and for the Cardinal by hanging rich
+cloths, provided in advance with gilt hooks, from nails that they deftly
+drove along the upper edges of the walls. They then fitted out the two
+rooms with the necessary furniture brought by the mules. A chamber,
+separated from that of the Queen by a small passage was likewise
+prepared for the reception of the sovereign's four maids of honor. The
+pages, the knights, the chamberlains, the officers and the equerries
+were all quartered, as in time of war, in the outhouses of the abbey,
+the vast kitchen of which was invaded by the master cook and his aides,
+who prepared supper, while the stewards spread the royal table in the
+refectory of the monastery. Shortly before sunset forerunners announced
+the approach of the Queen. Upon the heels of the forerunners came a
+vanguard, and immediately after, several armed squadrons, in the center
+of which was the royal litter, enclosed with hangings of
+gold-embroidered violet velvet and carried by two mules, likewise in
+trappings of violet velvet. A second litter, not so richly decorated and
+empty at the time, was reserved for those maids of honor who might tire
+of riding. These maids, however, together with their governess, had
+preferred to cover the distance on the backs of their richly caparisoned
+palfreys, the necks, flanks and cruppers of which were decked in
+embroidered velvet emblazoned with the arms of the royal house of
+France. Pages and equerries followed the maids of honor. The rear was
+brought up by the litter of the Cardinal of Lorraine, wrapped in purple
+taffeta hangings and surrounded by several leading dignitaries and
+Princes of the Church.
+
+Before entering the yard of the abbey the prelate put his head out of
+his litter, and ordered one of his gentlemen-in-waiting to summon before
+him the commandant of the escort. Charles of Guise, Cardinal of
+Lorraine, was at that time forty-six years of age. His otherwise
+handsome features, now marred by debauchery, reflected shrewdness,
+craft, and above all haughtiness, these being the dominant traits of his
+character. Count Neroweg of Plouernel, who was summoned by the prelate,
+approached the litter.
+
+"Monsieur," said the Cardinal in an imperious tone, "do you answer for
+the safety of the Queen and myself?"
+
+"Yes, Monsieur Cardinal."
+
+"Have you taken sufficient precautions against any surprise on the part
+of the Huguenot band known by the name of the 'Avengers of Israel' and
+captained by a felon nicknamed the 'One-Eyed'?"
+
+"Monsieur Cardinal, I answer with my life for the safety of the Queen.
+The Huguenot forces need not alarm us. His Majesty's army covers our
+escort. Marshal Tavannes is notified of the Queen's arrival; he has
+undoubtedly kept clear the route followed by her Majesty. I told your
+Eminence before that it would have been better to push straight ahead
+until we joined the army of Marshal Tavannes, instead of spending the
+night at this abbey."
+
+"Do you imagine the Queen and I can travel like a couple of troopers,
+without alighting for rest?"
+
+"Monsieur Cardinal," replied Count Neroweg of Plouernel haughtily, "it
+is not for others to remind me of the respect I owe her Majesty."
+
+"Monsieur!" exclaimed the Cardinal angrily, "you seem to forget that you
+are addressing a Prince of the house of Lorraine. Be more respectful!"
+
+"Monsieur Cardinal, if you know the history of your house, I know the
+history of mine. Pepin of Heristal, the grandfather of Charlemagne, from
+whom you pretend to descend, was but a rather insignificant specimen
+when the house of Neroweg, illustrious in Germany long before the
+Frankish conquest, was already established in Gaul for two centuries on
+its Salic domains of Auvergne, which it held from the sword of one of
+its own ancestors, a leude of Clovis--"
+
+"Lower your tone, monsieur! Do not oblige me to remind you that Colonel
+Plouernel, your brother, is one of the military chiefs of the rebels who
+have risen in arms against the Church and the Crown."
+
+The colloquy was interrupted at this point by the arrival of a page who
+hurried to announce to the Cardinal the entry of the Queen into the
+cloister.
+
+Leaving Count Neroweg under the stigma of insinuated treason, the
+prelate stepped down from his litter in order to hasten to the Queen's
+side and render her his homage. Catherine De Medici was then in her
+fiftieth year. Not now was she, as on that fateful January 21, 1535,
+merely a Princess, and the young butt of the arrows of the Duchess of
+Etampes. Since then, Francis I had died and had been succeeded to the
+throne by her husband as Henry II, who, dying later from the
+consequences of an accident at a tourney, left her Queen
+Regent--absolute monarch. In point of appearance also Catherine De
+Medici was now her complete self. She preserved the traces of her
+youthful beauty. A slight corpulence impaired in nothing the majesty of
+her stature. Her shoulders, arms and hands--all of a dazzling
+whiteness--would, thanks to the perfection of their lines, have
+presented a noble model for a sculptor. Her hair preserved its pristine
+blackness, and was on this evening covered by the hood of a damask
+mantle, violet like her trailing robe, which exposed a front of brass.
+Cunning, perfidy, cruelty, were stamped upon her striking countenance.
+Catherine De Medici leaned upon the arm of her lover, the Cardinal of
+Lorraine, and entered the abbey, followed by her maids of honor, a bevy
+of ravishing young girls.
+
+The maids of honor of Catherine De Medici indulged in these days, and by
+express orders of their mistress, in the strangest of doings. The
+ironical title was given them of the "Queen's Flying Squadron." Indeed,
+according as her policy might require, Catherine De Medici commanded
+her maids of honor to prostitute themselves and take for their lovers
+the young seigneurs whom she wished to attract to her party, or whose
+secrets she wished to fathom. Occasionally the Queen even pointed out to
+her nymphs such court folks as she wished to be rid of. In such
+instances, René, the court perfumer, prepared the most subtle poisons
+and the surest to boot, wherewith the young maids impregnated the gloves
+of their lovers, or the petals of a flower, or smelling boxes, or the
+sugar plums which they offered to the victims designated to them. It was
+a customary saying of Catherine De Medici to her new female recruits:
+"My little one, you are free to worship at the shrine of Diana, or at
+that of Venus, but if you sacrifice to the little god Cupid, have an eye
+to the breadth of your waist."[50]
+
+After supper the Cardinal of Lorraine remained alone with the Queen. The
+maids of honor entertained themselves in a chamber adjoining the royal
+apartment. There were four of them, each of a different type of beauty.
+The youngest was eighteen years of age. A veneer of grace and elegance
+concealed the precocious degradation of the four beauties. They were
+superbly dressed. Catherine De Medici loved luxury; on their travels the
+members of her suite took with them, laden in trunks strapped to the
+backs of mules, complete outfits of splendid apparel. One of the maids
+of honor, Blanche of Verceil, was temporarily absent. Diana of
+Sauveterre, the senior of the Queen's squadron, was a white and pink
+beauty of the blonde type. She wore a blue waist ornamented with open
+gold lace-work; her coif, made of white taffeta and surmounted with
+little curled feathers of blue and silver, marked with its point the
+middle of her forehead, whence, widening in two rounded wings to either
+side over her temples, it exposed an opulent growth of blonde hair
+combed back from the roots. Clorinde of Vaucernay, a dainty little
+creature with black hair and blue eyes, was clad in a waist and skirt of
+pale yellow damask threaded with silver; her bonnet, made of the same
+material, was embroidered with pearls. Finally, Anna Bell, the youngest
+and most beautiful of all, seemed to unite in her single person the
+different charms of the other maids of honor. Elegant of stature and
+with a skin of dazzling white, her thick light-brown hair contrasted
+marvelously with her eye-brows, jet-black like the long eyelashes which
+partly veiled her large, soft, brown eyes. The maid's rose-colored satin
+coat fell in graceful folds upon her robe of white satin. Her pink
+bonnet was surmounted by little white frizzled feathers. Anna Bell
+seemed to be in a mood of profound melancholy. Seated slightly apart
+from her companions, with her elbows leaning on a window that opened
+upon the enclosure of the abbey, she dreamily contemplated the starry
+sky, lending but an absentminded attention to the conversation of her
+sister maids of honor.
+
+"Did I understand you to say there were philters that could make men
+amorous?" asked Clorinde of Vaucernay.
+
+"Yes, indeed," replied Diana of Sauveterre. "The effectiveness of
+certain philters is indisputable. In support of what I say I shall quote
+Madam Noirmoutier. She succeeded in pouring a few drops of a certain
+liquid into Monsieur Langeais's glass. Before the repast was over, the
+young seigneur was crazy in love with her."
+
+"And yet there are people who remain incredulous concerning the efficacy
+of love potions," returned the first speaker. "What about you, Anna
+Bell, are you among the unbelievers?"
+
+"Sincere love is the only philter that can effect prodigies," Anna Bell
+sighed as she answered.
+
+At that moment Blanche of Verceil joined her companions. Hers was a
+masculine, brown-complexioned and tall type of beauty. The maid's
+abundant black hair and thick eyebrows would have imparted the stamp of
+harshness to her face were it not for the smile of merry raillery that
+habitually flitted over her cherry-red lips, which were accentuated by a
+light-brown down. She held in her hand several sheets of paper, and said
+gaily to her companions:
+
+"I have come to share with you, my darlings, a bit of good luck that has
+befallen me."
+
+"Good! Distribute your good things," cried Diana of Sauveterre.
+
+"This morning, just as we were mounting our horses," began Blanche of
+Verceil, "a page arrived from Paris, sent to me by my dear Brissac. The
+page brought me sugar plums, fresh flowers wonderfully preserved, and a
+letter full of love. But that is not all. The letter, which I could not
+read until a few minutes ago, contained a treasure--an inestimable
+treasure--the newest _pasquils_, the most daring and most biting that
+have yet appeared! They are a true intellectual treat."
+
+"What a windfall! And against whom are they directed?" asked Diana of
+Sauveterre.
+
+"Innocent creature that you are!" Blanche of Verceil returned. "Against
+whom can they be written if not against the Queen, against the Cardinal,
+against the court, and against the maids of honor of the Queen's 'Flying
+Squadron'? It is all of us who are the butts of the satirists."
+
+"Those vicious people treat us with scant courtesy," exclaimed the
+black-haired Clorinde of Vaucernay. "But, at any rate, we are sung in
+superb and royal company. By Venus and Cupid, we should feel proud."
+
+"Come, Blanche, read us the verses," Diana of Sauveterre suggested. "The
+Queen may send for us any moment before she retires."
+
+Instead of complying at once with Diana's request, Blanche of Verceil
+pointed to Anna Bell, who remained in silent abstraction, and in a low
+voice said to her companions: "Decidedly, the little one is in love. Her
+ears do not prick up at the sound of that tickling word _pasquil_--a
+divine tid-bit of wit and wickedness the salt of which is worth a
+hundred fold, a thousand fold more than all the sugar of the candies."
+
+"I wager she is dreaming awake of the German Prince of whom she speaks
+in her slumbers. How indiscreet sleep is! Poor thing, she thinks her
+secret is well kept," rejoined Clorinde of Vaucernay.
+
+"Blanche, the pasquils," again cried Diana, impatiently. "I burn with
+curiosity to hear them."
+
+"Honor to whom honor is due. We shall commence with our good dame the
+Queen;" and with these words Blanche read:
+
+    "People ask, What's the resemblance
+    'Tween Catherine and Jesebel:
+    One, the latter, ruined Israel,
+    And the former ruins France;
+    Extreme malice marked the latter,
+    Malice's self the former is;
+    Finally, the judgment fell
+    Of a Providence divine
+    Caused the dogs to eat up Jesebel,
+    While the carcass rank of Catherine
+    In this point doth differ much:
+    It not even the dogs will munch."[51]
+
+The maids of honor broke out into peals of laughter. Anna Bell, still
+pensively seated apart at the open casement, let her eyes wander over
+space, a stranger to the hilarity of her companions. She paid no
+attention to the reading of the verses.
+
+"You will yet see, in the event of our good Dame Catherine's being taken
+unawares and swallowing some of the sugar plums destined for her
+victims, that the rascally dogs may fear the remains of our venerable
+sovereign are poisoned--and will run away from her carcass," said
+Clorinde of Vaucernay.
+
+"That pasquil should be read to the Queen. If she is in a good humor she
+will have a good laugh over it," put in Diana of Sauveterre.
+
+"Indeed, few things amuse her more than bold and witty verses,"
+acquiesced Blanche. "Do you remember how, when she read the 'Marvelous
+Discourses' from the satirical pen of the famous printer Robert
+Estienne, the good dame laughed heartily and said: 'There is some truth
+in that! But they do not know it all--how would it be if they were more
+fully posted!'[52] Now, listen. After the Queen, Monsieur the Cardinal,
+that is a matter of course. He is supposed to be dead--they wish he
+were--that also is natural. Here is his epitaph written in advance:
+
+    "The Cardinal, who, in his hours of life
+      Kept heaven, sea and earth all seething o'er,
+    In hell now carries on his furious strife,
+      And 'mong the damned, as erst 'mong us makes war.
+
+    "Why is it that upon his tomb is showered
+      The holy water in such rare profusion?
+    It is that there the torch of war lies lowered,
+      And all fear lest it flare to new confusion."[53]
+
+"Poor Monsieur Cardinal!" exclaimed Diana of Sauveterre. "What a
+villainous calumny! He, such a poltroon as he, for a Guise--he is the
+most craven of all cravens--to compare him with a bolt of war!"
+
+"No, not a bolt, but a torch," Blanche corrected. "He rests satisfied
+with holding the torch of war, like Madam Gondi, the governess of the
+royal Princes and Princesses, held the torch of Venus to light the
+amours of the late King Henry II, whose worthy go-between, or, to speak
+more plainly, whose Cyprian, she was."
+
+"As for me," said Clorinde of Vaucernay, "I highly commend the Queen for
+having placed, as governess over her children, her own husband's
+go-between. It is a sort of hereditary office which can not be entrusted
+to hands too worthy, and should be perpetuated in titled families."
+
+"Accordingly," said Blanche, "Gondi, faithful to the duties of her
+Cyprian employment, took charge of carrying the first love letter from
+Mademoiselle Margot[54] to young Henry of Guise, whom we are about to
+meet in the army of Marshal Tavannes. Hence evil tongues are saying: 'In
+these days, it is not the men who fall on their knees before the women,
+but the women who fall on their knees before the men and entreat them
+for amorous mercy.'"[55]
+
+"Nothing wonderful in that!" replied Clorinde. "Is it not for a Queen to
+take the first step towards her subjects? What are we? Queens. What are
+the men? Our subjects. Besides that, Henry of Guise is so handsome, so
+brave, so amorous! Although he is barely eighteen years old, all the
+women are crazy over him--I first of all. My arms are open to him."
+
+"Oh, Clorinde! If Biron were to hear you!" cried Diana of Sauveterre.
+
+"He has heard me," answered Clorinde. "He knows that in pledging
+constancy, exception is always implied for an encounter with Henry of
+Guise. But let us hear the other pasquils, Blanche!"
+
+"The next one," announced Blanche, "is piquant. It alludes to the new
+custom that the Queen has borrowed from Spain. It alludes to the title
+of _Majesty_ that she wishes to be addressed by, as well as her
+children:
+
+    "The Kingdom of France, to perdition while lagging,
+    Has seized from the Spaniard his heathenish bragging:
+    It rigs up a mortal in godhead's travesty,
+    And when his estate with hypocrisy's smelling,
+    I plainly can see, and without any telling,
+    Our Majesty's booked--to be stript of majesty."[56]
+
+"That last line is humorous," laughed Clorinde. "'Our Majesty's
+booked--to be stript of majesty.'"
+
+"For want of the thing we take the name--that is enough to impose upon
+the fools," said Diana of Sauveterre.
+
+Blanche pointed to their companion who was still seated by the window,
+now with her forehead resting on her hands, and said: "Look at Anna
+Bell. In what black melancholy is she plunged?"
+
+"To the devil with melancholy!" answered Diana. "One has to fall in love
+with some German Prince in order to look so pitiful!"
+
+"Who may the Prince Charming be?" Blanche inquired. "We know nothing of
+the secrets of that languishing maid, except a few words uttered by her
+in her sleep--'Prince--Germany!--Germany!--My heart is all yours. Alas,
+my love can not be shared.'"
+
+"Can Anna Bell be German?" asked Clorinde.
+
+"Ask our good Dame Catherine about that. She is no doubt acquainted with
+the mystery of Anna Bell's birth, and may enlighten you on what you want
+to know. As for me, I know nothing about it."
+
+"The German Prince has turned her head and made her forget poor Solange
+altogether," said Clorinde.
+
+"The most famous preachers, among them Burning-Fire and Fra Hervé the
+Cordelier, failed to draw the Marquis of Solange back to the fold of the
+Church. Anna Bell undertook his conversion, and, by grace from above--or
+from below--by virtue of her blue eyes or of her charming hips, the
+Huguenot became an ardent Catholic."
+
+"But to whom does he render his devotions?" asked Clorinde, meaningly.
+"To the Church, or to the chapel of our little friend?" The maids of
+honor laughed uproariously and Clorinde continued: "But let us return to
+our pasquils."
+
+"This one," resumed Blanche of Verceil, "is odd on account of its
+form--and the climax is droll. Judge for yourselves:
+
+    "The poor people endure everything;
+    The men-at-arms ravage everything;
+    The Holy Church pensions everything;
+    The favorites demand everything;
+    The Cardinal grants everything;
+    The Parliament registers everything;
+    The Chancellor seals everything;
+    The Queen-Mother runs everything;
+    And only the Devil laughs at everything;
+    Because the Devil will take everything."[57]
+
+The loud hilarity of the maids of honor, whom the wind-up of the last
+pasquil amused intensely, finally attracted the attention of Anna Bell.
+Her face bore the impress of profound sadness; her eyes were moist.
+Fearing that she was the object of her companions' jests, the maid
+furtively wiped away her tears, stepped slowly towards the other young
+women, and let herself down beside Blanche of Verceil.
+
+"We are somewhat after the fashion of the devil--we laugh about
+everything," said Clorinde to her. "You alone, Anna Bell, among us all,
+are as sad as a wife who sees her husband return from a long voyage, or
+beholds her gallant depart for the wars. What is the reason of your
+despondency?"
+
+Anna Bell forced a smile, and answered: "Forget me, as the wife forgets
+her husband. To-day I feel in a sad humor."
+
+"The remembrance, perhaps, of a bad dream?" suggested Blanche of
+Verceil, ironically. "Or perhaps bad news from a handsome and absent
+friend?"
+
+"No, dear Blanche," replied Anna Bell, blushing, "I am affected only by
+a vague sorrow--without cause or object. Besides, as you are aware, I am
+not of a gay disposition."
+
+"Oh, God!" broke in Diana of Sauveterre, excitedly. "By the way of
+dreams, I must tell you I had a most frightful one last night. I saw our
+escort attacked by the Huguenot bandits called the Avengers of Israel."
+
+"Their chief is said to be a devilish one-eyed man, who attacks monks
+and priests by choice," said Blanche, "and, when he takes them prisoner,
+flays their skulls. He calls that raising them to the cardinalate,
+coifing them with the red cap!"
+
+"It is enough to make one shiver with terror. One hears nothing but
+reports of such atrocities," exclaimed Clorinde.
+
+"We need not fear that we shall fall into the hands of that reprobate,"
+said Diana reassuringly. "We have attended a special mass for the
+success of our journey."
+
+"I place but slight reliance upon the mass, my dear Diana, but a very
+strong one upon Count Neroweg of Plouernel, who commands our escort,"
+replied Blanche. "The Huguenot bandits will not dare to approach our
+armed squadrons and light cavalry. The saber is a better protection to
+us than the priest's cowl."
+
+"May God preserve us!" laughed Diana. "All the same, I would not regret
+undergoing a scare, or even running a certain degree of risk of being
+carried off, together with the accessory consequences--anything to see
+the frightened face of the Cardinal, who is as lily-livered as a hare."
+
+"To tell the truth, I do not understand these charges of cowardice that
+you fling at the Cardinal, after so many proofs of valor given by him,"
+said Blanche.
+
+Diana of Sauveterre burst out laughing again. "You must be joking," she
+said, "when you speak of the 'bravery' of the Cardinal, and of the
+'proofs of valor' given by him."
+
+"No, indeed, my dear Diana," replied Blanche. "I am talking seriously.
+First of all, did he not carry bravery to the point of charging old
+Diana of Poitiers, as he would have done a citadel? Did he not
+accomplish another exploit in passing from the arms of Diana into those
+of our good Queen Catherine, though she be loaded with years and
+corpulence? Besides, we know," she added with a sinister smile, "that to
+play the gallant with Catherine is at times to court death. These are
+the reasons why I look upon the Cardinal as a Caesar."
+
+"You would be talking to the point, my dear, if, instead of braving the
+one-eyed man, who has such a reputation for ferocity, the Cardinal were
+now to turn to the assault of some one-eyed woman," said Clorinde of
+Vaucernay.
+
+"If heaven is just," said Diana, "it will yet place the Huguenot bandit
+face to face with the Cordelier Hervé. Then would we see terrible
+things. The monk commands a company of Catholics, all desperate men. For
+arms he has a chaplet, the beads of which are arquebus balls, and a
+heavy iron crucifix which he uses for a mace. All heretics who fall into
+the hands of the troop of Fra Hervé are put to death with all manner of
+refined tortures, whether they be men or women, old men or children. But
+do let us return to our pasquils."
+
+"The best are still to come. They are the cleverest and drollest, but
+they are in prose;" and Blanche continued reading:
+
+              "NEW WORKS BELONGING TO THE COURT LIBRARY.
+
+     "The _Pot-pourri of the Affairs of France_, translated from the
+     Italian into French by the Queen of France.
+
+     "The _General Goslings' Record_, by the Cardinal of Bourbon. A
+     collection of racy stories.
+
+     "The _History of Ganymede_, by the Duke of Anjou, the Queen's
+     favorite son."
+
+"The dear Prince surely did not write that book without a collaborator,"
+cried Diana of Sauveterre, laughing. "I wager the lovely Odet, the son
+of Count Neroweg of Plouernel, his aide-de-camp, must have helped the
+Duke of Anjou in his work. The two youngsters have become inseparable,
+day--and night!"
+
+"_O, Italiam! Italiam!_ O, Italy, the rival of Gomorrah and of Lesbos!"
+exclaimed Clorinde, laughing boisterously.
+
+"You speak Latin, my dear?" asked Diana, amused.
+
+"Simply out of shame," replied Clorinde, "in order not to frighten the
+modesty of the maids of honor, my pretty chickens."
+
+"I have a horror of the little hermaphrodites," agreed Blanche. "They
+are decked out like women--gaudy ruffles, jewelry in their ears, fans in
+their hands! May Venus protect us from the reign of those favorites! May
+the fires of hell consume the popinjays! But to proceed with the
+pasquil. Attention, my dears:
+
+     "_Singular Treatise on Incest_, by Monsignor the Archbishop of
+     Lyons, recently published and dedicated to Mademoiselle Grisolles,
+     his sister. A pretty couple!
+
+"Monsignor Archbishop studies reserved cases--in the confessional, in
+order to put them into practice.
+
+     "_Sermons_, by the reverend Father Burning-Fire, faithfully
+     compiled by the street-porters of Paris.
+
+     "_The Perfect Pig_, by Monsieur Villequier, revised, corrected and
+     considerably enlarged by Madam Villequier. Boar and sow!"
+
+The maids of honor roared out aloud as they heard the burlesque title,
+and they repeated in chorus--"The Perfect Pig!"[58]
+
+"Now comes the last and best," proceeded Blanche. "We are again the
+theme, together with our good Dame Catherine. Ours the honors, as ever.
+Meditate upon these dainties:
+
+                    "MANIFESTO OF THE COURT LADIES.
+
+     "_Be it known to all by these presents that the Court Ladies have
+     no less repentance than sins, as appears from the following
+     lamentations_.
+
+                 "CATHERINE DE MEDICI, THE KING'S MOTHER.
+
+     "My God, my heart, feeling the approach of death, apprehends Thy
+     wrath and my eternal damnation when I consider how many sins I have
+     committed, as well with my body as through the violent death of
+     others, even of near relatives--all in order to reign. How I have
+     raised my children in vice, blasphemy and perfidy, and my daughters
+     in unchaste licence, to the point of tolerating and even
+     authorizing a brothel at my Court. France made me what I am. I
+     unmake her all I can. With the good King David I say--_Tibi soli
+     peccavi_."[59]
+
+"That is carrying fiction to great lengths," laughed Diana of
+Sauveterre. "I do not believe our good Dame Catherine is capable of
+repenting any of the things laid to her door by the malignant
+pasquil--neither her debaucheries nor any of her other evil
+deeds--unchastities or assassinations."
+
+"The word 'brothel' is rather impertinent when applied to us!" Clorinde
+exclaimed. "They should have said, like our dear Rabelais, 'an Abbey of
+Thalamia,' or 'a Monastery of Cyprus, of which the Queen is the Mother
+Abbess.' That would have been elegant--without doing violence to the
+truth. A 'brothel'--fie! fie! Nasty word! We are the priestesses of
+Venus--only that!"
+
+"I was not aware, dearest, that you had become a model of prudishness!"
+returned Blanche of Verceil with exquisite mockery. "When you ply a
+trade you must be willing to accept its name, and be indifferent to the
+word with which it is designated;" and she proceeded to read:
+
+                  "MANIFESTO OF THE MAIDS OF HONOR.
+
+     "Oh! Oh! Oh! My God! What is to become of us, Lord! Oh, what will
+     be of us, if Thou dost not extend to us Thy vast, very vast mercy!
+     We cry out to Thee in a loud voice that it may please Thee to
+     forgive us the many carnal sins we have committed with Kings,
+     Cardinals, Princes, knights, abbots, preachers, poets, musicians
+     and all manner of other folks of all conditions, trades and
+     quality, down to muleteers, pages and lackeys, and even further
+     down--people corroded with disease and soaked in preservatives!
+     Therefore do we say with the good Madam Villequier: 'Oh, Lord,
+     mercy! Grant us mercy! And if we can not find a husband, let us
+     join the Order of the Magdalens!'
+
+     "Done at Chercheau, voyage to Nerac.
+
+     "_Signed_, CUCUFIN.
+
+     "(With the permission of Monsignor the Archbishop of Lyons.)"[60]
+
+Such was the cynicism and moral turpitude of the wretched girls,
+corrupted and gangrened to the core as they were since early childhood
+by the perversions of an infamous court and the example as well as the
+advice of Catherine De Medici, that this scorching satire, more than any
+of the other pasquils, provoked the boundless hilarity of the "Flying
+Squadron." All sense of decorum was blotted out. Anna Bell alone blushed
+and dropped her eyes.
+
+The gay guffaws of the beautiful sinners were interrupted by the solemn
+entrance of their governess.
+
+"Silence!" she commanded. "Silence, young ladies! Her Majesty is close
+by, in conference with Monseigneur the Cardinal."
+
+"Oh, dear Countess!" answered Blanche of Verceil, endeavoring to smother
+the outbursts of her laughter. "If you only knew what a wicked pasquil
+we have just read! According to the author it would seem that we emerge
+from our dormitory like the goddess Truth out of her fountain, or with
+as scant clothing on our limbs as Madam Eve in her paradise."
+
+"Less noise, you crazy lasses! Less noise!" ordered the governess; and
+addressing Anna Bell: "Come, dearest, the Queen wishes to have a talk
+with you after her conference with his Excellency the Cardinal. You are
+to wait for her summons in a cabinet, which is separated from the
+Queen's apartment by the little corridor. When you hear her bell ring
+three times, the usual summons, you are to go in."
+
+Anna Bell went out with the governess, leaving her lightheaded and
+lighthearted companions in the room laughing and exchanging witticisms
+upon the pasquils.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+ANNA BELL.
+
+
+Catherine De Medici and Cardinal Charles of Lorraine were in the midst
+of a conversation that started immediately after supper. The prelate,
+complaisant, sly and attentive to the slightest word of the Italian
+woman, showed himself alternately reserved and familiar, according to
+the turn that the conversation took. The Queen, on the other hand,
+intent, not so much upon what the retainer of the Guises said, as upon
+fathoming what he suppressed, at once hated and feared him, and sought
+to surprise upon his face the hidden secrets of his thoughts. Both the
+one and the other stood on their guard, the two accomplices in intrigue
+and crime vying with each other in dissimulation and perfidy, the
+Italian woman crafty, the prelate cautious.
+
+"Monsignor Cardinal," remarked Catherine De Medici with a touch of irony
+in her tone, "you remind me at this moment--you must excuse the
+comparison, I am a huntress you know--"
+
+"Your Majesty unites all the deities--Juno on her throne, Diana in the
+woods, Venus in her temple of Cytheria--"
+
+"Mercy, Monsignor Cardinal, let us drop those mythological queens. They
+are old, they have lived their time--Diana, with the rest of them; they
+now inhabit the empyrean."
+
+The pointed allusion to his amours with old Diana of Poitiers, Duchess
+of Valentinois, stung the haughty prelate to the quick. He meant to give
+tit for tat, and, in his turn hinting at his present amours with the
+Queen herself, he replied:
+
+"I perceive, madam, that the death of the Duchess of Valentinois has not
+yet disarmed your jealousy. And yet, I feel hope re-rising in my
+heart--"
+
+Catherine De Medici had yielded herself to the prelate out of political
+calculation, the same as he himself had laid siege to her out of
+political ambition. The Italian woman affected not to have understood
+the Cardinal's hint at their intimate relations, and darting upon him
+her viper's glance, proceeded:
+
+"As I was saying, monsignor, when I begged you to excuse a comparison
+which I borrow from falconry, your oratorical circumlocutions remind me
+of a falcon's evolutions when he rises in the air to swoop down upon his
+prey. I have been searching through the mists of your discourse for the
+prey you are in pursuit of, and am unable to discover it. You induced me
+to join my son of Anjou in the army with the view of reviving the
+spirits of the Catholic chiefs. Meseems my faithful subjects should be
+sufficiently encouraged by the deaths of the Duke of Deux-Ponts, of
+Monsieur Condé, and of Dandelot, the brother of Coligny,--three of the
+most prominent chiefs of the Huguenot party, and all three carried off
+within a month. These are all fortunate events."[61]
+
+"We see God's hand in that, madam," observed the Cardinal. "These three
+sudden deaths are providential. They are utterances from God."
+
+"'Providential,' as you say Monsignor Cardinal," pursued the Queen.
+"Nevertheless, the Huguenots are pushing the campaign with great vigor,
+while the Catholic chiefs are flagging. You thought my presence at the
+camp of Roche-la-Belle would exert a favorable influence upon the fate
+of the campaign. Accordingly, I am on the way to join our army. Now,
+however, you indicate to me that this journey might lead to unexpected
+discoveries. You even dropped the word 'treason.' Once more I must say
+to you, Monsignor Cardinal, I see in all this the evolutions of the
+falcon, but not yet the prey that it threatens. In short, if there is
+treason, tell me where it lies. If there is a traitor, name him. Speak
+out plainly."
+
+"Very well, madam. There is a plot concocted by Marshal Tavannes. The
+revelation seems to cause your Majesty to start. I beg your leave to go
+into the details of the affair. You will then be instructed upon its
+purpose."
+
+"Monsignor Cardinal, no act of treason can surprise me. All I care to
+understand is the cause that brings the treason about. Please continue
+your revelations."
+
+"I have it from good authority that Marshal Tavannes is negotiating with
+Monsieur Coligny. In present circumstances, negotiations smack of
+treason."
+
+"And what do you presume, Monsignor Cardinal, is the purpose of the
+negotiations between Tavannes and Coligny?"
+
+"To induce your Majesty's son, the Duke of Anjou, to embrace the
+Reformation and join the Huguenots."
+
+"Is my son of Anjou supposed to be implicated in the plot? That, indeed,
+would mightily surprise me."
+
+"Yes, madam. The Emperor of Germany and Monsieur Coligny have promised
+to the Duke of Anjou, in case he consents to go over to the reformers,
+the sovereignty of the Low Countries, of Saintonge and of Poitou. They
+hope to drive the young Prince into open revolt against his reigning
+brother, his Majesty Charles IX."
+
+"Monsignor Cardinal, your insinuations, affecting as they do a son of
+the royal house of France, are of so grave a nature that I am bound to
+presume you have, ready at hand, the proofs of the plot which you are
+revealing to me. I demand that you produce the proofs instantly."
+
+"I am at the orders of my Queen. I now hasten to spread before your
+Majesty's eyes the correspondence relating to the plot. Here is a letter
+from his Majesty Philip II of Spain, who was the first to get wind of
+the scheme, through one of his agents in the Low Countries.
+Furthermore, here are the written propositions from his Catholic
+Majesty and the Holy Father for common action with your Majesty against
+the Huguenot rebellion and heresy."
+
+"What are the propositions of his Catholic Majesty and venerated
+Pontiff?"
+
+"King Philip II and our Holy Father Pius V offer to your Majesty,
+besides the five thousand Walloon and Italian soldiers that now
+reinforce our army, a new corps of six thousand men--under the condition
+that your Majesty remove Marshal Tavannes and place the supreme command
+of the troops in the hands of the Duke of Alva."
+
+"Accordingly," replied Catherine De Medici, fixing her eyes upon the
+Cardinal, "our two allies, His Holiness and King Philip II demand that
+the Duke of Alva, a Spanish general, be the commandant in chief of the
+French forces?"
+
+"That is their condition, madam. But it is also agreed that the Duke of
+Alva is to exercise a nominal command only, and that the military
+operations shall be conducted by my brother of Aumale and my nephew
+Henry of Guise, who are to be his immediate subalterns."
+
+Catherine De Medici remained impassive, betraying neither astonishment
+nor anger at the proposition to deliver the command of the French royal
+troops to the Duke of Alva, the pestiferous menial of Philip II, and to
+strengthen the Duke's hand with the support of the brother and the
+nephew of the prelate. The Queen seemed to reflect. After a short pause
+she said to the Cardinal:
+
+"The proposition is not inacceptable. It may serve as the basis for some
+combination that we may offer later."
+
+Despite his self-control, the Cardinal's face betrayed his secret joy.
+The Queen seemed not to notice it, and proceeded:
+
+"The first thing to do would then be to withdraw my son of Anjou from
+the command of the army."
+
+"The principal thing to do, madam, would be to remonstrate with the
+young Prince, and to separate him from his present evil advisers."
+
+"That, indeed, would be the wisest course to pursue, if that plot
+exists, as I very much fear it can not be doubted in sight of the proofs
+you have presented to me. And yet, I must be frank to confess, I feel
+some repugnance against placing the Duke of Alva at the head of our
+army. I would be afraid, above all, of displeasing the other military
+chiefs and high dignitaries of our court. The measure will seem an
+outrage to them."
+
+"I have the honor of reminding your Majesty that, in that case, my
+brother and my nephew will be joined to the Duke of Alva."
+
+"You may feel certain, Monsignor Cardinal, that, without the express
+condition of Messieurs of Aumale and Guise being joined to the Spanish
+generalissimo, I would not for a moment have lent an ear to the scheme."
+
+Thrown off the scent by the Queen, the prelate answered
+enthusiastically:
+
+"Oh, madam, I swear to God the throne has not a more faithful supporter
+than the house of Guise."
+
+"The fraud! The scamp!" said the Italian woman to herself. "I have
+probed his thoughts! I scent his treason! But I am compelled to conceal
+my feelings and to humor his family, however heartily I abhor it."
+
+One of the Queen's pages, posted outside the door of the apartment and
+authorized at certain emergencies of the service to enter the Queen's
+cabinet without being called, parted the portieres, and bowing
+respectfully, said:
+
+"Madam, the Count of La Riviere, captain of the guards of the Duke of
+Anjou, has just arrived from camp, and requests to be introduced to your
+Majesty immediately."
+
+"Bring him in," answered Catherine De Medici. And as the page was about
+to withdraw, she added: "Should Monsieur Gondi arrive this evening, or
+even later in the night, let me be notified without delay."
+
+The page bowed a second time, and withdrew. The Queen's last words
+seemed to cause the Cardinal some uneasiness. He asked with surprise:
+
+"Does madam expect Monsieur Gondi?"
+
+"Gondi must have received a letter from me at Poitiers, in which I
+ordered him to meet me at the camp of my son, instead of pursuing his
+route to Paris."
+
+The Guisard had not quite recovered from his surprise when the Count of
+La Riviere, captain of the guards of the Duke of Anjou, was ushered in
+by the page. Catherine De Medici said to the prelate with a sweet smile:
+
+"We shall see each other again to-night, Monsignor Cardinal. I shall
+need the advice of my friends in these sad complications. I shall want
+yours."
+
+Charles of Lorraine understood that he was expected to withdraw; he
+bowed respectfully to the Queen and left the apartment, a prey to
+racking apprehensions.
+
+The captain of the guards of the Duke of Anjou stepped forward, and
+presenting a letter to Catherine De Medici, said:
+
+"Madam, my master ordered me to place this letter in your Majesty's own
+hands."
+
+"Is my son's health good?" inquired the Queen, taking the missive. "What
+is the news in the army?"
+
+"My master is in admirable health, madam. Yesterday there was a skirmish
+of vanguards between us and the Huguenots. The affair was of little
+importance--only a few men killed on either side."
+
+Catherine broke the seal on the letter. As her eyes ran over its
+contents, her face, which at first was rigid with apprehension,
+gradually relaxed, and reflected gladness and profound satisfaction.
+
+"The Guisard," she muttered to herself, "dared accuse my son of
+negotiating with Admiral Coligny. The infamous calumniator!" And turning
+to her son's ambassador: "My son informs me of your plan, monsieur. You
+wish to serve God, the King and France. Your arm and your heart are at
+our disposal?"
+
+"Madam, I am anxious to emulate Monsieur Montesquiou--and to rid the
+King of one of his most dangerous enemies."
+
+"You will surpass Monsieur Montesquiou if you succeed! One Coligny is
+worth ten Condés. But are you sure of the man whom my son mentions?"
+
+"The man swore by his soul that he would not falter. He received six
+thousand livres on account of the fifty thousand promised to him. The
+rest is not to be paid until the thing is done. That is our guarantee."
+
+"Provided he is not assailed with some silly qualms of conscience. But
+how did you become acquainted with the fellow?"
+
+"Yesterday, as I just had the honor of advising your Majesty, there was
+a skirmish at our outposts. Admiral Coligny charged in person, and
+Dominic, that is the name of the man in question, led one of his
+master's relay horses by the reins--"
+
+"He is, then, in the service of Monsieur Coligny?"
+
+"Yes, madam; since infancy he has been attached to the Admiral's house.
+During the engagement he was separated from him. Two of our armed men
+were on the point of despatching Dominic, as we despatch all Huguenots,
+when, seeing me, he cried out 'Quarter!' 'Who are you?' I asked him. 'I
+am a servant of Monsieur the Admiral,' he answered. It suddenly flashed
+through my mind what profit we could draw from the man. Relying upon
+attaching him to me by the bonds of gratitude, I granted him his life.
+Later the proposition was made to him of causing the Admiral to drink a
+potion that we would furnish him with, and of a rich reward for
+himself."
+
+"If your prisoner agreed readily to all," said the Queen, raising her
+head, "there is reason to suspect him."
+
+"On the contrary, madam, he hesitated long. It was the magnitude of the
+promised sum that silenced his scruples. My master placed a certain
+powder in his hands and instucted him how to use it. The thing may be
+considered done."
+
+"How is our man to explain his return to the heretic camp?"
+
+"Very easily, madam. He will say that he was made a prisoner by us and
+escaped. The Admiral will not suspect a servant who was raised in his
+house."
+
+"I hardly dare hope for success! In one month we have been rid of three
+enemies--the Duke of Deux-Ponts, Condé and Dandelot. Now it will be
+Coligny's turn! When is the man to leave our camp and rejoin the
+Huguenots?"
+
+"This very night."
+
+"Accordingly--to-morrow--"
+
+"If it shall please God, madam, our holy Church and the kingdom will
+have triumphed over a redoubtable enemy."
+
+"How I wish it were to-morrow!" exclaimed Catherine De Medici in a
+hollow voice, as the page, reappearing at the portiere, announced:
+
+"Madam, Monsieur Gondi and another rider are alighting from their
+horses. Obedient to your Majesty's orders I have hastened to give you
+the news, and await your orders."
+
+"Summon Gondi to me," said the Italian woman; and addressing the Count
+of La Riviere: "Go and take rest, monsieur; you may depart early in the
+morning; you shall have a letter from me for my son. Whether the scheme
+succeed or not, we shall reward your zeal for the triumph of the
+Catholic faith and the service of the King--two sacred interests."
+
+"Will your Majesty allow me to remind her that Maurevert has just
+received the necklace of the Order of St. Michael for having put the
+Huguenot captain, Monsieur Mouy to death, after having penetrated into
+the camp of the reformers under the pretext that he renounced the
+Catholic faith and embraced the Reformation? I would wish to be the
+object of a like distinction."
+
+"Monsieur La Riviere, you shall be as satisfied with us as we are with
+you. Assassination, committed in the service of the King, deserves to be
+rewarded. You shall be decorated Knight of the Order of St. Michael."
+
+The captain of the guards of the Duke of Anjou saluted the Queen and
+withdrew as Monsieur Gondi entered in traveling costume. This Italian
+shared with his countryman Birago the confidence of Catherine De Medici.
+Delighted, the Queen took two steps towards Gondi, saying with impatient
+curiosity:
+
+"What tidings from Bayonne?"
+
+"Madam, I do not come alone. I bring with me the reverend Father
+Lefevre, one of the luminaries of the faith, a pupil and disciple of the
+celebrated Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Order of Jesuits."
+
+"But what is the result of your particular mission?"
+
+"At the very first words with which I broached the matter to the Duke of
+Alva, he stopped me, saying: 'Monsieur Gondi, the reverend Father
+Lefevre is just about to proceed to the Queen for the purpose of
+considering with her the matter that brings you here. He has received
+the instructions of my master and of the Holy Father. He will disclose
+those instructions to the Queen.' It was impossible for me to draw
+anything further from the Duke of Alva. Accordingly, I had no choice but
+to return, madam, and to bring Father Lefevre to you."
+
+"This is strange. What sort of a man is the Jesuit?"
+
+"An impenetrable man. You can neither divine his thoughts, nor pick the
+lock of his secrets. You may judge for yourself when you shall have him
+before you. He requests an audience this very evening."
+
+"And my daughter? What news from my poor Elizabeth?"
+
+"The health of the Queen of Spain declines steadily, madam. She no
+longer leaves her bed."
+
+"Alas, Gondi, we one of these days shall hear that Philip II has
+poisoned my daughter, as we learned last year that he caused his own
+son, Don Carlos, to be put to death. Oh, Philip! Thou crowned monk! Thou
+vampire that feedst on human blood!" And after a short pause: "Fetch me
+the Jesuit."
+
+Gondi left and returned almost immediately, accompanied by the one-time
+friend of Christian the printer. The Queen made a sign to Gondi to be
+left alone with the Jesuit.
+
+"You are Father Lefevre, and belong to the Society of Jesus? I
+understand that our Holy Father and the King of Spain have charged you
+with a mission to me. Speak, I am listening."
+
+"Madam, the Holy Father and his Majesty Philip II are very much
+displeased--with you. Deign to acquaint yourself with this letter from
+his Holiness."
+
+The Jesuit extracted from a silk wallet a schedule sealed with the
+pontifical seal, carried it respectfully to his lips, and handed it over
+to Catherine De Medici. The Queen broke the seal and read:
+
+     Madam and dearly beloved daughter:
+
+     In no way and for no reason whatever should you spare the enemies
+     of God. I have issued orders to the commander of my troops, the
+     Count of Santa Fiore, that _he cause all the Huguenots that may
+     fall into the hands of his soldiers to be_ KILLED ON THE SPOT.
+     Accordingly, no human considerations for persons or things should
+     induce you to spare the enemies of God, they never having spared
+     either God or yourself. Only through the complete extermination of
+     the heretics will the King be able to restore his noble kingdom to
+     the old religion. The felons must be put to just torture and death.
+
+     Receive, madam, our apostolic benediction.
+
+     PIUS.[62]
+
+After reading the apostolic schedule, Catherine De Medici placed it upon
+a table and proceeded:
+
+"I see, reverend Father, that both at Rome and Madrid I am charged with
+tolerance towards the Huguenots. I am blamed with prolonging the war.
+The two courts see in all this a political calculation on my part,
+whence it follows that if I continue to displease Rome and Madrid
+measures will be taken--"
+
+"The Holy Father, the vicar of God on earth, has the power to release
+subjects from obedience to their sovereign, if he falls into heresy,
+deals with the same, or tolerates it."
+
+"Proceed, reverend Father."
+
+"The confirmatory bull of his Holiness Paul IV is formal--the Pope of
+Rome, by virtue of his divine right, is vested with power to
+excommunicate, suspend and depose all Kings guilty of divine _lese
+majesté_, or tolerant toward that irremissible crime. After which, the
+throne being declared vacant, it devolves upon the first good
+Catholic--who make take possession."
+
+"That sounds like a threat, directed at my son Charles IX and at
+myself."
+
+"It is a paternal warning, madam."
+
+"In plain words, my son runs the risk of seeing himself deposed by the
+Pope."
+
+"A disagreeable possibility, madam."
+
+"Reverend Father, assuming the throne is declared vacant--by whom will
+our Holy Father have it filled? Surely not by a Bourbon, seeing the
+house of Bourbon is heretical. Consequently, the good Catholic Rome and
+Spain have in view probably is young Henry of Guise, the descendant of
+Charlemagne, according to the theory of the house of Lorraine."
+
+"That is a temporal question which does not concern me, madam. It is,
+however, a notable fact that young Henry of Guise, son of the martyr of
+Orleans, carries a name that is dear to all Catholics."
+
+"Accordingly, the purpose of your mission, reverend Father, is to convey
+a threat to me? But why blame me, a woman, with the slowness of the
+military operations against the Huguenots?"
+
+"It is believed, madam, that you would look with too much disfavor upon
+a chief who would insure speedy triumph to the Catholic armies, and that
+you deliberately hamper the military operations by inciting rivalry
+among the several captains and setting them at odds. The strategic
+mistake of allowing the Duke of Deux-Ponts to penetrate into the very
+heart of France and carry a reinforcement of troops to the Huguenots is
+laid to your door. The junction of the two army corps is now an
+accomplished fact."
+
+"The Duke of Deux-Ponts!" exclaimed Catherine De Medici with a sinister
+smile. "You do not seem to know what has befallen that heretic chief.
+But, before speaking of the miscreant, I wish to put you in condition to
+appreciate the facts concerning myself. I shall be frank--my interests
+command it."
+
+"Madam, I am ready to hear."
+
+"In order that you may have the key to my falsely interpreted conduct, I
+shall begin by making the following declaration to you--I have no
+religion! Does such an introduction, perchance, astonish or shock you?"
+
+"By no means."
+
+"Then, my reverend Father, we shall be able to understand each other.
+You justify--according to what is reported of your Order--tolerance for
+vice, provided appearances are saved. Now, then, I have no religion. It
+follows that I concern myself only with promoting my own ambition."
+
+"Frankness can not be carried further."
+
+"With the same outspokenness I shall add that I love power--to rule is
+life to me. I have been compared to Queen Brunhild. It is said I wink at
+precocious debauchery among my children with the view of unnerving and
+stupefying them. It is claimed I sow the seed of jealousy, intrigue and
+lechery among them."
+
+"Those things are said--and many more, and more grave, madam."
+
+"Some credence must be accorded to _hear say_, reverend Father. At
+least, in what concerns myself, people are rarely wide of the mark. But
+let me proceed. The religious wars have furnished me with the means of
+alternately cropping the crests, now with the aid of the ones, then with
+the aid of the others, of both the Catholic and the Protestant
+seigneurs, who, during my husband's reign, conceived the design of
+restoring their old feudal sovereignties. I still have the house of
+Guise to contend with, as Brunhild of old had the stewards of the palace
+on her hands. Thus I combated the Reformation, or gave comfort to the
+Huguenots against the Catholics, according as political exigencies
+dictated. At present I am well acquainted with the purposes of the
+Protestants, and I know how to conduct myself in order to annihilate
+them--when the moment shall have come to strike the decisive blow."
+
+"You have unfolded to me your theories, madam, but you have recited not
+a single act in support of your predilection for our holy Church. We
+require proofs."
+
+"Now let us pass to acts, reverend Father. A few minutes ago you
+mentioned the name of the Duke of Deux-Ponts, who hurried from Germany
+in aid of the Huguenots Condé, Coligny and his brother Dandelot."
+
+"The hydra-heads of the heresy, madam."
+
+"Well, reverend Father, already the hydra has three heads less. The Duke
+of Deux-Ponts is dead; Monsieur Dandelot is dead; the Prince of Condé is
+dead!"
+
+The Jesuit, though stupefied, contemplated Catherine De Medici
+challengingly.
+
+"Perhaps you would like to have some details concerning these great
+events," the imperturbable Queen pursued. "I shall satisfy your
+curiosity. The day following his junction with the Protestant army, the
+Duke of Deux-Ponts was poisoned. That is the word which is current. But
+you, reverend Father, and myself, look to facts, not words. The Duke of
+Deux-Ponts was poisoned with a cup of Spanish wine, that was poured out
+to him by a young beauty. Two days later, Dandelot, who suffered of a
+slow fever, was coaxed by another young beauty to swallow a
+pharmaceutical potion that quickly carried away both the disease and the
+patient. At the battle of Jarnac, the Prince of Condé, who had
+surrendered his sword to D'Argence under promise that his life would be
+safe, was shot down dead with a pistol by Montesquiou, a captain of my
+son of Anjou's guards. The occurrence came near turning my son crazy,
+such was his joy! When notified of what had happened, he hastened to the
+spot to see the corpse with his own eyes. He kicked it, and danced over
+and around it. It was a delirium! Finally, for fun, the thought struck
+him of placing the corpse across a she-ass, with the head dangling down
+on one side, the legs on the other. On that distinguished mount he
+returned the defunct general to the Protestant army, amid the hootings
+and cat-calls of our own soldiers.[63] That is the way my children treat
+their heretical relatives. Will his Holiness still insist that we deal
+with the Huguenots, or that we have any consideration for the enemies of
+the Church?"
+
+"Oh, madam!" cried the Jesuit, almost choking with glee. "I lack words
+to express to you my admiration."
+
+"And yet you claimed," proceeded Catherine De Medici with a hyena-like
+smirk, "that I favored the Huguenots! Would the Guisards, the Holy
+Father or Philip II do better than I? Hardly has the campaign opened
+when Condé, the soul of the French Protestant party, has ceased to
+breathe; the Duke of Deux-Ponts, the soul of the German party, has
+ceased to live; and Dandelot, one of the ablest Protestant generals, is
+also dead. Nor is that all!" added the Italian woman, taking from the
+table the letter of the Duke of Anjou, freshly brought to her by the
+captain of her son's guards, and passing it over to Lefevre, "Read
+this!"
+
+The Jesuit took the letter, and, after informing himself of its
+contents, cried, contemplating the Queen with ecstasy:
+
+"So that we may expect, to-morrow, to see Coligny effect a junction with
+his brother Dandelot!"
+
+"Well, now, do you not think I have done a good deal of work?"
+
+"Oh, you have accomplished and even exceeded all that the Holy Father
+and the King of Spain could have asked!"
+
+"And yet, I still have information for you." Saying this, the Queen rang
+twice the bell near her. A page appeared. "Bring me," ordered Catherine,
+"the ebony casket that you will find in my chamber, on the table near my
+bed."
+
+The page went out and Catherine turned again to the Jesuit:
+
+"You surely know Prince Franz of Gerolstein by name and reputation?"
+
+"I know, madam, that the principality of that heretical family is a
+hot-bed of pestilence. We keep our eyes open upon that nest of
+miscreants."
+
+"The Duke of Deux-Ponts appointed as commander of his troops the aged
+general Wolfgang of Mansfeld, but did so with the recommendation that
+the active direction of operations be entrusted to the Prince of
+Gerolstein, a young, but one of the ablest German generals. This very
+night one of my maids of honor is to depart--"
+
+The re-entrance of the page broke off the Queen's sentence. He deposited
+the casket beside Catherine and withdrew.
+
+"You were saying, madam," observed Father Lefevre, "that one of your
+maids of honor was to depart this very night--"
+
+"You seem to relish deeply my communications, reverend Father, and yet
+it was only a few minutes ago that you almost treated me like a Huguenot
+woman."
+
+"Mercy, madam, a truce of raillery. The unexpected and happy tidings you
+have imparted to me were not known by the Holy Father and the King of
+Spain when I left them. I declare to you, madam, that these events
+modify profoundly my mission to your court."
+
+"Well, reverend Father, I am constantly saying to the Spanish ambassador
+and the papal legate in France: 'Wait--let me do--have patience.' But
+all to no avail. The Holy Father yields to the inspirations of the
+agents of the Cardinal of Lorraine, while Philip II dreams of the
+dismemberment of France and desires to place Henry of Guise on the
+throne. In that Philip II plays a risky game, reverend Father! To
+overthrow the reigning dynasty of France would be to set a bad example
+to the people, and to deal a mortal blow to monarchy itself. We are
+living in frightful times. Everything conspires against royalty. The
+Huguenots, at least some of them who style themselves the most advanced
+in politics, proclaim the people's right to federate in a republic after
+the fashion of the Swiss cantons. And even you, my reverend Fathers, you
+also attack royal authority by preaching the doctrine of regicide."
+
+"That is true, madam; we maintain that the Kings who do not labor for
+the greater glory of the Church must be smitten from the throne."
+
+"Neither my sons nor I refuse to labor for the greater glory of the
+Church. It must be a matter of indifference to the Holy Father whether
+the Huguenots are exterminated by us or by the Guises, or by Spain. What
+advantage could the court of Rome derive from suppressing the dynasty of
+Valois?"
+
+"His Holiness sees clearly through the game of the King of Spain. He
+will never favor Philip's ambitious designs to the injury of your
+dynasty--unless obliged thereto by your resistance to the court of Rome.
+We aim at the extirpation of heresy by the extermination of the
+Huguenots; and I have been commissioned, madam, to urge you to prosecute
+the war with vigor--"
+
+"The war!" broke in the Queen impatiently, and with marked contempt and
+irony. "How come you, a Jesuit, a man of keenness and science, to make
+yourself the echo of the Pope and of Philip II, two nearsighted
+intellects? Let us reason together, my reverend Father. Would you, if
+you want to kill your enemy, choose the time when he is on his guard and
+armed? Would you not wait for when he sheathed his sword and was
+peacefully asleep in his house? And in order to lead him to that state
+of apparent security, would you not approach him with a smile on your
+lips, your hand outstretched, and with the words: 'Let us forget our
+enmity'?"
+
+"But for the success of such tactics our enemy must have confidence in
+us."
+
+"Protestations of friendship are supported by oaths."
+
+"Oh! Oh! Vain hope! Your Majesty errs if you believe you can lull the
+suspicions of the Huguenots with oaths."
+
+"I am of the school of Machiavelli, reverend Father; as such I have
+faith in the efficacy of oaths. Listen to this passage from the volume
+entitled _The Prince_. I learned it by heart; it deals upon this very
+subject: 'The animals whose appearance a Prince must know how to assume
+are the _fox_ and the _lion_. The former defends himself but poorly
+against the wolf, while the latter readily falls into the snares laid
+for him. From the fox a Prince will learn how to be adroit, from the
+lion how to be strong. Whoever disdains the method of the fox knows
+nothing of governing men. In other words, a Prince neither can nor
+should keep his word, except when he can do so without injury to
+himself. The thing is to play his part well, and to know when to feign
+and dissimulate. To cite but one instance: Pope Alexander VI made
+deception his life-work. This notwithstanding, despite his well known
+faithlessness, he succeeded in all his artifices, protestations and
+oaths.' Did you hear, reverend Father," added the Italian woman
+interrupting her recitation and laying stress upon the word _oaths_, and
+she proceeded: "'Never before did any Prince break his word more
+frequently, or respect his pledges less, because he was master of the
+art of governing.'[64] Alexander VI was an incestuous Pope; he committed
+murder and sacrilege, yet there were those who believed they could rely
+upon his oath. I am said to be an incestuous mother; I am said to have
+caused blood to flow in streams; I am said to have caused my enemies to
+be poisoned; all these and many more misdeeds are imputed to me. Very
+well! Now, all this notwithstanding, they will place faith in my oaths.
+Judge the future by the past. Remember that after the revocation of the
+Edict of Amboise, the Huguenot party allowed itself to be trepanned by
+the Edict of Longjumeau, confirmed by our royal word. But let us now
+pass to another line of argument, my reverend Father. Please hand me
+yonder casket--not the one the page just brought in, the other."
+
+The Jesuit placed on the table before the Queen the casket that she
+pointed out. She opened it with a little key suspended from her waist,
+and took out of it a scroll of paper which she handed to Father Lefevre.
+
+"Inform yourself on this document, reverend Father," she said.
+
+Father Lefevre read as follows:
+
+     "Summary of the matters primarily agreed upon between the Duke of
+     Montmorency, Constable; the Duke of Guise, Grand Master and Peer of
+     France; and Marshal St. André, for the conspiracy of the
+     triumvirate, and subsequently discussed at the entrance of the
+     sacred and holy Council of Trent, and agreed upon by the parties
+     herein concerned at their private council held against the heretics
+     and the King of Navarre, because of his maladministration of the
+     affairs of Charles IX, minor King of France, the which King of
+     Navarre is a partisan of the new sect which now infests France."
+
+The Jesuit looked surprised. Deeply interested, he asked: "How is your
+Majesty in possession of this secret pact?"
+
+"It matters not how."
+
+The Jesuit proceeded to read:
+
+     "In order that the affair be conducted under the highest authority,
+     it is agreed to vest the superintendence of the whole plan in the
+     Very Catholic King of all the Spains, Philip II, who shall conduct
+     the enterprise. He is to remonstrate with the King of Navarre on
+     the score of the support that he affords to the new religion; and
+     if the said Navarrais proves intractable, the said King Philip II
+     is to endeavor to draw him over to him with the promise of the
+     restitution of Navarre, or some other gift of great profit or
+     emolument. By these means the said King Philip II is to soften him,
+     to the end of inducing him to conspire against the heretical sect.
+     If he still resists, King Philip II shall raise the necessary
+     forces in Spain, and fall unexpectedly upon the territory of
+     Navarre, which he will be easily able to be overrun, while the Duke
+     of Guise, declaring himself at the same time _chief of the Catholic
+     confession_, shall from his side gather armed men, and, thus
+     pressed from two sides, the territory of Navarre can be easily
+     seized."
+
+"So you see, reverend Father, the pact dates back to 1651--eight years
+ago--and already then did Francis of Guise declare himself _chief of the
+Catholic confession_, under the protection of the King of Spain. Neither
+myself, the Regent, nor my son, the King of France, although then a
+minor, is at all taken into consideration."
+
+The Jesuit proceeded to read aloud:
+
+     "The Emperor of Germany and other Princes who have remained
+     Catholic shall block the passages to France during the war in that
+     country, in order to prevent the Protestant Princes from coming to
+     the aid of the Navarrais, and they will also see to it that the
+     Swiss cantons remain quiet. To that end it will be necessary that
+     the Catholic cantons declare war upon the Protestant ones, and that
+     the Pope give all the assistance in his power to the said Catholic
+     cantons, and that he subsidize them with money and other
+     necessaries for the war.
+
+     "While war is thus keeping France and Switzerland busy, the Duke of
+     Savoy shall fall unexpectedly upon Geneva and Lausanne, shall seize
+     the two cities, _and shall put all the inhabitants who resist to
+     the sword, and all the others shall be thrown into the lake_,
+     WITHOUT DISTINCTION OF AGE OR SEX, to the end that all may be made
+     to feel that divine Providence has compensated for the postponement
+     of punishment with its grandeur, and wills that the children suffer
+     for the heresy of their parents, obedient to the Biblical text."
+
+"Oh, we must all admit, madam," exclaimed the Jesuit, interrupting his
+reading, "Duke Francis of Guise is nourished with the marrow of
+Catholicism--"
+
+"We of the house of Valois will suck the identical bone, and we will
+verify the dream of the Guisard, who was assassinated the very day after
+he signed this pact--"
+
+Again the Jesuit proceeded to read:
+
+     "The same in France. For good and just reasons _all the heretics,
+     without distinction, must be massacred at one blow_. THE PEACE
+     SHALL BE PUT TO THAT USE. And this mission of exterminating all the
+     members of the new religion shall be entrusted to the Duke of
+     Guise, who shall, moreover, be charged with entirely effacing the
+     name and stock of the lineage of the Navarrian Bourbons, lest from
+     them there may arise some one to undertake the revenge of these
+     acts, or the restoration of the new religion. All these matters are
+     to be kept in mind.
+
+     "Matters being thus disposed of in France, it will be well to
+     invade Protestant Germany with the aid of the Emperor and the
+     bishops, and to restore that country to the holy apostolic See. To
+     this end, the Duke of Guise _shall lend the Emperor and other
+     Catholic Princes all the moneys proceeding from the confiscations
+     and spoils of so many nobles and rich bourgeois_, KILLED _in
+     France_ as HERETICS. The Duke of Guise shall be later reimbursed
+     from the _spoils of the Lutherans, who, by reason of the same taint
+     of heresy shall have been killed in Germany_.
+
+     "The Cardinals of the Sacred College have no doubt that, in the
+     same manner, all the other kingdoms can be turned into the flocks
+     of the apostolic shepherd. But, first of all, may it please God to
+     help and favor these purposes, they being HOLY AND FULL OF
+     PIETY."[65]
+
+"Holy and full of piety were these Catholic purposes!" exclaimed the
+reverend Father Lefevre laying the pact of the triumvirate upon the
+table. "Alas, death palsied the hand of the Duke of Guise at the very
+beginning of his great work!"
+
+"The Lord evidently wished, my reverend Father, to reserve for us, the
+Valois, the execution of the project that the Guisard organized with a
+motive of purely personal ambition. I shall hatch the bloody egg that
+the Lorrainian laid. But the chick can not break the egg except during
+peace. Then the Huguenots will have ceased to be on their guard; then
+they will be dozing in false security. The work of extermination will be
+accomplished with the help of a peace that we shall have brought about.
+All will be killed--men and women, children and the aged. Not one
+heretic will escape the avenging sword. Let Rome and Madrid give me time
+to move! Let Pius V and Philip II give over harassing me continually
+with their threats on the ground that the war is dragging along! Are
+hostilities to be suddenly stopped? No, indeed! I must profit, as I have
+already profited, by all opportunities to destroy as many Huguenots as
+possible, especially their leaders. The Duke of Alva is right: 'One
+salmon is worth more than a thousand minnows.' At the first favorable
+juncture I shall negotiate peace with the Protestants, and grant them
+all they may demand. The more favorable the treaty shall be to the
+Huguenots, all the smoother will the rope run that is to strangle them.
+When the edict is promulgated it shall be scrupulously carried out, in
+order to induce our adversaries to disarm. At the right moment we shall
+organize the general massacre, for one day, all over France."
+
+"The Holy Father and the King of Spain shall be posted on your Majesty's
+project. They will be notified that it is thanks to you, the Duke of
+Deux-Ponts, Dandelot and the Prince of Condé _have been dismissed to
+appear before their natural Judge_."
+
+"People of your cloth, my reverend Father," replied the Queen, "know how
+to impart an ingenious and peculiar turn to the description of events."
+
+"Madam, seeing we are considering those people in whose behalf we simply
+advance the hour of final judgment, I wish above all to recommend to the
+attention of your Majesty that most dangerous German Prince--Franz of
+Gerolstein."
+
+"The young Prince came last year to my court shortly before the
+reformers took up arms. He is brilliant, daring and gifted with great
+military talent. It was due to his influence that the Duke of Deux-Ponts
+decided to bring to the Protestant army the reinforcement it received of
+German troops. To-day Franz of Gerolstein is the real head of the forces
+over which Wolfgang of Mansfeld exercises but titular authority."
+
+"Do you expect to deliver the Church of that pestilential Gerolstein?"
+
+"One of my maids of honor is to take charge of that delicate mission, my
+reverend Father--" and stopping suddenly short and listening in the
+direction of a little door that communicated with the apartment,
+Catherine De Medici asked: "Did you not hear a sound, something like a
+suppressed cry outside there?"
+
+"No, madam."
+
+"It seems to me I heard a voice behind that door. Throw it open,"
+whispered Catherine to Father Lefevre; "see, I beg you, if there is
+someone listening!"
+
+The Jesuit rose, pushed open the door, looked out, and returned: "Madam,
+I can see nobody; the corridor is dark."
+
+"I must have deceived myself. It must have been the moaning of the wind
+that I heard."
+
+"Madam," said Father Lefevre as he resumed his seat, "once we are
+considering dangerous persons, I request you to mention to your generals
+two heretics in particular--Odelin Lebrenn and his son, armorers by
+trade, who serve in the Admiral's army as volunteers. I would urge you
+to recommend to your generals that they spare the lives of both
+heretics if they are ever taken prisoners."
+
+"Did I understand you correctly, my reverend Father? The lives of the
+two miscreants are to be spared?"
+
+"The grace extended to them will be but a short respite, which we would
+put to profit by wresting from them certain valuable secrets with the
+aid of the rack--before dismissing them to their supreme Judge."
+
+"Those are details, my reverend Father, with which I can not burden
+myself. Upon such matters you must treat with Count Neroweg of
+Plouernel, the chief of my escort."
+
+At the name of Neroweg of Plouernel the Jesuit gave a slight start. With
+a face expressive of gratification he remarked: "Madam, Providence
+seconds my wishes. There is none fitter than the Count of Plouernel for
+me to address myself to in this affair."
+
+"Let us return to more weighty questions, my reverend Father. I have
+still two words to say to you concerning the Cardinal of Lorraine. This
+evening the Guisard strove to make me believe that Marshal Tavannes, the
+commandant of the army of my son of Anjou, was treating secretly with
+Coligny. According to the Cardinal, the plot is to offer my son the
+sovereignty of the Low Countries, besides Guyenne and other provinces,
+upon condition that he embrace the Reformed religion. Have you received
+any inkling of these projects through your spies? Unless your own
+interests render it necessary for you to deceive me on this head, answer
+me truthfully. I know how to hear and bear the full truth on all
+matters."
+
+The Jesuit reflected for a moment; he then made answer: "Yes, madam; we
+are informed on those negotiations--indeed, it is due to that very
+information that it was decided to send me upon the present mission to
+your Majesty."
+
+"And, with the view of thwarting the plot, did the Cardinal of Lorraine
+induce Philip II to propose the Duke of Alva to me for general-in-chief
+of the Catholic army, with young Henry of Guise, the Cardinal's nephew,
+and his brother, the Duke of Aumale, as Alva's lieutenants?"
+
+"The proposition was made to the King of Spain. It is true."
+
+"Who, no doubt, received it favorably?"
+
+"Yes, madam. But his Catholic Majesty was not then aware of the latest
+happenings which you communicated to me, the same as he is still
+ignorant of your resolution to put an end to the heresy when the moment
+shall have come to strike the decisive blow, as you explained it."
+
+"You are now informed on the contents of the letter which I showed you
+from my son of Anjou, regarding the project against Coligny. The
+Cardinal lied knowingly when he accused my son of dealing with the
+Admiral. Of course he knows the Marshal and my son will stoutly deny the
+charge. He merely seeks to arouse doubts and suspicions in my mind,
+hoping I may be frightened into transferring the command of the French
+army into the hands of the Duke of Alva and his nephew."
+
+"The Cardinal's falsehood, madam, did not lack skill. It was an adroit
+diplomatic move."
+
+"Now, my reverend Father, let me sum up our interview--war upon the
+Huguenots, merciless war, while it lasts; thereupon the offer or
+acceptance of a peace, which is to be utilized by us in preparing their
+extermination. That is my line of conduct."
+
+"My mission to you is ended, madam. To-morrow I shall take my departure
+and return to inform the King of Spain and the Holy Father of the happy
+deeds done, and those in contemplation, all of which guarantee the
+execution of your promises for the future."
+
+"My reverend Father, is it in my power to bestow any favor upon you, to
+grant you a present? It is a right enjoyed by all negotiators."
+
+"Madam, we care but little for the goods and honors of this world. All I
+shall ask of you is to cause your son, King Charles IX, to change his
+confessor, and take one from our Society, the reverend Father Auger. He
+is an able and accommodating man, skilful in understanding everything,
+permitting everything--and advising everything."
+
+"I promise you I shall induce my son Charles to take Father Auger for
+his confessor. Good night, my reverend Father, go and rest. I shall see
+you to-morrow before your departure and deliver to you a letter for the
+Holy Father."
+
+The Queen rang twice the little bell that lay at her elbow. A page
+entered: "Conduct the reverend Father to Count Neroweg of Plouernel."
+
+She then rang again, not twice, but three times. After bowing to
+Catherine De Medici the Jesuit withdrew upon the steps of the page.
+Almost immediately Anna Bell stepped into the apartment through the door
+that opened upon the corridor.
+
+Catherine De Medici was struck by the pallor and the troubled, almost
+frightened, looks of her maid of honor as she presented herself upon the
+summons of the bell. Fastening a penetrating look upon Anna Bell, the
+Queen said:
+
+"You look very pale, dearest; your hands tremble; you seem unable to
+repress some violent emotion."
+
+"May your Majesty deign to excuse me--"
+
+"What is the cause of your great agitation?"
+
+"Fear, madam. I was hurrying to answer your summons, and--as I crossed
+the dark corridor--whether it was an illusion or reality, I know not,
+madam, I thought I saw a white figure float before me--"
+
+"It must be the ghost of some deceased belle, who, expecting still to
+find here the sturdy abbot of the monastery, came to pay him a nocturnal
+visit. But let us leave the dead to themselves, and turn our thoughts to
+the living. I love you, my pet, above all your companions."
+
+"Your Majesty has taken pity upon a poor girl."
+
+"Yes; it is now about eight or nine years ago, that, as Paula, one of my
+women, was crossing the Chatelet Square, she saw an old Bohemian wench
+holding a little girl by the hand. Struck by the beauty and comeliness
+of the little one, Paula offered to buy her. The gypsy quickly closed
+the bargain. Paula told me the story. I desired to see her protegé. It
+turned out to be yourself. The Bohemian woman must have kidnapped you
+from some Huguenot family, I fear, judging from a little lead medal
+that hung from your neck and bore the legend--_A Pastor calling the
+sheep of the Church out of the desert_--a common expression in the
+cabalistic cant of those depraved people."
+
+"Alas! madam, I preserve no other memento of my family--you will pardon
+me for having kept the medal."
+
+"Well, from the instant that Paula brought you before me I was charmed
+with your childish gracefulness. I had you carefully trained in the art
+of pleasing, and placed you among my maids of honor."
+
+"Your Majesty enjoys my unbounded gratitude. Whenever you commanded I
+obeyed, even when you exacted a sacrifice--whatever it may have cost
+me--"
+
+"You are alluding, my pet, to the conversion of the Marquis of Solange!
+I said to you: 'Solange is a Huguenot; he is influential in his
+province; should war break out again, he may become a dangerous enemy to
+me; he contemplates leaving the court;--make him love you, and be not
+cruel to him; a handsome lass like you is well worth a mass.' The
+bargain was struck. We now have one Catholic more, and one virgin less."
+
+Anna Bell hid her face, purple with shame.
+
+Without seeming to notice the young girl's confusion, Catherine De
+Medici proceeded: "By the virtue of your beautiful eyes Solange has
+become a fervent Catholic and one of my most faithful servitors. You
+gave me in that instance proof of your complete devotion. For the rest,
+it was a sweet sacrifice on your part, my pet; Solange is an
+accomplished nobleman, young, handsome, brave and witty. It is not now
+about that lover that we have business on hand. I have other plans for
+you. I am thinking of marrying you. I wish to make a Princess of you,
+and verify the most cherished of your secret wishes--which I have
+guessed. Anna Bell, you do not love Solange; you never loved him; and
+you nourish in the recesses of your heart a desperate passion for the
+young Prince Franz of Gerolstein."
+
+"Good God! Madam. Have pity upon me! Mercy!"
+
+"There is nothing pitiful in the matter. The Prince is made to be loved.
+His reputation for bravery, magnificence and gallantry ran ahead of him
+to my court, where you saw him last year. He often conversed with you
+tête-a-tête. When other women sought to provoke him with their
+allurements your face grew somber. Oh, nothing escapes me! Affairs of
+state do not absorb me to the point that I can not follow, with the
+corner of my eye, the cooings of my maids of honor. It is my mental
+relaxation. I love to see beauty in its youth devote itself to the cult
+of Venus, and put in practice the saying of Rabelais' Thalamite--'_Do
+what you please!_' How often did I not seat myself among you, my dear
+girls, to chat about your gallants, your appointments, your
+infidelities! What delightful tales did we not tell! How you all led the
+poor youngsters by the nose! Truth to say, they returned you tit for
+tat, and with usury, to the greater glory of the goddess Aphrodite! And
+yet, my pet, although I had trained you a true professional of the Abbey
+of Thalamia, with Cupid for your god and Voluptuousness for your patron
+saint, you ever remained out of your element among your companions.
+Serious and melancholy, you are a sort of nun among my other maids. What
+you need is devoted and faithful love; a husband whom you can adore
+without remorse; a brood of children to love. That is the reason, my
+pet, why I wish to marry you to Franz of Gerolstein."
+
+"It pleases your Majesty to mock me--take pity upon poor Anna."
+
+"No joke! You admit you love the young and handsome German Prince. I can
+read in your soul better than you could yourself. I shall tell you what
+your thoughts are at this moment: 'Yes, I love Franz of Gerolstein! But
+a deep abyss separates us two, and will always separate me from him. He
+is in the camp opposed to that of the Queen, my benefactress; he is the
+head of a sovereign house; he is ignorant of my passion, and if he did
+know, he never could think of wedding me! What am I? A poor girl picked
+up from the street. I already have had one gallant. Besides, Catherine
+De Medici's maids of honor enjoy a bad, a deservedly bad, reputation.
+The satires and the pasquils designate us with the appellation of the
+Queen's Flying Squadron. I should be crazy to think of marriage with
+Franz of Gerolstein--'"
+
+"Madam, take pity upon me!" broke in Anna Bell, no longer able to
+restrain her tears. "Even if what you say is true, even if you read to
+the very core of my thoughts--please do not sport with my secret
+sorrows."
+
+"My pet, hand me the little casket of sandal wood, ribbed in gold, that
+lies upon yonder table. It contains wonderful things."
+
+Anna Bell obeyed. The Queen selected one of the little keys attached to
+her girdle and opened the casket. Nothing could be more fascinating to
+the eyes than the contents of the chest--embroidered and perfumed
+gloves, smelling apples, dainty-looking vermillion confectionery boxes,
+filled with sugar plums of all colors, and several vials of gold and
+crystal. Catherine De Medici picked out one of these, reclosed the
+casket carefully and returned it to Anna Bell. The maid of honor
+replaced it upon the table and returned to the Queen. Smiling benignly
+and holding up the golden, glistening vial before her victim, the Queen
+said: "Do you see this, my pet? This little vial encloses the love of
+Franz of Gerolstein."
+
+"What a suspicion!" was the thought that flashed through Anna Bell's
+mind and froze her to the floor. But the terror-stricken girl quickly
+regained her self-control at that critical moment. "I must not," was the
+second thought that flashed through her mind close upon the first, "I
+must not allow the Queen to notice that I know her purpose."
+
+"Do you believe, my pet, in the potency of love-philters?"
+
+"This evening," answered the young girl with an effort to control her
+emotions, "this very evening Clorinde of Vaucernay was telling us,
+madam, that a lady of the court succeeded by means of one of those
+enchanted potions in captivating a man who, before then, had a strong
+dislike for her."
+
+"You, then, believe in the potency of philters?"
+
+"Certainly, madam," answered Anna Bell anxious not to awaken the Queen's
+suspicions; "I must have full confidence in their efficacy, seeing it is
+proved by such incontestable facts."
+
+"The merest doubt on the subject is unallowable, my pet; to doubt would
+be to shut one's eyes and deny the light of day. Now, my little beauty,
+the philter contained in this vial, is put together by Ruggieri, my
+alchemist, under the conjunction of marvelously favorable planets. It is
+of such virtue that only a few drops, if poured out by a woman who
+wishes to be loved by a man, would suffice to turn him permanently
+amorous of her. Take this philter, my pet--go and find your Prince
+Charming. Let him drink the contents of this vial--and grant him the
+gift of an amorous mercy."
+
+Anna Bell no longer suspected, she comprehended the Queen's intentions.
+For a moment she was seized with terror and remained silent,
+mechanically holding the vial in her hand. The Queen, on her part,
+attributing the stupor and silence of Anna Bell to an excess of joy, or,
+perhaps, to the apprehension caused her by the thought of the many and
+great dangers to overcome in order to approach her Prince, proceeded to
+allay her fears:
+
+"Poor dear girl, you are as speechless as if, awakened with a start from
+a dream, you find it a reality. You are surely asking yourself what to
+do in order to reach Franz? Nothing easier--provided your courage is
+abreast of your love."
+
+Controlling her troubled mind, Anna Bell answered with composure: "I
+hope, madam, I do not lack courage."
+
+"Listen to me carefully. We are only a few leagues from the enemy's
+army. I shall issue orders to Count Neroweg of Plouernel to furnish you
+with a safe conduct up to the Huguenot outposts. You shall be carried in
+one of my own litters, drawn by two mules. By dawn to-morrow morning you
+can not fail to run against some scout or other making the rounds of the
+Protestant camp--"
+
+"Great God! madam. I tremble at the bare thought of falling into the
+hands of the Huguenots!"
+
+"If your courage fail you, all will run to water. But you may be quite
+certain that you run no risk whatever. The Huguenots do not kill
+women--especially not such handsome ones as yourself. You will be merely
+the prisoner of the miscreants."
+
+"And what am I to do then, madam?"
+
+"You will say to those who will arrest you: 'Messieurs, I am one of the
+Queen's maids of honor; I was on my way to join her Majesty; the leader
+of my litter struck a wrong road; please take me to Prince Franz of
+Gerolstein.' The rest will go of itself. The Huguenots will take you to
+the Prince. Like the nobleman that he is, my little beauty, he will keep
+you at his lodgings or in his tent, he will yield you the place of honor
+at his table--and--in his bed. You will have more than one opportunity
+to improve Franz's wine with a few drops of the philter."
+
+The Queen's instructions were interrupted at this point by the entrance
+of a page who came to announce that Count Neroweg of Plouernel prayed
+for admission to the Queen's presence upon pressing and important
+matters. Catherine ordered the page to introduce the Count, and she bade
+Anna Bell godspeed, kissing her on the forehead and adding these last
+instructions:
+
+"Prepare immediately for your journey, my pet. The Count of Plouernel
+will appoint the guide who is to accompany you. One of my equerries will
+get a litter ready. I expect to see you again before your departure."
+
+The maid of honor followed the Queen's instructions. Seeing that the
+interview with the Count of Plouernel lasted longer than she had
+anticipated, Catherine De Medici was prevented from seeing Anna Bell
+again, and sent her a note to depart without delay.
+
+Towards one o'clock in the morning the maid of honor mounted in one of
+the Queen's litters, left the Abbey of St. Severin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE AVENGERS OF ISRAEL.
+
+
+The sun was rising. Its early rays gilded the crest of a forest about a
+league distant from St. Yrieix, a large burg that served as the center
+of the Protestant encampment. A chapel, formerly dedicated to St. Hubert
+by an inveterate hunter, raised its dilapidated walls on the edge of the
+wood, the skirts of which were now guarded by mounted scouts, posted at
+long intervals. The chapel had been devastated during the religious
+wars. Its belfries, the capitals and the friezes of its portico were
+broken; its windows were smashed in; the statue of St. Hubert, the
+patron of hunters, lay decapitated in the midst of other debris, along
+with that of the seigneur who founded the holy shrine, chosen by him for
+his sepulcher. The fragments of his marble image, representing him lying
+prone, with hands joined in prayer, hunting horn slung over his
+shoulder, his favorite greyhound stretched at his feet--all lay strewn
+around the mortuary vault, now gaping wide open and cumbered with ruins.
+The interior of the chapel now served as a stable, and also as
+guardhouse to a picket squad of the Huguenot army, posted at the spot.
+The pickets' horses, ready saddled and bridled, stood drawn up in
+double row in one of the low-roofed aisles and on either side of a door
+that communicated with the old vestry. For want of forage the beasts
+were eating the green leaves of large bunches of branches thrown at
+their feet. The riders, either standing, or seated, or stretched out at
+full length, wrapped in their cloaks, were not dressed in uniform. Their
+offensive and defensive arms, however, dissimilar and worn, were in
+usable condition.
+
+This band of Huguenot volunteers took the name of the Avengers of
+Israel. Josephin, the Franc-Taupin, named by the Catholics "The
+One-Eyed," was their commander. On all occasions the Avengers of Israel
+approved themselves animated by an intrepidity that was matchless,
+always claiming for themselves the post of greatest danger, and always
+found first in battle. The indomitable courage of the Franc-Taupin, his
+exceptional skill in guerilla warfare, his pitiless hatred for the
+papists, upon whom he swore to avenge the fate of his sister Bridget and
+his niece Hena, earned for him the leadership of these resolute men.
+
+On this day, at sunrise, the commander presided at a species of tribunal
+consisting of several of his companions in arms, all seated in the midst
+of the ruins of the chapel of St. Hubert. The years had whitened the
+hair and beard of the Franc-Taupin, without impairing the fiber of his
+energy. An old rust-covered steel breastplate over his chest answered
+the purpose of corselet; his wide hose of red cloth were half covered by
+a pair of high leather boots heavy with dust; at his belt, which also
+contained his cartridges, hung a short stick suspended from a piece of
+pack-thread, and indented with sixteen notches--each tallying the death
+of a priest or monk. The dagger of fine Milan steel, a present from
+Odelin, hung on the Franc-Taupin's right side, while at his left he wore
+a long sword with an iron hilt. The Franc-Taupin's bronzed and haggard
+features, rendered all the more sinister by the large black patch which
+covered one eye, were at this moment expressive of sardonic cruelty. He
+was sitting in judgment upon a Cordelier, a man of tall and robust
+build, who was captured in the early morning prowling in the forest.
+Some letters found about his person proved that the tonsured gentleman
+was a spy of the royalist army, and one of the Avengers of Israel
+recognized him as one of the monks who took part in the carnage of
+Mirebeau, where nearly twelve hundred Huguenot prisoners were put to
+death with frightful refinements of cruelty. Surrounded by several of
+his companions, who, like himself, were seated upon the ruins of the
+altar, the Franc-Taupin drew his dagger and was engaged in leisurely
+sharpening it upon a stone that he held between his knees, without
+looking at the monk who, livid with rage and terror, and standing a few
+steps aside with his arms tied behind his back, was uttering
+maledictions at the top of his voice:
+
+"Accursed and sacrilegious wretches! You abuse your strength! The hand
+of the Lord will fall heavy upon you! Heretical dogs!"
+
+The Franc-Taupin calmly sharpened his dagger. "Good!" he exclaimed. "Be
+brave, my reverend! Disgorge your monastic bile! Crack your apostolic
+hide! It will not make your fate any worse. Be prepared for the worst,
+and you will still be far behind what I have in store for you. We care
+nothing for your threats."
+
+"Neither can anything render your fate worse than it will be,
+reprobates," howled the Cordelier, "when the whole pack of you, to the
+very last one, will be hurled into the pit of everlasting flames!"
+
+"By my sister's death!" the Franc-Taupin answered. "You make a mistake
+to mention 'flames.' You remind me of what I never forget--the fate of
+my niece, who, poor innocent creature, was plunged twenty-five times
+into the burning pyre. Brothers, instruct the tonsured fellow upon our
+reasons for enrolling ourselves in the corps of the Avengers of Israel,
+and why we are pitiless."
+
+Accordingly, while the Franc-Taupin continued to whet his dagger, one of
+the Huguenot soldiers thus addressed the monk:
+
+"Monk, listen! In full peace, after the Edict of Orleans, my house was
+invaded during my absence by a band of fanatics. The vicar of the parish
+led them. My old and blind father, who remained at home in my house, was
+strangled to death. It is to avenge my father that I enrolled myself
+with the militia of the Avengers of Israel. Therefore, death to the
+papist Church! Death to all the tonsured felons!"
+
+"Marshal Montluc held command in Guyenne," continued a second Huguenot.
+"Six soldiers, attached to his ordnance company, lodged at our
+farm-house. One day they forced the cellar door, drank themselves drunk,
+and violated my brother's wife. Wounded with cutlass cuts in his
+endeavor to defend her, he dragged himself bleeding to the headquarters
+of Marshal Montluc to demand justice. Montluc ordered him to be hanged!
+Monk, I have sworn to avenge my brother! Death to the papists!"
+
+"I also am from Guyenne, like my companion," came from another Huguenot.
+"One Sunday, relying upon the Edict of Longjumeau, I attended services
+with my mother and sister. A company of Marshal Montluc's swashbucklers,
+led by a chaplain, invaded the temple, chased out the women, locked up
+the men in the building, and set it on fire. There were sixty-five of us
+inside, all without arms. Nine succeeded in making their escape from the
+flames. The rest, burned, smothered by the smoke, or crushed under the
+falling roof, all perished. The women and young girls were dragged to a
+nearby enclosure; they were stripped to the skin; they were then
+compelled at the point of pikes to dance naked before the papist
+soldiers; and were finally forced to submit to the lechery of their
+persecutors. My mother was killed in her endeavor to save my sister from
+that crowning outrage; nine months later my sister died in childbed of
+the fruit of her rape. Monk, I swore to avenge my sister! I swore to
+avenge my mother! Death to the papist seigneurs and nobles!"
+
+"I come from Montaland, near Limoges," a fourth Huguenot proceeded.
+"Three months after the new edict, I attended services with my young
+son. A band of peasants, led by two Carmelites and one Dominican, rushed
+into the temple. My poor boy's head--he was not yet fifteen--was cut
+off with a scythe, and stuck upon a pole. Monk, I swore to avenge my
+son! Death to the whole monastic vermin!"
+
+"Was it I, perchance, who committed the acts that you are seeking to
+avenge?" howled the Cordelier. "Cowardly felons!"
+
+At this the Franc-Taupin interrupted the sharpening of his dagger, cast
+a sardonic look at the monk, and cried: "Oh! Oh! This is the seventeenth
+time I hear that identical remark--you being the seventeenth tonsured
+gentleman whom I sentence. Do you see this little stick? I cut a notch
+in it at each reprisal. When I shall have reached twenty-five the bill
+will be settled--my sister's daughter was plunged twenty-five times into
+the furnace, at the order of the Catholic priests, the agents of the
+Pope.
+
+"Monk, it stands written in the Bible: 'Life for life, eye for eye,
+tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning,
+wound for wound, stripe for stripe.'[66] Well, now, instead of burning
+you, as should be done, I purpose to make you a Cardinal."
+
+Saying this the soldier of fortune described with the point of his
+dagger a circle around his head. The monk understood the meaning of the
+frightful pantomime. The Avengers of Israel threw him down and held him
+fast at the foot of the altar. The Franc-Taupin passed his thumb along
+the edge of his weapon, and sat down upon his haunches beside the
+patient. At that moment one of the riders rushed precipitately into the
+chapel, shouting:
+
+"A good prize! A good prize! A maid of honor of Jezebel!"
+
+The arrival of the captive girl suspended the torture of the monk who
+remained pinioned at the feet of Josephin. The Franc-Taupin rose, and
+cast a look upon the female captive, who was none other than Anna Bell.
+The features of the hardened soldier relaxed, a tremor ran over his
+frame, he hid his face in his hands and wept. It seemed to him as if he
+saw in the young captive Hena, the poor martyr he so deeply mourned! The
+otherwise inexorable man remained for a moment steeped in desolate
+thoughts, in the midst of the profound silence of the Avengers of
+Israel. The maid of honor stood cold with fright. She realized she was
+in the power of the terrible One-Eyed man, the ferocity of whom spread
+terror among the Catholics.
+
+The Franc-Taupin passed the back of his hand over his burning and hollow
+eye, the fierce fire of which seemed kindled into fiercer flame by the
+tear that had just bathed it. Turning with severity to Anna Bell he
+ordered her to step nearer:
+
+"You are a maid of honor to the Queen?"
+
+With a trembling voice Anna Bell replied: "Yes, monsieur, I belong to
+her Majesty the Queen."
+
+"Where do you come from?"
+
+"From Meilleret. Tired with travel, I stopped for rest at the village.
+From there I proceeded on my journey to join the Queen.--My guide lost
+his way. Your riders stopped my litter.--Have pity upon me and order
+that I be taken to Monsieur the Prince of Gerolstein. I think I may
+rely upon his courtesy."
+
+"At what hour did you leave Meilleret?"
+
+"About one this morning."
+
+"You lie! It is hardly five o'clock now--you traveled in a litter--it
+takes more than eight hours to come from Meilleret to this place on
+horseback and riding fast."
+
+"Monsieur, I conjure you, have me taken to the Prince of Gerolstein--it
+is the only favor I entreat of your kindness," cried Anna Bell,
+trembling and stammering.
+
+Struck by the insistence with which the maid of honor requested to be
+taken to Prince Franz of Gerolstein, the Franc-Taupin contemplated her
+with mistrust. Suddenly he ordered:
+
+"Search the woman!"
+
+Two Huguenots executed the order, and extracted from Anna Bell's pockets
+a purse, a letter and the gold vial. The Franc-Taupin opened the letter,
+the seal of which was broken; read it; looked puzzled over a passage in
+the missive and remained for a moment thoughtful. But immediately struck
+by a sudden inspiration, he darted a fierce glance at the maid of honor,
+examined the gold vial in silence, and holding it up to Anna Bell, said:
+
+"Woman, what does that vial contain?"
+
+With a great effort, Anna Bell replied, "I--I--know not."
+
+"Oh, you know not!" cried the Franc-Taupin, breaking out in a sardonic
+guffaw. "Miserable creature. You seem to have the audacity of a
+criminal."
+
+He stepped slowly towards the young girl, seized her by the arm, and
+holding the vial to her lips, cried:
+
+"Drink it on the spot, or I stab you to death!"
+
+Anna Bell, terror-stricken and fainting, dropped upon her knees, crying:
+"Mercy! Mercy! I beg of you, mercy! Pity! Mercy!"
+
+"Poisoner!" exclaimed the Franc-Taupin.
+
+The maid of honor crouched still lower upon her knees, hid her face in
+her hands, and sobbed aloud. The Huguenots looked at one another
+stupefied. Again silence reigned.
+
+"Brothers," said the Franc-Taupin, breaking the silence, "listen to the
+letter that you have just taken from this woman's pocket:
+
+     "A courier from my son Charles has arrived from Paris, my pet,
+     compelling me to have an immediate conference with the Cardinal. I
+     can not see you before your departure. Adieu, and courage. You will
+     reach your Prince. I forgot one important recommendation to you.
+     The philter must be emptied quickly after the stopper is removed
+     from the vial.
+
+"The letter is signed 'C. M.'--Catherine De Medici! Here we have it! The
+Queen sends one of her strumpets to poison Franz of Gerolstein!"
+
+Still under the shock of the cowardly assassination of Condé, and of the
+recent deaths by poison of the Duke of Deux-Ponts and the Admiral's
+brother, the Huguenots broke out into imprecations. The youth and beauty
+of the maid of honor only rendered her criminal designs all the more
+execrable in their eyes. The moment was critical. Anna Bell made a
+superhuman effort--a last endeavor to escape the fate that threatened
+her. She rose on her knees and with clasped hands cried:
+
+"Mercy! Listen to me! I shall confess everything!"
+
+"O, Hena," cried the Franc-Taupin with savage exaltation. "Poor martyr!
+I shall avenge your death upon this infamous creature--beautiful like
+yourself--young like yourself! Throw together outside of the chapel the
+branches that our horses have bared of their leaves. The wood is
+green--it will burn slowly. We'll tie the poisoner and the monk back to
+back upon the pyre the instant I have ordained him a Cardinal."
+
+In chorus the Huguenots shouted: "To the pyre with the monk and the
+poisoner!"
+
+Anna Bell's mind began to wander. Livid and shivering she crouched in a
+heap upon the ground, her voice choked in her throat, already rigid with
+terror, and escaped only in convulsive sobs. The Avengers of Israel
+hurried to heap up the bare branches around a tall oak-tree planted
+before the portico of the chapel. The Franc-Taupin stepped towards the
+Cordelier, who muttered in an agonizing voice, "_Miserere mei,
+Domine--miserere!_"
+
+Again the solemnity of ordaining the monk a Cardinal was suddenly
+interrupted. The sound of an approaching and numerous cavalcade reached
+the Avengers of Israel. A moment later Prince Franz of Gerolstein
+appeared at the head of a mounted troop.
+
+The personage who now stepped upon the scene was the grandson of Charles
+of Gerolstein, who in 1534 assisted at the council of the Calvinists in
+the quarry of Montmartre, together with Christian the printer. The young
+Prince was twenty-five years of age. The short visor of his helmet
+exposed his features. Their regularity and symmetry were perfect; they
+expressed at once benevolence and resolution. Of tall and wiry build,
+the young man's heavy black cuirass, worn German fashion, and his thick
+armlets, seemed not to weigh upon him. His wide hose, made of scarlet
+cloth, were almost overlapped by his long boots of buff leather armed
+with silver spurs. A wide belt of white taffeta--the Protestants'
+rallying sign--was fastened with a knot on one side.
+
+Immediately upon entering the chapel the Prince addressed the
+Franc-Taupin:
+
+"Comrades, I have just learned that your scouts have arrested one of the
+Queen's maids of honor--"
+
+Before the Franc-Taupin had time to answer the Prince, Anna Bell jumped
+up, ran to Franz, and threw herself at his feet, crying: "For mercy's
+sake, monsieur, deign to hear me!"
+
+Franz of Gerolstein recognized the young girl at once. He reached out
+his hand to her and made her rise, saying: "I remember to have met you,
+mademoiselle, at the French court, last year. Be comforted. There must
+be some untoward misunderstanding in regard to you."
+
+Anna Bell in turn seized the Prince's hands and covered them with kisses
+and tears. "I am innocent of the horrible crime that they charge me
+with!" she cried.
+
+"Prince," broke in the Franc-Taupin, "the woman must die! The wretch is
+a poisoner; she is an emissary of Catherine De Medici; and you were
+singled out for her victim. We are about to do justice to the case."
+
+"No pity for the prostitutes of the Italian woman! None for her
+messengers of death!" cried several Huguenots.
+
+But Franz of Gerolstein interposed, saying: "My friends, I can not
+believe in the crime that you charge this young girl with. I knew her at
+the court of France. I often spoke with her. Whatever the deplorable
+reputation of her companions, she is a happy exception among them."
+
+"Oh! thank you, monsieur," exclaimed Anna Bell in accents of ineffable
+gratitude. "Thank you, for testifying so warmly in my favor--"
+
+"Prince, the hypocrite had her mask on when she conversed with you!"
+insisted the inexorable Franc-Taupin. "Read this letter from the Queen.
+You will learn from it the reason why her maid of honor threw herself
+intentionally into the hands of our outposts, and immediately requested
+to be taken to your tent. As to this vial," he turned to Anna Bell,
+"does it contain poison, yes or no?"
+
+"Monsieur, do not allow appearances to deceive you--if you only knew!"
+cried Anna Bell, in distress.
+
+Franz of Gerolstein cast upon the maid of honor a frigid look; then,
+turning away his head, he stepped towards the door of the chapel. Anna
+Bell rushed after the Prince, fell again at his feet, clasped his knees
+and cried: "Monsieur, do not forsake me! In the name of your mother,
+deign to listen to me! It is not death I fear--what I fear is your
+contempt--I am innocent!"
+
+The accent of truthfulness often touches the most prejudiced of hearts.
+Moved, despite himself, Franz of Gerolstein stopped, and looking down
+upon the maid of honor with pain and pity, said:
+
+"I grant your prayer--I wish still to doubt the crime that you are
+accused of--explain the mystery of your movements." He looked around,
+and noticing the vestry door that led from one of the aisles of the
+chapel, he added, "Come, mademoiselle, I shall listen to you without
+witnesses in yonder private place."
+
+With an effort Anna Bell arose, and with staggering steps she followed
+Franz of Gerolstein into the vestry. Arrived there, the maid of honor
+collected her thoughts for a moment, and then addressed the young
+Huguenot Prince with a trembling voice in these words:
+
+"Monsieur, before God who hears me--here is the truth: Last evening,
+shortly before midnight, at the Abbey of St. Severin where the Queen
+halted for rest, she summoned me to her, and after reminding me of all
+that I owed to her generosity, because," and Anna Bell broke down
+weeping, "I am a waif, picked up from the street--out of charity--one of
+the Queen's serving-women bought me about ten years ago, as she informed
+me, from a Bohemian woman who made me beg before the parvise of Notre
+Dame in Paris--"
+
+"How came you to become a maid of honor to Catherine De Medici?"
+
+"The woman who took me in showed me to the Queen, and, to my
+misfortune!--to my disgrace!--the Queen interested herself in me!"
+
+"To your misfortune? To your disgrace?"
+
+"Monsieur," answered Anna Bell as if the words were wrung from her
+heart, "Alas! although barely beyond girlhood, two years ago, thanks to
+the principles and the instructions that I received, and the examples
+set to me, my education was perfect and complete, I was found worthy of
+forming part of the Queen's 'Flying Squadron'!"
+
+"I understand you! Poor girl!"
+
+"That is not all, monsieur. The day came when I was to prove my
+gratitude to the Queen. It happened during the truce in the religious
+wars. The Marquis of Solange, although a Protestant, often came to
+court. He was to be detached from his cause, monsieur. He had manifested
+some inclination towards me. The Queen called me apart. 'The Marquis of
+Solange loves you,' she said; 'he will sacrifice his faith to
+you--provided you are not cruel towards him.' I yielded to the pressure
+from the Queen. I had no consciousness of the indignity of my conduct
+until the day when--"
+
+Anna Bell could proceed no further; she seemed to strangle with
+confusion, and was purple with shame. Suddenly frightful cries,
+proceeding from the interior of the chapel, startled the oppressive
+silence in the vestry. The cries were speedily smothered, but again,
+ever and anon, and despite the gag that suppressed them, they escaped in
+muffled roars of pain. Frightened at these ominous sounds, the maid of
+honor precipitately took refuge by the Prince's side, seeming to
+implore his protection and muttering amid sobs:
+
+"Monsieur--do you hear those cries--do you hear the man's moans?"
+
+"Oh!" answered Franz of Gerolstein, visibly depressed with grief.
+"Forever accursed be they, who, through their ferocity, were the first
+to provoke these acts of cruel reprisal!"
+
+The moans that reached the vestry gradually changed into muffled and
+convulsive rattles that grew fainter and fainter. Silence prevailed once
+more. The expiring monk was ordained Cardinal by the Franc-Taupin.
+
+"I arrived in time, mademoiselle, to rescue you from the vengeance of
+those pitiless men," resumed the Prince. "The candor of your words would
+denote the falseness of the accusations raised against you. And yet,
+this letter from the Queen, this vial, would seem to furnish convincing
+testimony against you."
+
+"Last evening," Anna Bell proceeded, "notified by our governess that the
+Queen wished to speak to me, I awaited her orders in a dark corridor
+that separated my chamber from the Queen's apartments. At the very
+moment I was about to open the door I heard your name mentioned,
+monsieur. The Queen was speaking about you with Father Lefevre, a priest
+of the Society of Jesus, one of the counselors of the King of Spain."
+
+"To what purpose was my name mentioned by the Queen and the Jesuit?"
+
+"It seems that, in their opinion, monsieur, you are a redoubtable
+enemy, and the Queen promised Father Lefevre to rid herself of you. One
+of her maids of honor was to be commissioned to execute the murder
+through poison. The maid of honor chosen was myself. Madam Catherine
+selected me for this horrible deed. Frightened at what I had overheard,
+an involuntary cry of horror escaped me. Almost immediately I heard
+footsteps approach the door of the Queen's apartment. Luckily I had time
+to regain my own chamber without being heard or even suspected of having
+overheard the Queen's words. Presently she rang for me. The Queen began
+by reminding me of her acts of kindness to me, and added she decided to
+fulfil the dearest and most secret wishes of my heart. 'Anna Bell,' she
+said, 'you no longer love the Marquis of Solange; you have transferred
+your affections to the Prince of Gerolstein, whom you saw at court last
+year.' Take this vial. It contains a philter that makes one beloved. A
+guide will take you to the outposts of the Huguenots; you will fall into
+their hands; you will then ask to be taken to the Prince of Gerolstein.
+He is a nobleman, he will take pity upon you, he will lodge you in his
+tent. Love will inspire you. You will find the opportunity to pour a few
+drops of this philter into Franz of Gerolstein's cup--thus you will
+reach your Prince'--and these are the words which the Queen repeated to
+me in her letter."
+
+"And guessing that the philter was poison, and fearing to awaken the
+Queen's suspicions, you feigned readiness to accept the mission of
+death? That, I suppose, is the complement of your story?"
+
+"Yes, monsieur. I hoped to warn you to be on guard against the dangers
+that threaten you!"
+
+Exhausted by so many emotions, and crushed with shame, the poor girl
+dropped down upon one of the benches in the vestry, hid her face in her
+hands, and wept convulsively.
+
+The revelation, bearing as it did the stamp of irresistible candor,
+awakened in the heart of Franz of Gerolstein a deep interest for the
+ill-starred young woman.
+
+"Mademoiselle," he said to her in a firm yet kind tone, "I believe in
+your sincerity--I believe your account of your misfortunes."
+
+"Now, monsieur, I can die."
+
+"Dismiss such mournful thoughts--perhaps an unexpected consolation
+awaits you. Owing to certain details that you mentioned concerning your
+early years, I am almost certain I know your parents. You must have been
+born at La Rochelle, and was not your father an armorer?"
+
+"Yes!" cried Anna Bell. "Yes! I remember how the sight of glistening
+arms delighted my eyes in my childhood."
+
+"Did you not, at the time you were kidnapped from your family, wear any
+collar or other trinket that you may have preserved?"
+
+"I wore around my neck, and have preserved ever since, a little lead
+medal. I have it here attached to this chain."
+
+Franz of Gerolstein ran to the door of the vestry and called for
+Josephin. The Franc-Taupin approached, stepping slowly, and engaged in
+imparting the latest notch to the stick that hung from his cartridge
+belt: "Seventeen! There are still eight wanting before we reach
+twenty-five! Oh! My bill shall be paid, by my sister's death! My bill
+shall be paid!"
+
+Franz of Gerolstein inquired from the Franc-Taupin: "What was the age of
+Odelin's child when she was kidnapped!"
+
+With a look of surprise the Franc-Taupin answered: "The poor child was
+eight years old. It is now ten years since the dear little girl
+disappeared."
+
+"Did she wear anything by which she might be identified?" pursued Franz.
+
+"She wore from her neck," said the Franc-Taupin with a sigh, "a medal of
+the Church of the Desert, like all other Protestant children. It was a
+medal that I presented to her mother the day of the little creature's
+birth."
+
+Franz of Gerolstein held before the Franc-Taupin the medal that Anna
+Bell had just given him, and said: "Do you recognize this medal?
+Josephin, this young girl was kidnapped from her family ten years
+ago--she carried this medal from her neck--"
+
+"Oh!" cried the Franc-Taupin, looking at Anna Bell with renewed
+confusion. "She is Odelin's daughter! That accounts for my having been
+from the first struck with her resemblance to Hena."
+
+"Do you, monsieur, know my parents?" it was now Anna Bell's turn to ask.
+"Pray tell me where I can find them."
+
+But overcome with emotion, the Franc-Taupin said: "But Oh! what a shame
+for the family! What a disgrace! A maid of honor to the Queen!"
+
+The Franc-Taupin was quickly drawn from his mixed emotions of sorrow and
+joy. More important work was soon to be done. An officer entered the
+vestry, bringing orders from Admiral Coligny for the vanguards and
+outposts to fall back without delay toward St. Yrieix. Franz of
+Gerolstein immediately conveyed the Admiral's orders to the Avengers of
+Israel, who crowded behind the officer, and then turned to Anna Bell,
+saying:
+
+"Mademoiselle, come; remount your litter. We shall escort you to St.
+Yrieix. I shall impart to you on the road tidings concerning your
+family--of which I am a member."
+
+"What a revelation to Odelin--and to Antonicq!" the Franc-Taupin thought
+to himself, "when they learn within shortly, at St. Yrieix, that this
+unfortunate creature--the disgraced and dishonored maid of honor to the
+Queen is the daughter of the one and the sister of the other!"
+
+The Avengers of Israel and the squadron of German horsemen, with Franz
+of Gerolstein at their head, completed their reconnoisance about the
+forest and fell back upon St. Yrieix. The chapel of St. Hubert remained
+deserted and wrapped in silence. The morning breeze swung the body of
+the monk as it hung limp from a branch of the oak-tree in front of the
+portico of the holy place. Horrible to look at were the features of the
+corpse. They preserved the impress of the Cordelier's last agonies. The
+skin was ripped from the head. It had the appearance of being covered
+with a red skull cap.
+
+Abominable reprisals, without a doubt; and yet less abominable than the
+crimes of which they record the expiatory vengeance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+GASPARD OF COLIGNY.
+
+
+The burg of St. Yrieix stood in the center of the staked-in camp
+occupied by the army of Admiral Coligny. An inflexible disciplinarian,
+Admiral Coligny maintained rigorous order among his troops. Never was
+pillage allowed; never marauding. His soldiers always paid for all that
+they demanded from city folks or peasants. He went even further.
+Whenever it happened that, scared at the approach of armed forces, the
+peasants fled from their villages, the officers, executing the express
+orders of Admiral Coligny, left in the houses the price of the
+vegetables and forage with which the soldiers provisioned themselves and
+their beasts in the absence of the masters of the place. Finally, as a
+necessary and terrible example--thieves caught redhanded were inexorably
+hanged, and the stolen objects tied to their feet. Finally there never
+were seen at the Huguenot camps the swarms of women of ill fame that
+ordinarily encumbered the baggage of the Catholic army, and that,
+according to the ancient practice, were placed under the supervision of
+the "King of the Ribalds."
+
+The habits of the Protestants in the army of Admiral Coligny were
+pious, austere and upright. This notwithstanding, the Admiral found it
+impossible to impose rigid discipline upon the numerous bands that from
+time to time attached themselves to his main forces, usually conducted a
+guerilla warfare, and emulated the royalists in rapine and cruelty.
+
+The Admiral, the Princes of Orange, of Nassau and of Gerolstein, the
+sons of the Prince of Condé who was assassinated upon orders from the
+Duke of Anjou, young Henry of Bearn, besides many other Protestant
+chiefs, occupied several houses at St. Yrieix. The ancient priory served
+as the Admiral's quarters. Early in the morning, as was his wont,
+Admiral Coligny left his lodgings accompanied by his servants, to attend
+the prayers held in the Huguenot camp and called the "Prayer of the
+Guard." The officers and soldiers of the Admiral's post, together with
+those of some neighboring ones, filled on these occasions the courtyard
+of the priory, and standing erect, bareheaded, silent, they awaited in
+meditation the hour of raising their souls to God. Old soldiers grey of
+beard and seamed with scars; young recruits, barely beyond adolescence;
+rich noblemen, raised in the spacious halls of castles; field laborers,
+as well as artisans from the cities, who rallied to the defense of the
+"Church of the Desert"--all animated with an ardent faith, would there
+unite upon the level of Evangelical equality. The seigneur, battling
+side by side with his vassal for the holy cause of freedom of
+conscience, saw in him only a brother. Thus germinated among the
+Protestants the tendencies toward fraternity that were later to cause
+the distinctions of castes and races, so much prized by royalists, to
+vanish. A slight murmur, betokening the affection and respect that he
+inspired, greeted the Admiral's arrival. The rude fatigues of many wars
+had bent his tall and one-time straight figure. His white hair and
+beard, together with the pallor of his noble visage, now profoundly
+changed since the death of his brother, who was treacherously poisoned,
+imparted to the aspect of the supreme chieftain of the Protestant armies
+a venerable and touching expression. Encased from his neck down in armor
+of burnished iron, without any ornament whatever, and half concealed
+under a flowing cloak of white cloth--the Huguenot color--the Admiral
+was bareheaded. Beside him stood the brave Francis of Lanoüe, a young
+Breton nobleman. Courage, honor, kindness, were stamped upon his manly
+and loyal countenance. A sort of steel arm, artistically forged by
+Odelin Lebrenn, with the aid of which Monsieur Lanoüe could guide his
+horse, replaced the arm that the daring captain had lost in battle. When
+the murmur that greeted the Admiral's arrival subsided, one of the
+pastors, Feron by name, who attended the army, uttered in a benign voice
+the following short prayer:
+
+"Our trust lies in God, who made the heavens and the earth.
+
+"Our Father and Savior, since it has pleased You, in the midst of the
+dangers of war, to preserve us last night and until this day, may it
+please You to cause us to employ it wholly in Your service. Oh, heavenly
+Father! Our brothers rely upon our vigilance. They rely upon us, their
+defenders. Deign by Your grace to help us in faithfully fulfilling our
+charge, without negligence, or cowardice. Finally, may it please You, O
+Lord of Hosts, to change these calamitous times into happy times where
+justice and religion shall reign! Not then shall we any longer be
+reduced to the necessity of defending ourselves; then will Your holy
+name be glorified more and more the world over! All these things, O
+Lord, our Father! O, good God! we beg of You in the name and by the
+grace of our Savior Jesus Christ. We pray to You to increase our faith
+which we now confess, saying: I believe in God the omnipotent Father,
+and in his Son the Redeemer.
+
+"May the blessing of God the Father, the grace and the mercy of our Lord
+Jesus Christ remain and dwell forevermore among us in the communion of
+the Holy Ghost.
+
+"Amen!"[67]
+
+"Amen!" responded Admiral Coligny devoutly and in a grave voice.
+
+"Amen!" answered the soldiers.
+
+The morning prayer had been said.
+
+While the Admiral was religiously attending morning service in the
+courtyard at his headquarters, Dominic, the servant of his household who
+was captured shortly before by the royalists, was engaged in executing
+the crime plotted by the Duke of Anjou jointly with the captain of his
+guards.
+
+Dominic stepped into the chamber of Coligny; he moved about cautiously,
+with eyes and ears alert, watching from all sides whether he was either
+seen or heard; he approached a table on which, standing beside several
+scrolls of paper, was an earthen bowl containing a refreshing drink that
+Coligny was in the habit of taking every morning, and which his faithful
+equerry Nicholas Mouche always prepared for him. Mouche was at the
+moment at prayers with the Admiral, together with the rest of the
+household servants. Dominic purposely did not join his comrades that
+morning; he figured upon their absence to carry out his nefarious deed.
+The poisoner took up the earthen bowl to drop the poison in. For an
+instant he hesitated. Brought up in the house of Coligny and ever
+treated by his master with paternal kindness, the thoughts of the wretch
+for an instant conjured up the past before him. Then cupidity stifled
+pity in the assassin's breast. He took out of his pocket a scent-bag
+containing some grey powder, shook the contents into the bowl, and
+stirred it, in order to mix the poison well with the liquid. Dominic was
+placing the bowl back from where he took it when he heard steps
+approaching. Quickly and tremblingly he slid away from the table. It was
+Odelin Lebrenn, bringing back the Admiral's casque, which was sent to
+him to repair, it having been bent in the day before by a ball from a
+large arquebus while the Admiral was on a reconnoitering expedition.
+Although serving as a volunteer with his son Antonicq in the Protestant
+army, Odelin exercised his trade with the help of a portable forge.
+Thirty-three years had elapsed since the day when he returned to Paris
+with Master Raimbaud. He was now bordering on his forty-eighth year.
+His beard and hair were grizzled with grey. His features betokened
+frankness and resolution. Odelin had not seen Dominic since his capture
+by the Catholics. He now congratulated him heartily upon his escape from
+the enemy, but remarking the wretch's pallor, he added:
+
+"What is the matter, my dear Dominic? You look ashy pale."
+
+"I do not know--what--you mean--" stammered Dominic, saying which the
+poisoner rushed out precipitately.
+
+The hurry of the man's departure, his pallor and flutter, awakened the
+armorer's suspicion; but these thoughts were quickly crowded out of his
+mind by the sudden appearance of his son Antonicq, who ran in with
+flustered face and tears in his eyes, crying:
+
+"Oh, father! Come quick! In heaven's name come to the Prince of
+Gerolstein who is just back to camp with uncle Josephin, the
+Franc-Taupin."
+
+At this moment, Nicholas Mouche, the Admiral's confidential equerry
+entered his master's room. Not seeing the face of either Odelin or his
+son, both having their backs turned to the door, he cried out in
+surprise and alarm:
+
+"Who are you? What are you doing here?" But instantly recognizing the
+armorer and his son, for whom he entertained warm esteem, he added:
+"Excuse me, my dear Lebrenn, I did not recognize you at first. Excuse
+me. You and your son are really members of the household. Your presence
+here need not alarm me for my master's safety."
+
+"I brought back Monsieur Coligny's casque," Odelin explained, "and my
+son came after me. I do not yet know the cause of his excitement. See
+how flustered his face is! What extraordinary thing has happened, my
+boy?"
+
+"My sister--Marguerite--whom we thought lost forever--has been found--"
+
+"Great God!"
+
+"Come, father--the Prince--and my uncle--will tell you all about
+it--they will narrate to you the extraordinary affair--"
+
+"What!" exclaimed Nicholas Mouche, looking at Odelin. "Is the poor child
+who disappeared so long ago found again! Heaven be praised!"
+
+"Oh, I can not yet believe such a happy thing possible!" said Odelin,
+his heart beating between doubt and hope.
+
+"Come, father, you will know all!"
+
+"Adieu!" said the armorer to Nicholas, as he followed his son, no less
+wrought up than the young man.
+
+"Poor father!" mused the old equerry as he followed Odelin with his
+eyes. "Provided only he is not running after some cruel disappointment!"
+Approaching his master's writing table to assure himself that the
+Admiral was supplied with ink, Nicholas's eyes fell upon the earthen
+bowl. He noticed that it was full to the brim--untouched.
+
+"Monsieur the Admiral has not taken a single mouthful of his chicory
+water! Truth to say, in point of taking care of himself, the dear old
+hero is as thoughtless as a child! But here he is! He shall not escape a
+lecture;" and addressing Coligny, who now returned to his room after
+prayers, the equerry said in a tone of familiar reproach that his long
+years of service justified: "Well, Monsieur Admiral; what about your
+chicory water! The bowl is as full as when I brought it in early this
+morning--"
+
+"That is so," answered Coligny with a smile. "The trouble lies with you.
+You make the drink so frightfully bitter that I postpone all I can the
+hour of gulping it down."
+
+"That is an odd reason, Monsieur Admiral! Is not the bitterness of the
+drink the very thing that gives it virtue? Monsieur, you are going to
+drink it now--on the spot--and before me!"
+
+"Come, let us compromise--I promise you that the bowl shall be empty
+within the next hour. Are the horses saddled and bridled?"
+
+"Yes, monsieur. If we ride out this morning I shall bring along Julien
+the Basque and Dominic to take charge of your relay horses. The poor
+fellow Dominic, despite the mishap of the day before yesterday, which
+might have cost him dear, begged me this morning to choose him as one of
+the footmen to accompany you to-day, if there is to be any engagement."
+
+"Dominic is a worthy servant."
+
+"What else should he be? Was he not brought up in your house, monsieur,
+and the son of one of your oldest servants, the worthy forester of the
+woods of Chatillon?"
+
+"Oh, my dear house of Chatillon, my meadows, my woods, my vines, my
+grain fields, my thrifty laborers--am I ever to see you again?" remarked
+Coligny with a melancholic sigh. "Oh, the country life! The family
+life!" The Admiral remained in silent meditation for a moment, then he
+added:
+
+"Leave me alone. I have some writing to do."
+
+The equerry left the room. Monsieur Coligny stepped slowly towards the
+table, drew a campstool near, and sat down upon it. With his forehead
+resting on his hand he remained long lost in revery, musing to himself:
+
+"Why should this thought have come to me to-day, more than any other
+day? I know not. God inspires me. Let us listen to His warnings. At any
+rate, it is well to have our accounts clear with heaven. Besides, it is
+my duty to answer before God and men the accusations that are preferred
+against me. It is my duty to answer the capital and defaming sentence
+that has been hurled against me and mine."
+
+Taking a scroll from the table, the Admiral read:
+
+     "As the principal author of and leader in the conspiracy and
+     rebellion gotten up against the King and his State, the said Sieur
+     of Coligny is sentenced to be hanged and strangled upon the Greve
+     Square, and subsequently to be exposed from the gibbet of
+     Montfaucon. His goods revert to and are confiscate by the King. His
+     children are declared forfeit of their noble rank, infamous, and
+     disqualified from holding office or owning any property in the
+     kingdom. Fifty thousand gold ecus are promised to whomsoever will
+     deliver the said Sieur of Coligny, dead or alive. The children of
+     his brother Dandelot are likewise declared infamous."
+
+Coligny flung back upon the table the scroll containing the extract of
+the royal decree, registered in the Parliament of Paris on May 27, 1569,
+and raising his tearful eyes heavenward, exclaimed in accents of
+profound grief:
+
+"My poor and good brother! They killed you treacherously by poison! Your
+children are orphans, with none but myself for their support--and now a
+price is set upon my own life! To-day, to-morrow, in battle, or
+otherwise, God may call me to Him! Oh, let me at least carry with me the
+consolation that my own and my brother's orphans will remain entrusted
+to worthy hands!"
+
+Coligny remained long absorbed in meditation. He then took a sheet of
+paper, a pen, and again concentrating his thoughts, proceeded to write
+his testament:[68]
+
+     Of all His creatures, God has created man the most worthy.
+     Accordingly, it is man's duty, during his life, to do all he can to
+     glorify the Lord, render evidence of his faith, set a good example
+     to his fellows, and, to the extent of his powers, leave his
+     children in comfort, if it has pleased God to afford him any.
+
+     Although our days are numbered before God, nothing is more
+     uncertain than the hour when it will please Him to call us away. We
+     must keep ourselves so well prepared that we may not be taken by
+     surprise. For this reason I have decided to draw up the present
+     writing, in order that those who may remain behind me, may hear my
+     intentions and know my wishes.
+
+     In the first place, after invoking the name of God, I make to Him
+     a summary confession of my faith, imploring Him that the same may
+     serve me at the hour when it shall please Him to call me away,
+     because He knows that I make this confession with my heart and
+     affection, and in the full sincerity of my soul.
+
+     I believe in what is contained in the Old and the New Testament, as
+     being the true word of God, to which and from which nothing may be
+     added or taken away, as it orders us. Lastly, I seek in Jesus
+     Christ and through Him alone my salvation and the remission of my
+     sins, according as He has promised. I subscribe to the confession
+     of faith of the Reformed Church in this kingdom. I wish to live and
+     die in this faith, judging myself happy, indeed, if I must suffer
+     on that account.
+
+     I know I am accused of having attempted against the life of the
+     King, of the Queen, and of messeigneurs the King's brothers; I
+     protest before God that I never had the wish or the intention of
+     doing so. I am also accused of ambition, on account of my having
+     taken up arms with the Reformers; I protest that only the interest
+     of religion, and the necessity of defending my own life and the
+     lives of my family made me take up arms. Upon this head I confess
+     that my greatest guilt lies in not having resented the injustices
+     and the murders perpetrated upon my brothers. I had to be driven to
+     take up arms by the dangers and the plots of which I myself was the
+     object. But I also say it before God, I have endeavored by all
+     means available to pacify, fearing nothing so much as civil war,
+     and foreseeing that the same would carry in its wake the ruin of
+     this kingdom, whose preservation I have ever desired. I write this
+     because, ignorant of the hour when it will please God to call me
+     away, I do not wish to leave my children with the brand of infamy
+     and rebellion.
+
+     I have taken up arms, not against the King, but against those whose
+     tyranny compelled the Reformers to defend their lives. I knew in my
+     heart that they often acted against the wishes of the King,
+     according to several letters and instructions that prove the fact.
+     I know I must appear before the throne of God and there receive
+     judgment. May He condemn me if I lie when I say that my warmest
+     desire is to see the King served in all purity, obedient to his
+     orders, and that the kingdom of France be preserved. On these
+     conditions I would gladly forget all that concerns me
+     personally--injuries, insults, outrages, confiscation of my
+     estates--provided the glory of God and public tranquility are
+     assured. To that end I am determined to occupy myself to my last
+     breath. I wish this to be known, in order not to leave a wrong
+     impression concerning myself after my death.
+
+     I request and order that my children be always brought up to the
+     love and fear of God; that they continue their studies up to the
+     age of fifteen, without interruption. I hold those years to be
+     better employed in that manner than if they are sent to a court, or
+     placed in the suite of some seigneur. Above all do I request their
+     tutors never to allow them to keep bad or vicious company. We are
+     all too much inclined to evil, by our own nature. I request that my
+     children be frequently reminded of this, in order that they may
+     know that such is my desire, as I have often expressed it to them
+     myself.
+
+     I request that my children be brought up with those of my brother
+     Dandelot, as he himself expressed in his testament the wish that
+     they should be. That the ones and the others take for their example
+     the warm and fraternal friendship that always existed between my
+     brother and myself.
+
+     Loving all my children equally, I expect that each will receive as
+     my successors that which is accorded to them by the usages of the
+     country where my estates are situated (if the confiscation with
+     which they are attainted cease). I request that the jewelry
+     belonging to my deceased wife be equally divided between my two
+     daughters.
+
+     I desire that my eldest son take the name of Chatillon; Gaspard, my
+     second son, the name of Dandelot; and Charles, the third, that of
+     La Breteche.
+
+     I request Madam Dandelot, my sister-in-law, to keep near her my two
+     daughters, so long as she may remain in widowhood. Should she marry
+     again, I request Madam La Rochefoucauld, my niece, to take charge
+     of them.
+
+     Having learned that they burned down the college founded by me at
+     Chatillon, I desire and expect that it be re-built, because it is
+     a public good with the aid of which God may be honored and
+     glorified.
+
+     I order that my servants and pensioners be paid all that may be due
+     to them on the day of my decease, and do grant them, besides, a
+     year's wages. In recognition of my great satisfaction with Lagrele,
+     the preceptor of my children, for the care he has bestowed upon
+     them, I bequeath to him one thousand francs. To Nicholas Mouche and
+     his wife Joan, in reward of their good offices to me and my
+     deceased wife, I bequeath five hundred francs, and an annual
+     stipend of seventeen measures of wheat during their lives, because
+     they have so many children.
+
+     When it shall please God to call me away, I desire, if it be
+     possible, that my body be taken to my Chatillon home, to be there
+     interred beside my wife, without any funeral pomp or other ceremony
+     than that of the Reformed religion.
+
+     And in order that the above provisions be carried out, I request
+     Monsieur the Count of Chatillon, my brother; Monsieur La
+     Rochefoucauld, my nephew; and Messieurs Lanoüe and Saragosse, to be
+     the executors of these my last wishes. Above all do I recommend to
+     them _the education and instruction of my children_. I consecrate
+     them to the service of God, entreating them to cause my children
+     always to deport and guide themselves by His holy spirit, and to so
+     behave that their actions contribute to His glory, to the public
+     welfare, and to the pacification of the kingdom. I pray to God to
+     be pleased with the benediction that I bestow upon my children, to
+     the end of attracting upon them the blessing of heaven.
+
+     As to myself, offering to the Lord the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in
+     the redemption of my sins, I pray to Him that He may receive my
+     soul and grant to it the blessed and eternal life that awaits the
+     resurrection of the body.
+
+     Finally, I request Messieurs La Rochefoucauld, Saragosse and
+     Lanoüe, to be the tutors and guardians of my children.
+
+Coligny was just finishing this testament, every line of which breathed
+sincerity, straightforwardness, wisdom, modesty, the tenderest of
+domestic virtues, faith in the holiness of his cause, love for France,
+and horror of civil war, when Monsieur Lanoüe entered the room with
+indignation stamped upon his features. He held an open letter in his
+hand, and was about to address Coligny, when the Admiral forestalled
+him, saying:
+
+"My friend, I have just written your name at the foot of my testament,
+requesting you and Monsieur La Rochefoucauld kindly to accept the office
+of guardians to my children, and those of my brother;" and extending his
+hand to Lanoüe: "You accept, do you not, this mark of my friendship and
+confidence? Brought up under your eyes, my nephews and my children, if
+it please God, will be honorable men and women."
+
+"Monsieur," answered Lanoüe with profound emotion, "in heart, at least,
+I shall be worthy of the sacred mission that you honor me with."
+
+"May people some day be able to say of my children and nephews: 'They
+have the virtues of Lanoüe!' God will then have granted my last prayer.
+I entrust this testament to your hands, my friend. Keep it safe."
+
+"It is not sealed, monsieur."
+
+"Both my friends and my enemies are free to read it. What a man says to
+God men may hear," replied the Admiral with ancient loftiness. "Here I
+am now, settled with myself," the noble soldier proceeded to say; "now
+let us consider the military preparations for the day."
+
+"Oh, what a war!" cried Lanoüe. "No, it is war no longer; it is
+treachery; it is assassination! I have a letter from Paris. They send
+me a copy of a missive to the Duke of Alençon from his brother, in the
+Maurevert affair."
+
+"The cowardly assassin of Mouy?"
+
+"Yes, the cowardly assassin Maurevert, who came to our camp with the
+mask of friendship, and who, profiting by the darkness of night and the
+defenselessness of Mouy asleep, stabbed him to death, and immediately
+took flight. Listen, Admiral, listen now to this! This is what Charles
+IX, the present King of France, writes to his brother:
+
+     "To my brother the Duke of Alençon.
+
+     "My brother, in reward for the signal service rendered to me by
+     Charles of Louvier, Sieur of Maurevert, the bearer of these
+     presents, IT BEING HE WHO KILLED MOUY, _in the way that he will
+     narrate to you_, I request you, my brother, to bestow upon him the
+     collar of my Order, he being chosen and elected by the brothers of
+     the said Order a member of the same; and furthermore to see to it
+     that he, the said Maurevert, be gratified by the denizens and
+     residents of my good city of Paris _with some worthy present_ IN
+     KEEPING WITH HIS DESERTS, while I pray God, my brother, that He
+     keep you under His holy and worthy protection.
+
+     "Done at Plessis-les-Tours, the 1st day of June, 1569.
+
+     "Your good brother
+
+     "CHARLES."[69]
+
+The Admiral listened stupefied.
+
+"Never," observed Lanoüe after reading the royal schedule, "never yet
+was the glorification of assassination carried further than this! Oh,
+Monsieur Admiral, you often made the remark--'You, as well as I and so
+many others, are attached by heart and principle, if not to the King,
+still to the Crown.' But this house of Valois will yet cover itself with
+so many crimes that it will inspire hatred for monarchy. Do we not
+already see springing up the desire for a federal republic, like the
+federated Swiss cantons? The desire already has spread among many men of
+honorable purposes, and it gains new supporters every day."
+
+Nicholas Mouche appeared at this moment at the threshold of the door. "I
+wager," he said to himself, "that the wholesome drink of chicory water
+still lies forgotten." And approaching his master, he added: "Well,
+Monsieur Admiral, the hour has elapsed!"
+
+"What hour?" asked Coligny, whose thoughts were absorbed in the painful
+reminiscences awakened by Lanoüe's words, "what do you mean?"
+
+"Your morning drink!" answered the trusty equerry; and turning from his
+master: "Monsieur Lanoüe, I entreat you; join me in making the Admiral
+listen to reason. He knows that his surgeon, Monsieur Ambroise Paré,
+strongly recommended to him chicory water when in the field, because the
+Admiral often is twelve and fifteen hours at a stretch on horseback,
+without once taking off his boots. Well, he refuses to follow the orders
+of his physician."
+
+"You hear the complaint of your worthy servant, Monsieur Admiral,"
+remarked Lanoüe smiling. "I agree with him; he is right. You should
+follow the orders of Master Ambroise Paré."
+
+"Come, come--it shall be as Monsieur Nicholas wishes," said Coligny,
+taking the bowl from the table. He looked at the greenish color of the
+decoction with visible repugnance, and carried the bowl to his lips.
+
+At that very instant Odelin Lebrenn rushed into the chamber, dashed the
+earthen vessel from Coligny's hands and crushed it under his feet,
+crying:
+
+"Thank God! I arrived in time!"
+
+Lanoüe, Nicholas Mouche and Coligny were stupefied. Breathless with
+excitement and winded from a long and rapid run, Odelin Lebrenn leaned
+with one hand against the table. He made a sign that he wished to speak
+but could not yet. Finally he stammered out:
+
+"A second later--and Monsieur Coligny would have been poisoned--by the
+potion--he was about--to drink!"
+
+"Great God!" cried Lanoüe, growing pale, while Nicholas Mouche trembled
+like an aspen leaf as he looked at his master.
+
+"Explain yourself, Monsieur Lebrenn!" commanded the Admiral.
+
+"This morning, when you were away from the room with your servants at
+prayer, I came in to bring back your casque. I found Dominic here."
+
+"That is so," said Nicholas Mouche; "he did not go to prayer with the
+rest."
+
+"Without being surprised at finding Dominic in his master's room,"
+Odelin proceeded, "I noticed, notwithstanding, that he was pale and
+confused. Later, God be blessed, I recalled the circumstance that, as I
+came in, I saw him quickly step away from the table on which stood the
+vessel which, as Nicholas afterwards told me, held the drink you take
+every morning, Monsieur Admiral. Into that drink, into that chicory
+water, Dominic dropped the poison."
+
+"He!" exclaimed Coligny, horrified. "Impossible! A servant raised under
+my own roof since his early childhood!"
+
+"Oh, the wretch!" cried Nicholas Mouche. "This morning, seeing me
+prepare the potion, Dominic asked me to let him attend to the matter. I
+saw in that only a warning to be careful."
+
+"My God!" put in Lanoüe, who had remained dumb with horror and
+indignation. "Providence can allow such crimes, only to inspire the
+world with execration for their perpetrators. Can such wickedness be,
+Monsieur Lebrenn?"
+
+"Dominic has confessed all. The instigators of the murder are the Duke
+of Anjou and the Count of La Riviere, a captain of the Duke's guards.
+The temptation of a vast sum decided the assassin to undertake the
+deed."
+
+"Oh, Catherine De Medici, your children approve themselves worthy of
+you! They emulate the example you have set them!" exclaimed Lanoüe.
+
+"But how did you discover the crime, Monsieur Lebrenn? Tell us."
+
+"What I noticed this morning would have awakened my suspicions on the
+spot, were it not for the hurried arrival of my son and the tidings he
+brought me. I followed him in a great hurry. As we were passing by the
+inn that lies not far from my place and where the horses of Monsieur
+Coligny are stabled, I saw Dominic come out, riding bareback. His nag
+bore evidence of having been bridled in great haste. Dominic departed at
+a gallop. The man's frightened looks and his hurry to get off revived my
+first suspicions. I ran after him calling out: 'Hold him!' 'Hold him!'
+My uncle, the Franc-Taupin, together with some others of his men,
+happened to be in the wretch's way. They jumped at the bridle of his
+horse, and held him fast. As I caught up with them I shouted to him
+point-blank: 'You poisoned the Admiral!' Surprise, fear and remorse
+immediately drew from him a full confession of his crime. 'It is true,'
+he answered. 'I repent it. The Duke of Anjou offered me a large sum to
+poison my master--I yielded--the poison was handed to me--and I returned
+to camp in order to commit the murder.' The instant I heard this, I ran
+hither, leaving Dominic in the care of my son."
+
+"Monsieur Lebrenn," said Coligny, grasping Odelin's hands with warmth,
+"It is thirty and odd years ago that I met your worthy father at one of
+the first councils of the reformers on Montmartre. I was then quite
+young, while your father, an artisan employed at the printing
+establishment of Robert Estienne already had rendered valiant services
+to the cause. It is sweet to me to owe my life to you--to you, his
+worthy son."
+
+"The cannon!" suddenly called out Lanoüe, listening to a muffled and
+rumbling sound that came from afar, carried into the room by the early
+morning breeze, "It is the rumbling sound of approaching cannon wheels.
+The detonations succeed each other rapidly."
+
+"Nicholas," said Coligny, without indicating any surprise, "look at my
+pocket-watch. It must now be nearly ten o'clock."
+
+"Yes, monsieur," answered the equerry after consulting the watch; "it is
+nearly ten."
+
+"La Rochefoucauld has executed my orders punctually. It shall not be
+long before we shall see one of his officers arrive. Lanoüe, let us be
+ready to jump on horseback." And turning to his equerry: "Order the
+horses brought to the door of the priory. Monsieur Lebrenn, I count upon
+having your son at my side, as usual in action, to carry my orders."
+
+"Here he is, monsieur," answered Odelin as Antonicq entered. "Where is
+the wretch, my son?"
+
+"Father, he repeated his confession, again accusing the Duke of Anjou
+and the captain of the Duke's guards with having driven him to the
+commission of the crime, which he seemed deeply to repent. The
+exasperated soldiers executed instant justice upon the poisoner. They
+hanged him. His corpse is now swinging from the branch of an oak."[70]
+
+At this moment a Huguenot officer covered with dust appeared at the
+threshold of the door. Monsieur Coligny said to him:
+
+"I was waiting for you. Is the skirmish opened? Are all doing their duty
+well?"
+
+"Yes, monsieur. A few companies of the royal army answered our attack,
+and have crossed the stream that covered their front."
+
+"Monsieur La Rochefoucauld must have feigned a retreat towards the hill
+of Haut Moulin, behind which are massed the twenty cavalry squadrons of
+the Prince of Gerolstein. Have all my orders been executed?"
+
+"Yes, monsieur. At the very moment that he despatched me to you,
+Monsieur La Rochefoucauld was executing the retreat. The Prince was in
+command of his cavalry. All the forces are in line of battle."
+
+"All goes well," observed Coligny to Lanoüe; "I ordered the Prince's
+squadrons not to dismask and charge until the royal troops, drawn into
+disorder by their pursuit of our men, shall have arrived at the foot of
+the hill. We may expect a good result."
+
+"Monsieur La Rochefoucauld also ordered me to make an important
+communication to you. From some royalist prisoners we learned this
+morning that the Queen and the Cardinal arrived in the camp of the Duke
+of Anjou."
+
+Upon hearing of Catherine De Medici's arrival, the Admiral reflected for
+an instant, then drew near the table, dashed a few words down on a sheet
+of paper and handed it to the officer, saying:
+
+"Monsieur, return at your fastest, and deliver this order to Monsieur La
+Rochefoucauld." And addressing Lanoüe as the officer left on the wings
+of the wind on his errand: "The presence of the Queen in the royal camp
+may suggest to Marshal Tavannes the idea of engaging in a decisive
+action. Come, my friend," he added, leaving the chamber, "I wish to
+consult with the Princes of Orange and Nassau before taking horse."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+FAMILY FLOTSAM.
+
+
+Almost immediately upon the arrival of Monsieur La Rochefoucauld's aide
+at the Admiral's quarters, Odelin Lebrenn and Antonicq hastened to reach
+their lodgings, where Anna Bell awaited them. The meeting between father
+and daughter was delayed through the discovery of the crime that Coligny
+was to be the victim of.
+
+Odelin Lebrenn had set up his armorer's establishment on the ground
+floor of a house in St. Yrieix which the inhabitants had abandoned.
+Franz of Gerolstein, together with several noblemen of his suite and
+their pages, occupied a set of rooms on the floor above, below them
+being also the quarters of Odelin, his son and the Franc-Taupin. A straw
+couch, large enough to accommodate the three, stood at the rear of the
+apartment. Near a wide, open fireplace lay the hammers, the anvil and
+the portable forge requisite for the armorer's work. Day was now far
+advanced. Since morning Anna Bell had not left the lodging. Seated on a
+wooden bench, and her head reclined upon her hands, she expectantly
+turned her ears from time to time toward the street. The recent
+agonizing bustle of the camp was now followed by solitude and silence.
+All the troops, a few companies excepted that were left in charge of
+the baggage, had marched out beyond the burg and its entrenchments, in
+order to form in battle array about one league from the Admiral's
+headquarters, he having prepared for a possible general engagement.
+
+Odelin Lebrenn's first interview with Anna Bell was both tender and
+painful. The father found again his daughter, once dearly beloved and
+long wept as lost. But he found her soiled with the title of maid of
+honor of Catherine De Medici! With distressing frankness the wretched
+girl confessed to her father the disorders of her past life. Anna Bell
+was just finishing her narrative when the general call to arms
+resounded. Antonicq went to his post beside Monsieur Coligny, after
+listening to the revelations of his sister; a few minutes later Odelin
+also, yielding to the imperious voice of duty, left his weeping
+daughter, to join the cavalry squadron in which he served as volunteer.
+
+Left alone, Anna Bell fell a prey to cruel anxieties. Her father, her
+brother and Franz of Gerolstein were about to run the dangers of a
+battle. The confession wrung from her lips by a terrific necessity
+seemed to render all the more profound, all the more grievous the love
+of the young girl for the Prince. Now less than ever did she expect her
+affection to be returned. Still she experienced a sort of bitter
+consolation in the thought that Franz of Gerolstein was no longer
+ignorant of her passionate devotion, and that, in order to save him from
+poison, she risked her own life. The chaos of distressing thoughts, now
+rendered all the more painful by her uneasiness for those whom she
+loved, plunged Anna Bell into inexpressible agony. She counted the hours
+with increasing anxiety. Toward night the roll of drums and blare of
+trumpets resounded from afar. The young girl trembled and listened.
+Presently she could distinguish the approaching tramp of horses' hoofs,
+and not long thereafter she heard them stop before the lodging. Running
+to the door, she opened it in the hope of seeing her brother and father.
+Instead, she saw a page in the livery of the Prince of Gerolstein
+holding a second horse by the reins.
+
+"Monsieur," asked Anna Bell anxiously of the lad, "what news of the
+battle?"
+
+"There was no battle, mademoiselle, only a lively engagement of
+outposts. The royalists were worsted," and swallowing a sigh, while
+tears appeared in his eyes, he added, "but unfortunately my poor comrade
+Wilhelm, one of the Prince of Gerolstein's pages, was killed in the
+skirmish. I am leading back his horse."
+
+"And the Prince?" inquired Anna Bell, nervously. "He has not been
+wounded?"
+
+"No, mademoiselle. I am riding ahead of monsieur; he is returning with
+his squadrons," answered the page, alighting from his horse, and his
+sighs and sobs redoubled, while the tears rolled down his cheeks.
+
+At ease on the score of Franz of Gerolstein's life, Anna Bell had some
+words of consolation for the afflicted page. "I am sorry for you," she
+said; "to lose a friend at your age."
+
+"Oh, mademoiselle. I loved him so dearly--he died so valiantly! An
+arquebusier was taking aim at the Prince. Wilhelm threw himself in front
+and received the ball in his chest. He dropped, never to rise again."
+
+"Generous lad!" exclaimed Anna Bell, and silently she thought: "To die
+for Franz! Under his own eyes. That is a death to be envied!"
+
+"Poor Wilhelm!" continued the page sadly, "his last words were for his
+mother. He asked me, if ever I return home again, to carry to her a sash
+that she embroidered for him, and which he left at our lodging together
+with his gala suit."
+
+The lad's words seemed to have suggested an unexpected line of thought
+to Anna Bell, when she suddenly saw Odelin from a distance, returning at
+full gallop in the company of other horsemen. She cried: "There is
+father! Thank God, he is not wounded. But where is brother?"
+
+Not daring, out of a sense of modesty, to be seen by the strangers who
+accompanied her father, Anna Bell stepped back into the room. Odelin led
+his horse to a stable where also the horses of Franz of Gerolstein were
+kept, and hastened back to join his daughter in the house. The girl ran
+to him, kissed his hands respectfully several times, and said:
+
+"Thank heaven, father, you are safe and sound--but brother, dear
+Antonicq, did he also come off scathless?"
+
+"You may feel at ease," answered Odelin, embracing his daughter,
+"Antonicq is not wounded. Together with other volunteers he is escorting
+a number of prisoners to places of safety in the camp. Poor child,
+great must have been your anxiety since I left you. Come to your
+father's arms!"
+
+"Oh, I counted the hours--the minutes--"
+
+"Let me embrace you again--and yet again," said Odelin with tears in his
+eyes, and fondly holding her in his arms. "Oh, divine power of
+happiness! It brings with it the balm of forgetfulness of the past! I
+have found you again--dear child! In one day, years of sorrow are
+blotted out!"
+
+Hardly able to repress her tears, Anna Bell responded unrestrainedly to
+Odelin's caresses. His ineffable clemency was not belied.
+
+"Father," she said, "would you have me disarm you while we wait for
+Antonicq? Your cuirass must tire you. Let me unbuckle it."
+
+"Thank you, child," the armorer answered, as he stepped to a lanthorn
+that hung from the wall, and lighted the same to dispel the shadows that
+began to invade the apartment. He then took off his casque, loosened his
+belt, and returned to his daughter: "But I shall remain armed. The
+Admiral issued orders that the troops rest a few hours, take supper, and
+hold themselves ready to march at a minute's notice."
+
+"My God--is there another battle pending?"
+
+"I do not know the projects of Admiral Coligny; all I know--and that is
+all that is of importance to me--I know we have a few hours to
+ourselves. Sit down there, dear child, so that the light of the lanthorn
+may fall upon your face--I wish to behold you at my leisure. This
+morning tears darkened my eyes almost continuously."
+
+And after contemplating Anna Bell for a while with tender and silent
+curiosity, Odelin resumed:
+
+"Yes, your sweet beauty is such as your charming little girl's face gave
+promise of. Oh! how often did I not leave my anvil and drop my hammer to
+fondle your blonde head! Your hair has grown darker. In your infancy you
+were as blonde as my sister Hena. Many a line in your face recalls hers.
+She and I resembled each other. But your beautiful brown and velvety
+eyes have remained the same--neither in color nor shape have they
+changed. I find the dimple still on your chin, and the two little ones
+on your cheeks each time you laughed, they also are still there--and you
+were always laughing--my dear, dear child!"
+
+"Oh! how happy those days must have been to me!" murmured the young
+girl, as she recalled with bitter sorrow the hours of her innocent
+childhood. "I then was near you, father, and near mother--and besides--"
+
+Anna Bell could not finish the sentence. The distressed girl broke down
+sobbing.
+
+"Heaven and earth!" cried up the armorer, whose features, shortly before
+illumined with happiness, now were overcast with grief. "To think that
+you had to beg your bread! My poor child--perhaps beaten by the gypsy
+woman who kidnapped you from the loving paternal roof!"
+
+"Father," replied the poor girl with a look of profound grief, "those
+days of misery were not my worst days. Oh, that I had always remained a
+beggar!"
+
+"I understand your thoughts, unhappy child! Let us drop those sad
+recollections!" And stamping the floor furiously Odelin added: "Oh,
+infamous Queen! Thou art the monster who debauched my child! A curse
+upon thee and thy execrable brood!" After a painful silence, Odelin
+proceeded abruptly: "Do! I conjure you! Let us never again return to the
+past. Let us endeavor to bury it in everlasting oblivion!"
+
+"Alas, father, even if your clemency were to forget, my conscience will
+ever remember. It will every day remind me that I am a disgrace to my
+family. Oh, God! My cheeks tingle with shame at the bare thought of
+meeting my sister--and mother!"
+
+"Your mother! You know not the depths of a mother's love, indulgence and
+compassion. You return to her soiled, but repentant, and your mother
+will forgive. Besides, you are not guilty--you are the victim of, not
+the accomplice in, your past life. Your heart has remained pure, your
+instincts honest and lofty; your tears, your remorse, your apprehensions
+prove it to me. No, no! Be not afraid. Your mother and sister will
+receive you with joy, with confidence. I am certain henceforth your life
+will be ours, pure, modest, industrious! Oh, I know it--it is only that
+that causes my heart to bleed, and my pity for you to redouble; you are
+never to experience the austere yet sweet joys of a wife--and a
+mother!"
+
+Odelin remained for a moment steeped in silent rumination. After a pause
+he proceeded:
+
+"It is the severe punishment for a sin that it is allowed to none but
+your own family to absolve you of. But your sister's children will be
+your own. Your brother also is to marry. Cornelia, his sweetheart, is
+worthy of our affection. You will silence the cravings of your own heart
+in loving their children as you would have done your own. They will also
+love you. You will spend your life near them and us. Come, take a
+father's word for it--the domestic hearth is an inexhaustible source of
+consolation for the sorrowful--an inexhaustible source of sweet joys and
+healthy pleasures."
+
+These warm and affectionate words moved Anna Bell so profoundly that,
+dropping down upon her knees before her father, she covered his hands
+and face with kisses and tears; and raising her eyes up to him, and
+contemplating him with a kind of respectful admiration, "Oh, father!"
+she exclaimed, "living image of God! Your goodness and compassion are
+like only unto His!"
+
+"Because you suffer, my poor child," replied Odelin, his eyes moist with
+tears. And raising his daughter from the floor and placing her beside
+him, he put his arm around her and covered her with renewed caresses.
+
+"It is because you are to suffer still more--it is because you love--it
+is because you are bound to love--and without hope!" the armorer
+proceeded with solemnity. "Only this once, and never again shall I
+mention this painful love. If I, your father, touch upon such a subject
+with you, the reason is that it is impossible for me to blame the
+choice of your heart. Franz of Gerolstein, by the strength of his
+character, the generosity of his sentiments, the loftiness of his whole
+life, deserves to be loved passionately. Alas, but for that unhappy
+past, your love needed not be hopeless. Only a few hours ago, speaking
+about you at a halt made by our troops, Franz of Gerolstein remarked to
+me: 'Oh, that honor, the only barrier I may never leap, should separate
+me forever from your daughter!' It was not a hollow consolation the
+Prince was offering me. I know Franz's contempt for distinctions of
+rank. Moreover we are of the same blood, our family comes from one
+stock; but that fatal past--that is the unbridgeable abyss that
+separates us forever from the Prince. That is why you inspire me with so
+much pity. Yes, you are all the more endeared to me because you suffer,
+and by reason of your future sufferings, poor dear child, so guiltless
+of the sins you have committed!" added Odelin with renewed tenderness.
+"But be brave, be brave, my child! Your hopeless love is at least
+honorable and pure; you can nourish it without shame, in the secret
+recesses of your heart. I shall say not another word upon that
+ill-starred passion. When you are back among us and, although surrounded
+by our affection, I shall see you at times lost in revery, sad, and
+moist of eye, believe me, poor distressed soul, your father will
+sympathize with your grief; each tear you drop will fall upon my heart."
+
+Odelin was uttering these last words when his son hurried into the
+apartment, looking sad and even bewildered. Anna Bell jumped up to meet
+the young man, saying: "Thank God, brother, I see you back safe and
+sound!"
+
+Such was the preoccupation of Antonicq that, without answering his
+sister, without taking notice of her, and even gently pushing her aside,
+he approached his father, and taking him apart to the other end of the
+room, spoke to him in a low and excited voice. Painfully affected at
+seeing herself pushed out of the way by her brother, who seemed to have
+neither a word nor a look for her in response to the gladness that she
+expressed at his safe return from battle, the young girl imagined
+herself despised by him.
+
+"Alas!" thought the maid of honor, "my brother will not forgive my past
+life; only a father's heart is capable of indulgence. Great God! If my
+sister, my mother, were also to receive me with such disdain--perchance
+aversion! I would rather die than expose myself to such treatment!"
+
+Antonicq continued to speak with his father in a low voice. Suddenly
+Odelin seemed to shudder, and hid his face in his hands. Profound
+silence ensued. Anna Bell, more and more the prey of the shyness and
+mistrust that conscious guilt inspires in a repentant soul, imagined
+herself the subject of the mysterious conversation between her father
+and brother. Odelin's features, lowering and angry, betokened disgust
+and indignation. The words escaped him: "And yet, despite such revolting
+horrors, I am bound to him by a sacred bond! Oh, a curse upon the day
+that brought us together again! A curse upon the fatal discovery! But
+once I shall have fulfilled that last duty, may heaven ever after
+deliver me of his hated presence! Listen," added the armorer, and again
+lowering his voice, he spoke to his son with intense earnestness,
+closing with the statement: "Such is my plan!"
+
+The conversation was again renewed in undertones between father and son.
+Anna Bell had caught only fragments of her father's remarks. She was
+convinced they spoke of her--and yet, only a minute before, Odelin was
+so lovingly indulgent towards his erring daughter. In vain did the young
+girl seek to fathom the cause of so sudden a change. What could the
+fatal discovery be that Antonicq had just imparted to his father, and
+seemed suddenly to incite his indignation and anger? Did she not lay her
+past life bare to her father in all sincerity of heart? What could she
+be accused of that she had not voluntarily confessed? A prey to profound
+anxiety, the young girl's heart sank within her; her limbs trembled as
+she saw her father hurriedly take up his sword and casque, and make
+ready to leave with Antonicq.
+
+The young man stepped to the couch of straw and pulled out of it a long,
+wide cloak of a brown material with a scarlet hood attached, such as was
+common among the Rochelois,[71] and helped his father to wrap himself in
+it over his armor; Odelin then put on his casque, threw the hood over
+it, and, without either look or word to his daughter, who, trembling and
+with frightened eyes followed his movements, went out, followed by his
+son.
+
+Long did Anna Bell weep. When her tears ran dry, the young girl turned
+her face to the future with sinister resolution. She considered herself
+an object of disgust and aversion to her brother and father. Forsaken by
+them, an unbridgeable abyss--honor--separated her forever from Franz of
+Gerolstein. Nothing was left but to die. Suddenly a flash of joy
+lightened her eyes, red with recent tears. She rose, stood erect, and
+looking about said: "Yes, to die. But to die under Franz's eyes--to die
+for him, like the young page killed this very day by throwing himself in
+the path of the bullet that was to fell his master. The army is to
+return to battle. The clothes, the horse of the page who was killed
+to-day are all here!"
+
+As these thoughts seethed in her mind, Anna Bell's eyes fell upon some
+sheets of paper, a pen and ink in a broken cup lying on the mantlepiece.
+The girl took them down with a sigh:
+
+"Oh, father! Oh, brother! Despite your contempt and aversion, my last
+thoughts will be of you!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Hervé Lebrenn, the incestuous wretch who raised a matricidal hand
+against his mother, Fra Hervé, the Cordelier, as he was called in the
+royal army, deserved but too well the reputation for a fiery preacher
+and leader of implacable sectarians. His sermons, lighted by a savage
+style of eloquence, and coupled to acts of ferocity in battle, inspired
+the Catholics with fanatic admiration. Wounded and made a prisoner in
+the course of the engagement of that day, he was taken pinioned to St.
+Yrieix and locked up in a dark cellar. The cellar door opened. The light
+of a lanthorn partially dispelled the gloom of the subterranean cell.
+Seated on the ground with his shoulders against the wall, Fra Hervé saw
+a man enter, wrapped in a brown mantle, the scarlet hood of which, being
+wholly thrown over his head, concealed the face of the nocturnal
+visitor. The visitor was Odelin Lebrenn. He closed the door behind him,
+placed the lanthorn on the floor, and almost convulsed with wracking
+emotions, silently contemplated his brother, who had not yet recognized
+him. Odelin saw him now for the first time since the day when, still a
+lad returning from Italy with Master Raimbaud, the armorer, he
+involuntarily witnessed the torture and death of his sister Hena and
+Brother St. Ernest-Martyr. Hervé also attended the solemnity of his
+sister's execution, in the company of Fra Girard, his evil genius.
+
+Odelin Lebrenn looked with mute horror upon his imprisoned brother. The
+lanthorn, placed upon the floor, threw upward a bright light streaked
+with hard, black shadows upon the cadaverous, ascetic and haggard
+features of Hervé. His large, bald forehead, yellow and dirty, was tied
+in a blood-stained bandage. The blood had flowed down from his wound,
+dried up on one of his protruding cheek bones, and coagulated in the
+hairs of his thick and matted beard. His brown and threadbare coat,
+patched up in a score of places, was held around his waist by a cord
+from which hung a chaplet of arquebus balls with a small crucifix of
+lead. Rusty iron spurs were fastened with leather straps to his muddy
+feet, shod in sandals. Fra Hervé, unable to distinguish his brother's
+face, shadowed as it was by the hood of the mantle, turned his head
+slowly towards the visitor, and kneeling down with an expression of
+gloomy disdain, said in a hollow voice:
+
+"Is it death? I am ready!"
+
+The Cordelier thereupon bowed down his large bald head, and raising his
+fettered hands towards the roof of the cellar muttered in a low voice
+the funeral invocation of the dying. Odelin threw back his hood, took up
+the lanthorn, and held it so as to throw a clear light upon his face.
+
+"Brother!" he called out to the monk in a voice that betrayed his
+profound emotion. "I am Odelin Lebrenn!"
+
+Without rising from his knees, Fra Hervé threw himself back, and
+examined for a moment the face of Odelin. At length he recognized him,
+and, a sudden flash of hatred illumining his hollow eyes and an infernal
+smile curling his livid lips, he cried:
+
+"God has sent you! I shall spit out the truth into the face of the
+apostate! Oh, that your father were also here!"
+
+"Respect his memory--our father is dead!"
+
+"Did he die impenitent?"
+
+"He died in his faith!"
+
+"He died damned!" replied Fra Hervé with a savage guffaw. "Everlastingly
+damned! The corruptor of my youth! The heretical leper! The sink of
+pestilence! Damned along with his wife! It was Thy will, Oh, God! In Thy
+wrath Thou didst so decree it. The flames of hell will be doubly hot to
+them! Forever and ever will they be face to face with the spectacle of
+their daughter, damned through their acts, and damned like themselves,
+writhing in the midst of everlasting fires!"
+
+"Do not take upon your lips the names of our sister, the poor martyr, or
+of our mother, you wretched fanatic, author of all their sufferings!"
+
+"'Our' mother! 'Our' father! 'Our' sister!" echoed back the monk, with
+an outburst of sardonic laughter. "Look at the renegate! He dares invoke
+bonds that are snapped, and are abhorred! Man--I have no father but the
+vicar of Christ! No mother but the Church! No brothers but faithful
+Catholics. Outside of that holy family--holy, thrice holy!--I see only
+savage beasts, bent in their demoniacal rage upon tearing into shreds
+the sacred body of my holy mother! And I kill them! I throttle them! I
+immolate them to God, the avenger! Oh, how I grieve to think that you
+did not fall, like the likes of you, under my heavy iron crucifix, which
+the Holy Father blessed! What more beautiful holocaust could I offer to
+the implacable anger of the Lord, than to say to Him as Abraham did on
+the mountain: 'Lord! May the vapor of this blood rise to your nostrils.
+This blood is twofold expiatory! It is my blood, it is the blood of my
+family!'"
+
+"Blood! Always blood!" echoed Odelin, shivering with disgust and horror.
+"Hervé, blood has intoxicated you. Like so many other priests, you are
+the prey of a savage frenzy. A bloodthirsty dementia has dethroned your
+reason. I have for you the pity that a furious madman inspires. After a
+desperate resistance you fell into the power of a corps of Protestant
+horsemen. My son was among them; he identified you by the mournful
+celebrity that surrounds your name. His companions were of a mind to
+kill you on the spot. He obtained from them a postponement of your
+execution under the pretext that your death would be more exemplary
+before the assembled ranks of our soldiers. My son's views prevailed.
+You were taken to this place, to this cellar belonging to the priory
+occupied by Admiral Coligny, who, thanks to God, escaped this day being
+poisoned, escaped the latest abominable crime planned against him. You
+were taken to this cell. My son just notified me of your capture and of
+his desire to save you. I share his wishes--seeing that, unfortunately,
+we are both children of one father. But for that I would have left you
+to your fate. Your religion commands you to kill me; mine commands me to
+save you. I shall untie your hands; you shall throw this mantle over
+your shoulders and lower the hood over your head. My son is the only
+watchman. He offered to the sentinel placed on guard over you to take
+his place. The offer was accepted. We shall leave this cell together.
+The Rochelois mantle will conceal your frock and remove suspicion. You
+will follow me. I am known to all the people and soldiers whom we may
+meet in crossing the courtyard of the Admiral's house. I hope to secure
+your flight with the aid of this disguise. That duty, a sacred one to
+me, I fulfil in the name of our parents who are no more--in the name of
+those cherished beings who loved us so dearly."
+
+"Oh, God, the Avenger!" exclaimed Hervé with savage exaltation. "Ever
+does Thy anger strike Thy enemies with blindness! Themselves they break
+the chains of their immolators! Themselves they deliver themselves
+defenseless into the hands of their implacable enemies!"
+
+And stretching out his fettered hands to his brother, the monk added:
+
+"Oh, thou vile instrument of the King of Kings! Free these hands from
+their bonds! There is still work for them to do in cropping the bloody
+field of heresy! There are still supporters of Satan for these hands to
+exterminate!"
+
+Calm and sad, Odelin loosed the fetters from Fra Hervé's hands. Hardly
+did the monk regain the free use of his arms than, darting a tiger's
+look at his brother, he took two steps back, seized the heavy string of
+leaden balls that hung from his girdle, swung it like a sling, and,
+before his liberator, who stood stupefied at the brusque assault, had
+time to protect himself, smote him several times on the head with the
+heavy chaplet. Although considerably deadened by Odelin's casque, the
+violent blows staggered the armorer. For a moment he seemed to reel on
+his feet, but instantly recovering himself, he drew his sword at the
+very moment that Fra Hervé returned to the charge. Odelin parried the
+blows, and, cutting with a back-stroke the string that held the balls,
+caused them to slip off and roll down at the feet of the monk. Odelin
+immediately threw his sword aside, but carried away with rage and
+indignation, he dashed upon his brother, seized him by the throat, threw
+him to the ground and pinned him down with his knees upon his chest. In
+this struggle, Fra Hervé, weakened by his wound, had the disadvantage.
+He furiously bit Odelin's hand. The pain drew a piercing cry from
+Odelin. The noise was heard by Antonicq, who stood on guard at the
+outside of the door. The young man rushed in and saw his father at close
+quarters with the monk, who, in his rage, kept his teeth in Odelin's
+flesh and sought, after having penetrated to the bone, to crush his
+brother's thumb between his teeth. Exasperated at the sight, Antonicq
+picked up his father's sword and dealing with the handle of the weapon a
+crushing blow upon Fra Hervé's cheek, knocked in several of his teeth
+and compelled him to release his prey. Odelin rose. Panting with fury
+and exhausted by the violence of the struggle, the Cordelier sank upon
+his knees; tore off the bandage from his head, thereby leaving a deep,
+gaping wound exposed; and trembling with silent, savage rage, sought to
+staunch the blood that poured in streams out of his mouth.
+
+"My son, look at that monk," observed Odelin to Antonicq with a broken
+voice. "There was a time when that man was full of tenderness and
+respect for my father and mother. He cherished my sister and me. Brought
+up like myself in the practice of justice, and gifted with exceptional
+intelligence, he was the joy, the pride, the hope of our family. Look at
+him now; shudder; there you see him the handiwork of the infamous clergy
+of the papacy!"
+
+"Oh, it is horrible!" exclaimed Antonicq, hiding his face in his hands.
+And, suddenly startled by the sound of a distant tumult that reached the
+depth of the cell across the profound silence of the night, the young
+man listened for a moment and said: "Father, do you hear that noise? The
+troops are on the march. The cavalry is moving."
+
+"Yes," answered Odelin, listening in turn. "The Admiral must have
+decided to surprise the royalist army before daybreak. The forces will
+be shortly on the march. You remain on guard at the door of the cellar.
+This prisoner is the object of so much hatred that they are likely to
+come for him any moment, to put him to death before we deliver battle.
+His cell will be found empty. You will answer that the man was my
+brother and that I wished him to escape punishment. Before mounting your
+horse, come for me at my lodging. We left your poor sister there. Our
+sudden departure must have seemed strange to her, and may have caused
+her anxiety. In my confusion I never thought of giving her a word of
+comfort. Let us make haste."
+
+And throwing his Rochelois cloak to Fra Hervé, Odelin continued:
+
+"If you care to escape death, put that cloak on and come. Towards you,
+and despite yourself, I shall act as a brother."
+
+"And I will pursue you with revengeful hatred, apostate!" answered the
+monk with implacable resentment, rising to his feet and donning the
+cloak. "The Lord delivers me through your hand. He has His purpose. I
+shall be the exterminator of your heretical kin! March--lead my way
+out--save me! God orders it--obey!"
+
+Thanks to the disguise of Fra Hervé, who was wrapped in a Rochelois
+cloak like a large number of Protestant volunteers, Odelin succeeded in
+aiding him to escape from the grounds of the priory where he was a
+prisoner. The two thereupon crossed the streets of St. Yrieix, these
+being crowded with soldiers hastening in silence to their several posts.
+Intending to surprise the enemy in the morning by a forced night march,
+the Admiral ordered the assembly of the forces to be done without beat
+of drum. Odelin and Fra Hervé saw not far from them the Franc-Taupin and
+the Avengers of Israel as they crossed the road on their way to the
+prison of the Cordelier whom they were to execute. A few minutes later,
+led by his brother to the furthest end of the camp, Fra Hervé vanished
+in the dark, taking long strides, and hurling threats of vengeance and
+anathema at his liberator.
+
+Odelin hastened to return to his own lodging in order to comfort his
+daughter and embrace her before going to battle. Anna Bell had vanished.
+The room was empty. There was a letter left by her upon the armorer's
+anvil.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE BATTLE OF ROCHE-LA-BELLE.
+
+
+The Protestant army, about twenty-five thousand strong, marched out of
+St. Yrieix in profound silence at about one o'clock in the morning. The
+black and sinuous line of battalions and squadrons was hardly
+distinguishable from the surrounding darkness of the night, lighted only
+by the scintillations of the stars. The column followed the winding of
+the whitish road which was lost to sight in the distant horizon in the
+direction towards Roche-la-Belle, the royalist encampment. The measured
+step of the foot soldiers, the sonorous tramp of the cavalry, the
+clinking of the armors, the jolting and rumbling of artillery
+wheels--all these noises merged into one muffled and solemn sound.
+Scouts, alert with eye and ear, and pistol in hand, preceded the
+vanguard. At the head of the vanguard rode Admiral Coligny, with two
+young men, one on either side--Henry of Bearn, the son of the brave Joan
+of Albert, Queen of Navarre, and Condé, a son of the Prince of Condé,
+whom Montesquiou assassinated. Other Protestant leaders, among them
+Lanoüe and Saragosse, followed in the Admiral's suite. On that morning
+the Admiral rode a superb silver-grey Turkish horse that was wounded
+under him at Jarnac, and which he preferred to all other mounts. A light
+iron mail covered the neck, chest and crupper of the spirited steed.
+Coligny himself wore his habitual armor of polished iron devoid of
+ornament. His strong high boots reached up as far as his cuisses. His
+floating white and wire-sleeved cloak allowed his cuirass to be seen.
+His old battle sword hung from his belt. The butts of his long pistols
+peeped from under his saddle-bow. He rode bowed down by years, sorrows
+and the trials of so many campaigns. His venerable head seemed to bend
+under the weight of his casque. He guided his horse with his left hand.
+His right, gloved, reclined upon his cuisse. Suddenly he straightened up
+in the saddle, reined in his horse, and said in a grave voice:
+
+"Halt, messieurs!"
+
+The order was repeated from rank to rank back to the rearmost of the
+rear guard. One of the volunteers, who served as aide-de-camp to the
+Admiral, rode forward at a gallop to carry to the scouts the order to
+stop. An almost imperceptible shimmer began to whiten the horizon and
+announced the approach of dawn. A tepid breeze rose from the west, and
+became strong enough to chase the few clouds before it. These grew
+denser; at first they veiled the stars; soon they seemed to invade the
+whole firmament. Coligny attentively examined the aspect of the skies,
+communicated his opinion to his escort, and said to his lieutenants:
+
+"A west wind, rising at dawn, generally presages a rainy day. Messieurs,
+we shall have to push the attack in lively style before the rain comes
+down upon us, otherwise the fire of our infantry will be almost
+useless."
+
+And addressing Lanoüe:
+
+"My friend, the chiefs of divisions have my orders; let them be drawn up
+for battle."
+
+Lanoüe and several other officers rode off to execute the instructions
+of the Admiral. At this spot the road crossed a vast plateau more than a
+league wide, upon which the Protestant army deployed its lines and took
+up its positions. Coligny had Lanoüe and John of Soubise for his
+lieutenants. Prince Louis of Nassau commanded the right wing; La
+Rochefoucauld the center, with Henry of Bearn, Condé, the Prince of
+Orange, Wolfgang of Mansfeld and the Prince of Gerolstein under his
+orders; finally, the left was in charge of Saragosse. Colonels Piles and
+Baudine covered the right wing with their regiments; Colonels Rouvray
+and Pouilly the left. The lancers and the artillery were distributed
+along the two wings, while a strong cavalry force, consisting of twenty
+squadrons, held itself in reserve, ready to ride into action supported
+by several regiments of infantry.
+
+In the measure that the light of dawn rendered the distant horizon more
+distinct, the belfry of the church of Roche-la-Belle, the fortified town
+occupied by the royalists, and lying about half a league away, could be
+discerned from the highest point of the plateau where the Protestant
+forces were deploying their lines. A black line along the dawn that
+dimly lighted the horizon marked the royalist entrenchments.
+
+Soon as the army was drawn up in battle formation, Coligny said to
+Antonicq, one of the volunteers who served as aide-de-camp:
+
+"Monsieur Lebrenn, convey to Colonel Plouernel my orders to push forward
+with his regiment and six companies of auxiliaries. Recommend to him
+above all to execute his march in the profoundest silence possible,
+without either beat of drums or blare of trumpets. The enemy must be
+taken by surprise. The colonel is to seize the lake road, which is
+strongly defended. When that post is carried, return and notify me."
+
+Antonicq left at a gallop for the extreme right wing, the post of
+Colonel Plouernel, the younger brother of Count Neroweg of Plouernel,
+who commanded the escort of Queen Catherine De Medici the day of her
+arrival at the Abbey of St. Severin. The religious feuds threw the two
+brothers into opposite camps--a not infrequent occurrence in those
+unhappy days. In the course of the civil wars, the colonel, like so many
+other Protestants, sought refuge in the city of La Rochelle. Odelin
+thanks to the family archives left to him by his father Christian, knew
+that the printer had met and was greatly gratified by the courtesy of
+Colonel Plouernel on the occasion of one of the first councils held by
+the reformers in the quarry of Montmartre, when he was known as the
+Knight of Plouernel. One day, at La Rochelle, Odelin saw the knight, who
+had become a colonel in the Huguenot army, enter his smithy. He came to
+purchase arms, and noticing on the shield of the shop the name of
+Lebrenn, inquired from the armorer whether any relationship existed
+between him and the artisan once employed in the printing establishment
+of Robert Estienne. Odelin answered that he was a son of the artisan,
+and, agreeably impressed by the cordiality with which the colonel spoke
+of his father, entered into friendly relations with the nobleman,
+finding a singular charm in an acquaintance with one of the descendants
+of that old Frankish family whose path the sons of Joel had so often
+crossed, arms in hand, across the ages. In short, prizing more and more
+the noble character, the generous heart and the artless manners of
+Colonel Plouernel, a man free from all taint of family haughtiness and
+imbued, as much as any, with the democratic principles of the
+Reformation, Odelin informed the scion of the ancient house of Plouernel
+of the accidental circumstance concerning the hereditary feud between
+the two families both before and since the conquest of Clovis, and
+communicated to him the passages of the domestic chronicles touching
+upon those historic facts. By little and little an intimate friendship
+sprang up between Odelin and Colonel Plouernel. The latter, having
+married during one of the truces of the civil war a young lady of
+Vannes, from whom he had two little boys, was forced to seek refuge in
+La Rochelle with them and his wife when at last war broke out anew. He
+hired a few vacant rooms from Odelin, being anxious to leave Madam
+Plouernel with a family the virtues of which he appreciated. For
+Antonicq, Odelin's son, he felt an almost paternal affection, there
+being many years' difference between their ages. Being, thanks to his
+bravery, his reputation, his military talents, and his experience in
+the field, greatly esteemed among the Protestants, Colonel Plouernel
+commanded in this campaign a regiment composed almost exclusively of
+Bretons. His soldiers, however, although brave and zealous, were, like
+all other volunteers, unfortunately prone to disregard discipline;
+being, moreover, but ill broken to the pursuit of arms, they often
+failed to appreciate the authority of skilful and prudent tactics,
+preferring to listen to their own blind intrepidity. The Breton
+regiment, together with the company of auxiliaries, numbered about three
+thousand men. They stood drawn up for battle at the furthest extremity
+of the right wing, when Antonicq, the carrier of the Admiral's orders,
+arrived at a gallop before their front ranks. Some, being field
+laborers, wore the ancient loose Gallic blouse, with hose fastened
+around the waist by a belt, and woolen bonnets on their heads; others,
+being either artisans or bourgeois from the cities, wore wide hose,
+jackets laced in front in the Burgundian style, or brigandines, or coats
+of mail or other defensive equipments, according to their several
+tastes. The men's headgear also offered a varied aspect: casques,
+morions, bassinets, slouch hats, bonnets ribbed with two iron hoops.
+Neither were the offensive arms more uniform--lances, pikes, halberds,
+antique swords, cross-bows, iron maces, cutlasses, hunting arquebuses,
+field arquebuses, and pistols all being visible. Several wood-cutters
+and their helpers were armed with hatchets, and some had scythes with
+the edge turned out. The only uniform, or article common to all, was a
+belt or shoulder sash of white material. These men, although presenting
+a rather unmilitary appearance, displayed spirit and ardor. More than
+once did it happen that the fury of their onslaught overthrew the best
+royal troops, both infantry and cavalry, despite the latter's long
+military training and discipline.
+
+Armed like a German rider, with black casque, black cuirass and white
+cloak, Colonel Plouernel bestrode a powerful Breton bay mare,
+caparisoned in scarlet. When Antonicq approached him he was in
+conversation with several officers of his regiment. Among these was the
+Pastor Feron, a man gifted with exceptional energy, and of austere and
+resolute mien. Often did he, like so many other ministers of the
+Reformed religion, march to battle at the head of a troop, singing
+psalms like the old bards of Gaul who marched in advance of the warriors
+singing their heroic chants. More than once wounded, the clergyman Feron
+inspired the Protestants with as much confidence as veneration. Antonicq
+transmitted the orders of Admiral Coligny to Colonel Plouernel. The
+latter immediately faced his troops and said to the captains who
+surrounded him:
+
+"The Admiral does us the honor of entrusting to us the lead in the
+attack. We shall prove ourselves worthy of the distinction. We are to
+take the royal army by surprise. It will soon be day, but the slope of
+this hill, along the foot of which runs the road that we are to follow,
+will hide us from the enemy's pickets. We shall be able to reach the
+edge of the lake without being seen. Foreseeing the attack with which we
+are charged, I have just commissioned the Franc-Taupin to proceed with
+a picked body of determined men of his own corps and sound for a ford
+across the lake. Return to your companies. Order the drummers and
+trumpeters to remain quiet, and all your men to observe scrupulous
+silence."
+
+"Brothers," remonstrated Pastor Feron with elation, "why conceal our
+approach from the Philistines? Does not the Lord lead the children of
+Israel? Let us place our reliance on Him only, and the proud towers of
+Zion will crumble before the breath of the Eternal. Let us march to the
+attack, not like timid and slinking thieves, but openly, bravely, like
+true soldiers of God! It was under the open sky that David vanquished
+Goliath!"
+
+"Yes, yes. No underhanded tactics!" cried several officers. "Let us
+march straight upon the enemy, singing praises to the Lord. He is with
+us. We shall vanquish."
+
+"My friends," said Colonel Plouernel, "follow my advice. Let us proceed
+with caution. The royal army is much our superior in numbers. We must
+make up with tactics for our inferiority. Let us arrive noiselessly
+before the vanguard of the enemy, you will not then lack for opportunity
+to prove your valor. Place yourselves at the head of your companies, and
+forward at the double quick, only in the profoundest silence."
+
+The authority enjoyed by Colonel Plouernel, the wisdom of his orders,
+the confidence of the volunteers in his bravery and military skill once
+more carried the day over the seething impatience of his captains,
+although Pastor Feron looked displeased with a manoeuvre in which he
+imagined he saw a weakness and dissimulation unworthy of the children of
+Israel. The officers took their posts, and the column advanced in
+silence, with its right covered by the ridge of a long hill that
+completely masked it on the side of the enemy's entrenchment. The road
+that the column followed crossed a wide field covered with wild roses,
+their petals heavy with the dew of night, and spreading an aromatic odor
+far and wide. Colonel Plouernel inhaled with delight the early morning
+fragrance, and addressing Antonicq, who rode beside him, said:
+
+"Oh, my boy! This sweet perfume, these wild smells, remind me of the
+moors of Brittany. I draw them in with full lungs."
+
+"Brittany! It is the dream of my life! When I was still a boy my father
+took us to Vannes, on a pilgrimage to the sacred stones of Karnak. They
+rise not far from the spot where stood the cradle of our family at the
+time of Julius Caesar. I being then too young to understand it, my
+father only gave me a short account of our family history. Since then I
+have read it from beginning to end. I now have but one uppermost desire,
+and my father shares it. It is, should God put an end to these
+disastrous wars, to leave La Rochelle and settle down in Vannes. We may
+be able to purchase a patch of land on the seashore, near the stones of
+Karnak."
+
+"Those sacred stones, the surviving witnesses of the voluntary sacrifice
+of your ancestress Hena, the virgin of the isle of Sen--that old
+Armorica, the independence of which your ancestor Vortigern defended so
+valiantly against the son of Charlemagne!"
+
+"You may judge, colonel, what memories are awakened within us by that
+single word--Brittany."
+
+"Well, my boy, it occurred to me quite recently that your and your
+father's wishes may easily be realized."
+
+"How?"
+
+"By virtue of his primogeniture, my brother is the sole owner of the
+vast hereditary domains belonging to our family in Auvergne and in
+Brittany. But the father of my dear wife Jocelyne, a good and honest
+Breton who resides in Brittany, owns an estate that lies not far from
+Karnak, along the seashore. Judging from what your father has told me of
+your family traditions, the estate is bound to consist, partly at least,
+of the fields once owned by your ancestor Joel the brenn of the tribe of
+Karnak. Now, then, if God should grant us peace again, nothing would be
+easier for me than to obtain from my wife's father either the sale or
+lease of a portion of those fields, and you could then settle down there
+with your family."
+
+"Oh, colonel! I should be pleased to owe to you the happiness of living
+in Brittany, near the cradle of my family, together with father and
+mother, and my sisters, and Cornelia my sweetheart, who will then be my
+wife!"
+
+"And yet, strange to say, my boy, your ancestors and mine have hated and
+fought each other across the ages. I must admit the fact--the law of
+nature justified the terrible reprisals of the conquered upon their
+conquerors, in those days of frightful oppression. It required the rude
+school of the religious wars to join in one common belief the children
+of Joel the Gaul and of Neroweg the Frank, as your father puts it. That
+first step in Evangelical fraternity marks an immense progress. Thus
+will traditional hatreds cool down little by little, and race
+antagonisms will be wiped out, as they have been wiped out between our
+two families, once such bitter enemies--"
+
+"And now," Antonicq completed the sentence, "united by the bonds of firm
+friendship. May the same be kept ever green among our descendants."
+
+"It is my fervent hope, my dear Antonicq. I am bringing up my children
+in that feeling. More than once have I cited to them incidents from your
+family legends, to the end that their young minds may be penetrated with
+the sense that the rights, the privileges, the titles of which the
+nobility boasts so loudly, and which it guards so jealously, have for
+their principle or origin the abominable acts of violence that conquest
+brings in its train."
+
+During the conversation between Colonel Plouernel and Antonicq the
+regiment pursued its march under shelter of the ridge that it skirted.
+The further end of the ridge sloped gradually down to the level of the
+field, watered by the lake and the stream which protected the front of
+the royal camp. The attacking column, which, obedient to the orders of
+the Admiral, marched in silence, was expected to reach the open before
+sunrise, and thus be able to open the assault unexpectedly upon the
+strongly entrenched outposts, that were planted on the lake road. The
+execution of the plan was frustrated by the martial impatience of the
+volunteers, whom Pastor Feron in his exaltation drove to a fever heat of
+excitement with his blind faith in the irresistible power of the arm of
+Israel. The Huguenots were still half an hour's march from the enemy
+when the pastor, who marched ahead of the silent drummers, suddenly
+intoned in a ringing voice the psalm well known to the Protestants:
+
+    "The Eternal looks down from above,
+    Night and day from out the skies,
+    On all men bestowing love,
+    And nothing escapes His eyes.
+
+    "From His throne august,
+    The holy King and just
+    Sees below distinctly,
+    Of man the distant race,
+    Through th' abyss of space
+    Sees it all distinctly.
+
+    "Nor camps nor yet gendarmes,
+    Nor all the strong alarms
+    Can ever save a king!
+    Nor iron nor courage
+    Are of a good usage,
+    Oh, Lord, without Thy aid.
+
+    "Yes, God His wings doth spread,
+    On us His grace doth shed.
+    And ever mounteth guard
+    O'er those who Him esteem.
+    None other worthy deem
+    But only Him regard."
+
+No sooner had the pastor struck up the psalm with its biblical poetry,
+than each couplet was repeated in chorus by the Huguenots. Nothing could
+be more solemn than that choir of three thousand male and sonorous
+voices, rising from the silent plain, and seeming to salute with a
+martial hymn the first rays of that day of battle. Nevertheless, sadly
+inopportune, the canticle announced to the enemy the approach of the
+Protestants. Driven to despair by the infraction of the Admiral's
+orders, Colonel Plouernel sought at first to restore silence by
+addressing himself to the foremost companies. Vain hope; vain
+entreaties. The soldiers wrought themselves up with their own voice.
+
+"Oh, this lack of discipline will ever be fatal to us!" observed Colonel
+Plouernel to Antonicq. "Thus have we almost always either endangered the
+success of a battle, or even lost the day that otherwise would
+positively have been ours! But the error is committed. The enemy is
+informed of our proximity. Let it at least be announced resolutely!"
+
+And addressing the drummers:
+
+"Boys, beat the double-quick!"
+
+The drums immediately resounded without however drowning the voices of
+the Protestants--an imposing military orchestra. The column hastened its
+steps. After half an hour's rapid march its front ranks debouched into
+the open field. Piercing a heavy bank of clouds, the first rays of the
+sun crimsoned the face of a wide lake into which emptied a stream that
+itself was fed by a number of streamlets which descended from an
+elevated plateau, dominated by the burg of Roche-la-Belle. The lake and
+main stream were hemmed in on the side of the royal entrenchments, and
+constituted the enemy's first line of defense. A thick chestnut forest
+rose to the left of the lake. The lake road ran at right angles, and was
+fortified by an earthwork, furnished with embrasures, and these armed
+with falconets. This light artillery could sweep the whole length of the
+water-courses, which had to be crossed in order to attack a palisaded
+ground, which, crenelated with loop-holes for the use of arquebusiers,
+completed the defenses of the Catholic army. Finally, a number of heavy
+guns, mounted upon a high embankment, could also play upon the
+water-course. A cross-fire thus rendered the crossing doubly dangerous.
+This particular peril would have been almost wholly escaped had the
+Admiral's orders been obeyed. Had the attacking column arrived
+noiselessly at break of day and taken the royalists by surprise when
+still rolled in slumbers, and before they could hurry to their light and
+heavy guns and form their ranks, the Huguenots could have crossed the
+stream and, soon supported by their whole army corps, could have led a
+powerful attack upon the enemy's position. It happened otherwise. The
+reverberations of the hymn sung by the Huguenots sounded the reveille to
+the enemy, and frustrated the Admiral's plans. From all sides the drums
+of the Catholics were sounding the call to arms when the first company
+of the Protestants debouched upon the plain. Colonel Plouernel ordered a
+halt, alighted from his horse, gathered his captains around him and, in
+order to avoid further mishaps said to them:
+
+"We can no longer hope to take the enemy by surprise. I shall now
+communicate to you my new plan of attack."
+
+Hardly had Colonel Plouernel uttered these words when they heard a
+lively rattle of arquebus fire from the lake road. He turned his eyes in
+that direction, unable at first to conjecture against whom the fire
+could be directed, seeing that he and his forces were beyond the reach
+of the shot. Immediately, however, the ricochetting of the balls over
+the surface of the lake attracted the colonel's attention, and he soon
+perceived here and there, at a considerable distance from one another,
+several casqued heads just above the surface of the water, and ever and
+anon diving below with the view of escaping the fire of the
+arquebusiers.
+
+"It is the Franc-Taupin and his Avengers of Israel. They have been
+sounding for a ford across the lake and the stream!" exclaimed the
+colonel in high glee. "Their information will be of great use to us."
+But immediately he cried out: "Oh! one of the brave men has been
+struck!"
+
+Indeed, one of the Avengers of Israel, who, following the example of the
+Franc-Taupin, and in order not to offer his full body to the aim of the
+enemy, crouched lower and lower in the measure that, as he drew nearer
+to the reed-covered edge of the lake, the water grew shallower--one of
+the Avengers of Israel was struck by a bullet full in the head. He
+straightened up with a convulsive movement, threw his arms in the air,
+reeled, and then dropped, immediately disappearing under the water,
+whose surface at the spot reddened with his blood. The Franc-Taupin,
+together with his other companions, continued to drag themselves up
+through the reeds as far as the shore of the lake. Once there, the balls
+could not reach them. They picked up their arms and munitions, which
+they had left close to the bank, put on their cross-belts, and walked
+towards the group of officers whom they saw at a distance, standing near
+the last undulation of the ridge that still masked their column.
+Antonicq, who had alighted from his horse together with Colonel
+Plouernel, ran to meet the Franc-Taupin and threw his arms around the
+brave old soldier, saying: "Heaven be thanked, you have had a narrow
+escape from death!"
+
+"Good morning, my boy!" answered Josephin. "But quit your
+embracings--you will get wet; I am streaming water. In my young days I
+played the mole, now in my old age I play the crawfish--so cease
+embracing me. Besides, I am angry with you and your father--it was due
+to you two that the scoundrel Hervé escaped death. We found his prison
+empty last night. Who but you winked at the demon's escape? I did not
+know that you were placed on guard over him."
+
+"Uncle, the bonds of blood--"
+
+"By my sister's death! Did he respect the bonds of blood!"
+
+And stepping towards Colonel Plouernel, he said:
+
+"Colonel, this is the result of our explorations: We arrived here before
+dawn; we left our horses at the ruined farm-house that you see yonder;
+we then took to the water. The royalists were not on the watch. The lake
+is fordable by cavalry from the point where the reeds run obliquely
+into the water. The stream is fordable in all parts by infantry. The
+water is not more than four feet deep at its deepest, and the bottom is
+hard. If you wish to flank the entrenchment on the lake road, you will
+have to ride up about three thousand feet on the side of the chestnut
+wood. There you will find, running into the marsh, a long and wide
+jetty. Ten men can walk abreast on it. It abutts on a palisaded
+earthwork that can be easily taken. It is the weak side of the enemy's
+defenses. You may rely upon the accuracy of these facts, colonel. I made
+the reconnoissance myself."
+
+"I know you are reliable, Josephin," answered Colonel Plouernel. "The
+information you bring me confirms me in the plan of attack that I have
+projected."
+
+And stepping back to the group of officers whom Pastor Feron had just
+joined, the colonel said:
+
+"Gentlemen, the following is my plan--we would incur a useless loss of
+men were we to make a front attack upon the lake road fortifications,
+and the palisaded fort. The enemy is up. The stream that we would have
+to wade is swept from right and left by a cross artillery fire. We will
+divide our forces into three corps. The first, which I shall command,
+will attempt to cross the stream, however perilous the feat, to the end
+of attracting the enemy's fire upon us, while our second corps, masked
+by the chestnut grove, shall march up to the jetty of the swamp in order
+to take the road fortifications on the flank. Finally, our third corps
+will move upon that other entrenchment which you see yonder where the
+stream crosses. The attack being thus made upon three points at once,
+the bulk of the army that comes close behind us will support our action.
+The engagement will be hot. Let us spare the blood of our men all we
+can. Courage and prudence."
+
+"Still prudence! Still hesitation! notwithstanding the Lord fights for
+our rights!" exclaimed Pastor Feron with burning enthusiasm. "We but
+puff up the pride of the Philistines by not daring to attack them in
+front! Pusillanimity! Lack of faith in God!"
+
+"To divide our forces instead of overwhelming the enemy by concentrating
+them upon one point?" put in one of the principal officers. "Did you
+consider that, Colonel Plouernel?"
+
+The exasperated colonel cried: "Rely upon my mature experience--to make
+a front attack, and in mass, upon the enemy's position is as foolhardy
+an enterprise as it is fraught with danger."
+
+"Intrepidity is the strength of the children of Israel!" cried the
+pastor in a louder voice. "United the children of Israel are invincible!
+Let us all march! Side by side! Like brothers, forward! High our heads
+and without fear! The finger of God points us the way!"
+
+"Yes, yes! Let us attack in mass and with fury!" echoed most of the
+officers. "Forward all! Holding close together, nothing can resist us!
+God is with us!"
+
+Alas, once again, as happened so often before in our wars, and to the
+greater misfortune of our arms, blind foolhardiness, inexperience, lack
+of discipline, and an exaggerated faith in the triumph of the cause,
+prevailed over the wise counsels of an officer who had grown grey in
+harness, and whose military science matched his bravery. First the
+captains, soon the soldiers also, successively informed from rank to
+rank upon the subject of the deliberation, and wrought up by the burning
+words of the pastor, objected to a division of the forces, deeming that
+such a move would weaken them; and, above all, fearing to seem to waver
+in sight of the foe, they demanded aloud to be led in mass against the
+enemy. Colonel Plouernel, who had a long experience with Breton
+volunteers, and was too well acquainted with their proverbial
+stubbornness, abandoned all thought of winning them over to his views.
+Seeing the men elated to the point of delirious heroism, he calmly said
+to the officers:
+
+"Is it your wish? Well, let us march! Drummers, beat to the charge!
+Forward, at the enemy! Battle, all along the line!"
+
+Colonel Plouernel then drew his sword, clasped Antonicq's hand, and
+said:
+
+"My friend, we are marching to slaughter. If you escape the carnage that
+I foresee, take my last adieus to my wife and little boys, and also to
+your worthy father."
+
+"These brave fellows are crazy! We shall be mowed down," observed the
+Franc-Taupin in turn to Antonicq. "I would die without first having done
+my twenty-five Catholic priests to death! The devil still owes me seven
+of them. Be firm, my boy. Let us not be separated from each other. We
+shall then at least both have the same stream for our tomb. To think of
+it! I who in my young days loved wine so well, now to die in water!"
+
+The column set itself in motion in a compact mass, at a quick pace, and
+with drums beating at its head. Before the drummers marched Pastor
+Feron, who again intoned a psalm that was speedily taken up in chorus by
+the Protestants in the midst of a veritable hailstorm of balls and
+bullets:
+
+    "God ever was both my life and my light!
+      Death, I defy thee! What have I to fear?
+    God's my support with His infinite might!
+      Have I not from Him my title quite clear?
+
+    "When the malignants did fire on me,
+      When they expected to tear out my heart,
+    Have I not seen them all thrown down by Thee,
+      Scattered, and smitten, and struck by Thy dart?
+
+    "Come, let a whole camp surround me on all sides,
+      Never my heart will be shaken with fright!
+    Close by my side, Oh! the Lord ever strides,
+      Need I to fear of a foe any blight?"
+
+The battle raged with fury. Colonel Plouernel's apprehensions were
+realized. Despite prodigies of intrepidity, his column, as it waded
+through the stream in serried and compact ranks, was received in front
+and from the two flanks by a terrific cross-fire of arquebuses and
+artillery. Three-fourths of the volunteers fell under the torrent of
+lead, even before reaching the middle of the stream. Wondering at the
+length of this vanguard attack, the successful execution of which he
+considered certain by entrusting it to Colonel Plouernel. Admiral
+Coligny suddenly saw Antonicq Lebrenn riding back at top speed with his
+thigh pierced by a bullet. Informed by Antonicq of the reason of the
+disastrous result of the encounter, the Admiral promptly ordered
+Colonels Bueil and Piles to proceed at their swiftest with their
+respective regiments to the jetty, and take the road entrenchment from
+the flank. Soubise, La Rochefoucauld and Saragosse received and, with
+their wonted skill, executed another set of orders. Within shortly
+battle was engaged all along the line, changing the aspect of the
+conflict. The Huguenots' artillery responded to and silenced the fire
+from the opposite side. Attacked in front, from the right and the left,
+the royalists were dislodged from their entrenchments near the lake.
+They retired behind the palisaded ground, from which they kept up a
+murderous fire. But the palisade was broken through. First the infantry,
+then the cavalry of the Protestants rushed through the breaches. A
+stubborn melee ensued, and was at its height when the muffled rumbling
+of distant thunder, immediately followed by heavy rain-drops from the
+blackening sky overhead, announced the approach of the storm that
+Coligny had that morning predicted.[72]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I, Antonicq Lebrenn, who write this account, am overcome with grief in
+completing it. Its close revives sad memories.
+
+After I informed Admiral Coligny of the check sustained by the column of
+Colonel Plouernel, the kindhearted old man insisted that his own surgeon
+dress my wound. Though painful, the wound did not prevent me from
+keeping in the saddle. After being attended by the surgeon, I hastened
+back to the thick of the battle. A large body of cavalry, commanded by
+Marshal Tavannes, with the Duke of Anjou, brother of Charles IX, and
+young Henry of Guise at his side, covered the right wing of the royalist
+camp. Against that armed body of heavy and light troopers Admiral
+Coligny hurled twenty squadrons of horsemen under the command of Prince
+Franz of Gerolstein. It was at that moment that I rejoined the battle.
+The thunder claps, now succeeding one another with increasing frequency
+and vehemence, drowned the roar of the artillery. The storm was soon to
+break out in all its fury. The Protestant cavalry was advancing at a
+gallop three ranks deep upon the Catholic horsemen. Sword in hand, Franz
+of Gerolstein led, a few paces in advance of his troopers. The Prince
+was accompanied by his knights and pages. Among the latter was Anna
+Bell. The dashing sight soon disappeared from before my eyes in the
+cloud of pistol smoke, and the dust raised by the horses, as the two
+opposing masses of riders met each other, pistol in hand and exchanged
+fire. Suddenly I heard my father's voice calling to me:
+
+"God sends you, my son! Come and fight by my side."
+
+"Father," I said to him drawing up my horse beside his own, he being on
+the right wing of our army and at the end of a line composed of
+Rochelois volunteer horsemen who followed upon the heels of the charging
+contingent of the Prince of Gerolstein, "did you have time to see my
+sister again after you left me last night?"
+
+"Alas, no; but I found a letter that she left behind, and--"
+
+My father could proceed no further. Two regiments of mounted
+arquebusiers under the command of Count Neroweg of Plouernel, the
+colonel's brother, made a charge upon us with the object of isolating us
+from the German troopers. The manoeuvre succeeded. The impetuosity of
+the charge threw our ranks into disorder. The enemy broke through them.
+We could no longer fight in line. A general melee ensued. It was a
+combat of man to man. Despite the disorder I managed to remain at my
+father's side. Fate drove us, him and me, face to face with Count
+Neroweg of Plouernel, at whose side rode his son Odet, a lad of sixteen
+years, and a great favorite with the Duke of Anjou. I heard the Count
+cry to him:
+
+"Courage, my boy! Strike hard, and kill as many of the enemy as you can!
+Prove yourself worthy of the house of Neroweg!"
+
+Almost immediately thereupon I saw the Count rise in his stirrups. His
+sword was on the point of striking my father when the latter crushed the
+shoulder of Neroweg with a pistol shot fired at close range. The Count
+dropped his sword and uttered a piercing cry. His son raised his light
+arquebus and took aim at my father, just then engaged in replacing his
+pistol in its holster. Instantly, driven by two digs of my spurs, my
+horse bounded forward, striking the steed of Odet of Plouernel breast
+against breast; at the very moment that Odet discharged his arquebus
+upon my father, I struck the lad so furious a blow with my saber that
+his casque and skull were cleaved in two. Odet stretched out his arms,
+and dropped backward bleeding upon the crupper of his horse. In the
+meantime, my own steed, wounded in the loins by a severe cut, collapsed.
+In falling, the heavy animal rolled over me, pressing with its full
+weight upon my wounded thigh. Pain deprived me of the strength to
+extricate myself. Several combatants trampled me under foot. My corselet
+was torn open under the iron hoofs of the horses. My morion was knocked
+in and flattened; pressed by its walls my skull felt as if cramped by a
+vise. My eyes began to swim; I was about to faint, but a frightful
+vision so stirred my soul at that moment that I seemed to revive. The
+melee left in its wake upon the field of carnage the dead, the dying,
+and the wounded among whom I lay. The spectacle I saw took place not far
+from my right. A few paces from me, my father, unhorsed by the arquebus
+of young Odet of Plouernel, raised himself livid, and sank again in a
+sitting posture, carrying his hands to his cuirass which a bullet had
+perforated. That same instant the diabolical cry smote my ears:
+
+"Kill all! Kill all!"
+
+And then, in the midst of the roll of thunder overhead, and across the
+surrounding sheen of lightning flashes, there appeared before my
+eyes--Fra Hervé, mounted upon a small black horse with long flowing
+mane, clad in his brown frock rolled up to his knees, and exposing his
+fleshless legs, naked like his feet which were strapped in spurred
+sandals wherewith he kicked his horse's flank and urged it onward. A
+fresh bandage covered his recent wound and girded his hairless skull.
+His hollow eyes sparkled with savage fury. Armed with a long cutlass
+that dripped blood he continued to cry:
+
+"Kill all! Kill all!"
+
+The monk led to carnage a band of gallows-birds, the scum and refuse of
+the Catholic army, whose duty it was to despatch the wounded with iron
+maces, axes and knives. Hervé recognized his brother Odelin, who, with
+one hand upon his wound and the other on the ground, was essaying to
+rise to his feet. An expression of satanic hatred lighted the face of
+the Cordelier. He jumped down from his horse, and emitted a roar of
+ferocious triumph. My father gave himself up for lost. Nevertheless he
+made an attempt to soften the heart of his executioner, saying:
+
+"Hervé, brother! I have a wife and children. Last night I saved your
+life!"
+
+"Lord!" cried the priest, gasping for breath and raising his fiery eyes
+and blood-stained cutlass to the thundering and lightning-lighted heaven
+above. "God of Vengeance! God of the Catholics! Receive as a holocaust
+the blood of Cain!"
+
+And Fra Hervé precipitated himself upon his brother, threw him down,
+squatted upon his chest, seized his hair with one hand and with the
+other brandished the cutlass. Odelin uttered a cry of horror, closed his
+eyes and offered his throat. The fratricide was accomplished. Fra Hervé
+rose bespattered with his brother's blood, kicked the corpse with his
+foot, and jumped back upon his horse yelling:
+
+"Kill all! Slaughter all the wounded!"
+
+My senses, until then held in suspense by the very terror of the
+frightful spectacle, now abandoned me. I completely lost consciousness.
+The carnage continued.
+
+When I recovered from my swoon, I was lying on the straw in our smithy
+and lodging at St. Yrieix. The Franc-Taupin and Colonel Plouernel sat
+beside my couch. From them I learned the issue of the battle of
+Roche-la-Belle. It was disastrous to the royalists; they were roundly
+routed. The violent thunder storm, followed by a deluge of rain, did not
+allow Admiral Coligny to pursue the retreating Catholic army. The
+victorious Protestants re-entered St. Yrieix. The Franc-Taupin and his
+Avengers of Israel, happening to pass by the spot where I lay motionless
+under my horse, not far from my father's corpse, with his throat cut by
+Fra Hervé, recognized me and laid me upon a wagon used for transporting
+the munitions of the artillery. The field of battle was ours. With the
+help of his companions, the Franc-Taupin piously dug a grave in which
+they buried my father.
+
+Later I learned from the Prince of Gerolstein the sad fate that overtook
+my sister, and I also found the letter which she wrote to my father. The
+unfortunate girl, imagining herself despised and forsaken by us,
+decided, she wrote, to die, and bade us her heartrending adieus.
+Desirous that my father and his co-religionists be apprized of the dark
+and bloody schemes of Catherine De Medici, Anna Bell reported in her
+letter the secret conversation which the Queen had with Father Lefevre
+on the subject of the reformers--a conversation that she overheard at
+the Abbey of St. Severin. After having thus attested her attachment to
+us to the very end, she obtained the consent of the Prince's page she
+had spoken with, to don the clothes and ride the horse of the lad who
+was killed at the skirmish of that morning. She looked forward to
+meeting death beside Franz of Gerolstein. Alas! Her wish was realized.
+She joined the Prince. As much surprised as alarmed at the girl's
+purpose, he vainly entreated her to withdraw until after the shock
+between the two mounted forces. Neither Anna Bell nor Franz of
+Gerolstein was wounded at the first encounter. But shortly after, as the
+German horsemen were re-crossing the stream in pursuit of the enemy's
+cavalry, my sister was struck in the breast by a stray bullet from the
+fleeing enemy, and fell from her horse into the river, where she was
+drowned, without Franz, who was carried along by the impetus of his
+troopers' charge, being able to return in time to save her.
+
+Finally, informed by my account concerning the double encounter of his
+brother, Count Neroweg, and Odet his son, with my father and myself,
+Colonel Plouernel learned later that both had perished in the fight,
+leaving him the head of the house, and sole heir of its vast domains.
+
+Victorious at Roche-la-Belle, the Protestants were destined to suffer a
+serious defeat in September of the same year. The royal and Protestant
+armies met in Poitou, near the town of Montcontour. Coligny, much the
+inferior in numbers, manoeuvred his forces with his customary skill, and
+entrenched himself behind the River Dive. Sheltered by that almost
+impregnable position, he wished to wait for the reinforcements promised
+by Montgomery, who was in almost complete possession of Gascony. But, as
+had happened so many times before, to the misfortune of the cause, and
+despite all his firmness, Coligny saw himself constrained to yield to
+the headlong impatience of his army, the greater part of which consisted
+of volunteers. The campaign had lasted a long time. Captains and
+soldiers had left their families, their property, their farms, their
+fields and their homes to fly to the defense of their religion. They
+were anxious to return to their hearths. Accordingly, hoping by means of
+a victory to be able once more to impose peace upon Charles IX and
+reconquer the free exercise of their religion, they were loud in their
+demand for battle. Coligny yielded. On September 3, 1569, he delivered
+battle to an army almost twice the size of his own. Despite the
+prodigies of bravery displayed by the Huguenots, and although the
+royalists sustained heavy losses, victory remained with the Catholics.
+Nevertheless, after Montcontour, as after Jarnac, so far from allowing
+himself to be disheartened by a reverse that he had foreseen and that he
+had vainly sought to avoid, Coligny executed so threatening a retreat
+that the Catholic army dared not pursue him. On the very night after the
+defeat, the Protestant chieftains, assembled at Parthenay, despatched
+couriers to Scotland, Germany and Switzerland appealing to their
+co-religionists for support; collected the shattered fragments of their
+armies; threw strong garrisons into Niort, St. Jean-d'Angely, Saintes
+and La Rochelle; crossed the Charente; marched into Gascony to join
+Montgomery, who was the master of that province; and Coligny renewed
+hostilities with success, choosing as the basis of his operations the
+Rivers Tarn and Garonne. Armed bands of intrepid Protestants harassed
+and tired out the royal forces. Charles IX and his mother took the
+Huguenots for annihilated after the defeats of Jarnac and Montcontour.
+It was otherwise. The defeated men reappeared more determined, more
+numerous, more zealous in the defense of their rights. Catherine De
+Medici, more and more convinced that peace, and not war, offered the
+sole means to put an end to the Huguenots, turned her thoughts more
+resolutely than ever before to the execution of the infernal project
+that Francis of Guise conceived at the time of the triumvirate, and
+which she confided to the Jesuit Lefevre. She caused overtures to be
+made to Coligny looking to a new treaty of peace. The royal advances
+were met. The Admiral, together with several other Protestant chiefs,
+deputed as the plenipotentiaries of the Huguenots, held long conferences
+with the envoys of Charles IX, and finally, on August 10, 1570, a new
+edict, the most favorable yet granted to the Protestants, was signed at
+St. Germain.
+
+The document provided in substance:
+
+     The memory of all past events is blotted out by both parties.
+     Freedom of conscience is implicitly granted throughout the kingdom.
+     None is henceforth to be constrained to commit any act forbidden by
+     his conscience in religious matters. No distinction exists between
+     Catholics and Protestants in the matter of admission to the
+     colleges, Universities, hospitals, asylums, or any other
+     institution of learning or of public charity. None shall be
+     prosecuted for past actions. Coligny and all other Protestant
+     chiefs are declared good and loyal subjects. Protestants are
+     qualified to hold all royal, seigniorial or municipal offices. All
+     decrees rendered against the Huguenots shall be stricken from the
+     judicial records. Finally, and in order to guarantee the execution
+     of the said edict, Charles IX places, as pledges for the term of
+     two years, the cities of La Rochelle, Cognac, Montauban, and La
+     Charite, in the hands of the Princes of Navarre, of Condé and of
+     twenty other Protestant Princes, the said towns to be places of
+     _refuge_ for all those who might not yet venture to return to their
+     own homes.[73]
+
+Alas! those who, in the language of the edict, _might not yet venture to
+return to their own homes_, despite the peace being signed, promulgated
+and sworn to, justly suspected some new trap concealed under the lying
+peace. Antonicq Lebrenn did not take his leave of Admiral Coligny and
+Monsieur Lanoüe until after the close of the war. They were informed by
+him of the revelations contained in Anna Bell's letter to her father
+Odelin, the letter wherein the maid of honor of Catherine De Medici
+reported the conversation which she overheard between the infamous Queen
+and the Jesuit Lefevre, in the course of which the Queen disclosed to
+the Jesuit her project of lulling the suspicions of the Huguenots with
+the false appearance of a peace, to the end of taking them by surprise,
+unarmed and confiding, and exterminating them on one day throughout the
+kingdom. The project seemed so monstrous to Coligny that he looked upon
+it as only a chimera of delirious wickedness, and held it for
+impracticable, if only on the ground of there not being murderers enough
+to execute the butchery.
+
+The Admiral deceived himself. There never is a lack of murderers in the
+Catholic party. These rise by the thousand at the voice of the Roman
+priests. All priests are potential murderers with a patent from their
+faith.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+"CONTRE-UN."[74]
+
+
+Towards the end of the month of August in the year 1572, the Lebrenn
+family was gathered one evening in the large hall that served for
+storeroom to the arms turned out by the establishment of Antonicq
+Lebrenn, who continued his father's trade at La Rochelle. The room had
+the appearance of an arsenal. On the shelves along the walls lay arms of
+all sorts in profusion--swords, daggers, sabers, cutlasses, pikes,
+halberds, battle maces and axes; further off, long and short-barreled
+arquebuses, pistols and some firearms of a novel fashion. These were
+light and easy to handle, an invention of the celebrated Gaspard of
+Milan, who gave them the name of "muskets;" finally, there was a large
+display of casques, morions, cuirasses, corselets, brigandines, armlets,
+shields and bucklers, some of the latter made of iron, others of wood
+inlaid with sheets of steel. The workshop, with its furnaces, anvils and
+other utensils, was situated behind the storeroom, where, on this day
+the Lebrenn family, six in number, were congregated--Marcienne, Odelin's
+widow; Antonicq, her son; Theresa, his sister, married three years
+before to Louis Rennepont, the nephew of Brother St. Ernest-Martyr;
+Josephin, the Franc-Taupin; Captain Mirant, Marcienne's brother; his
+daughter Cornelia, the betrothed of Antonicq; and finally John Barbot, a
+boilermaker, the widower of Jacqueline Barbot, who was the god-mother of
+Anna Bell, and who died two years previously. In the assemblage were
+also the two artisans of the establishment, Bois-Guillaume and Roland,
+besides a fifteen-year-old apprentice whom they nicknamed "Serpentin."
+
+Although it was the hour for rest, these different personages were not
+idle. Marcienne, Odelin's widow, spun at her wheel. Clad in black, she
+had made up her mind to remain in mourning for the rest of her life in
+memory of the tragic deaths of her husband and her daughter, Anna Bell.
+The widow's pronounced features, the cast of her face at once serious,
+firm and kind, preserved the primitive type of the women of the
+_Santones_, a race which, according to what historians tell us,
+preserved itself pure from times immemorial, almost without admixture
+with foreign strains since the olden days of Gaul. Theresa, Marcienne's
+eldest daughter, was busy sewing, and from time to time cast a glance of
+maternal solicitude upon her child, who lay asleep in a cradle that off
+and on she rocked with her foot. Theresa expected with increasing
+anxiety the return of her husband, Louis Rennepont, who, several weeks
+before, left for Paris, whither he was deputed by the Rochelois, owing
+to the vague yet increasing apprehensions entertained by the
+Protestants, due to the circumstance that Coligny, together with almost
+all the Protestant leaders, was drawn to Paris on the occasion of the
+marriage of Henry of Bearn to the King's sister Marguerite. Theresa's
+headgear was the time-honored and common one of the women of the
+region--a high, white and pointed coif, adjusted to the coil of her
+tresses. Her robe, made of grey bolting-cloth, was slashed with a red
+front-piece, that partly covered her white and starched chemisette. From
+the belt of her apron hung two long silver chains, at the lower end of
+which were attached her penknife, scissors, a pin-cushion, some keys,
+and other utensils inseparable from a good housekeeper. Near Theresa
+Rennepont and behind her, Cornelia Mirant, her cousin, the betrothed of
+Antonicq, was ironing some household linen. The face of Cornelia also
+preserved in all their purity the characteristics of a Santone woman of
+the heroic days of Gaul. A luxurious head of light chestnut hair with a
+golden glint, twisted into strands and wound into a thick-topknot on her
+head; a white and ruddy skin; a small forehead; light eyebrows of a
+shade less brilliant than her hair and penciled in an almost straight
+line above her orange-brown, flashing and resolute eyes; a straight
+nose, prolonged in almost a straight line from the forehead, as seen in
+the lofty statues of antiquity; a pair of fleshy and cherry-red lips; a
+pronounced chin;--these features imparted to Cornelia's face a
+strikingly lofty stamp. The girl's tall stature, her flexible neck, her
+well rounded shoulders, her white and strong arms, the gentle contour of
+her bosom, recalled the noble proportions of the Greek Pallas Athene.
+With this virile appearance, Cornelia united the sportiveness, and the
+sweet and coy charms of a maid. Dressed Rochelois fashion like her
+cousin, Theresa, she had, in order to be at greater ease, rolled up the
+sleeves of her robe, and the strong muscles of her arms, which were
+white as marble, rose and fell with every impression of the hot iron
+upon the linen that she was smoothing. Ever and anon, however, the iron
+remained inactive for a moment. At such moments Cornelia raised her head
+to listen more attentively to the reading with which Antonicq was
+entertaining the assembled family; and her eyes would then bend upon
+him, not with any furtive tenderness, but, on the contrary, endeavoring
+to meet his own gaze with the serene confidence of a betrothed bride.
+Cornelia's father, Captain Mirant, one of the most intrepid seamen of La
+Rochelle, a man still in the full strength of his years, was engaged at
+sketching some defenses that he deemed requisite to the safety of the
+port. Near the captain sat his chum, John Barbot, the boilermaker of the
+isle of Rhe. His wife, Anna Bell's god-mother, had died of grief. She
+never could pardon herself for the loss of her god-child; after long
+years of weeping over what she deemed her own negligence, the poor woman
+sank into her grave. Not wishing to sit idly by, John Barbot was
+furbishing a steel corselet with as much care as he would have done one
+of the magnificent copper basins with artistic relievos, or one of his
+tinplated iron sheets, which, set up in his boilermaker's shop, shone
+with the glitter of gold or silver. A man of exceptional courage, above
+all of great self-possession in the hour of danger, Barbot had taken
+part in the late religious wars. Among other scars he wore one
+inflicted by a saber cut, dealt so furiously that, after cropping the
+boilermaker's left ear, it plowed through his cheek and carried away the
+tip of his nose. Despite the mutilation, John Barbot's face preserved an
+expression of unalterable good nature. The Franc-Taupin polished the
+barrel of an arquebus just taken, tarnished and defaced, from the forge.
+The old leader of the Avengers of Israel, the man to whom circumstances
+had imparted an implacable ferocity towards papists, still always
+carried, hanging from a string fastened to the buttonhole of his coat,
+the little piece of wood on which, by means of notches, he kept tally of
+the Catholic priests whom he killed in reprisal for the death of his
+sister and the torture of Hena. The notches had now reached the number
+of twenty-four. The implacable avenger was seated on the other side of
+the cradle of Theresa's child, and shared the mother's duties of lightly
+rocking it. Whenever the child woke up, the Franc-Taupin would drop the
+barrel of the arquebus on his knees and smile to the baby--at least as
+hard as the Franc-Taupin could smile. He lived on a small pension
+granted to him by the municipality of La Rochelle, in reward for the
+long years of service that he rendered in the capacity of sergeant of
+the city archers. Josephin transferred to Antonicq, to Antonicq's sister
+and to their mother the devoted attachment of which he gave so many
+signal proofs to Christian Lebrenn and his wife Bridget, to their
+daughter Hena and their son Odelin. Finally, the two artisans employed
+in the shop, Bois-Guillaume and Roland, as well as Serpentin the
+apprentice, occupied themselves with something or other connected with
+their trade, more for the sake of keeping their hands busy than for
+actual work, while they listened to Antonicq, who was reading aloud.
+
+Antonicq read the _Contre-Un_, a work written by Estienne of La
+Boetie,[75] who died about nine years before. Never yet did reason,
+human dignity, the sense of justice, the holy love for freedom, the
+whole-souled horror for tyranny, speak a language more eloquent and more
+warm from the heart than the language spoken in that immortal book. It
+was a cry of execration, an anathema against oppression. The avenging
+cry, leaping from the indignant soul of a great citizen, caused all
+noble hearts to vibrate responsively. Those pages, every word of which
+breathes ardent conviction, steeled the faith of all the honorable
+people, who finally at the end of their patience with the monstrous
+crimes that royalty, the accomplice or tool of the Church of Rome, was
+still soiled with in this century, were seriously considering, the same
+as the Low Countries were doing, the advisability of following the
+example of the Swiss cantons, which federated themselves in a Republic.
+The work of Estienne of La Boetie, by calling upon all the oppressed to
+resistance _Against-One_ who oppresses them, laid bare to them, with
+terse and pitiless logic, the despicable causes of their _Voluntary
+Servitude_, the original title of that admirable work.
+
+Antonicq Lebrenn continued to read the _Contre-Un_ amid the profound
+silence maintained by the assembled family:
+
+     "There are three species of tyrants, I speak of wicked princes: The
+     first have the kingdom by popular election; the second by force of
+     arms; the third by inheritance. Those who acquired it by the right
+     of war deport themselves as on conquered territory; those who are
+     born kings are usually no better; nourished in the blood of
+     tyranny, they take in the tyrant's nature with their milk, and look
+     upon their people as hereditary serfs. He, to whom the people
+     conferred the State, should (it would seem) be more endurable, and
+     so would he be, I hold, if, seeing himself raised above all others
+     and flattered by the undefinable thing called grandeur, he did not
+     generally bend his energies to preserve the power that the people
+     loaned him, and to transmit the same to his own children.
+
+     "Accordingly, to speak truthfully, I do perceive that there is some
+     difference between these different tyrants. But if one is to
+     choose, the difference ceases. The act of reigning remains
+     virtually the same--the elective ones govern as if they had bulls
+     to tame; the conquering ones look upon their people as their prey;
+     hereditary kings see in their subjects natural slaves.
+
+     "Speaking intelligently, it is a great misfortune to be subject to
+     a master of whom one can never be certain that he will be good,
+     seeing he ever has it in his power to be bad whenever it should so
+     please him. I do not mean at this point to debate the question, to
+     wit, Whether Republics are better than monarchy? If I wished to
+     consider that question, I should first wish to know, What rank
+     monarchy is to take among Republics, or if monarchy can at all rank
+     with Republics, considering the difficulty of believing that there
+     could be anything public in a government where _all belongs to
+     one_?
+
+     "I wish I could understand how it happens that so many citizens, so
+     many men, so many cities, so many nations often endure only a
+     tyrant, who has no power except that given to him; who has no power
+     to harm them but because of their own power to endure him! What! A
+     million men, miserably held in subjection, their necks under the
+     yoke, not compelled by force, but enchanted and charmed by the word
+     ONE, neither the power of whom they need fear, seeing he stands
+     alone; nor the qualities of whom they should love, seeing that, as
+     to them, he is inhuman and savage! Such is the weakness among us,
+     men!
+
+     "Oh, good God! What can that be? What name shall we call the thing
+     by? What peculiar calamity is it? or what vice? or, rather, what
+     calamitous vice? To see a vast number, not obey, but serve! Not
+     governed, but tyrannized! With neither property, nor parents, nor
+     children, nor yet their own lives that they may call their own!
+     Suffer plunderings, pillagings, cruelties, not at the hands of an
+     army, not at the hands of a camp of barbarians, against which one
+     would shed his blood and risk his life--but endure all that from
+     ONLY ONE! Not from a Hercules, or a Sampson, but from a single
+     mannikin, generally the most cowardly, the most effeminate of the
+     nation, at that! Not accustomed to the powder of battles, but even
+     hardly to the dust of tourneys! Can we give to that the name of
+     cowardice? Are we to say that those who remain in subjection are
+     poltroons? That two, that three, that four should fail to defend
+     themselves against ONE, that would be singular enough, yet
+     possible; in which case we could justly say it is
+     faint-heartedness. But when a hundred, when a thousand endure
+     everything from ONLY ONE, can it then be said that they do not
+     want, that they dare not lay hands upon him, and that it is not a
+     case of cowardice, but rather of disdain and contempt? If so, what
+     monstrous vice is this that deserves not the title of cowardice,
+     that finds no name villainous enough to designate it by, that
+     nature disowns having brought forth, and that the tongue of men
+     refuses to name?"
+
+The eloquent malediction of the blindness of subjugated peoples drew a
+unanimous cry of admiration from the Lebrenn family. Antonicq
+interrupted his reading for a moment.
+
+"Oh, the book is right!" gravely observed Odelin's widow. "What
+monstrous vice can that be that bends under the yoke of ONLY ONE? It is
+not cowardice! The most cowardly, when they see they are a thousand
+against one, will not be afraid to attack him. That book is right. What
+may be the name of the nameless vice?"
+
+Antonicq proceeded:
+
+     "It is the people who subjugate themselves; who cut their own
+     throats; who, having the choice between being subject or free,
+     leave their freedom for a yoke; who give their consent to their own
+     ruin, or rather purchase the same. If the recovery of their freedom
+     would have to cost something, it is not I who would press them to
+     the act, although that which man should hold dearest is the
+     recovery of his natural rights, or, to be accurate, from beast to
+     return to man's estate.
+
+     "But no! I do not demand such boldness from the people. What! If,
+     in order to have its liberty, the people need but to will it, can
+     there be a nation on earth to consider the price too dear, being
+     able to regain the boon by wishing? Who would hesitate to recover a
+     boon that should be redeemed with the price of his blood, a boon,
+     which if lost, all honorable men must esteem life a burden and
+     death a relief?
+
+     "But no! The more do tyrants pillage, the more do they exact, the
+     more do they ruin, the more do they destroy,--all the more are they
+     paid to do it, all the more are they served, and all the more do
+     they fortify themselves.
+
+     "And yet, if nothing were to be allowed to them, if no obedience
+     were to be yielded to them, and that without combat, without
+     striking a blow, they would remain naked, undone, and would cease
+     to be anything--like roots, that, lacking nourishment, become a
+     dry, dead branch."
+
+"Right!" put in the Franc-Taupin. "Again that book is right. There are
+donkey-men and lion-men. Say to a donkey: 'Roar, jump, bite your enemy!'
+He will not listen. Say to the brute: 'Donkey you are, donkey you will
+be, remain donkey. One does not even expect of you that you rise to the
+Caesarian heroism of a kick! No, you peaceful beast! All that we ask is
+that you remain quiet, motionless, stubborn, and do not go to the mill!
+Aye, my donkey friends, what could the millers do, and their helpers,
+if, despite all their cudgels, the millions of donkeys, having passed
+the word along the line, refused point blank to march? Will the millers
+and their helpers shower blows upon you? Perhaps, but are you spared any
+blows when you do march? Beaten whether you march or stand still, you
+might as well stand still and ruin the miller.' Yes," added the
+Franc-Taupin, his face assuming a sad expression; "but how was this
+unhappy people even to conceive the bare thought of such an inert
+resistance? Have the monks not monked their brains from the cradle to
+the grave: 'Go, thou beast of burden, lick the hand that smites
+you--bless the burden that crushes your limbs, and galls your spine to
+the quick--thy salvation hereafter is to be bought by the torments you
+endure on earth--to the monks belong thy broad back--they straddle it in
+order to lead you to paradise!' And," proceeded the Franc-Taupin, more
+and more incensed, "should anyone attempt to wrest the besotted wretches
+from the grip of the monkery, why, then, quick, and quicker than
+quick!--the jail, the cutlass, the pyre, and torture! Thus came my
+sister Bridget to die in prison, and her daughter to be burned alive,
+and Christian to die of grief, and Odelin, his son, to have his throat
+cut by his own brother, Fra Hervé, the Cordelier! That is the long and
+short of it!"
+
+These words, which recalled so many painful losses to the memory of the
+Lebrenn family, were followed by a mournful silence. Tears rolled down
+the cheeks of Marcienne, Odelin's widow; her wheel stopped whirring; her
+head dropped upon her breast and she muttered:
+
+"My mourning will be like my sorrow, eternal! Oh, my children, there are
+two places that will ever remain vacant at our hearth--your father's and
+your sister's. The poor girl doubted our indulgence and our love for
+her!"
+
+"Oh, Catherine De Medici! Infamous Queen! Mother of execrable sons! Will
+the hour of vengeance ever sound!" exclaimed Captain Mirant. "Even the
+perversest of people shudder at the crimes of the crowned monsters!
+Their acts are endured, and yet a breath could throw them down! Oh, well
+may we ask in the language of La Boetie's book: 'What is the nameless
+vice that causes millions of people to submit voluntarily to a power
+that is abhorred?'"
+
+"We Huguenots, at least, showed our teeth to the monsters," put in
+Barbot the boilermaker. "Nevertheless, to talk shop, I must confess our
+mistake. It was our duty to throw into the furnace and melt once for all
+that old royal boiler in which for a thousand and odd years the Kings
+have been boiling Jacques Bonhomme, and serving him up in all manner of
+sauces for their repasts. Once that boiler is melted, the devil's
+kitchen would be done for!"
+
+"Yes, indeed, comrade," replied Captain Mirant, "we made that mistake,
+and yet we were the most daring among the oppressed! And we made the
+mistake notwithstanding we were repeatedly imposed upon and betrayed by
+treacherous edicts. May it please God that this last edict do not fare
+like the previous ones, and that Louis Rennepont may speedily bring us
+tidings from Paris to dispel our apprehensions!"
+
+"Brother," observed Marcienne, "I can not but mistrust the pledges of
+Charles IX and his mother. Alas, I can not forget the revelations made
+in the letter to her father by my poor daughter before she leaped
+voluntarily to death at the battle of Roche-la-Belle. Catherine and her
+sons are well capable of scheming the massacre that she confided to the
+Jesuit Lefevre. At the same time we must not forget that Admiral
+Coligny, so prudent, so wise, so experienced a man, in short, better
+qualified than anyone else to appreciate the situation, seeing he is in
+close touch with the court, reposes full confidence in the peace. Did
+he not give us positive proof of his sense of security by inducing the
+Protestants to restore to the King, before the date fixed by the edict,
+the fortified towns of asylum that were placed in their power?"
+
+"Oh, sister, sister!" interjected Captain Mirant. "I shall ever
+congratulate myself upon having been on the Board of Aldermen among
+those who most decidedly opposed the relinquishing of La Rochelle! Thank
+God, this fortified place remains to us. Here at least we may feel safe.
+I very much fear the loyalty of the Admiral may not be a match for the
+duplicity of the Italian woman."
+
+"I must say that I am increasingly impatient for my husband's return
+home," observed Theresa. "He will have had an interview with Admiral
+Coligny; he will have expressed to him the fears and misgivings of the
+Rochelois. At least we shall know for certain whether we are to feel
+safe or not."
+
+"Do you call that living?" cried Captain Mirant. "Why should we,
+honorable people, be kept ever in suspense as though we were criminals!
+Mistrust ever sits in our hearts! Our ears ever are on the watch, our
+hands on our swords! Whence come these mortal alarms? The reason is
+that, despite our old municipal franchises, despite the ramparts of our
+town, we are, after all, the subjects of the King, instead of belonging
+to ourselves, like the Swiss cantons, that are freely federated in a
+Republic! Oh, liberty! liberty! Shall our eyes ever see your reign among
+us?"
+
+"Yes!" answered Antonicq. "Yes! We would see that beautiful reign if the
+admirable sentiments of La Boetie could be made to penetrate the souls
+of our people! But listen, I shall read on:
+
+     "Oh, liberty! So great, so sweet a boon, that, once lost misfortune
+     follows inevitably, and even the enjoyments that may remain behind
+     wholly lose their taste and flavor, being tainted with servitude!
+     Liberty is not desired by men for no other reason, it seems to me,
+     than that, if they were to desire it, they would have it! One would
+     think they refuse the priceless conquest only because it is so
+     easily won! The beasts (may God help me!) where men are too deaf to
+     hear, scream in their ears--_Long live Freedom!_ Many animals die
+     the moment they are captured. Fishes lose their lives with their
+     element: they die unable to survive their natural franchise! If
+     animals recognized rank in their midst they would turn liberty
+     into--_nobility!_ From the largest to the smallest, when caught,
+     they offer so emphatic a resistance with nails, horns, feet, or
+     beaks that they sufficiently declare how highly they prize what
+     they are losing. When caught, they give us so many manifest tokens
+     of how thoroughly they realize their misfortune that, if they
+     continue to live, it is rather to mourn over their lost freedom
+     than to accommodate themselves to servitude.
+
+     "Poor, miserable people! Poor senseless beings! Oh, ye nations
+     stubbornly addicted to your own evil! Blind to your weal! You allow
+     yourselves to be carried away, to be ravished of the best that you
+     have, of the prime of your revenue; your fields to be pillaged;
+     your homes to be robbed; your paternal furniture and heirlooms to
+     be taken for spoils! Your life is such that you may say nothing is
+     your own. Would it be that wise unless you are tolerant of the
+     thief who plunders you, and the accomplice of the murderer who
+     slays you? Are you not traitors to yourselves? You sow your fields
+     for him to gorge himself! You furnish your houses in order to
+     furnish matter for his burglaries! You bring up your daughters that
+     there may be food for his debauches! You bring up your sons that
+     he may lead them to slaughter and turn them into the instruments of
+     his greed and the executors of his revenges. You stint your bodies
+     that he may revel in the delights you are deprived of, and wallow
+     in lecherous and vile pursuits!
+
+     "True enough, physicians advise not to lay hands upon wounds that
+     are incurable. Perhaps I act not wisely in seeking to give advice
+     to the people in this matter. They have long lost consciousness;
+     they are no longer aware of their ailment; the disease is mortal!"
+
+"The reproach is severe, and, I think, unmerited," objected Odelin's
+widow. "Did not Estienne of La Boetie himself, who died only nine years
+ago, see the Protestants thrice run to arms in the defense of their
+faith?"
+
+"Sister," asked Captain Mirant, "did the whole people run to arms? Alas,
+no! The majority, the masses--blind, ignorant, wretched, and dominated
+by the monks--have they not ever risen at the command of their clerical
+misleaders, and fallen with fanatical rage upon what they call the
+'heretics'? Even among ourselves, is it not a small majority that
+realizes the truth of what Christian your husband's father used to say,
+when he warned the Protestants that neither religious nor any other
+freedom could ever be permanently secured so long as royalty, the
+hereditary accomplice of the Church, was left standing? Do not the
+majority of Protestants, even Admiral Coligny himself, entertain respect
+and love, if not for Kings, at least for the monarchy? Do they not seek
+to place that institution beyond the reach of the religious wars?
+Sister, Boetie's book tells the truth: The masses of the people,
+degraded, brutified, besotted and kept in ignorance by hereditary
+serfdom no longer feel the gall of servitude. Does it, therefore, follow
+the disease is incurable, and fatal? No! No! In that respect I look to
+better things than does La Boetie. History, in accord therein with the
+chronicles of your husband's family, proves that a slow and mysterious
+progress is taking its course across the ages. Serfs replaced slaves;
+vassals replaced serfs; some day, vassalage also will disappear as did
+slavery and serfdom! The religious wars of our century are another step
+toward ultimate freedom. The revolt against the throne will closely
+follow the revolt against the Church. But, alas! how many years are yet
+to elapse before the arrival of the day foretold by Victoria the
+Great--as narrated in your family history!"[76]
+
+"Oh, the genius of tyranny is so resourceful in infernal plans to
+protect its empire!" exclaimed Antonicq. "Do you remember, uncle, how
+surprised you and I were at the account, given us by some travelers who
+returned from Paris, of the infinite number of public
+festivities--tourneys, tilts, processions--gotten up to keep the people
+amused?"
+
+"Yes, and we listened to their report as to a fairy tale," interjected
+Cornelia. "We wondered how the people could feel so giddyheaded in
+Paris; how they could crowd to festivities given upon places that were
+still dyed red with the blood of martyrs, and still warm with the ashes
+of pyres!"
+
+"Cornelia," replied Antonicq, proud of the noble words of his bride,
+"tyrants rule less, perhaps, through force that terrorizes than through
+corruption that depraves. Listen to these profound and awful words of La
+Boetie upon this very subject:
+
+     "No better insight can be got into the craftiness of tyrants to
+     brutify their subjects than from the measure that Cyrus adopted
+     towards the Lydians after he took possession of Sardis, the
+     principal city of Lydia, and reduced to his mercy Croesus, the rich
+     King, and carried him off a prisoner of war. Cyrus was notified
+     that the people of Sardis rose in rebellion. He speedily reduced
+     them to order, but unwilling to put so beautiful a place to the
+     sack, and also to be himself put to the trouble of garrisoning the
+     city with a large force in order to keep it safe, he hit upon a
+     master scheme to make sure of his conquest. He set up in Sardis a
+     large number of public houses for debauchery, and issued a decree
+     commanding the people to frequent these brothels. That garrison
+     answered his purpose so well that never after did he have to draw
+     the sword against the Lydians.
+
+     "Indeed, no bird is more easily caught with bird-lime, no fish is
+     more securely hooked with an appetizing bait, than the masses of
+     the people are lured to servitude by the tickle of the smallest
+     feather, which, as the saying goes, is passed over their lips.
+     Theaters, games, farces, spectacles, gladiators, strange beasts,
+     medals, pictures and other trifles were, to the peoples of
+     antiquity, the charms of servitude, the price of their freedom, the
+     instruments of tyranny.
+
+     "These lures kept the people under the yoke. Thus, mentally
+     unnerved, they found the pastimes pleasant, they were amused by the
+     idle spectacles that were paraded before their eyes, and they were
+     habituated to obedience as fully, but not as usefully to
+     themselves, as little children, who, in order to gladden their eyes
+     with the brilliant pictures of illuminated books insensibly learn
+     to read.
+
+     "The tyrant Romans furthermore resorted to the plan of feasting
+     the populace, which can be led by nothing so readily as by the
+     pleasures of the mouth. The cleverest of them all would not have
+     dropped his bowl of soup to recover the liberty of the Republic of
+     Plato. The tyrants made bountiful donations of wheat, of wine and
+     corn. Whereupon the cry went up lustily--_Long live the King!_ The
+     dullards did not realize they were receiving but a small portion of
+     what belonged to them, and that even the portion which they
+     received the tyrant would not have it to give, but for his first
+     having taken it away from themselves."
+
+"_The cleverest of them all would not have dropped his bowl of soup to
+recover the Republic_," repeated Captain Mirant. "The fact is
+shockingly, distressfully true! Men become animals when they sacrifice
+everything to perverse instincts and vulgar appetites. Nevertheless, a
+curse upon all tyrants! It is they who incite these very appetites, in
+order to rule the heart through the stomach, and the mind through the
+eyes, by attracting the peoples to tourneys, tilts and such other
+pageants, amusements that are but disgraceful badges of servitude, and
+must be paid for by the fruit of the labor of the slaves themselves!"
+
+"Go to, poor Jacques Bonhomme!" added the Franc-Taupin. "Fill up your
+paunch, but bend your back! Pay for the gala! Gnaw at the bones cast to
+you, and cry 'Thanks!' Oh, if only you knew! If only you wanted to! With
+one shake of your shoulders, both the tyrants and their cohorts would be
+thrown to the ground!"
+
+"No! No!" interjected Antonicq. "Do not imagine that our tyrants
+Catherine De Medici and Charles IX are defended mainly by the
+arquebusiers of their bodyguards, their light mounted horse and their
+footmen in arms! Not at all! Just listen to this passage from La
+Boetie's book:
+
+     "I shall now touch upon a point that is the secret spring of the
+     sway, the support and the foundation of tyranny. He who imagines
+     that the halberdiers of the guard constitute the safety and the
+     bulwark of tyrants is, I hold, greatly in error. No; it is not arms
+     that defend a tyrant. At first blush the point may not be granted,
+     nevertheless it is true. It is only four or five men among his
+     accomplices who uphold a tyrant and who keep the country in
+     servitude to him. It has ever been only five or six who have a
+     tyrant's ear, and are invited by him to be the accomplices of his
+     cruelties, the sharers in his amusements, the go-betweens in his
+     debaucheries, the co-partners in his plunder, these five or six
+     hundred have, in turn, under them five or six who are to them what
+     they themselves are to the tyrant--and these five or six hundred
+     have, in turn, under them five or six thousand thieves among whom
+     they have caused the government of the provinces and the
+     administration of the funds to be distributed, in order that they
+     may cater to the avarice and the cruelty of the tyrant, in order
+     that they may promptly execute his orders, and be ready to do so
+     much mischief that they can hold their places only under the shadow
+     of his authority, nor be able to escape the just punishment of
+     their offences but through him. Wide and long is the train that
+     follows these latter ones. Whoever cares to amuse himself in
+     tracing the threads of this woof will see that, not the six
+     thousand only, but hundreds of thousands, aye millions depend
+     through that cord upon the tyrant, who, with the aid of the same,
+     can (as Jupiter boasts in Homer) pull over to himself all the gods
+     by pulling at the chain."
+
+"Well put! Never before has the centralized power of royalty, that
+fearful engine of tyranny, been more lucidly laid bare!" cried Captain
+Mirant. "I am more and more convinced--the federation of the provinces,
+each independent as to itself, but mutually united by the common bond of
+their common interests, like the Republic of the Swiss cantons, is the
+sole guarantee of freedom. COMMUNE AND FEDERATION!"
+
+"Now," said Antonicq, "do not fail to admire the penetration with which
+Estienne of La Boetie traces back the secret punishment that is visited
+upon tyrants, and the awful consequences of tyranny itself. He says:
+
+     "From the moment a King has declared himself a tyrant, then, not
+     merely a swarm of thieves and skip-jacks, but all those who are
+     moved by ardent ambition, or overpowering greed, gather around him,
+     and assist him in order to have a share in the booty, and to be,
+     under the great tyrant, petty tyrants themselves. Thus it happens
+     with highwaymen and pirates. One set holds the roads, the other
+     rifles the travelers; one set lies in ambush, the other is on the
+     watch; one set massacres, the other plunders.
+
+     "Hence it comes that the tyrant is never loved, and never loves.
+     Friendship is a sacred gift, a holy boon! It never exists but among
+     honorable people, it never arises but through mutual esteem. It is
+     preserved, not so much through gifts as by upright conduct. That
+     which makes one friend feel sure of another is the knowledge he has
+     of the other's integrity. The security he holds from his friend is
+     the latter's good character, his faith, his constancy. No
+     friendship can exist where cruelty, disloyalty and injustice hold
+     sway. When malignant people meet, they meet to plot, not for
+     companionship! They do not mutually aid if they mutually fear one
+     another. They are not friends, they are accomplices in crime and
+     felony.
+
+     "This is the reason why, as the saying goes, there is honor among
+     thieves at the distribution of the booty. They supplement one
+     another, and they are unwilling, by falling out, to reduce their
+     strength.
+
+     "In that begins the punishment of tyrants. When they die, their
+     execrated name is blackened by the ink of a thousand pens, their
+     reputation is torn to shreds; even their bones, pilloried by
+     posterity, chastise them for their wicked lives. Let us then learn
+     to be upright; let us raise our eyes to heaven; let us implore it
+     to bestow upon us the love of virtue. As to me, meseems nothing is
+     so contrary to God as tyranny, and that He reserves for tyrants
+     some special chastisement."
+
+"Oh, my children!" exclaimed Odelin's widow, "that book which breathes
+such hatred for tyranny and such generous indignation towards cowards
+that one must doubt divine justice if he can lightly submit to
+iniquity;--that book, every page of which bears the imprint of the love
+of virtue and the execration of evil;--that book should be placed in the
+hands of every lad about to enter manhood. It would be a wholesome and
+strong nourishment to their souls. From it they would gather a horror
+for that cowardly and blind voluntary servitude, and then all, in the
+name of justice, of human dignity, of right, and of honesty, would rise
+_Against-One_, the title of those sublime pages, and they would proclaim
+everywhere--Commune and Federation!"
+
+"But, aunt," timidly suggested Cornelia, "should not that book be also
+for girls who reach maturity? They become wives and mothers. Should not
+they also be nourished in the love of justice and in the abhorrence of
+tyranny, to the end that they may bring up their children to virile
+principles, regain for woman equal rights with man, and share both the
+self-denial and the dangers of their husbands when the hour of battle
+and of sacrifice shall have come?"
+
+Cornelia looked so beautiful as she gave utterance to these patriotic
+sentiments that all the members of the Lebrenn family turned their eyes
+admiringly toward the young girl.
+
+"Oh, my brave one!" exclaimed Antonicq, rising and taking Cornelia's
+hands in his own with a transport of love. "How proud I am of your love!
+What generous duties does it not impose upon me! Well, it is to be
+to-morrow--the happy day for you and me--the day when we are to be
+joined in wedlock!"
+
+Hardly had Antonicq finished his sentence when the tramp of a horse's
+hoofs was heard in the street. It stopped at the armorer's door. Theresa
+Rennepont rose with a start, and ran to the door crying: "My husband!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S NIGHT.
+
+
+The presentiment of the young wife did not deceive her. The door opened
+and Theresa fell into the arms of Louis Rennepont.
+
+The joy of the Lebrenn family over the return of one of its members from
+a distant journey dominated at first all other feelings and thoughts.
+Immediately after the first outpourings of affection the same question
+escaped at once from all lips:
+
+"What tidings from Paris, and about Admiral Coligny?"
+
+Alas! it was only then that the members of the Lebrenn family noticed
+the profound alteration of Louis Rennepont's appearance, and his wife,
+who had been scrutinizing the young man's face with eager and uneasy
+curiosity, suddenly cried:
+
+"Great God! Louis, your hair has turned grey!"
+
+Indeed, when Louis Rennepont left La Rochelle towards the end of the
+previous month, not a thread of silver whitened his raven locks. Now
+they were streaked with broad bands of grey! He seemed to have aged ten
+years. Such a change must have been produced by some terrible and sudden
+emotion. Theresa's exclamation was followed by a mournful silence. All
+eyes were fixed upon Louis Rennepont with increasing anxiety. He
+answered his wife with a trembling voice:
+
+"Yes, Theresa; yes, my friends; my hair turned grey in one night--the
+night before St. Bartholomew's day--the night of the 23d of this month
+of August, of this year, 1572!"
+
+And still shuddering with terror, his chest convulsed with repressed
+sobs, the young man hid his face in his hands and muttered: "My God! My
+God!"
+
+Presently the young man recovered sufficient composure to proceed.
+
+"Do you all remember," he said, solemnly addressing the stupefied
+members of his family, "the infernal scheme of Catherine De Medici that
+our poor Anna Bell overheard during the Queen's conversation with
+Loyola's disciple Lefevre at the Abbey of St. Severin?"
+
+"Great God!" cried Antonicq. "The scheme of massacring all the
+Protestants, disarmed by the peace?"
+
+"The massacre, begun in Paris under my own eyes, during the night before
+St. Bartholomew," answered Louis Rennepont with an effort, "that
+massacre is proceeding at this very hour in almost all the large cities
+of France!"
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed Captain Mirant. "In sight of such a stupendous crime
+one's head is seized with vertigo--one is not certain of himself--one
+asks himself whether he is awake, or dreams."
+
+"By my sister's death! We are not dreaming!" ejaculated the
+Franc-Taupin. "Friends, if we look down at a stream running under our
+feet, it often happens that, for a moment, our head turns. That is what
+we are now experiencing. We see at our feet a torrent flowing, a torrent
+of blood--the blood of our brothers!"
+
+"A curse upon my head," thundered the boilermaker Barbot, raising his
+clenched fist to the ceiling, "if the blood of the Catholics does not
+run, if not in torrents, at least drop by drop, before La Rochelle! Let
+them come and attack us!"
+
+"They will come," put in Captain Mirant. "They are surely on the march
+now! Our ramparts shall be our grave! God be thanked, we shall not be
+slaughtered like cattle in the shambles! We shall die like men!"
+
+Cornelia, pale and motionless like a statue of sorrow, her arms crossed
+over her palpitating bosom, and her face bathed in tears, remained in
+mute consternation until this moment. The girl now took two steps
+towards her betrothed and said to him in a trembling voice:
+
+"Antonicq, to-morrow we were to be married--people in mourning do not
+marry. From this instant I wear mourning for our brothers, massacred on
+St. Bartholomew's night! A woman owes obedience to her husband,
+according to our laws--iniquitous, degrading laws! I wish to remain free
+until after the war."
+
+"Cornelia, the hour of sacrifices has sounded," answered Antonicq with a
+trembling voice; "my courage shall vie with yours."
+
+"We have paid our tribute to human weakness," observed Odelin's widow,
+smothering a sob; "let us now bravely face the magnitude of the disaster
+that has smitten our cause. Louis, we listen to your account of St.
+Bartholomew's night."
+
+"When a few weeks ago I left for Paris, I concluded I would, in passing
+through Poitiers, Angers and Orleans, visit several of our pastors in
+order to ascertain whether they also shared our apprehensions. Some I
+found completely set at ease by the loyal execution of the last edict,
+above all by the certainty of the marriage of Henry of Bearn with the
+sister of Charles IX. They looked upon this as a pledge of the good
+intentions of the King, and of the end of the religious conflicts. Other
+pastors, on the contrary, felt vaguely uneasy. Being convinced that Joan
+of Albert was poisoned by Catherine De Medici, they saw with no little
+apprehension what they considered the heedless confidence that Admiral
+Coligny placed in the court. But in short, the vast majority of our
+brothers felt perfectly at ease.
+
+"Immediately upon my arrival at Paris I proceeded to Bethisy Street, the
+residence of Admiral Coligny. I expressed to him the fears that agitated
+the Rochelois concerning his life, so precious to our cause, and their
+mistrust of Charles IX and his mother. The Admiral's answer was: 'The
+only thing that keeps me back at court is the almost positive prospect
+of Flanders and the Low Countries rising against the bloodthirsty
+tyranny of Philip II. Only the support of France could insure the
+success of the revolt. If those rich industrial provinces secede from
+Spain, they will be the promised land to our brothers. These will find
+there a refuge, not as to-day, behind the ramparts of a very few cities
+of safety, but either in the Walloon provinces, which will have become
+French territory under solid guarantees for their freedom, or in the Low
+Countries, which will be federated upon a republican plan, in imitation
+of the Swiss cantons, under the protectorate of the Prince of Nassau. By
+family tradition, and on principle, I am attached to the monarchic form
+of government. But I am well aware that many of our brothers, you of La
+Rochelle among them, shocked at the crimes of the reigning house, are
+strongly inclined towards a republic. To these, the federation of the
+Low Countries, should the same be established, will offer a form of
+government to their taste.' 'But, Admiral,' I replied, 'suppose our
+suspicions prove true, and the help that the King and his mother have so
+long been holding out the prospect of proves to be but a lure to hide
+some new trap?' 'I do not think so,' rejoined Admiral Coligny, 'although
+it may be. One must be ready for anything from Catherine De Medici and
+her son.' 'But,' I cried, 'Admiral, how can you, despite such doubts
+entertained by yourself, remain here at court, among your mortal
+enemies! Do you take no precautions to protect yourself against a
+possible, if not probable, act of treachery?' 'My friend,' was the
+Admiral's reply given in a grave and melancholy tone, 'for long years I
+have conducted that sort of war which, above all others, is the most
+frightful and atrocious--civil war. It inspires me with insurmountable
+horror. An uprising in Flanders and the Low Countries offers me the
+means of putting an end to the shedding of French blood and of securing
+a new and safe country to our brothers. It will be one way or the
+other--either the King's promises are sincere, or they are not. If they
+are I would consider it a crime to wreck through impatience or mistrust
+the success of a plan that promises so favorable a future to the
+Protestants.' 'And if the King should not be sincere,' I inquired, 'if
+his promises have no object other than to gain time to the end of
+insuring the success of some new and frightful treachery?' 'In that
+event, my friend, I shall be the victim of the treachery,' calmly
+answered Coligny. 'Is it my life they are after? I have long since
+offered it up as a sacrifice to God. Moreover, only day before
+yesterday, I declared to the King that, after the suppression of the
+revolt at Mons, as a consequence of which Lanoüe, my best friend, fell a
+prisoner into the hands of the Spaniards, France should no longer
+hesitate to give her support to the insurrection of the Low Countries
+against Philip II.' 'And what did the King say to that? Did he give you
+any guarantee of his honest intentions?' 'The King,' Coligny answered
+me, 'said this to me: "_My good father, here are the nuptials of my
+sister Margot approaching; grant me only a week longer of pleasures and
+enjoyment, after which, I swear to you, by the word of a King, you and
+your friends will all be satisfied with me._"'"
+
+At this passage Louis Rennepont interrupted his narrative and cried with
+a shudder:
+
+"Would you believe it, my friends, Charles IX addressed these ambiguous
+and perfidious words to Coligny on the 13th of August--and on the night
+of the 23rd the massacre of our brothers took place!"
+
+"Oh, these Kings!" exclaimed Marcienne, raising her eyes to heaven.
+"These Kings! The sweat of our brows no longer suffices to slake their
+thirst. They are glutted with that--they now joke preparatorily to
+murder!"
+
+"By my sister's death!" shouted the Franc-Taupin, furiously. "The
+Admiral must have been smitten with blindness. Acquainted as he was from
+a long and bitter experience with that tyrant whelp, that tiger cub, how
+is it he did not take warning from the double sense that the King's
+words carried! What imprudence!"
+
+"Alas, far from it!" said Louis Rennepont. "In answer to the remarks I
+made to him, calling his attention to the suspiciousness of the King's
+words, a suspiciousness rendered all the more glaring by reason of the
+tyrant's character, the Admiral merely replied: 'If they are after my
+life, would they not long ago have killed me, in the course of these six
+months that I have been at court?' 'But monsieur,' I observed, 'it is
+not your life only that is threatened; they probably aim also at the
+lives of all our Protestant leaders. Our enemies rely upon your example,
+upon your presence at court, and upon the festivities of the marriage of
+Henry of Bearn, to attract our principal men to Paris--then to strike
+them all down at the giving of a signal, and to massacre the rest of our
+brothers all over France. Do you forget the scheme that Catherine De
+Medici talked over with the Jesuit Lefevre?' 'No, no, my friend,' he
+replied serenely, 'my heart and my judgment refuse to believe such a
+monstrous plan possible; it exceeds the bounds of human wickedness. The
+most reckless tyrants, whose names have caused the earth to grow pale,
+never dreamed of anything even remotely approaching such a horrible
+crime--it would be nameless!"
+
+"That crime now has a name--it is called 'St. Bartholomew's Night'!"
+said Cornelia with a shudder. "What will be the name of the vengeance?"
+
+"Mayhap the vengeance will be called the 'Siege of La Rochelle'!"
+answered Captain Mirant, the girl's father. "Our walls are strong, and
+resolute are our hearts."
+
+"The war will be a bloody one!" interjected Master Barbot the
+boilermaker.
+
+Louis Rennepont proceeded with his narrative: "I left Admiral Coligny,
+unable to awaken his suspicions. He went to his Chatillon home, spent
+two days in that retreat so beloved of him, and returned to Paris on the
+17th of August, the eve of the marriage of Henry of Bearn and Princess
+Marguerite. The union of a Protestant Prince with a Catholic Princess,
+in which so many of us saw the end of the religious struggles, drew to
+Paris almost all the Protestant leaders. I shall mention, among those
+whom I visited, Monsieur La Rochefoucauld, Monsieur La Force, and brave
+Colonel Piles. Apprehending no treason, they all shared the expectations
+of Coligny with respect to the revolt in the Low Countries. The feeling
+of safety that prevailed among my brothers gained upon me also. The
+marriage of Henry of Bearn and Princess Marguerite took place on the
+18th of this month. From that day to the 21st there was a perpetual
+round of splendid festivities and general merrymaking at court and in
+the city. I took up my lodgings at the sign of the Swan, on St.
+Thomas-of-the-Louvre Street, not far from the residence of Monsieur
+Coligny. The inn-keeper was of our people. On the 22d he came to my room
+at about nine in the morning and said to me with surprise not unmixed
+with alarm: 'Something strange is going on. I just learned that the
+provosts of each quarter of the city are going from house to house
+inquiring about the religion of the tenants, and noting down the
+Huguenots. The reason given is that a general census of the population
+is wanted. Subsequently,' the inn-keeper proceeded to say, 'the regiment
+of the Arquebusiers of the Guard entered Paris. Finally, I learn that
+last night a large number of arms, especially cutlasses and daggers,
+were transported to the City Hall. I received this information from my
+niece. She is a Catholic and a chamber maid of the Duchess of Nevers.
+The taking of a list of the Huguenots in town, the arrival of a whole
+regiment of Arquebusiers of the Guard, and finally the conveying of such
+large stores of arms to the City Hall, seem to me to foreshadow some
+plot against the Protestants. I wish you would notify the Admiral of
+these occurrences.' The inn-keeper's advice seemed wise to me. I
+hastened to Bethisy Street and knocked at the Admiral's house. He was
+not home. As was his habit, he had departed early in the morning to the
+Louvre. His old equerry Nicholas Mouche, to whom I imparted some of my
+information, seemed not a little startled. We agreed to proceed to the
+entrance of the palace and wait for the Admiral. We were passing by the
+cloister of St. Germain-L'Auxerois, where several houses were in the
+course of construction, when we caught sight of Coligny returning on
+foot and followed by two of his serving men. He was reading a letter,
+and walked slowly. We hastened our steps to meet him. Suddenly we were
+blinded by the flash of a firearm, fired from the ground floor window of
+one of the houses contiguous to the cloister. Nicholas Mouche rushed to
+his master, screaming: 'Help! The Admiral is assassinated! Help! Help!'"
+
+A cry of horror leaped from the lips of all the members of the Lebrenn
+family, who followed breathlessly the report of Louis Rennepont. Captain
+Mirant exclaimed:
+
+"Murder and treason! To kill that great man in such a way! Vengeance!
+Vengeance!"
+
+"No," put in Louis Rennepont with a painful effort. "Monsieur Coligny,
+killed by a bullet, would at least have met a soldier's death. I
+followed close upon the heels of Nicholas Mouche and reached him at the
+moment when Coligny, pale but calm, pointed to the window from which the
+shot was fired, and said: 'The shot came from there.' The arquebus was
+loaded with two balls. One carried off the Admiral's left thumb, while
+the other lodged in his arm near the elbow. Weakened by the loss of
+blood, that ran profusely, Coligny said to Nicholas Mouche: 'If I leaned
+upon your arm I could walk to my house--proceed!' In fact, he walked
+home. Several Protestant officers happened to be not far behind. Upon
+learning of the crime that was committed, they forced their way into
+the house where the would-be assassin had lain in ambush. They were
+informed that he fled through a rear door, where a saddled horse, held
+by a page in the Guise livery, stood waiting for him. Their searches
+proved vain. No trace of the assassin could they find."
+
+"The Guises! Always the Guisards, either directly guilty, or the
+accomplices of assassins!" exclaimed Odelin's widow with a shudder.
+"With how much blood have not those Lorrainian Princes reddened their
+hands since the butcheries of Vassy! But did Monsieur Coligny's wound
+prove fatal?"
+
+"No, unfortunately for the Admiral--because the very next day--" Louis
+Rennepont broke off suddenly. "Do you want to know, mother, whether the
+Guises were accomplices in the attempted murder upon the Admiral? Yes,
+they had their hands in that fresh misdeed, at the instigation of the
+Queen-mother. And here a plot begins to unroll itself, the deep villainy
+of which would seem incredible if Catherine De Medici and her son were
+not known. Presently I shall tell you from whom I have my information;
+it is reliable. In line with the conversation which she had with the
+Jesuit Lefevre, and which Anna Bell overheard, Catherine De Medici hated
+and feared the Guises no less than she did the Admiral. Her scheme was
+to cause the Admiral to be assassinated by the Guises; then to rid
+herself of them through the Protestants; and finally to rid herself of
+the Protestants by the King's soldiers. Does such an infernal
+combination seem impracticable to you? Well, it came near succeeding.
+This was the plot: The Guises continued to slander the Admiral by
+accusing him of having suborned Poltrot who killed Francis of Guise at
+the siege of Orleans; the old family hatred burned as implacable as
+ever. On the day after the marriage of Henry of Bearn, the Queen and her
+son Charles IX said with much unction to Henry of Guise that, in order
+to preserve the confidence of the Huguenots and the Admiral, it was
+necessary to seem to give him a pledge of reconciliation, to request of
+him that the flames of hatred, so long burning in the breasts of the two
+families, be extinguished, and to offer him the hand of friendship. All
+the more reassured by the cordial advance, the Admiral was expected to
+be thrown still more off his guard, and his assassination was considered
+all the more certain! The Queen offered for the deed a man after her own
+and the King's heart--Maurevert, surnamed the 'King's Killer,' since his
+assassination of brave Mouy, a crime for which the felon received the
+collar of the Order of St. Michael. The Queen's advice was relished.
+Young Guise gave his hand to the old Admiral, and two days later
+Monsieur Coligny, on his return from the Louvre, received a load of
+arquebus shot from--Maurevert!"
+
+Louis Rennepont stopped for a moment, and then proceeded amid the
+profound silence of the family:
+
+"By wounding, instead of killing Coligny, the 'King's Killer' ruined the
+project of the Queen and her son. They had counted upon the murder of
+the Admiral to incite a great tumult in Paris; their agents were to
+scatter among the mob the information that the heinous murder was the
+work of the Guisards; the exasperated Huguenots were expected to run to
+arms and avenge Coligny's death with the massacre of the whole Guise
+family and their partisans; that done, the royal troops were in turn to
+overwhelm the Protestants, on the pretext of being guilty of a flagrant
+breach of the edict of pacification. The last massacre was to extend
+from Paris all over France, under the guise of a vindication of the
+outraged edict of pacification. Machiavelli could not have plotted
+better. The arquebus shot of Maurevert would have rid Charles IX at once
+of Coligny, the Guises and the Protestants. The 'King's Killer' having
+missed fire, another course had to be pursued, and, above all, the
+reformers had to be convinced that Maurevert's attempt was merely an act
+of individual vengeance. Accordingly Charles IX hastened to the
+Admiral's residence. The tiger-cub wept. He called the old Admiral his
+'good father.' He promised, 'upon the word of a King, however high the
+station of the would-be murderers, they should not escape just
+punishment.' I was an eye-witness of those tears and royal
+protestations; many of our brothers, myself among them, remained near
+the bed where Coligny lay while awaiting the surgeon. We were present at
+that interview with Charles IX--"
+
+"Then you saw him, Louis, that tiger with the face of a man?" asked
+Cornelia with a curiosity born of disgust and horror. "How does the
+monster look?"
+
+"Pale and atrabilious of face, with dull, glassy eyes, and a sleepy
+look, as if the fervent Catholic and crowned murderer were ever
+dreaming of crime," answered Louis Rennepont. "Now watch the sanguinary
+craftiness of that pupil of Machiavelli's, to whom neither pledge nor
+oath is aught but a more effective form of perfidy. Would you believe
+it, that after having expressed sympathy for the wounds of his 'good
+father,' and after having pledged his royal word to secure justice, the
+first words of Charles IX were: 'I shall forthwith issue orders to close
+the gates of Paris, so that none shall leave the city; the murderer will
+not be able to flee. Moreover, I authorize, or rather I strongly urge
+the Protestant seigneurs, to whom I have offered the hospitality of the
+Louvre during the nuptial festivals of my sister Margot, to summon their
+friends near them for safeguard.'"
+
+"I perceive the trick of the tiger," broke in Captain Mirant. "By
+closing the gates of Paris he prevented the escape of the Huguenots whom
+he had consigned to death!"
+
+"No doubt," added Master Barbot the boilermaker, "the same as by
+inducing the Protestant seigneurs, who were lodged at the Louvre, to
+summon their friends to them, Charles IX only aimed at having them more
+ready at hand for his butchers!"
+
+"The issue proved that such were the secret designs of the King,"
+replied Louis Rennepont. "But haste was urgent. If tidings of the
+attempted murder of the Admiral reached the provinces, the Huguenots
+would be put on their guard. The Queen assembled her council that very
+night, and presided at its meeting. These were the members at the
+council: The King Charles IX; his brother, the Duke of Anjou; the
+Bastard of Angouleme; the Duke of Nevers; Birago and Gondi, the Queen's
+messengers of evil. It was decided that the butchery should start at
+early dawn. The provosts of the merchants, all exemplary Catholics, had,
+under pretext of taking a general census, drawn up full lists of all the
+Huguenots in the city. Their places of residence being thus accurately
+indicated, the assassins would know exactly where to go. The next
+question that came up was whether Henry of Bearn also was to be killed.
+Catherine De Medici and her son, the King, were strongly in favor, and
+urged the necessity of the murder. The other councillors, however, more
+scrupulous than their monarchs, objected that the whole world would be
+shocked at the assassination of a Prince whose throat was cut, so to
+say, under the very eyes of the mother and brother of his wife.
+Moreover, the young Prince was lightheaded, unsteady of purpose, they
+thought, and without any rooted religious belief. It would be easy, they
+concluded, either by means of promises or threats to cause him to abjure
+the Reformed religion. The death of the Prince of Condé was also long
+discussed. Twice the decision was in favor. But his brother-in-law, the
+Duke of Nevers, saved him by guaranteeing the Prince's abjuration. For
+the rest, the lad, only the rallying ground of the Huguenots and without
+personal valor, inspired but little fear, especially if compared with
+Coligny. Towards one o'clock in the morning, the young Duke of Guise was
+summoned to the Louvre and introduced to the council. The principal
+leadership of the carnage was offered to and accepted by him. A strange
+thing happened. At the last moment, Charles IX was assailed by some
+slight qualms of conscience at the thought of the murder of the Admiral,
+the old man whom that very morning he had addressed with the title of
+'my good father.' But the King's hesitance was short-lived. His last
+words were: 'By the death of God! Seeing you think the Admiral should be
+killed, I will it, too; but I demand that all the Huguenots be killed,
+all, to the last one, that there may not be one left alive to reproach
+me with the Admiral's death'!"
+
+"Oh, just God!" exclaimed Odelin's widow, raising her hands to heaven.
+"Since you consented to the unheard-of deed, Oh, God of Vengeance, You
+must have reserved some frightful punishment for him! Oh, You gave Your
+consent to that palace plot! to that nocturnal council! There Charles
+IX, armed with sovereign power, and certain of the ferocious obedience
+of his soldiers and his minions, like an assassin in ambush in the edge
+of a forest, laid in the dark the infamous, bloody and cowardly trap
+into which, when they awoke, so many of our brothers, who went to sleep
+confiding in the law, in their right and in the oath of that Prince,
+fell to their death! How many times did he not swear in the presence of
+God and man to respect the edict of peace! Yes, You allowed those
+horrors, O, God of Vengeance, to the end that this Frankish royalty and
+the Roman Church, its eternal accomplice, soon may fall under the
+general execration that the massacre of St. Bartholomew will arouse!
+Death to Kings! Death to their infamous accomplices, the nobles and
+priests!"
+
+The Lebrenn family joined with hearts and lips in the widow's
+imprecations. When the excitement again subsided Louis Rennepont
+proceeded:
+
+"Before retiring that night to my inn, I walked through a large number
+of streets. At least in appearance they were quiet. I met many of our
+brothers. Alarmed at the attempted murder of the Admiral, several had
+tried to leave Paris. They found the gates rigorously closed by orders
+of Charles IX. Back at night in my inn, I did not find the keeper, upon
+whom I relied for further information. Broken with fatigue and agitated
+by vague fears, I threw myself in my clothes upon my bed and fell
+asleep. At about three in the morning I was awakened by my inn-keeper.
+He was trembling with terror. 'The death of all the Protestants of Paris
+is decreed,' he whispered to me; 'the massacre is to begin at daybreak.
+My niece, the chambermaid of the Duchess of Nevers, overheard some words
+about the plot; she hastened to warn me. I have notified all our
+brothers who are lodged here. They have all fled. Your only chance to
+escape the carnage is to join the first gang of the cut-throats whom you
+may run across; you must pretend to be of them; you may in that way be
+able to reach some place of safety. For a sign among themselves they
+have a white paper cross attached to their hats, and a white shirt
+sleeve slipped like an armlet over the sleeve of their coats. Their
+password is: "God and the King!" Flee! Flee! May the Lord protect you!
+Thanks to my niece I have a safe retreat in the palace of Nevers.' While
+the inn-keeper was giving me these last directions, there came through
+my window, which I had left open on that hot and sultry night of August,
+the measured tintinnabulation of the large bell in the tower of the
+palace. The sound seemed to leap strangely from the depths of the
+silence in which the city was shrouded. 'It is the signal for the
+massacre!' cried my inn-keeper, leaving the room precipitately and
+whispering his last warnings to me: 'Flee! You have not a minute to
+spare; my house is marked! It will be instantly assaulted by the
+butchers!'"
+
+"Great God!" cried Theresa, Louis Rennepont's young wife, pressing her
+child distractedly to her breast, and unable to hold back her tears. And
+addressing her husband: "You are here, near us, safe and sound, poor
+friend! and yet I shiver. I weep at the thought of the cruel agonies
+that you must have undergone. Did you follow the inn-keeper's advice,
+and assume the signs of the Catholics?"
+
+"It was my only safety. I cut a cross of white paper and stuck it in my
+hat; I cut off a shirt sleeve and thrust my right arm through it; I then
+sallied out into the street. It was still silent and deserted. But the
+funeral knell from all the Paris churches had by that time joined the
+clangor of the tower bell, which then was ringing at its loudest.
+Windows were thrown open. Little by little lights appeared in them."
+
+"Malediction upon the people of Paris!" cried Odelin's widow. "It seems
+most of them were accomplices in the butchery!"
+
+"Alas, yes, mother! To their eternal shame, the fact must be admitted;
+the people of Paris were the accomplices of Charles IX, and our
+butchers! The people and a considerable portion of the bourgeoisie,
+being drugged by the fanaticism of the monks, did take part in the
+massacre. Some, yielding to the fear of being suspected, obeyed the
+orders of the provosts, and placed lights at their windows at the sound
+of the first strokes of the bells that they heard. My first thought was
+to run to the residence of the Admiral and notify him of the projected
+butchery. As I entered Bethisy Street I saw men emerging from several
+houses; all carried white crosses in their hats and their arms in shirt
+sleeves. They brandished pikes, swords and cutlasses, and cried: 'God
+and the King! Kill! Kill all the Huguenots!' They then gathered into
+groups, drew themselves up before certain doors that bore the mark of a
+cross in white chalk, beat upon and broke them down, and rushed in
+yelling: 'Kill! Kill the Huguenots!'
+
+"I was rushing towards the residence of the Admiral when I saw a
+battalion of Arquebusiers of the Guard turn into Bethisy Street. The
+troop was headed by the young Duke Henry of Guise, accompanied by his
+uncle Aumale and the Bastard of Angouleme, brother of Charles IX. All
+three were clad in war armor. Pages carrying lighted torches preceded
+them. Among the soldiers were interspersed a large number of Catholic
+cut-throats, recognizable by the signs which I also wore. I mixed with
+them. The crowd arrived before Coligny's residence. The soldiers knocked
+at the main door with the butts of their arquebuses. It was instantly
+opened. Despite the prompt obedience shown, all the serving-men of
+Coligny found in the corridor and the yard were promptly done to death.
+The Guises and the Bastard of Angouleme, surrounded by their pages,
+remained outside in front of the facade of the house at the foot of the
+porch, the stairs of which led to the vestibule. Duke Henry of Guise
+made a sign; instantly his equerry Besmes, followed by Captains
+Cosseins, Cardillac, Altain and Petrucci, rushed forward with a
+detachment of soldiers and dashed up the stairs to the first floor, on
+which the Admiral's room was. I realized the Admiral was lost, and
+remained unobserved below among the Catholics, where the details of the
+murder were soon reported. Awakened by the outcry of his servants, and
+the tumult on the street, the Admiral guessed the fate that awaited him.
+His faithful Nicholas Mouche and Pastor Merlin were with him. They had
+watched all night at his bedside. 'Our hour has come; let us commend our
+souls to God!' said Coligny, with which words he rose from his bed,
+threw a morning gown over his shoulders and knelt down. The minister and
+his old servant knelt down beside him. The three began to pray. The door
+was broken in. Besmes, the equerry of Henry of Guise, was the first to
+enter, sword in hand, leading in his captains. He walked straight to
+Coligny, who, having finished his prayer was rising from the floor
+serene and dignified. 'Is it you who are the Admiral?' shouted Besmes;
+'Well, you shall die!' 'The will of God be done! Young man, you shorten
+my life only a few days,' answered Coligny. These were that great man's
+last words. Besmes seized him by the throat with one hand, and with the
+other thrust his sword through him. The old man sank on his knees.
+Captain Cardillac threw him down, and opened his throat with one slash
+of his dagger. The other officers despatched Merlin and Nicholas Mouche.
+
+"I had remained below. There I witnessed an even more execrable scene.
+Only a minute or two after the murderers had rushed upstairs, the Duke
+of Guise stepped closer to the facade of the house and called out
+impatiently in a ringing voice: 'Well, Besmes! Is it done?' Thereupon a
+casement was thrown open on the first floor; the equerry appeared at the
+window holding his bloody sword in his hand, and answered: 'Yes,
+monseigneur! It is done! He is dead!' 'Then throw the corpse down to us
+that we may see it!' commanded Henry of Guise. Besmes vanished, and
+reappeared dragging, with the aid of Captain Cosseins, the corpse of
+Admiral Coligny; the two raised it--meseems I still behold the grey head
+of the venerable old man, pale and limp, as the body was pushed out of
+the window, with his lifeless arms swinging in space. Besmes and the
+captain made a final effort; the corpse was precipitated upon the
+pavement, where it rolled down at the feet of the Duke of Guise. Coligny
+was clad only in the morning gown that he had hurriedly put on. Thus
+half-naked and still warm he was hurled out of the window. The venerable
+head rebounded upon the cobblestones and reddened them with blood. The
+victim had fallen on his face. The Duke of Guise stooped down, and,
+aided by the Bastard of Angouleme, turned the corpse over on its back,
+wiped with his sash the blood that covered the Admiral's august visage,
+contemplated it for a moment with ferocious glee, and then kicked the
+white head with the tip of his boot, crying: 'At last! Dead at
+last--thoroughly dead!' The Duke then turned to his henchmen: 'Comrades,
+let us proceed with our work! The Pope wills it! the King so orders it!'
+Almost fainting with sickening horror and unable to move, I witnessed
+this cannibal scene--it was only the prelude for another and still more
+horrifying one. The Dukes of Guise and of Aumale and the Bastard of
+Angouleme departed with their soldiers from Monsieur Coligny's
+courtyard. Almost immediately the same was invaded by a band of men,
+women and children in rags. They were a troop hideous to look upon, as
+they brandished their sticks, butcher knives and iron bars, under the
+leadership of a Cordelier monk who held a jagged cutlass in one hand and
+a crucifix in the other, yelling at the top of his voice: 'God and the
+King!' The howlings of the mob kept time to the monk's yells. Two men
+with hang-dog looks carried torches before the monk. The moment that he
+recognized the corpse of our martyr, the Cordelier emitted a screech of
+infernal glee, threw himself upon the lifeless body of the Admiral,
+squatted down upon its chest, sawed at the neck with his cutlass,
+severed the head from the trunk, seized it by its grey locks, and held
+it up to the mob, crying in a resonant, though cracked voice: 'This is
+the share of the Holy Father! I shall send him Coligny's head to
+Rome!'[77]--That monk," added Louis Rennepont in a tremulous voice, and
+answering a cry of execration that leaped from the hearts of his
+listeners, "that monk, O shame and O misfortune!--that monk was the
+assassin of Odelin! Oh, may God have pity upon us!"
+
+"Fra Hervé!" exclaimed all the members of the Lebrenn family in chorus.
+A silence of terror and horror reigned in the armorer's hall.
+
+"I wish to come quickly to an end with these monstrosities," proceeded
+Louis Rennepont, catching his voice. "After the tiger come the jackals,
+after the ferocious beasts the unclean ones. Hardly had Fra Hervé
+severed the Admiral's head from his trunk, amid the hideous acclamations
+of the ragged crew, when they fell upon the corpse. Its feet and hands
+were cut off. The entrails were torn out of the abdomen and were
+struggled for by the human jackals. The sacrilegious mutilations seemed
+to go beyond the boundaries of the horrible, and yet the limit was not
+reached. Women, veritable furies, pounced upon the bleeding limbs,
+and--but I dare say no more before mother, or before Cornelia, nor
+before you, my wife. The stentorian voice of Fra Hervé finally silenced
+the tumult and quelled the anthropophagous orgie. 'Brothers!' he cried,
+'to the Pope I shall send the head of this Huguenot carrion, but let us
+carry the stripped carcass to the gibbet of Montfaucon! It is there
+that should be exposed the remains of the villain who has infested
+France with his heresy, and lacerated the bosom of our holy mother the
+Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church!' 'To Montfaucon with the Huguenot
+carrion!' howled the ferocious band. A procession was improvised. Fra
+Hervé sheathed his cutlass, planted the Admiral's head on the point of a
+pike, and raised the trophy in one hand. In the other he waved aloft his
+crucifix, and, lighted by his two torch-bearers, headed the procession.
+The now shapeless remnants of the corpse were tied to a rope, a team of
+cut-throats harnessed to it, and the bloody lump was dragged through the
+gutters. The procession marched to the cry of 'To Montfaucon with the
+Huguenot carrion! God and the King!' At that moment, and despite the
+terror that held me rooted to the ground, my inn-keeper's last
+suggestions occurred to me. Montfaucon was situated outside of the walls
+of Paris. No doubt some city gate would be opened to the Cordelier's
+band. I joined it, in the hope of escaping from Paris. We left the
+courtyard of Monsieur Coligny's house. It was now broad day. Before
+proceeding to Montfaucon, Fra Hervé wished to exhibit his bloody trophy
+to the eyes of Charles IX and his mother. We directed our course to the
+Louvre. Other scenes of carnage were taking place there. The Protestant
+seigneurs and officers who came in the suite of the Princes of Bearn and
+Condé to participate in the wedding festivities of the King's sister,
+were lodged at the palace. Relying upon the royal hospitality, they were
+taken by surprise while asleep, dragged half naked to the courtyard,
+and there either brained or stabbed to death. Among others whom I
+recognized at a distance were Morge, Pardillan, St. Martin, besides the
+brave veterans Piles, Baudine and Puy-Vaud. They struggled in their
+shirts against the soldiers who beat them down with their halberds, and
+then stripped the corpses of their last shreds of clothing. The
+moanings, the imprecations of the victims, the streams of steaming blood
+through which we tramped, and that often reached our ankles, made my
+head reel. The butchers laid the corpses out in rows in front of the
+facade of the Louvre. The bodies were yet warm; many a bloody limb still
+seemed to palpitate; the corpses lay stripped naked, upon their backs. I
+counted over four hundred. Suddenly there appeared Catherine De Medici
+accompanied by her maids of honor and other ladies of the court. She
+mounted a terrace from which a full sight of the carnage could be had.
+They came--"
+
+Louis Rennepont stopped short. He hid his face in his hands. "Alas! I
+have to inform you of something still more horrible than anything I have
+yet said! The furies who profaned the corpse of Coligny were beings,
+who, depraved by misery and ignorance, and besotted by a brutish
+paganism, yielded obedience to fanatic promptings. But Catherine De
+Medici and the women of her suite were brought up in the splendors of
+court life, and yet they came to mock and insult the bodies of the dead.
+And would you believe it--" but again Louis Rennepont found it
+impossible to proceed. "No!" he cried; "I shall not soil your ears with
+the nameless infamies of those worse than harpies.[78] While Catherine
+De Medici, her maids of honor and a bevy of court ladies were amusing
+themselves on the terrace, Fra Hervé, still carrying Coligny's head on
+the point of the pike, addressed to the Queen a few words that I did not
+hear, my attention being at that moment diverted by the appearance of
+Charles IX at the balcony of one of the windows of the Louvre. The King
+held a long arquebus in his hand; a page carried another of identical
+shape and stood behind his master ready to pass it over to him. Suddenly
+I saw the King lower the arm, take aim, blow upon the fuse on the cock,
+approach it to the pan--and the shot departed. Charles IX raised his
+arquebus, looked into the distance, and started to laugh--pleased as a
+hunter who has brought down his game. The monster with a human face was
+firing upon the Huguenots who were fleeing from the butchery in the St.
+Germain quarter, and were attempting to escape death by swimming across
+the Seine.
+
+"After haranguing Catherine De Medici, Fra Hervé resumed his march to
+Montfaucon at the head of his band, dragging behind them the now
+shapeless remains of the Admiral. I had to cross Paris almost from one
+end to the other in the wake of Fra Hervé's procession. In the course of
+the march my eyes encountered fresh horrors. We ran across Marshal
+Tavannes, the commander of the royal army at the battle of
+Roche-la-Belle. At the head of a regiment of the guards he was urging
+his men and the mobs to massacre, shouting to them: 'Kill! Bleed them!
+Bleed them! A bleeding is good in August as well as in May!' And his men
+did the bleeding. They bled so well that the gutters ran no longer water
+but blood. The smoldering hatreds of neighbors against neighbors were
+now given a loose to, under the pretext of religious fervor. Among a
+thousand atrocities that I witnessed on that frightful day, I shall
+mention but one, because it exceeds any other that I have yet mentioned.
+When I first arrived in Paris, and despite the apprehensions that were
+uppermost on my mind, I often went to the lectures of the illustrious
+scientist Remus. The man's renown, he being one of the most celebrated
+professors at the University, besides enjoying the reputation of a
+foremost philanthropist of these days, attracted me. I found students,
+grown-up men and even greyheads crowding around his chair. Well, holding
+close to Fra Hervé's band, I passed by the house of Remus, which the
+cut-throats had invaded. A large concourse of people blocked our way,
+and interrupted our march for awhile. The mob clamored aloud for the
+life of the celebrated scientist. The most frantic in their cries for
+the murder were a bunch of pupils, between fourteen and fifteen years of
+age, whom two monks--a Carmelite and a Dominican--had in lead. The
+assassins finally pushed Remus, half naked, out of his house. The
+unhappy man, already wounded in many places, and blinded by the blood
+that streamed down his face, staggered like a drunken man, and held his
+hands before him. I see him yet--he falls to the ground, they despatch
+him, and thereupon the pupils, boys yet, throw themselves upon the
+corpse of the scientist, rip his bowels open, tear out the steaming
+entrails, turn the body around, raise the bloody shirt that barely
+covered it, and thrash the corpse with its own intestines amid roars of
+laughter, while they shout: 'Remus has whipped enough of us, it is now
+our turn to whip him.'
+
+"Fra Hervé's band again resumed its march. It arrived at one of the city
+gates that leads to the gibbet of Montfaucon. As I had hoped, the gate
+was thrown open before the Cordelier. I slackened my pace, fell to the
+rear of the procession, and, at the first practicable turn on the road,
+I jumped aside and blotted myself out of sight in a wheat field. The
+tall stalks concealed me completely. I waited till Fra Hervé's band was
+a safe distance away. I crept to the road that encircles the ramparts
+and towards sunset I arrived, worn out with fatigue, at an inn where I
+spent the night, giving myself out for a good Catholic. Early in the
+morning I started for Etampes. They had just finished the carnage when I
+arrived! It was still going on in Orleans when I passed that city. At
+Blois, at Angers, at Poitiers--the same massacres of our brothers. Thus,
+after long years of hypocrisy and craftiness, the pact of the
+triumvirate inspired by Francis of Guise, the butcher of Vassy, was
+finally carried out. Oh, my friends! Not for nothing did Catherine De
+Medici say to the Jesuit Lefevre: 'Induce the Holy Father and Philip II
+to be patient; let us lull the reformers with a false sense of safety; I
+shall hatch the bloody egg that the Guise laid--on one day, at the same
+hour, the Huguenots will be exterminated in France.' The Italian woman
+kept her promise. The shell of the egg, nursed in her bosom, has broken,
+and the extermination has leaped out full armed."
+
+Odelin's widow rose to her feet pale and stately. She raised one of her
+venerable hands to heaven, and with a gesture of malediction she uttered
+these words, solemnly, amidst the profound silence of her family:
+
+"Be they eternally accursed of God and man, who, from this day or in the
+centuries to come, do not repudiate the Church of Rome, that infamous
+Church, the only Church that has ever given birth to such misdeeds!"
+
+"By my sister's death!" cried the Franc-Taupin. "Shall the voice of
+Estienne of La Boetie be hearkened to at last? Shall we at last see
+_all_ leagued _against one?_ the oppressed, the artisans, the plebs,
+finally annihilate the oppressor and crush royalty?"
+
+Hardly had the Franc-Taupin finished speaking when James Henry, the
+Mayor of La Rochelle, entered precipitately, and addressing Louis
+Rennepont, said: "My friend, the few words dropped by you to some of the
+people whom you met on your arrival, have flown from mouth to mouth and
+thrown the city into a state of alarm! Is it true that Monsieur Coligny
+has been assassinated?"
+
+"Monsieur Coligny has been assassinated! All the Protestant leaders are
+murdered!" answered Louis Rennepont. "All the Protestants of Paris were
+massacred on St. Bartholomew's night! At Etampes, at Orleans, at Blois,
+at Tours, at Poitiers, the work of extermination is still in progress.
+It was expected to steep in blood the rest of France as well. It is a
+fact!"
+
+"To arms! And may the Lord protect us!" shouted James Henry vigorously.
+"Let us make ready for a desperate defense. La Rochelle is now the only
+safe city left to the Huguenots. Charles IX will not be long in laying
+siege to us. I shall order the belfry to ring. The City Council shall be
+in session within an hour. It shall proclaim La Rochelle in a state of
+danger. To arms! War to the knife against the King and his Catholics,
+against the assassins of our brothers! To arms!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE SIEGE OF LA ROCHELLE.
+
+
+For the first time in their lives did Charles IX, his mother and her
+priests discover that there was a limit to endurance. The crime so long
+elaborated, so skilfully planned, and carried out with incredible
+audacity, so far from annihilating the Reformation gave it fresh life,
+steeled its nerves, and rendered it unconquerable. Hardly had two months
+elapsed since the massacres of St. Bartholomew, when, not Huguenots
+only, but a considerable portion of the Catholic party itself, in open
+revolt at the cruel excesses of the court, the fanaticism of the papacy
+and the subjection of France to the exactions of Philip II, took up
+arms, and made common cause with the Huguenots in order to bring about
+the triumph not only of the religious but of a political reformation
+also. The new adversaries of Charles IX and his mother took the name of
+the "Politicals." Alarmed at the renewed and more threatening attitude
+of the now so unexpectedly reinforced Huguenots, the King endeavored
+once more to beguile them with false promises. He doubled and twisted,
+sought to deal and compromise. It was too late. A fourth religious war
+broke out. Several provinces federated together upon a republican plan.
+La Rochelle became the fortified center of the Protestants. Against that
+city Charles IX concentrated and directed all his forces in the course
+of the last month of the year 1572--less than six months after St.
+Bartholomew's night.
+
+La Rochelle, situated at the further extremity of a wide and safe bay,
+presented the aspect of an elongated trapezium, the wide side of which
+was about three thousand feet in length, while the narrow one was only
+twelve hundred feet, and faced the sea. The city extended from
+north-east to southwest, and stretched between the salt marshes of
+Rompsai, Maubec and Tasdon, on the east, and those of the New Gate, on
+the west. These marshes, then partly dried or turned into meadows, were
+intersected by a large number of canals the locks of which enabled the
+land to be readily inundated, and presented an impassable barrier to any
+hostile force. The entrance of the port was at the Center of the sea
+frontage, and at the further end of the bay. It was defended by the two
+large towers of Chaine and St. Nicholas, both built of brick, equipped
+with cannon, and also used for powder magazines. To the right and left
+of the two towers, and leaving between them the narrow port entrance,
+extended a wall made of cut stone which at high tide was washed by the
+waves. The wall reached, to the east, the St. Nicholas Gate, and, to the
+west, the Lantern Gate, at the summit of which was a beacon to guide the
+sailors by night. From that side the city was unapproachable by an armed
+force except along a narrow tongue of land which joined the suburb of
+Tasdon with the St. Nicholas Gate. Furthermore, besides the water-filled
+fosse, Scipio Vergano, a skilful Italian engineer, employed by us, the
+Rochelois, had raised an additional protection to this gate by a sort of
+double counter-guard made of earth, and flanking the entrance of the
+port. The eastern front which extended from the St. Nicholas Gate to the
+Congues Gate, was along its whole extent but a poor wall, flanked by two
+round towers. It was one of the weak sides of our city. The western
+front ran in a straight line from the Lantern Tower to the bastion that
+we called the Bastion of the Evangelium. This portion of the
+fortifications consisted of a wall flanked by a large number of small
+and closely built towers, with occasional terraces. In the middle of
+this long line of defenses, which the large number of canals rendered
+almost unapproachable, Scipio Vergano cut the New Gate, flanked with a
+solid bastion. Finally the north front extended from the Bastion of the
+Evangelium to the Congues Gate, a distance of nearly two thousand five
+hundred feet. The left extremity of that vast and very vulnerable front
+was defended by the Bastion of the Evangelium, which was itself
+protected by a terrace of earth. In the center and the highest spot of
+the line rose the demi-bastion of the Old Fountain. True enough, it
+commanded the whole plain, but both the slightness of its projection and
+the insufficiency of its flanks unfitted it for real purposes of
+defense. This bastion covered the ramparts but imperfectly.
+
+Such, Oh, sons of Joel, was the aspect of the fortifications of La
+Rochelle, the bulwark of the Reformation and of freedom, the holy city
+against which Charles IX was about to hurl his Catholic hordes and the
+most powerful army ever commanded by his generals.
+
+I, Antonicq Lebrenn, kept a sort of diary of the siege of La Rochelle,
+and of the defense made by its inhabitants, among whom our own family
+combated gloriously.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+SEPTEMBER 1, 1572.--Informed of the massacre of St. Bartholomew, and
+foreseeing that the Huguenots would once more take up arms, the
+Rochelois placed their city in a state of defense. James Henry, the
+Mayor, took an accurate census of the inhabitants. The serviceable part
+was divided into eight companies, exclusive of the Colonel, the name
+given to the ninth, in which the Mayor and aldermen, all anxious to
+share the perils of the other citizens, are enrolled. The respective
+captains elected over these bodies are: James David, Louis Gargouillaud,
+Peter Portier, John Colin, Charles Chalemont, Marie Mari, Mathurin the
+elder, and Bonneaud. These are all made members of the Council of the
+Commune. The aldermen and other Councilmen who command no company, are
+charged with inspecting the posts, and shall be on guard, day and night,
+in the ranks of the Colonel. Besides these, six other companies are
+formed of volunteer foot-soldiers, each a hundred and twenty men strong.
+The chiefs of these are: Dessarts, Montalembert, La Riviere, De Lys,
+Bretin, called the Norman, and Virolet. All these captains, men well
+known for their bravery, took a glorious part in the last civil wars.
+The magistrates are engaged in increasing the food supply of the city,
+so long as the sea is still open to them. Captain Mirant, the father of
+Cornelia, my betrothed, is charged with the command of a foraging
+flotilla. He is to go for wheat to the coast of Brittany, and for
+ammunitions to England. The daring sailor will know how to elude the
+royalist corsairs, or to give them battle. Cornelia is to accompany her
+father on the voyage, and will combat like a true Gallic woman. We bade
+each other good-bye this morning.
+
+SEPTEMBER 5, 1572.--Yesterday there arrived at La Rochelle Colonel
+Plouernel, who is now head and heir of that powerful house by the death
+of Count Neroweg of Plouernel and his son Viscount Odet, both killed at
+the battle of Roche-la-Belle in the encounter with my father and myself.
+The colonel left his wife and children with his father-in-law at the
+manor of Mezlean, situated near the sacred stones of Karnak--a fief
+which includes among its dependencies a house, a large garden and
+several fields that once belonged to our ancestor Joel before the
+conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar.
+
+SEPTEMBER 9, 1572.--During the last few days a large number of fugitives
+who escaped the massacre of St. Bartholomew arrived at La Rochelle.
+There are to-day in our city fifty noblemen of the neighborhood,
+together with their families, besides sixty ministers of the Reformed
+religion. Over fifteen hundred soldiers, who deserted the royal army
+with arms and baggage, have come over to us.
+
+OCTOBER 30, 1572.--Mayor James Henry and the City Council, who are
+charged with watching over the safety of the city, display marvelous
+activity. A military council has been established with Colonel Plouernel
+and my uncle the Franc-Taupin as members. My uncle is an expert in
+matters appertaining to siege work, and especially in mining and
+counter-mining. The military council is strengthening the
+fortifications, and throwing up fresh ones. New batteries have been set
+up at all the weak points that might invite an attack between the
+Congues Gate and the Bastion of the Evangelium. A redoubt is being
+raised on Notre Dame Church, and upon one of its remaining towers two
+large cannons, capable of sweeping the surrounding fields far and wide,
+are being raised and mounted. Other engines of bombardment are mounted
+upon the platforms of all the belfries that are strong enough to support
+the weight and shock of artillery. The towers of Aix, of St. Catherine,
+of Verdiere and of Crique are all armed in this way. Noticing that
+certain portions of the moat between the Congues Gate and the Evangelium
+Bastion are poorly flanked, the Franc-Taupin proposed the construction
+of what he calls _taupinieres_, that is, casemates, the protected
+embrasures of which are on a level with the ground, and can open an
+almost subterranean, and therefore destructive fire upon the enemy. The
+casemates are being constructed. Men, women and children labor at the
+fortifications with inexpressible enthusiasm.
+
+NOVEMBER 3, 1572.--A heroic decision was taken yesterday. It recalls the
+decision that our ancestors Albinik the sailor and his wife Meroë saw
+put into execution when the Bretons, to the end of famishing the army
+of Julius Caesar, reduced to ashes their rich and fertile fields,
+turning the same into a desert that extended from Nantes to Vannes![79]
+Yesterday, by order of the Mayor of La Rochelle, all the houses of the
+suburb of St. Eloi, and of the quarters of Salines, Volliers and Patere,
+were torn down or burned by their owners. No place is to be left to the
+enemy under shelter of which they can approach the city, and render the
+investment more dangerous to us.
+
+NOVEMBER 8, 1572.--Monsieur Biron has received considerable
+reinforcements and advance supplies of siege material with which to
+invest our city. He set up his camp before the city with headquarters at
+St. André. Colonel Strozzi, one of the ablest officers of the Catholic
+army, occupies Puy-Liboreau; Colonel St. Martin occupies Gord with
+twelve hundred men under him; Colonel Goas is encamped at Rompsai with
+six companies of artillery; and Monsieur Du Guast, a minion of the Duke
+of Anjou, the brother of King Charles IX, is at Aytre with two regiments
+of veterans. We prepared for these dispositions of the enemy. The
+inhabitants of Aytre left only ruins for Du Guast to house in.
+
+DECEMBER 8, 1572.--The enemy's army is steadily receiving
+reinforcements, and extending its lines. The land blockade is
+tightening. Every day there are bloody skirmishes between us and the
+royalists. They lose heavily at this game. Relying upon their numbers,
+they venture far into the network of our defenses. These are cut up by
+moats and protected by walls, where, amid the labyrinth of hardly
+distinguishable paths across the salt marshes, we find many available
+places to hide in ambush, and our arquebusiers easily decimate the
+Catholics. When, surprised, they seek to pursue us, they are swallowed
+up in the depths of the turf-pits the surface of which is covered by a
+greenish weed that they have not learned to distinguish from the grass
+of the prairie. It has so far been a war of ambuscades, similar to the
+patriotic resistance that the Armoricans offered on their moors, their
+marshes and their forests, against the soldiers of the son of
+Charlemagne, in the days of our ancestor Vortigern.[80]
+
+DECEMBER 13, 1572.--Yesterday was fought a stubborn encounter at the
+Font suburb where, led from rich springs, there pours into a reservoir
+the water that an aqueduct takes into the city. The Catholics took
+possession of the place for the purpose of turning off the water and
+depriving La Rochelle of it. They succeeded. My uncle, the Franc-Taupin,
+and his friend Barbot, the boilermaker of the isle of Rhe, proposed to
+enter the aqueduct, which had been allowed to run dry, and in that way
+to arrive under the camp of the enemy's troops at Font, and then blow
+them up with a mine. Unfortunately their proposition was not favored. An
+open attack was preferred. It cost us many men, and Font remained in the
+hands of the Catholics. The canals have been cut. But the village
+fountains and wells furnish us with enough water.
+
+JANUARY 7, 1573.--In order still more to tighten the land blockade, the
+enemy has erected two forts at the entrance of the bay, on the roadstead
+in front of the inside port, thereby compelling our vessels to run the
+gauntlet of those batteries in order to reach the city.
+
+JANUARY 12, 1573.--Our friend Master Barbot, the boilermaker, achieved
+day before yesterday a deed, unmatched, I think, in the annals of
+military exploits. Not far from the counterscarp of the Evangelium
+Bastion, stands a mill which we call Brande, and where Captain Normand
+placed a small advanced day guard. At night they returned to the city,
+leaving at the mill their arms and only one sentinel. Evening before
+last, Colonel Strozzi, profiting by the moonlight, marched at the head
+of a strong detachment, supported by two light pieces of artillery, to
+the attack of the mill, where Master Barbot was alone on guard. Barbot
+decided to remain firmly at his post, which he did, discharging one
+after the other upon the assailants the arquebuses which were left
+loaded on the gunrack of the post. Our friend made simultaneously a
+great noise, counterfeiting a variety of voices, with the view of
+causing the enemy to believe that the mill was strongly defended. On
+hearing the rattle of the arquebus shots, Captain Normand ran to the
+parapet of the bastion, and shouted to Master Barbot to hold out and
+that reinforcements were hurrying to his support! The road was
+circuitous and therefore rather long. As a consequence, before our men
+could reach the bastion of the mill, which lay on the other side of the
+moat, and despite all his intrepidity, Master Barbot found himself on
+the point of yielding. His ammunition had run out. He parleyed, and
+demanded quarter for himself and his pretended garrison. Colonel Strozzi
+granted quarter to our friend, who, stepping out, revealed the fact that
+his garrison consisted of himself alone. Furious at the discovery,
+Strozzi was about to hang Master Barbot, when Captain Normand's men
+arrived at the double quick, routed the royalists and snatched our
+intrepid boilermaker from their clutches.
+
+JANUARY 15, 1573.--God be blessed! My mother, my sister Theresa
+Rennepont, Cornelia, my betrothed, and several other brave Rochelois
+women had a narrow escape last night. The brigantines of Captain Mirant,
+charged with the duty of provisioning La Rochelle with munitions of war
+and grain, frequently set sail for the shores of Brittany or for Dover,
+and re-entered our port with their cargoes of supplies. To the end of
+blocking these excursions, or rendering them too perilous to be
+frequently attempted, the royalists brought from the port of Brouage the
+hull of a large dismantled vessel. They filled the same with sand, and
+sank it at the entrance of the bay that leads to our port. The water in
+that spot being shallow, the sunken hull was thus turned into a species
+of half-submerged pontoon, and was mounted with a number of artillery
+pieces which, jointly with those on the redoubts raised by the enemy on
+the opposite sides of the bay, could cross their fires upon any of our
+ships that either left or entered the roadstead. Yesterday the City
+Council decided that during the night, at low tide, the vessel, left dry
+upon the sand banks by the outflowing sea, was to be set on fire. The
+audacious stroke--audacious because those who were commissioned to
+execute it had to leave the city by the Two Mills Gate, and were forced
+to heap up the combustibles around the hull under the fire of the
+soldiers on guard--the audacious expedition did not otherwise require
+military skill. It only required stout hearts; it devolved upon the
+Rochelois women, at their unanimous and pressing demand. "The blood and
+lives of the men, already numerically inferior to the besiegers,
+should," said they, "be preserved for battle." The brave women
+assembled, about three hundred strong, together with a goodly number of
+children of about twelve years who insisted upon accompanying their
+mothers. The troop consisted of bourgeois women, noble ladies, female
+servants, and wives of artisans, fishermen and merchants. Among these,
+and foremost among them--I mention it proudly--were my mother, my sister
+Theresa, and Cornelia Mirant, recently returned from one of her father's
+foraging expeditions to Brittany. At about three in the morning they
+started from the city, carrying bundles of dry kindling wood and
+packages of hay. A strong wind was blowing. Deep darkness favored their
+march under the guidance of a fisherman's wife who bore the nickname of
+the _Bombarde_, by reason of her having extinguished one of the enemy's
+projectiles. Due to her often dragging for oysters and clams, which
+abounded on our coasts, the Bombarde was acquainted with the safe
+passages between the rocks and the quicksands that strewed the bay. She
+led the Rochelois women through the darkness. The following is
+Cornelia's own and thrilling account of the affair:
+
+"Thanks to the darkness, the whistling wind, and our silent footsteps,
+we approached within an arquebus shot of the vessel's hull without being
+noticed by the royalists. Your mother, marching among the front ranks
+between Theresa and myself, and often, like ourselves, sinking up to her
+knees in water or mud, steadfastly refused to be relieved of the weight
+of the bundle of kindlings that she carried. We were a short distance
+from the vessel, the lights of which guided us from afar through the
+mist, when the soldier on watch took alarm, and called out: 'Who goes
+there!' 'Fire! Fire' answered your mother. It was the signal agreed
+upon. We covered on a run the short distance that separated us from the
+hull, and rapidly heaped up along its flanks the kindling wood and straw
+that we brought with us. The soldier fired upon us at haphazard in the
+dark, and called his companions to arms. They hastened upon the bridge
+with the cannoniers, but unable to take aim upon us at so short a
+distance, and from above down, they left the cannons alone and sent us
+through the darkness a shower of arquebus shots that struck several of
+us. The bullets whistled. One of them carried off my bonnet. Your
+mother, sister and myself were close together, but we could not see one
+another on account of the darkness. 'Cornelia, are you wounded?' they
+asked. 'No! and you?' 'We neither!' answered your mother; and again she
+called out: 'Firm, my daughters! Fire!' Thereupon she and the Bombarde,
+who had just lighted a link dipped in sulphur set fire to the first
+bundles of wood and straw. Their example was followed simultaneously at
+a score of different places, despite fresh arquebus discharges from the
+royalists. In a minute thick clouds of smoke enveloped the hull. The
+flaming combustibles cast their reflection upon the puddles of water on
+the sandbanks, and beyond them upon the two towers of the port. We could
+see as clearly as by day. The royalists, however, blinded with the smoke
+which the wind blew upon them, together with wide sheets of flame, could
+no longer see to fire upon us. Thus protected, we threw three relays of
+combustibles upon the flames along the flanks of the accursed hull,
+which was so saturated with salt water and coated with ooze that,
+despite the heat, it could only be made to sweat by the flames. When our
+combustibles were exhausted, we were compelled, in order to effect a
+safe retreat, to profit by the last clouds of smoke that, concealing us
+from the enemy's eyes, prevented them from aiming upon us. We returned
+to the city carrying the dead bodies of five of our troop. Among these
+was Marie Caron, the worthy wife of our neighbor the mercer. She was
+shot stone dead by a bullet in the left temple. Her son, a lad of
+thirteen, had his arm broken. We also helped back a number of women and
+girls of our band who were more or less seriously wounded. There were
+fifteen of these. Our only sorrow was to have failed in carrying our
+enterprise to a successful end."[81]
+
+Such, sons of Joel, was the intrepidity and courage of the Rochelois
+women during the siege of the city. Do they not approve themselves
+worthy daughters of the Gallic women of the old heroic times?
+
+FEBRUARY 12, 1573.--The brother of Charles IX, the Duke of Anjou,
+arrived yesterday at the royal camp to assume the supreme command of the
+army. He is accompanied by his two cousins, Henry of Bearn and Condé.
+The two apostates, after seeing their co-religionists and best friends
+slaughtered under their very eyes on St. Bartholomew's night, gave the
+kiss of peace and forgetfulness to Charles IX, and now follow his army
+to the siege of La Rochelle. These degenerate sons of Joan of Albert,
+and of Condé have come to battle beside the butchers of their families.
+Among the other seigneurs and captains in the suite of the Duke of Anjou
+are the Duke of Montpensier, the Dauphin Prince of Auvergne, the Dukes
+of Guise and Aumale, the Dukes of Longueville and Bouillon, the Marquis
+of Mayenne, the Duke of Nevers, Anthony and Claude of Bauffremont, René
+of Voyer, Viscount of Paulmy, the Duke of Uzes, the Bastard of
+Angouleme, Marshal Cossé, the Count of Retz, and many other illustrious
+seigneurs. Among the most noted captains is old Marshal Montluc, a tiger
+with a human face. The presence of the experienced general, with whom
+age has not softened his proverbial ferocity, sufficiently announces
+that, if La Rochelle should fall into the power of the enemy, we shall
+be put to the sword, to the very last one of us.
+
+FEBRUARY 14, 1573.--The brave Francis of Lanoüe joined us at La
+Rochelle, thanks to a curious agreement with Charles IX. The revolt of
+the Low Countries, so ardently wished for by Coligny, miscarried through
+the treachery of the French court, whose anxiety to please the Pope and
+Philip II was so thoroughly attested by the massacres of St.
+Bartholomew's night, that all expectation of seeing it give serious
+support to a republican insurrection in one of the provinces of the
+Spanish monarchy had to be abandoned. Lanoüe, deceived by the same hopes
+that deceived the Admiral, whom the lying promises of Catherine De
+Medici and her son had kept in Paris, went to Mons in order to concert
+measures with the chiefs of the proposed uprising; made an unsuccessful
+effort to call the people to arms; was taken prisoner, and thus escaped
+St. Bartholomew's night by the merest accident. Every day more alarmed
+at the indomitable attitude of the Huguenots, and aware of the influence
+Lanoüe enjoyed among them, Charles IX demanded his liberation at the
+hands of Philip II, obtained it, summoned the Huguenot leader to the
+Louvre, and said to him: "I place confidence in your word. Go to La
+Rochelle. Induce the Protestants to surrender and submit. Should they
+refuse, I want you to promise me that you will return, and surrender
+yourself to me at discretion." "I consent," was Lanoüe's answer; "I
+shall go to La Rochelle. Should it appear to me, in all conscience, that
+the resistance of the Huguenots is hopeless, I shall do all in my power
+to induce them to capitulate. But should it appear to me that the
+chances are favorable to them, I shall induce them to persevere, shall
+tender them my services. If they decline my offer I shall return and
+surrender myself to you." Such is the confidence that an upright man
+inspires even in hardened criminals, that Charles IX accepted Lanoüe's
+word. Lanoüe sent ahead a courier to the Mayor of La Rochelle to inform
+him of his compact with the King and request admittance to the city. The
+City Council assembled. Some of the members severely condemned Lanoüe
+for lowering himself to the point of dealing with Charles IX; others, a
+considerable majority, realized the value of Lanoüe's assistance, and
+favored the acceptance of his services. He was introduced into the city.
+His patriotic words brought all dissidents over to his side. He
+inspected the defensive works of the place, and being convinced that it
+could repel the royalist attack, was invested with the supreme command
+of the troops, under the surveillance of the aldermen.
+
+FEBRUARY 23, 1573.--The presence of Lanoüe among us already bears
+magnificent fruit. He introduces discipline among our troops. No longer
+are the murderous skirmishes tolerated in which so many of our men ran
+foolhardily to death. He curbs the ardor of the hotheads; drills the
+volunteers in the handling of their arms and in the precision of
+military evolutions, and he substitutes the tactics of prudence for the
+rashness of blind bravery and unthinking enthusiasm that have been the
+bane of the Protestant arms.
+
+MARCH 27, 1573.--Faithful to his word, Lanoüe yesterday left La Rochelle
+and returned to the camp of Charles IX where he surrendered himself a
+prisoner. From the moment that he took command, our sallies caused
+great damage to the enemy, but also cost us dearly. We were not able to
+repair our losses, seeing that our communications by land are cut off,
+while the enemy is constantly receiving strong reinforcements. We now
+number only 4,500 men able to carry arms. The enemy, on the other hand,
+has to-day 28,000 men in line, and sixty cannon. The siege is conducted
+with consummate skill by Scipio Vergano, the identical engineer who
+fortified La Rochelle. The traitor knows the strong and the weak points
+of the place. Accordingly he has concentrated all the attacking forces
+of the Catholics upon the Bastion of the Evangelium. Their batteries
+keep up an incessant fire upon that side of our city. Finally we begin
+to lack for munitions of war. The works raised by the enemy at the mouth
+of the bay render difficult the entrance of the ships upon which we
+depend for provisions. Both powder and grain are running low. Captain
+Mirant's flotilla sailed to England for munitions of war, and to
+Brittany for food. The vessels are daily expected. If unfavorable winds
+should delay their return, or if they fail to run the gauntlet of the
+enemy's outer harbor fortifications, a fearful dirth will soon set in.
+Having considered the grave difficulties of our situation, Lanoüe was of
+the opinion that we could not long resist the pressure of forces five or
+six times stronger than our own. He endeavored to induce the City
+Council to parliamentarize with the Duke of Anjou, with the end in view
+of obtaining an honorable capitulation and favorable terms of peace,
+adding that he, Lanoüe had pledged his word as a man to encourage and
+aid the Rochelois to resistance so long as he believed resistance to be
+effective; but that, so soon as he considered resistance futile, he
+would urge the besieged to capitulate, promising, should his advice not
+be accepted, to surrender himself a prisoner to the King. After a solemn
+session, under the presidency of Mayor James Henry, who, worn out and
+almost dying with fatigue and in consequence of his wounds, but steeled
+by his republican energy, administered his office, the City Council
+declared by a large majority that the Rochelois would resist the
+Catholics to the death. Lanoüe thereupon left the city.
+
+Oh, sons of Joel! Fail not to admire the resolute posture of the Mayor,
+aldermen and heads of the civic military forces of La Rochelle! Those
+generous citizens did not take up arms out of ambition, or cupidity, as
+was the case with the majority of the captains in the army of Charles
+IX--faithless mercenaries; swordsmen, who sell their skins and kill as a
+trade by which to live; fighters by profession; men to whom war, for
+whatever cause, whether just or otherwise, holy or unhallowed, is a
+lucrative pursuit. No; the Rochelois fought in defense of their freedom,
+their rights, their hearths. Only the consciousness that the struggle is
+in behalf of the most sacred of causes can beget prodigies of heroism.
+All honor to those brave men! Shame and execration upon professional men
+of war.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The above fragments on the siege of La Rochelle, written by me, Antonicq
+Lebrenn, take us down to the middle of the month of May, 1573, when the
+following events occurred.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE LAMBKINS' DANCE.
+
+
+The City Hall of La Rochelle, an edifice that was almost wholly re-built
+nearly a century ago, in the year 1486, is one of the most beautiful
+monuments that patriotism and the love for one's city can boast.
+Catholic faith has raised up as high as the clouds the spired cathedrals
+where the priests, Oh, Christ! exalt the assassination of the Huguenots,
+and preach the extermination of heretics. The cult of the communal
+franchises has reared City Halls, the cradles of our liberties, the
+civic sanctuaries, where, upon the banner of the commune, oath is taken
+to die for freedom--as did the communiers, at whose side our ancestor
+Fergan the Quarryman fought in the days of Louis the Lusty.[82] The
+municipal monument that we, Rochelois, are so justly proud of, consists
+of a vast central building, flanked by two pavilions with pointed roofs.
+Its principal facade--ornamented with twenty-seven lofty arches, the
+triple entablature of which disappears under garlands of leaves and
+fruits chiseled in the stone--is surmounted by a crenelated terrace
+festooned with thick wreaths of acanthus leaves. From the top of each of
+the two pavilions a belfry of marvelous architectural beauty pierces
+the air. The one to the left presents to the wondering eye the sight of
+a gilt iron cage, that is no less admirably constructed than its dome,
+carved on the outside as delicately as a piece of lace-work, and held up
+by three stone figures of colossal stature. One must renounce the task
+of describing the profusion of crockets that jut out from the walls, and
+represent sphinxes and chimeras executed with boldness and grace. One
+must renounce the task of describing the stone festoons that embellish
+the edifice from its base to its pinnacles, or the infinite wreaths of
+fruit or flowers that clamber up the ogive moldings, doors and windows,
+that weave their lintels together, wind themselves around the pillars
+and columns, and finally crown the capitals. The aspect is that of a
+mass of verdure--flowers and leaves in bud and full bloom--suddenly
+petrified by some magic power. This imperfect description can only
+impart a partial idea of the material beauty of the City Hall of La
+Rochelle. But the edifice had, if the word may be used, a soul, a
+breath, a voice! It was the daring soul, the powerful breath, the
+patriotic voice of the Commune that seemed to animate the mass of stone
+of which the antique edifice was built. There, especially since the war,
+and as life centers in the heart, centered the pulsations of the city.
+All energy started there and rushed back thither. It was there that the
+sovereign power of the urban republic, represented by the Mayor and
+aldermen whom the citizens elected, had its seat.[83] Assembled night
+and day at the City Hall in sufficient number to meet all emergencies,
+the valiant ediles never left the hall of the council but to mount the
+ramparts, or join in sallies against the enemy's redoubts. Not
+infrequently theirs was also the task of calming, controlling or even
+suppressing popular tumults, engendered by the sufferings of these days.
+Such was the complex and arduous task reserved for Morrisson, the
+successor of James Henry, who died in consequence of his wounds and
+overexertion. Glorify the Commune, sons of Joel, and its heroic
+defenders.
+
+Well, on that day, towards the middle of May, 1573, a tumultuous mob,
+made up exclusively of women and children--the able-bodied men were on
+the ramparts, or taking a few hours' rest--invaded the square of the
+City Hall of La Rochelle, crying with the heartrending fury that hunger
+inspires: "Bread!" "Bread!" No less haggard, no less pinched with hunger
+than their children, a considerable number of these women, having
+combatted beside the men of La Rochelle in repelling the royalist
+attacks, had heads bandaged in blood-stained handkerchiefs, or carried
+their arms in slings. Several children, of ten or twelve years of age,
+also bore the marks of wounds received in battle whither they
+accompanied their mothers. The mob, embittered and exhausted by the
+trials and all manner of privations that resulted from the long siege,
+saw with terror the approach of famine. Since the day before the baker
+shops had been closed for want of flour. The supply of food was nearly
+exhausted. The wretched crowd clamored aloud for bread; they also
+clamored for Morrisson, the new Mayor, and head of the commune.
+
+Morrisson appeared at the portico of the City Hall and stepped towards
+the mob. He was at once beloved, feared and respected. Still at the age
+of vigorous manhood, he wore an iron corselet and arm-pieces, while a
+heavy sword hung from his side. He jumped upon one of the stone
+balustrades placed at either side of the door, motioned for silence, and
+addressed the crowd in a sonorous, firm and yet paternal voice:
+
+"My children! The Council is in session. I have no time to lose in
+speechmaking. Delegate to me one from among you. Let her inform me what
+it is that you want. I shall answer."
+
+The Bombarde, acclaimed with one voice as the delegate of her
+companions, pushed her way forward and approached the Mayor: "Mayor, we
+are hungry, and want bread! The bakers have neither corn nor flour. The
+butchers' stalls are closed. Two days ago only a few handfuls of beans
+and peas were distributed. Since then nothing more has come. Before the
+siege most of us lived off our fisheries, and we asked help from nobody.
+To-day every fisherman's boat that ventures out of port is sunk under
+the cannon balls of the royalist redoubts. What are we to do? We cannot
+remain without food; we are hungry; we want bread for our children and
+ourselves!"
+
+"Yes!" echoed the Rochelois women with loud cries. "Bread! Bread!
+Morrisson, we must have bread!"
+
+After this explosion of outcries and complaints, silence was restored,
+and the Mayor resumed in a moved voice:
+
+"Poor dear women! You want bread, and how do you expect me to give you
+any? There is not a single grain of wheat in the city granary. But we
+are hourly expecting Captain Mirant's brigantines. They bring from
+England a cargo of powder, and from Brittany a cargo of wheat. They are
+anchored only eight leagues from here, near the coast, at the port of
+Redon. They cannot, in the absence of a favorable wind, run into La
+Rochelle. The chances are a hundred to one that the adverse wind, which
+has been blowing all these days, will change. It may change almost at
+any moment. It may be changing now. If it does, the city will again be
+supplied for several months. For the present, there is left to us a
+precious resource, so far neglected--the clams and oysters. We must turn
+our hands to that. You understand me?"
+
+"Mayor! Do you know that it is now as dangerous to go out for clams as
+to march upon a battery?" answered the Bombarde. "To go out for clams is
+to run into the jaws of death!"
+
+"I know it--and if the brigantines of Captain Mirant do not run into
+port to-day, my wife and two daughters will go out with you to-night, at
+one in the morning, when the tide will be low, and dig for clams," was
+Morrisson's stoic reply.
+
+"It will be done! Count upon us, Mayor!" replied the Bombarde. "If the
+brigantines of Captain Mirant do not arrive before night, we shall put
+up with hunger until night--and then we shall go out and dig for clams.
+Those of us who will be killed on the banks will no longer need
+anything. That is agreed upon, in God's name!"
+
+As the Bombarde was uttering these last words, the detonations of
+several discharges of artillery that shattered the window panes in the
+City Hall announced the enemy was about to renew the cannonade which it
+had suspended in the morning. Almost at the same instant the sonorous
+sound of clarion blasts was heard drawing nearer and nearer, and
+presently a large number of women of all conditions, marching at the
+heels of a pastor on a white horse, ahead of which marched the
+clarion-blower, turned into Caille Square.
+
+"To the ramparts, my sisters! To the ramparts!" shouted the pastor with
+martial exaltation. "The Lord of Hosts will steel your arms! Your
+husbands, your fathers, your brothers and your sons are battling for the
+triumph of liberty. Come to their help! To the ramparts! To the
+ramparts! The enemy is about to storm the Bastion of the Evangelium!
+Long live the Commune!"
+
+"To the ramparts, my brave women! And to-night, after clams on the
+banks, as perilous an expedition as battle itself!" cried Morrisson,
+while the Bombarde and her companions, joining the other crowd of
+Rochelois women, repeated in chorus the following psalm, led by the
+pastor:
+
+    "O, Lord do guide these feeble women,
+    With souls ablaze, inflamed as strong men!
+    Break our foes like Oreb!
+    Break them like proud Zeeb!
+    Throw down those wicked kings and princes,
+    Who in their fury, and their ire,
+    Laugh at our tears and distress dire,
+    Who devastate our glad provinces!
+    Who are as a torrent wildly boiling,
+    A tempest, wildly rushing, rolling,
+    A hurricane, impetuous driven,
+    The tops of haughty mountains lashes,
+    A hellish flame that turns to ashes,
+    The rooks by lightning struck and riven!
+
+    "May, Oh, Lord! the storm of Thy wrath
+    Strew Thy foes away from our path!
+    May, Oh, Lord! Thy thunders and fire,
+    Smite Thy foes! Oh, smite with Thy ire!"
+
+The Bastion of the Evangelium, upon which the enemy had long been
+concentrating all their forces, formed a sharply protruding angle. Its
+flanks were not sufficiently protected by other works of defense.
+Accordingly, by directing against the left flank of the bastion the fire
+of their principal batteries, the enemy had opened a breach in the
+rampart by the repeated pounding of their shots. At the place where the
+breach was effected, the upper part of the earthworks, to a width of
+about fifty feet, crumbled down into the moat, filling it up so fully as
+to render an assault practicable. Thanks to this mass of debris which
+answered the purpose of a bridge, the assailants could cross the fosse
+on a run, could scale the last steps of the last wall already laid in
+ruins, and could enter the city, provided they could bear down the
+defenders who stood in the breach. From the top of the bastion the eye
+swept the plain far and wide. A cannon-shot off, the long line of the
+enemy's trenches could be seen, stretching from the suburb of St. Eloi
+on the edge of the salt marshes, to the suburb of Colombier. That line
+bounded the field from end to end; it intercepted the roads to Limoges
+and Nantes at the crossings of which the batteries were erected which
+broke a breach through the bastion. The whole stretch between the
+trenches of the besiegers and the fortifications of the city--one time
+covered with trees and houses--now lay bare, exposed, devastated, and
+deeply furrowed by the projectiles. Beyond the desert waste, lay the
+enemy's entrenchments--earthworks strengthened with gabions and trunks
+of trees, and here and there crenelated with the embrasures for their
+batteries. Behind that line of earthworks, the tops of the officers'
+tents, surmounted with bannerets and floating pennants, could be seen.
+Finally, on the extreme horizon rose the undulating and woody hills. The
+breach once made, the Catholics suspended their fire in order to open it
+again shortly before marching to the assault. It was in answer to the
+thunder of the cannonade, which announced an imminent and decisive
+attack, that the old pastor crossed the square of the City Hall at the
+head of his bevy of Rochelois women, recruited the Bombarde and her
+companions, and wended his course to the Bastion of the Evangelium. At
+that place about one-half of the defenders of La Rochelle were gathered,
+ready for a stubborn conflict. The other troops, distributed in other
+places, were to be on the alert to repel other attacks. The Council of
+defense foresaw that the enemy, while hurling one column against the
+breach, would undoubtedly attempt a simultaneous assault upon other
+places; consequently women were commissioned to close up the breach as
+best they might with logs of wood and other material. Colonel Plouernel,
+upon whom the defense of the bastion that day devolved, and Captain
+Gargouillaud, in charge of the artillery, gave their last orders. The
+bourgeois cannoniers were pointing their pieces in advance upon the open
+and absolutely exposed ground which the royalists had to cross when they
+sallied from their trenches in order to reach the opposite side of the
+fosse where the breach was effected. The breach was wide; nevertheless,
+before they could reach the parapet, the besiegers would have to clamber
+over a heap of debris ten or eleven feet high, on the top of which a
+redoubtable engine of defense was mounted, and placed in charge of the
+women of La Rochelle. This engine of war, an invention of Master Barbot
+the boilermaker, received the name of the _censer_. It consisted of a
+huge copper basin, holding a ton, suspended from iron chains at the end
+of a long beam that revolved upon an axis, and was so adjusted to a post
+firmly set in the ground, that by means of a slight motion imparted to
+the beam, the huge caldron would empty upon the heads of the assailants
+the deadly fluid that it was filled with, to wit, a mixture of boiling
+tar, sulphur and oil. A number of Rochelois women, Theresa Rennepont and
+Cornelia my betrothed among them, were busy either keeping up the fire
+under the copper basin, or pouring into it the oil, tar and sulphur from
+little kegs that lay near at hand. With her sleeves rolled back above
+her elbows, and leaving her strong white arms exposed, Cornelia stirred
+the steaming mixture with an iron rod supplied with a wooden handle.
+Master Barbot--his head covered with an iron morion, his chest protected
+with a brigandine, and his cutlass and dagger by his side--leaned upon
+the barrel of his arquebus and smiled complacently upon his invention.
+From time to time he would address the women and girls at work.
+
+"Courage, my brave girl!" he said to Cornelia. "Mix up the oil well with
+the tar and sulphur. Make the mixture thick, soft, and toothsome, like
+those omelettes made of eggs, flour and cheese that you are so skilled
+in dishing up, and which your good father and myself relish so much! But
+the devil take those dainty thoughts! In these days of dearth one may
+deem himself happy if he but have a handful of beans. By the way of
+famine and of your father--the heavy clouds that are rising yonder in
+the south almost always announce a change of wind. Mayhap we shall see
+this very day the brigantines of Captain Mirant, loaded with wheat and
+powder, sailing before the wind into port, every inch of sail spread to
+the breeze, and successfully running the gauntlet of the royalist guns.
+Long live the Commune!"
+
+"May God hear you, Master Barbot! I would then embrace my father this
+very day, and the threatened famine would be at end," answered Cornelia
+without interrupting her work of stirring the mixture, into which
+Theresa Rennepont just emptied a bucketful of sulphur--on account of
+which Master Barbot called out to her:
+
+"No more sulphur, my dear Theresa. The tar and oil must predominate in
+the infernal broth. The sulphur is thrown in only to improve the taste
+by pleasing the eye with the pretty bluish flame, that gambols on the
+surface of the incandescent fluid. Now, my little girls, turn the beam
+just a little to one side in order to remove the basin from the fire
+without cooling off the broth. We shall swing it back over the fire the
+instant the Catholics run to the assault--then we shall dish up the
+broth to them, hot and nice."
+
+While these Rochelois women were thus engaged in preparing the censer,
+others rolled enormous blocks of stone--the debris of the bastion that
+was shattered by the enemy's cannonade--and placed them in such
+positions over the breach that a child's finger could hurl them down
+upon the assaulting column. Others rolled barrels of sand, which after
+having served for protection to the arquebusiers on the ramparts, were
+likewise to be rolled down the steep declivity which the enemy had to
+climb. Finally, a large number of women were busy preparing stretchers
+for the wounded. These women worked under the direction of Marcienne,
+Odelin's widow. Theresa and Cornelia, left for a moment at leisure from
+their work on the censer, came over to the widow, and were presently
+joined by Louis Rennepont and Antonicq.
+
+"Mother," said Antonicq, tenderly addressing Marcienne, "when I left the
+house this morning at dawn you were asleep; I could not tell you
+good-bye--embrace me!"
+
+Marcienne understood what her son meant. A murderous assault was about
+to be engaged. Perhaps they were not to meet again alive. She took
+Antonicq in her arms, and pressing him to her breast she said in a moved
+yet firm voice: "Blessings upon you, my son, who never caused me any
+grief! If, like your father, you should die in battle against the
+papists, you will have acted like an upright man to the very end. Should
+I succumb, you will carry with you my last blessing. And you also,
+Cornelia," added Marcienne, "I bless you, my child. I shall die happy in
+the knowledge that Antonicq found in you a heart worthy of his own in
+virtue and bravery. You have been the best of daughters to your
+parents--you will likewise be a tender wife to your husband."
+
+Odelin's widow was giving expression to these sentiments when Louis
+Rennepont, after exchanging in a low voice a few words with his wife
+Theresa, words such as the solemnity of the occasion prompted, cried out
+aloud: "Look yonder! there, under us--among the debris of the breach--is
+not that the Franc-Taupin? Your uncle seems to be emerging from
+underground. He must be preparing some trick of his trade."
+
+"It is he, indeed!" exclaimed Antonicq, no less surprised than his
+brother-in-law. "And there is my apprentice Serpentin also--who is
+following the Franc-Taupin out of the hole."
+
+These words drew the attention of Cornelia, Theresa and Odelin's widow.
+They looked down the steep slope formed by the ruins of that portion of
+the bastion that the enemy had demolished. The Franc-Taupin had emerged
+from a narrow and deep excavation, dug under the ruins. A lad of
+thirteen or fourteen years followed him. They covered up the opening
+that had given them egress. After doing so, Serpentin, the apprentice of
+the armorer Antonicq, went down upon his knees, and moving backward on
+all fours, uncoiled, under the directions of the Franc-Taupin, a long
+thin fuse, the other end of which was deep down the excavation which
+they had just covered. Still moving towards the parapet, Serpentin
+continued to uncoil the fuse, and, upon orders from the Franc-Taupin,
+stopped at about twenty paces from the wall and sat down on a stone.
+
+"Halloa, uncle!" cried Antonicq, leaning over the edge of one of the
+embrasures. "Here we are; come and join us."
+
+Hearing his nephew's voice, the Franc-Taupin raised his head, made him a
+sign to wait, and after giving Serpentin some further directions, the
+aged soldier clambered over the ruins with remarkable agility for a man
+of his years, and walked over to where Antonicq stood waiting for him.
+
+"Where do you come from, uncle?"
+
+"Well, my boy, what do you expect of me? A _taupin_ I was in my young
+days, and now in my old days I relapse into my old trade. I come from
+underground, through a shaft that I dug through the ruins with the aid
+of Serpentin, about a hundred paces from here. There I laid a mine,
+right in the middle of the breach where the good Catholics will soon be
+running to the assault. The moment I see them there I shall lovingly set
+the fuse on fire--and, triple petard! the St. Bartholomew lambkins will
+leap up in the air yelling and spitting fire like five hundred devils,
+their heads down, their legs skyward. The dance will end with a shower
+of shattered limbs."
+
+"Well schemed, my old mole!" said Master Barbot. "Fire below, fire
+above, like the beautiful sheets that I hammer on the anvil. The burning
+lava of my censer will blaze over the skulls of the royalists, your fuse
+will blaze under the soles of their feet, and hurl the miscreants into
+the air capering, turning somersaults, whirling, cavorting, and--" but
+suddenly breaking off, Master Barbot let himself down upon the ground,
+and joining the word to the deed, called out:
+
+"Down upon your faces, everybody! Look out for the bullets!"
+
+Master Barbot's advice was quickly followed. Everybody near him threw
+himself down flat at the very moment that a volley of bullets whistled
+overhead or struck the parapet, some ricocheting and upturning gabions
+and logs of wood, others plowing their way through the debris where the
+imperturbable Serpentin was seated near the fuse that led down to the
+mine. Despite the danger, the brave lad did not budge from his post. A
+lucky accident willed it that none of the besieged was wounded by this
+first salvo of artillery. Master Barbot, the first one to rise to his
+feet, cast his eyes upon the enemy's batteries, which were still partly
+wrapped in the clouds of smoke from the first discharge, perceived the
+first ranks of the assaulting column sallying from its trenches, and
+instantly gave the signal:
+
+"Everyone to his post! The enemy is advancing!"
+
+"To arms! Rochelois, to arms!"
+
+Master Barbot's call, was answered by a long roll of drums, ordered by
+Colonel Plouernel. His strong and penetrating voice rose above the din,
+and his words were heard:
+
+"Soldiers, to the ramparts! Cannoniers, to your pieces! Fire, all along
+the line!"
+
+"May God guard you, mother, sister, Cornelia!" said Antonicq.
+
+"May God guard you, my wife!" said Louis Rennepont.
+
+"So long, comrade Barbot!" cried the Franc-Taupin, pulling a tinder box
+from his pocket and sliding down the slope of the breach to rejoin
+Serpentin. "I shall get myself ready to make the limbs of those St.
+Bartholomew lambkins scamper through the air."
+
+"And you, my brave girls, to the censer!" cried Master Barbot to the
+Rochelois women. "Replace the caldron over the fire, and, when you hear
+me give the order: 'Serve it hot!' turn it and empty it over the heads
+of the assailants. You others, hold your levers ready near those stones
+and hogsheads of sand. When you hear me say: 'Roll!' push hard and let
+it all come down upon them."
+
+Suddenly, fresh but more distant and redoubling detonations of artillery
+in the direction of the Congues Gate announced the enemy's intention of
+making a diversion by attempting two simultaneous attacks upon the city.
+The pastor arrived at that moment upon the ramparts at the head of his
+troop of women whom the Bombarde and her companions had joined. Some
+reinforced the women charged with rolling the stones upon the
+assailants; others organized themselves to transport the wounded;
+finally a third set, armed with cutlasses, pikes and axes, made ready to
+resist the assailants at close quarters. At the head of these the
+Bombarde brandished a harpoon.
+
+His best marksmen had been placed by Colonel Plouernel in the
+underground casemates, thereby forming, on the other side of the
+circumvallation, a second line of defense, the loop-holes of which,
+bearing a strong resemblance to the airholes of a cavern, allowed a
+murderous fire to be directed upon the enemy. Finally, the companies of
+arquebusiers were massed upon the breach, which was defended by
+heaped-up beams and gabions that the Rochelois women assisted in
+bringing together. A solemn silence reigned among the besieged during
+the short interval of time that the royalists occupied in rushing
+through the distance that separated them from the outer edge of our
+moat. All of us felt that the fate of La Rochelle depended upon the
+issue of the assault.
+
+Old Marshal Montluc was in chief command of the Catholics. Monsieur Du
+Guast, at the head of six battalions of veteran Swiss troops, led the
+column, with Marshal Montluc in the center, and in the rear Colonel
+Strozzi, one of the best officers of the Catholic army. His task was to
+reinforce and sustain the attack in case the first companies wavered, or
+were repulsed. These troops advanced in good order, drums beating,
+trumpets blaring, colors flying, and captained by the flower of the
+nobility--the Dukes of Guise and Aumale, the Bastard of Angouleme, Henry
+of Bearn, who was now the King's brother-in-law, and Henry of Condé. The
+two renegates now were in arms against our cause. Finally, there were
+also Mayenne, Biron, Cosseins, D'O, Chateau-Vieux, and innumerable other
+noble captains, all crowding near the King's brother, the Duke of Anjou,
+who marched in the center at the side of Marshal Montluc. The moment
+that the front ranks of the vanguard reached the thither side of the
+fosse, Alderman Gargouillaud considered the enemy to be within reach of
+his cannoniers, and gave the order for a plunging and ricocheting fire.
+The effect of the salvo was deadly. The thunder-struck vanguard wavered
+and recoiled. The Rochelois gained time to reload their pieces. A second
+discharge, fully as deadly as the first, mowed down as many as before,
+and increased the indecision of the assailants. Old Marshal Montluc,
+Biron and Cosseins revived the shaken courage of their troops, held
+them, and forced them back. The dash was made. Leaving the dead and
+wounded behind, the column crossed the moat; it answered with its
+arquebuses those of the besieged as it pushed up the slope of the
+breach, receiving the cross fire from the casemates upon both its
+flanks, while, from the companies ranged upon the ramparts, its front
+was met with a hailstorm of bullets. Despite severe losses, the
+royalists steadily climbed up the slope of the breach. The Franc-Taupin
+and his aide, who until that instant lay flat upon their faces behind a
+heap of debris, suddenly rose and ran towards the circumvallation as
+fast as their legs could carry them. They had fired the fuse. Hardly
+were they at a safe distance, when the mine took fire under the feet of
+the enemy. A frightful explosion threw up a spout of earth, dust and
+rocks, interspersed with jets of fire, fulgent like lightning through
+thick clouds of smoke. The smoke slowly dissipated. The slope of the
+breach reappeared to view. It was torn up and cut through by a deep and
+wide cleft, the sides of which were strewn with the dismembered bodies
+of the dead and dying. The soldiers of the vanguard who escaped the
+disaster were seized with terror, turned upon their heels, rushed back
+upon their center, trampled it down, threw it into a panic, and spread
+consternation, crying that the passage of the breach was mined under the
+feet of the besiegers. The ranks were broken; confusion reigned, the
+rout commenced. The Rochelois cannoniers now worked their pieces in
+quick succession, and plowed wide gaps into the compact mass of the
+fleeing invaders, while the Franc-Taupin, standing beside one of the
+embrasures and calmly crossing his hands behind his back, remarked to
+Master Barbot:
+
+"Well, comrade, there they are--heads, arms, trunks, legs. They have
+danced the saraband to the tune of my mine. I have given a ball to the
+Catholics, to the defenders of the throne and the altar!"
+
+"Ha! Ha!" replied the boilermaker. "The St. Bartholomew lambkins are
+going back faster than they came. Should they come back again I shall
+dish up to them my steaming basin in order to comfort the lacerated
+feelings of those cut-throats whom the Pope has blessed."
+
+The royalist soldiers could not be rallied by their officers until they
+were beyond the reach of our guns. They were then re-formed into a new
+column. The most daring of their captains placed themselves resolutely
+at their head in order to lead them back to the assault. Preceding this
+phalanx of intrepid men by several paces, a Cordelier monk, holding a
+crucifix in one hand and a cutlass in the other, rushed forward to be
+the first to storm the breach, shouting in a piercing voice the ominous
+slogan of St. Bartholomew's night: "God and the King!" The monk's
+example and the enthusiasm of the captains carried the assailants away.
+They forgot their recent panic, and turned about face to renew the
+struggle, shouting in chorus "God and the King!" In vain did the fire of
+the besieged make havoc among them. They closed ranks; they rushed
+forward at the double quick; they ran up the slope of the breach; they
+even passed beyond the chasm produced by the late mine explosion. At
+that moment Master Barbot called out to the Rochelois women in charge of
+the censer: "Quick! Quick! my daughters! Pour it down hot upon the
+Catholic vermin! Anoint the devout papists with our holy and consecrated
+oil!"
+
+And immediately turning to the other set of women charged with rolling
+stones down upon the enemy's heads, "To work, my brave women!" shouted
+the boilermaker. "Crush the infamous pack to dust! Exterminate the brood
+of Satan!"
+
+Instantly a flood of incandescent oil, bitumen and sulphur poured down
+like a wide sheet of flame upon the front ranks of the besiegers. They
+recoiled, trampled down the ranks behind them, and emitted hideous cries
+of anguish. Every drop of the molten liquid bored a hole through the
+flesh to the bone. At the same moment enormous blocks of stone and
+masses of sand rolled, rapid and irresistible, down the slope of the
+breach, overthrowing, breaking, crushing, smashing whatever stood in
+their way. Joined to this murderous defense was the frightfully
+effective fire of our arquebusiers, who shot unerringly, at close range,
+themselves safe, upon a foe in disorder. And yet, however decimated and
+broken, the royalists stuck to the assault until they finally reached
+the circumvallation. The exchange of arquebus shots then ceased and a
+furious hand-to-hand struggle ensued with swords, cutlasses and pikes.
+No quarter was given. The conflict was pitiless. The Rochelois women,
+among them Cornelia, armed with the iron rod of the censer, and the
+Bombarde, brandishing her harpoon, vied with the men in deeds of daring.
+These Rochelois women were everywhere among the male combatants, and cut
+a wide swath with their weapons, wielded by their white yet nervy arms,
+after the fashion of the Gallic women who made a front to the legions of
+Caesar. Twice did Colonel Plouernel, Captain Normand, Alderman
+Gargouillaud, Master Barbot, Antonicq Lebrenn, Louis Rennepont and their
+fellow defenders drive the Catholics back beyond the breach; twice did
+the Catholics, superior in numbers, drive the Rochelois back to the
+terrace of the rampart. Thus did the battle fluctuate, when Mayor
+Morrisson came to the aid of the Protestants with a fresh troop of
+citizens. The timely reinforcement changed the face of the struggle. For
+a third time rolled back beyond the breach, the assailants were
+precipitated into the pits or whipped down the slope. Their rout then
+became complete, wild, disordered. Our arquebusiers, whose fire had
+stopped during the hand-to-hand conflict, now took aim again, and
+decimated the fleeing, while our artillery mowed them down. This time
+the royalist rout was complete--final. Those of them who escaped the
+carnage, made haste to place themselves behind the shelter of their own
+lines.
+
+Victory to the Rochelois! Oh, sons of Joel, victory! Long live the
+Commune!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+CAPTURE OF CORNELIA.
+
+
+The victory of the Rochelois was a bloody one, and dearly did we pay for
+it. We numbered over eleven hundred of our people killed or disabled,
+men and women. Cornelia Mirant received a wound upon the neck; the
+Bombarde perished in the breach. Marcienne, Odelin's widow, was struck
+by a bullet and killed near the rampart as she was bringing aid to a
+wounded soldier; Antonicq's arm was run through by a pike; Colonel
+Plouernel was carried to his house in a nearly dying condition with two
+arquebus shots in his chest. Louis Rennepont, his wife Theresa, Master
+Barbot, the Franc-Taupin and Serpentin, his assistant in mining, came
+safe and sound out of the engagement. The Rochelois gathered in the dead
+and wounded. The Lebrenn family carried to their house the corpse of
+Odelin's widow. A sad funeral march! But, alas, in these distressful
+times the exigencies of the public weal have precedence over the holiest
+of sorrows. One enjoys leisure to weep over his dead only after having
+avenged them. The triumph of a day does not remove the apprehensions for
+the morrow. The royalist assault, so valiantly repelled by the people of
+La Rochelle, might be renewed the very next day, due to the large
+reserve forces of the Catholic army, only a small portion of which took
+part in the attack upon the Bastion of the Evangelium. The City Council
+urged all the remaining able-bodied citizens to proceed without delay to
+repair the breach, seeing that the moon, then at her full, would light
+them at their work during the whole night. Fresh defenses were to be
+immediately raised upon the side of the assaulted bastion. Then, also,
+famine was staring the city in the face. Precautions were needed against
+that emergency. Captain Mirant's ships, which were to revictual the city
+and replenish its magazines of war, still failed to be descried at sea,
+notwithstanding a strong wind rose from the southwest towards sunset.
+The last bags of beans were distributed among the combatants, whose
+exhaustion demanded immediate attention after the day's conflict. The
+supply barely sufficed to allay the pangs of hunger. Consequently, in
+order to insure food for the next day, the women and children were
+summoned by the aldermen to be at the Two Mills Gate by one o'clock in
+the morning, the hour of low tide, and favorable for the digging of
+clams. The gathering of these mollusks offered a precious resource to
+the besieged, but it was as perilous as battle itself. The Bayhead
+redoubt, raised by the royalists at the extremity of the tongue of land
+that ran deep into the offing, could sweep with its cannon the beach on
+which the clams were to be dug. Towards one in the morning the City Hall
+bell rang the summons. Upon hearing the agreed-upon signal, the
+Rochelois women of all conditions issued forth with those of their
+children who were considered strong enough to join the expedition. Each
+was equipped with a basket. They met at the Two Mills Gate where they
+found the wife and two daughters of Morrisson the Mayor. They set the
+example of public spirit. Accordingly, while the male population of La
+Rochelle was busily engaged in repairing the breach, the women and
+children sallied forth from the city in search of provisions for all.
+Although smarting from her wound, and despite the protests of Antonicq,
+Cornelia Mirant determined to share with Theresa Rennepont the risks of
+the nocturnal expedition after clams. She joined the troop of women and
+children.
+
+About four or five hundred Rochelois women issued forth from the Two
+Mills Gate, situated near the Lantern Tower, in search of clams to feed
+the population. They were soon upon the beach. Bounded on the right by a
+ledge of rocks, the beach extended to the left as far as the roadstead
+in front of the inner port of La Rochelle, a roadstead narrowed towards
+its entrance by two tongues of land, each of which was armed with a
+hostile redoubt. The Bayhead redoubt could at once cover with its fire
+the narrow entrance of the bay, and sweep the full length and breadth of
+the beach upon which the Rochelois women now scattered and were actively
+engaged in picking up at the foot of the rocks, aided by the light of
+the moon, the mollusks that they came in search of. At the start the
+Bayhead redoubt gave them no trouble, although the enemy's attention
+must undoubtedly have been attracted by the large number of white
+head-covers and scarlet skirts, the time-honored costume of the
+Rochelois women. Already the baskets were handsomely filling with
+clams--the "celestial manna" as Mayor Morrisson called them--when
+suddenly a bright flash of light threw its reflection upon the small
+puddles of water on the beach, a detonation was heard, and a light cloud
+of smoke rose above the redoubt. A shiver ran over the clam-digging
+Rochelois women, and profound silence took the place of their previous
+chatter.
+
+"The royalists have seen us!" said Theresa Rennepont to Cornelia. "They
+have begun firing upon us."
+
+"No!" cried Cornelia with mixed joy and alarm as she looked in the
+direction of the battery. "The enemy is firing upon my father's
+brigantines! There they are! There they are, at last! God be praised! If
+they enter port, La Rochelle is saved from famine! Do you see them,
+Theresa? Do you see, yonder, their white sails glistening in the
+moonlight? The ships are drawing near. They come laden with victory to
+us!"
+
+And the young maid, moved with a joy that overcame her alarm, raised her
+beautiful face to heaven, and in a voice quivering with enthusiasm
+exclaimed: "Oh, Lord! Guard my father's life! Grant victory to the
+sacred cause of freedom!"
+
+All thought of the clams was instantly dropped. The women pressed close
+to the water's edge; with eyes fixed upon the ships, they awaited
+anxiously the issue of the combat upon which depended the victualing of
+their city. It was a solemn moment; an imposing spectacle. The further
+extremities of the two tongues of land that enclosed the outer bay and
+left but a narrow entrance to the port, threw their black profiles upon
+the waves, silvered by the moon. The four brigantines were sailing in
+single file before the wind with a full spread of canvas, towards the
+dangerous passage which they had to enter under the cross fire of the
+enemy's redoubts. A rapid and frightful cannonade followed upon the
+first shot which had startled the women. Already the first one of the
+four vessels had entered the passage, when, despite the firmness of her
+nature, Cornelia emitted a cry of distress and said in consternation to
+Theresa:
+
+"Look, the mast of the forward brigantine is down! It must have been
+struck by a ball! Good God, my father is lost if he should be on that
+vessel--dismantled--unable to move--exposed to the fire of the enemy!"
+
+"All is lost! Alas, all is lost!"
+
+"The brigantines are returning to the open sea!"
+
+"Captain Mirant flees without giving battle! without answering the
+enemy's fire! without giving back a single shot!"
+
+"Come, let us return to our clams--henceforth the only resource of La
+Rochelle! Let us continue picking up clams!"
+
+"No! My father is not fleeing from battle," answered Cornelia. "By
+sailing back he means to tow the dismantled ship out of harm's way. No,
+Captain Mirant is not fleeing from battle! Do you not see that his
+vessels are now lying to? They are not sailing away!"
+
+The words of Cornelia, who was long familiar with nautical manoeuvres,
+thanks to the many voyages she made on board her father's vessels,
+revived the hopes of the Rochelois women. Their eyes returned with
+renewed anxiety to the entrance of the port. But, alas, as they did so,
+none perceived that soldiers of the royal army were coming out of the
+Bayhead redoubt, and, screened by the shadows cast by the rocks that
+were strewn to the right of the beach, were silently creeping nearer
+behind the massive blocks.
+
+"What did I tell you?" Cornelia proceeded to explain. "The brigantines
+are sailing back again into the passage. The forward one, with the
+dismantled vessel in tow, is opening fire upon the royalist redoubt. No!
+Captain Mirant's cannons have not lost their speech!"
+
+And so it was. The brigantine that had the dismantled vessel in tow
+sailed intrepidly into the passage, returning the enemy's fire from both
+broadsides. The enemy's redoubts, especially the Bayhead, being the
+better equipped, replied to the brigantine. Suddenly, however, a cry of
+terror escaped from all breasts. The brigantine that led was enveloped
+in a thick smoke which here and there was reddened by the ruddy glow of
+flames.
+
+The agony of the women of La Rochelle redoubled. Their attention, held
+captive by the spectacle in the bay, prevented their noticing the
+Catholic soldiers, who, in increasing numbers, were approaching, hidden
+behind the last rocks of the ledge. Suddenly the echoes around the rocks
+repeated, like the reverberations of thunder, the roar of a tremendous
+explosion. The dismantled vessel, which carried a full load of powder,
+was blown into the air after being set on fire, not by the enemy, but
+by Captain Mirant himself; and, as it blew up, it partly dismantled the
+Bayhead redoubt. The manoeuvre was successful. Not only was the redoubt
+crippled, but a large number of the soldiers and cannoniers who manned
+it perished under the ruins of their own batteries. So soon as the
+intrepid mariner saw one of his vessels disabled from proceeding on its
+voyage, he had taken her in tow; veered about with the end in view of
+withdrawing his flotilla from the enemy's fire long enough to enable him
+to perfect his newly conceived strategy; heaped inflammable materials
+upon the disabled ship; left the powder in her hold; transferred the
+sailors to his own bottom; veered again; sailed under full canvas before
+the wind straight into the passage; and leading in tow the floating
+incendiary machine which he had just improvised, set it on fire, and cut
+the cable just before arriving in front of the redoubt, convinced, by
+his intimate acquaintance with the currents along the coast, that they
+would drive ashore and against the redoubt the floating firebrand loaded
+with powder, which, when exploding, would shake the royalist battery to
+pieces. It happened as Captain Mirant calculated. Once the redoubt was
+in ruins, Captain Mirant had nothing to fear except from the inferior
+battery raised on the opposite tongue of land. The bold mariner now
+proceeded on his course followed by his remaining vessels, deliberately
+answering the inoffensive shots from the opposite side. Finally, with
+only the perforation of some of their sails, and a few bullets lodged in
+their sides, the three vessels steered straight towards the entrance of
+the interior port of La Rochelle, which they were to save from famine,
+and re-supply with munitions of war.
+
+"God be praised! The city is saved! May my father have come off safe and
+sound from the combat!" cried Cornelia, while the other Rochelois women
+loudly acclaimed with shouts of joy and hope the brilliant triumph of
+the captain.
+
+The last of the three brigantines had just entered the port when the
+rattle of arquebus shots resounded from behind the rocks which bordered
+the beach to the right of where the Rochelois women were assembled. It
+rained bullets. Women and children, mortally wounded, dropped dead
+around Theresa and Cornelia. The unexpected attack of the royalist
+soldiers in ambush threw the unfortunate women into a panic. They had
+come wholly unarmed, bent upon gathering clams along the beach, and not
+looking for danger except from the batteries of Bayhead. It happened
+that a part of that garrison consisted of troops of the guard of the
+Duke of Anjou, under the command of the Marquis of Montbar, one of the
+Prince's favorites, and the most noted debauchee of the whole royalist
+army. So soon as he perceived the Rochelois women spread along the
+beach, the Marquis set his soldiers in motion, ordered them to slide out
+of the redoubt, and to creep noiselessly, under cover of the rocks and
+of the shadows that they projected, with the object in view of
+massacring a large number of the heroic women, whose intrepidity the
+royalists had more than once tasted to their sorrow, and of seizing
+several of them for the orgies of the Duke of Anjou's tent. Accordingly,
+after unmasking his ambuscade by the first round of arquebus shots, the
+Marquis of Montbar rushed with his soldiers upon the startled and
+panic-stricken women, crying: "Kill all the old ones! Take the
+handsomest and youngest prisoners! God's blood! You can easily
+distinguish the pretty girls from the old and ugly! The moon is bright!"
+
+The scene that followed was frightful to behold. Many of the "old" ones
+were ruthlessly butchered, as ordered by the Catholic captain. Others,
+having escaped the fire of the arquebuses and the ensuing carnage,
+finding themselves unarmed, and unable to resist the soldiers, sought
+safety in flight in the direction of the Two Mills Gate. Still others
+stood their ground and defended themselves with the energy of despair
+against the guards who sought to seize them. Among the latter was
+Cornelia, who, in the turmoil, was separated from Theresa Rennepont as
+both sought to reach the city. The Marquis of Montbar, happening to be
+near where Cornelia was struggling in the hands of several soldiers, and
+struck by the beauty of the girl, called out to his men: "Take care you
+do not hurt her--keep her alive! God's blood, she is a royal morsel! I
+reserve her for Monseigneur the Duke of Anjou."
+
+Cornelia, whose wound was re-opened in her struggle with the soldiers,
+felt herself losing strength and consciousness through loss of blood.
+She fell in a faint at the feet of Montbar. By his orders two of his
+guards raised her by her feet and shoulders, and carried her away like
+a corpse. Several other Rochelois women, who were likewise carried off
+captive to the Bayhead redoubt, now lying in ruins through Captain
+Mirant's manoeuvre, were that night victims of the brutality of both
+captains and soldiers. Finally many others succeeded in reaching the Two
+Mills Gate at the moment that a company of Protestants, attracted by the
+sound of arquebus shots, sallied from the city and were hastening to the
+beach. Alas, it was too late! Already the inrushing tide was submerging
+the dead and the dying victims of the royalist ambush. Already the water
+reached the foot of the rocks and intercepted the progress of the
+Rochelois. They could not pursue the enemy who, among other prisoners,
+carried away the inanimate body of Captain Mirant's daughter at the very
+hour that the daring mariner weighed anchor in the port of La Rochelle
+amidst the acclamations of the inhabitants.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+THE DUKE OF ANJOU.
+
+
+The headquarters of the royal army were at the suburb of Font, now in
+ruins. The Duke of Anjou, brother of King Charles IX, occupied at Font,
+in the center of the royal encampment, a house that went by the name of
+the "Reservoir," since within its yard lay the reservoir into which the
+waters were gathered that the now destroyed aqueduct conducted into La
+Rochelle. The Prince's headquarters, although wrecked by the war, were
+repaired, and made fit for the royal guest, thanks to the industry of
+his valets, who upholstered and equipped the ruins with a mass of
+tapestries and furniture which the pack-mules carried in the wake of the
+army. The Prince's oratory, where, either in sacrilegious derision, or
+perhaps yielding to a mixture of fanaticism and lewdness, he both
+performed his orisons and indulged his debaucheries, was tapestried in
+violet velvet, garlanded with fringes that were gathered up by gold and
+silver tassels. Daylight never penetrated the voluptuous retreat, which
+only a vermillion chandelier illumined with its candles of perfumed wax.
+On one side of the apartment stood a prayer-stool surmounted with an
+ivory crucifix; on the opposite side was a thickly cushioned lounge. A
+Turkish carpet covered the floor. A velvet portiere, closed at this
+moment, communicated with an inside room.
+
+It was about eight in the evening. Cornelia Mirant, captured on the
+beach of La Rochelle the night before by the Marquis of Montbar, had
+just been introduced by him into the oratory of the Duke of Anjou. A
+feverish agitation imparted an unwonted glow to the countenance of the
+young girl. Her eyes glistened; her beauty was particularly radiant; a
+certain coquetish touch was noticeable in the arrangement of her hair;
+her Rochelois clothing, torn to shreds during the previous night's
+encounter, had been changed for a robe of poppy-red brocade. A broad
+embroidered scarf supported and concealed her right hand. The wound she
+received the day before on the neck had been dressed with care by one of
+the Duke's own surgeons. Monsieur Montbar--a youth barely twenty years
+of age, but whose delicate features were prematurely blighted by
+incontinence--had exchanged his war armor for the apparel of the court.
+His hair was artistically curled. From his ears hung a pair of earrings
+encrusted with precious stones; jet black frills hung down from his
+wrists and encased his hands; a short mantle was thrown over his
+shoulders; tight-fitting hose and a toque garnished with a brooch of
+rubies completed his dainty outfit. The Marquis had just brought
+Cornelia into the oratory, and was saying to her: "My pretty saucebox,
+you are now in the oratory of the Prince of Anjou, brother of our
+well-beloved King Charles IX."
+
+"One feels as if in a palace of fairies!" answered Cornelia looking
+around with feigned and childish wonderment. "Oh, what splendid
+tapestries! What gorgeous ornaments! It seems I must be dreaming,
+monseigneur! Can it be possible that the Prince, so great a Prince,
+deigns to cast his eyes upon so poor a girl as I?"
+
+"Come, my pretty lassy, do not cast down your eyes. Be sincere--you
+shall ever after feel the glory of having been, if but for one day, the
+mistress of the King of France's brother. But what are you thinking
+about?"
+
+"Monseigneur, all this that is happening to me seems a dream. No! You
+are making sport of a poor girl. Monseigneur the Duke of Anjou does not
+think of me."
+
+"You will see him in a minute, I assure you; he is just now in
+conference with Fra Hervé, his confessor." And turning towards the still
+closed portiere, he proceeded: "I hear the curtains drawn back, and
+steps in the neighboring room--it is monseigneur."
+
+Hardly had the Marquis pronounced these last words when the drapery was
+raised, giving passage to the Duke of Anjou. The Prince was then
+twenty-eight years of age; overindulgence had weakened his gait, and
+imparted to his effeminate physiognomy a wily aspect, and a suggestion
+of cruelty and hypocrisy to his smile; added to this, excessive
+ornamentation rendered his appearance trivial and even sinister.
+Monsieur Montbar took a few steps towards the Duke, whispered in his ear
+and pointed to Cornelia. The girl thrilled with suppressed emotion; her
+right hand, hidden in the wide folds of her scarf, seemed to twitch
+convulsively and involuntarily to rise to her bosom. She contemplated
+the Prince with mixed horror and curiosity. Her eyes glistened, but she
+quickly lowered them before the libidinous glance of the Prince, who,
+while speaking with the Marquis, regarded her covetously. He said to his
+favorite: "You are right, my pet; her beauty gives promise of great
+delight; leave us alone; I may call you in again."
+
+The Marquis of Montbar withdrew. Left alone with Cornelia, the Duke of
+Anjou stepped to the lounge, stretched himself out upon it nonchalantly
+with his head resting on the cushion, pulled a gold comfit-holder from
+his pocket, took a pastille out of it, masticated it, and after a few
+minutes of silent revery said to the Rochelois:
+
+"Approach, my pretty girl!"
+
+Cornelia raised her eyes heavenward. Her countenance became inspired. A
+slight pallor overcast it. Her glistening eyes grew moist. Distress was
+stamped on her features as she muttered to herself: "Adieu, father!
+Adieu, Antonicq! The hour of self-sacrifice has sounded for me!"
+
+Surprised at the immobility of Cornelia, whose face he could not see
+distinctly, the Duke of Anjou sat up and repeated impatiently:
+"Approach! You seem to be deaf, as well as mute. I told you to approach.
+By God's death, hurry up! Come and lie down beside me!"
+
+Cornelia, without the Prince's noticing her motions, disengaged her arm
+from the folds of the scarf, and stepped deliberately towards the lounge
+on which he had again stretched himself out. Again he motioned her to
+approach, saying: "Come here, I tell you. I would fear to damn myself
+forever by contact with such a satanic heretic as you, but for Fra
+Hervé's promise to give me absolution after our amorous encounter."
+
+And rising from his soft lounge, the Prince opened his arms to Cornelia.
+The girl approached; she bowed down; then, quick as thought she seized
+the Duke by the hair with her left hand, at the same time drawing out of
+the folds of her scarf her right hand armed with a short sharp steel
+dagger with which she struck the Prince several blows in the region of
+the heart, crying: "Die, butcher of my brothers! Die, cowardly assassin
+of women and children!"
+
+The Duke of Anjou wore under his jacket a coat of mail of steel so close
+meshed and well tempered that Cornelia's dagger broke under the blows
+that she dealt, while the frightened Prince called out for help,
+gasping: "Murder! She assassinates me! Murder!"
+
+At the Prince's cries and the noise of the struggle between them the
+Marquis of Montbar, together with several domestics of the royal
+household, hurried into the oratory, from the contiguous room where they
+always stood in waiting; they flung themselves upon Cornelia and seized
+her by the wrists, while the Prince, freed from the grasp of the brave
+maid, ran livid and demented to his prayer-stool, where he threw himself
+down upon his knees, and, with lips white with terror, shivering in
+every part of his body, and with his teeth clattering in his head, he
+stammered: "Almighty God, thanks be to Thee! Thou hast protected Thy
+unworthy servitor!" And bending low, till his forehead touched the
+ground, the terrified libertine smote his chest exclaiming: "_Mea culpa!
+mea culpa! mea maxima culpa!_"[84]
+
+While the Duke of Anjou was thus giving thanks to his God for having
+escaped the dagger of the young Protestant girl, she, held firmly by the
+seigneurs and retainers who heaped upon her insults and threats of
+death, stood erect with proud front, defied them with steady eyes, and
+preserved a disdainful silence. Holding himself responsible for the
+conduct of the Huguenot girl, whom he had taken to his master's bed, the
+Marquis of Montbar drew his sword and was about to run her through, when
+the Prince, rising from his prayer-stool cried out: "Do not kill her, my
+pet! Oh, no, she must not die so soon!"
+
+The favorite re-sheathed his sword. The Duke of Anjou, now pale with
+rage, staggered to his lounge and sat down. He wiped the perspiration
+from his forehead, cast a look of implacable hatred upon Cornelia, and
+after regarding her in silence for a moment, said: "Well, my pretty
+lass--so you meant to assassinate me!"
+
+"Yes--because you are the worthy son of Catherine De Medici, the worthy
+brother of Charles IX; because you suborned an assassin to poison
+Coligny!"
+
+The Duke of Anjou remained unmoved, and remarked with a cruel smile:
+"You are a resolute girl, resolute in word and deed. I came near
+learning as much at my cost! What is your name?"
+
+"Cornelia Mirant."
+
+"What! You are the daughter of the mariner who last night almost threw
+into utter ruins our Bayhead redoubt? You are the daughter of the
+devilish Huguenot who has just revictualed La Rochelle?"
+
+The Cordelier Fra Hervé had just raised the portiere and was about to
+step into the oratory, when he heard the young girl declare her name to
+be Cornelia Mirant. The monk immediately stopped. Half-hidden by the
+tapestry, he remained on the threshold of the room and listened to the
+rest of the dialogue between the Huguenot girl and the Prince.
+
+"You must be a girl of honorable habits. How came you to yield so
+readily to the propositions of the Marquis?"
+
+"In the hope of being able to strike you dead with the dagger that I
+found in the tent of your officer," boldly answered Cornelia.
+
+"A new Judith, you seem to see in me a modern Holofernes! Everything
+about you breathes courage, honor, chastity. By God! I am becoming
+interested in you. You have wished my death--well, I wish that you live.
+So brave a girl should not die."
+
+"What, monseigneur! Shall this wretch escape punishment!" cried the
+Marquis of Montbar, while Cornelia thought to herself with a shudder: "I
+dread the clemency of the son of Catherine De Medici more than I do his
+ire."
+
+"Yes, my pet," answered the Duke of Anjou to his minion; "to-day I am in
+a merciful mood. I shall practice the evangelical morality of Jesus our
+Savior; I shall return good for evil! I wish well to this haughty
+republican girl, worthy of the days of Sparta and Rome! I wish the brave
+girl so well that--here is my sentence: Pinion the virgin's arms firmly;
+have her watched carefully in order that she may not do away with
+herself; and then throw her to the common soldiers of the camp. By God's
+death! The gay fellows will have a dainty repast! Take away from my
+sight the immaculate virgin, who will not be a virgin much longer!"
+
+"Oh! Mercy! Mercy! Death sooner! The most horrible death! Mercy!"
+stammered Cornelia, aroused from her stupor; and dropping upon her knees
+at the feet of the Duke of Anjou, she raised to him her hands in
+supplication, and implored in heartrending accents: "Martyrdom! For
+mercy's sake, martyrdom!"
+
+The Prince turned to his favorites: "Let the pretty heretic be taken to
+the garrison on the spot--on the spot, my pets. We shall follow and
+witness the sport of our soldiers."
+
+Already was Cornelia being dragged away when Fra Hervé suddenly
+interposed. The courtiers bowed low before the confessor of the Duke of
+Anjou.
+
+"My son," said the Cordelier, stepping straight towards the Prince,
+"revoke the order you have given. The heretic should not be thrown to
+the soldiers."
+
+"Father," broke in the Duke of Anjou with exasperation, "are you aware
+the girl tried to assassinate me?"
+
+"I know it all--both the attempted crime and its failure. You shall
+revoke your order."
+
+"God's blood! Reverend Father, seeing you know it all, I declare,
+notwithstanding my profound respect for you, that I insist upon my
+revenge. My orders shall be executed."
+
+"My son, you are but a child," answered Fra Hervé in a tone of
+disdainful superiority; and leaning towards the Prince the monk
+whispered in his ear, while Cornelia, now recognizing Fra Hervé,
+shuddered from head to foot.
+
+"I dreaded the clemency of the Prince--the monk's mercy terrifies me.
+Oh, Lord God, my only hope lies in You!"
+
+"As God lives, my reverend Father, you are right! I am but a child!"
+cried the Duke of Anjou, beaming with infernal joy after listening to
+the confidential remarks whispered to him by the monk. He then again
+addressed his favorites: "Take the heretic girl to the reverend Father's
+cell. But, good Father, keep a watchful eye upon her. Her life is now as
+precious to you as to me."
+
+Cornelia was led away upon the steps of the fratricidal monk.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+THE BILL IS PAID.
+
+
+Fra Hervé lived in the house of the Reservoir of the Font suburb in a
+sort of cellar that was vaulted, somber and damp as a cave, and which
+one time served as the direct communication to the aqueduct by means of
+a stone staircase, closed from above by a trap door. The monk's gloomy
+lodging was reached through a corridor that opened into one of the rooms
+situated on the ground floor, and, since the siege, transformed into a
+hall reserved for the officers of the Duke of Anjou.
+
+The interior of Fra Hervé's retreat revealed the austerity of the man's
+cenobitic habits. A wooden box, filled with ashes and resembling a
+coffin, served him for bed. A stool stood before a rough hewn table on
+which were an hour-glass, a breviary, a skull and an iron lamp. The
+latter cast a pale light over the cave, in a corner of which a heavy
+trap door masked the now disused stone staircase, the entrance to which
+had been walled from within by the royalists, in order to prevent a
+surprise from that quarter, seeing the water was turned off.
+
+Taken to the gloomy cell, Cornelia found herself alone with the monk.
+She was aware there was no hope of escape or of mercy for her. The cell
+had no issue other than the corridor that connected with the hall of the
+Prince's officers of the guard, which was constantly crowded with the
+Prince's retinue. Fra Hervé's face was emaciated. His forehead, over
+which a few locks of grey hair tumbled in disorder, was bony and
+lustrous as the skull upon his table. Except for the somber luster of
+his hollow eyes, one would at first sight take the scarred and fleshless
+head of the monk for that of a corpse. He was seated on the stool.
+Cornelia, standing before him, shuddered with horror. She found herself
+alone with the monster who, at the battle of Roche-la-Belle, cut the
+throat of Odelin, the father of Antonicq, her betrothed. Fra Hervé
+remained meditative for a moment, and then addressed the young girl in a
+hollow voice:
+
+"You are aware of the fate that Monseigneur the Duke of Anjou reserved
+for you in punishment for your attempted murder? You were to be thrown
+to the soldiers of the garrison--"
+
+"I am in your power--what do you want of me?" interrupted Cornelia.
+
+"The salvation of your soul."
+
+"My soul belongs to God. I have lived and I shall die in my faith, and
+in execration for the Catholic church."
+
+"This is but another evidence of the impiousness of the Lebrenn family,
+a family of reprobates, of accursed people, to whom this poor creature
+was soon to be joined by even closer bonds than those that already join
+her to them!"
+
+"What! You know--?"
+
+"A Rochelois prisoner informed me that you were the betrothed of
+Antonicq, the son of him who was my brother."
+
+"Monk, I shall not invoke to you the bonds of family--you have reddened
+your hands with your brother's blood. I shall not invoke your pity--you
+are pitiless. But, seeing that no heretics have been burnt for quite a
+while, I hope you will consent to cause me to be condemned to the pyre
+for a hardened heretic. I abhor the Pope, his Church and his priests! I
+abhor them as I do Kings. I execrate all monks, and the whole tonsured
+fraternity."
+
+Cornelia calculated upon exasperating the Cordelier to fury, and thus to
+wrest from him the order to be taken to immediate execution--her only
+refuge from the threats of the Duke of Anjou. But the unfortunate girl
+deceived herself. Fra Hervé listened to her impassively, and resumed:
+
+"You are cunning. You aspire to martyrdom because death will protect you
+from the outrage that you fear. I am not your dupe. There will be no
+pyre for you!"
+
+"Woe is me!" murmured the young girl, seeing her last hope dashed. "Woe
+is me! I am lost!"
+
+"You are saved--if you will!" Fra Hervé proceeded to say.
+
+"What do I hear?" cried Cornelia perceiving a new glimmer of hope. "What
+must I do? Speak!"
+
+"Publicly abjure your heresy! Renounce Satan and your father! Humbly
+implore our holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church to receive you into
+her bosom at her mercy and discretion. The soilure, now upon you, being
+washed off, you shall take the eternal vows and shall bury in the shadow
+of the cloister the criminal life you have led in the past. Choose:
+either immediate abjuration, or--to the soldiers. These pious Catholics
+will slake their amorousness upon you."
+
+"Oh, Lord! Oh, Lord!" exclaimed Cornelia, seized with terror, and her
+head reeling. "Am I awake? Am I dreaming? Can a man, a priest, outrage a
+woman's modesty to such an extent? A curse upon you, wretch!"
+
+"What audacity! 'Outrage' a 'woman'!" put in Fra Hervé with a wild and
+diabolical guffaw. "Is there such a thing as a heretic being a
+'_woman_'? No! A heretic is a female, like the she-wolf in the jungle.
+Is there such a thing as outrage with a she-wolf?"
+
+"Mercy!" stammered Cornelia in despair. "Have mercy upon me!"
+
+"No mercy!" answered Fra Hervé sententiously. "You shall enter a
+cloister, or--you shall be given over to the lust of the soldiers. It
+shall be so! And now, keep your eyes upon this hour-glass," added the
+monk, pointing to the instrument for marking time that stood near the
+dead man's skull. "Should you, when the water is run down, not have
+decided instantly to abjure and to depart this very night to a convent,
+you shall be delivered to the Catholic soldiers!"
+
+And the monk, resting his elbow on the table and his chin on his hand,
+remained silent as he looked with fixed eyes at the running of the water
+from the upper into the lower bulb of the clepsydra, while fondling his
+heavy chaplet with the hand that remained free.
+
+"What am I to do?" the Protestant girl asked herself. "What am I to do
+in this extremity? Almighty God, have mercy upon me!"
+
+"One-half of the water has run down!" observed Fra Hervé in his
+sepulchral voice. "Decide! There is still time!"
+
+At the lugubrious announcement Cornelia's mind began to wander; still,
+one lucid thought rose clear above the growing vertigo that obsessed the
+young girl's thoughts--the thought of putting an end to her life. Her
+bewildered eyes sought to penetrate here and there the dark recesses of
+the cell, which the dim light of the lamp threw heavily into the shade.
+They sought mechanically for some article that she might use as a weapon
+with which to inflict death upon herself. Suddenly Cornelia's eyes
+bulged out in amazement. She held her breath and remained petrified,
+thinking herself the sport of a vision. Fra Hervé, because of his eyes
+being fixed upon the hour-glass and his back turned to the trap door
+that masked the stone stairs leading to the aqueduct, could not take in
+what was happening. But Cornelia saw the trap door rise noiselessly,
+inexplicably; presently, in the measure that it rose, the two hands and
+then the two arms that raised it heaved in sight; simultaneously there
+appeared the top of an iron casque, and an instant later the face under
+the casque--and Cornelia recognized Antonicq--her betrothed, Antonicq
+Lebrenn!
+
+"The water will run out before you have time to say an _Ave_," warned
+the Cordelier in a hollow voice, without removing his eyes from the
+clepsydra, and he added: "Heretic! Heretic! Make haste! Abjure your
+idolatry! If not you shall be thrown to the soldiers, you shall be given
+to the good Catholics of the whole army!"
+
+The imminence of the danger and the prospect of safety restored the
+young girl's presence of mind. The instant her eyes discovered her
+betrothed she became silent, motionless, watchful. The last threats of
+the monk reached Antonicq's ears at the moment when he had completely
+raised the trap door, and wrung from him despite himself an exclamation
+of fury. Fra Hervé turned sharply around and bounded from his seat in
+bewilderment at the sight of the young man leaping into the room from
+underground. Cornelia, in full control of herself, and remembering that
+the monk's cell was separated from the hall of the officers of the guard
+by a short corridor of only about twenty paces, ran back to the door
+that opened on the corridor intending to close it, and bolt it from
+within. Fra Hervé divined the young girl's purpose, and, meaning to
+prevent it, precipitated himself upon her. That instant Antonicq reached
+his betrothed, disengaged her from the clutches of the monk, seized him
+by the shoulders and flung him back violently. Free once more, Cornelia
+quickly carried out her purpose. She closed the door gently, and bolted
+and barred it from within, thus shielding herself and Antonicq behind a
+barrier that the officers of the Duke of Anjou would consume
+considerable time before they could succeed in breaking down. At the
+very moment that Cornelia closed the door Fra Hervé sounded the alarm
+in a sufficiently penetrating voice to be heard in the hall of the
+guards:
+
+"Help! Treason! To arms! Help! The Huguenots!"
+
+But instantly the Cordelier's voice expired upon his lips. A vigorous
+hand seized him by the throat, the blade of a dagger shone in the air
+and twice plunged into the fratricide's breast. He fell over backward,
+bathed in his own blood, straightened himself for an instant, foamed at
+the mouth, and breathed his last;--and a muffled voice cried
+"_Twenty-five_--the bill is paid. Now I can die in peace. My sister and
+her daughter are avenged! The ransom of the crime is paid in full."
+
+The Franc-Taupin had emerged from under ground after Antonicq, and
+preceded Captain Mirant, who rushed to his daughter's embrace while the
+Franc-Taupin stabbed the fratricidal monk to death.
+
+"Let us flee!" said Cornelia to her father and her betrothed, after
+responding to their demonstrations of tenderness. "The monk's cries
+reached the hall of the guards at the head of the corridor. I hear them
+coming. Do you hear those steps? The sound of those approaching voices?"
+
+"We have nothing to fear. Your presence of mind, my dear girl, has
+insured our safe retreat. They will find it no easy task to enter the
+cell. The door is thick, the bolt solid," remarked the Franc-Taupin,
+examining and fastening more tightly the bolt with imperturbable
+calmness. "Cornelia, Antonicq, and you, Captain Mirant, descend to the
+aqueduct quickly, and wait for me just this side of the mine that I
+planted in the underground passage, and near which Master Barbot and
+the sailors are waiting for our signal."
+
+Turning to Serpentin, the apprentice, who also came in after Captain
+Mirant the Franc-Taupin said:
+
+"Come here, my gay fellow--bring me the little machine and implements.
+We shall serve up a peppery broth to the royalists."
+
+Cornelia, her father and Antonicq hastened to descend the stairs of the
+underground passage that the trap door masked. Hardly had they
+disappeared, leaving the Franc-Taupin and the apprentice behind in Fra
+Hervé's cell, when they heard violent knocks given at the door, and a
+confused noise of voices calling out:
+
+"Fra Hervé! Fra Hervé!"
+
+The Marquis of Montbar was heard saying: "A minute ago he cried: 'Help!
+Treason!' He now makes no answer. The witch may have strangled the
+reverend Father!"
+
+And the voices outside continued to cry tumultuously: "Fra Hervé! Fra
+Hervé! We can not get in! The door is bolted from within. The devil take
+it! Open to us, Fra Hervé! We come to help you!"
+
+"Quick! Bring levers and an axe--or, better yet, let us break in the
+door!" the voice of the Marquis of Montbar was again heard to say. "Run
+for a company of my soldiers! We shall wait here. Hurry up!"
+
+"Oh! Oh!" observed the Franc-Taupin, after silently listening to the
+observations from the other side of the door, to which he had glued his
+ears. "The royalists are inviting themselves in large numbers to the
+banquet that I am preparing for them! And why not? When there is broth
+for five guests, there is enough for ten, if the housekeeper is
+economical. Just wait, my friends! My broth is cooking! It is so
+toothsome that a single spoonful will do the work for twenty or thirty
+persons."
+
+"Master Josephin, here are the implements and the little machine," said
+Serpentin in a low voice, as he drew out of a bag that he brought
+suspended from his shoulders and handed over to the Franc-Taupin a heavy
+iron box about one foot long and six inches high and wide. The box,
+filled full with powder, was pierced in the center by a narrow slit
+through which a sulphured fuse was inserted. The Franc-Taupin took in
+his hands the redoubtable petard, examined the structure of the door
+minutely, and after a moment's reflection inserted the iron box with no
+little difficulty under the lower hinge. The Franc-Taupin then rose, and
+patting the apprentice upon the cheek said to him in a low voice:
+
+"Tell me, my lad, why do I place the little machine so tightly between
+the floor and the hinge?"
+
+Serpentin reflected for a moment, scratched his ear, and then reeled off
+his answer after the fashion of a boy who recites his lesson:
+
+"Master, you place the little machine in that way in order that, when it
+blows up, it may tear up the door along with the hinge; the torn up
+hinge will tear up the masonry in which it is fastened; the torn up
+masonry will tear up a part of the wall; and the torn up wall will bring
+down the ceiling. As a result of all this the debris will roll down
+upon the St. Bartholomew lambkins, whose flesh will have been scratched
+by the flying fragments of the little machine which will have been
+hurled in all directions, and will have whistled and ricocheted like
+artillery balls."
+
+"Wise--wise answer, my lad," observed the Franc-Taupin pinching the
+apprentice's ear with a satisfied look. "Continue to profit by my
+lessons in this manner, and you will become an accomplished miner, and
+you then will be able to contribute handsomely towards the scattering
+into fragments of a goodly number of papists and royalists. Now, off
+with you, hurry down the stone steps, and wait for me at the bottom."
+
+Serpentin obeyed. The Franc-Taupin knelt down at the threshold of the
+door, took from his belt a horn of powder and spilt along the floor a
+sufficient quantity to quite cover up the fuse. Thereupon, retreating on
+his knees, he laid down a long train of powder. The train skirted Fra
+Hervé's corpse and ended at the opening of the trap door, down which he
+descended. Josephin stopped on the stair so that only his head appeared
+above the level of the flooring. Listening in the direction of the door,
+behind which he could hear a confused noise of voices, he said to
+himself: "The Catholic vermin is swarming behind the door, but I still
+have time to cut my _twenty-fifth_ notch."
+
+He took the little stick which he habitually carried hung on a string
+from a buttonhole of his jacket, pulled out his dagger, and cutting into
+the wood, the aged soldier said:
+
+"Hena, my sister's daughter, was plunged twenty-five times into the
+flames by the priests of the Church of Rome. I have just put to death
+my twenty-fifth Roman Catholic and Apostolic priest!"
+
+As he murmured these words to himself, Josephin contemplated the corpse
+of Fra Hervé, stretched out upon his back in a pool of blood, with
+stiffened arms, clenched fists and half bent knees. The light from the
+lamp shed its pale luster upon the monk's face upon which the agony of
+death was still stamped. The jaws were close set; foam oozed out at the
+lips; the corpse's glassy and fixed eyes still seemed to preserve their
+threatening aspect from the depth of their cavities.
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed the Franc-Taupin with a terrible sigh, "How many times,
+alas! how very many times, seated at the hearth of my poor sister, when
+the unfortunate being who lies there dead and still foaming at his mouth
+with rage was a little boy, how often I took him and his younger brother
+Odelin upon my knees! caressed their little blonde heads! kissed their
+plump cheeks! Joining in their infantine amusements, I entertained them,
+I gladdened them with my Franc-Taupin songs! In those days Hervé
+equalled his brother in the gentleness of his character and the kindness
+of his heart. The two were the joy, the pride, the hope of my sister and
+of Christian! But one day a monk, a demon, Fra Girard, took possession
+of the mind of unhappy Hervé, dominated it, led it astray, corrupted it,
+and debased it forever! Oh! priests of Rome! priests of Rome! A curse
+upon you! Alas! out of the sweet boy, whom I loved so dearly, you made a
+bloodthirsty fanatic, a wrathful madman, a fratricide--and it became my
+duty to smite him with my dagger--him--him--my own sister's child!"
+
+The Franc-Taupin was drawn from his revery by the ringing sound of blows
+struck with maces and the butts of arquebuses against the door from
+without, and splintering its woodwork, while, rising above the tumult,
+the voice of the Marquis of Montbar was heard crying: "To work! Strike
+hard! Harder still! Break in the door!"
+
+"Well! The hour has come for the St. Bartholomew lambkins to dance in
+the air!" said the Franc-Taupin. Without hurrying, without losing his
+calmness, he pulled from his pocket a tinder box, a wick and a flint and
+steel. Striking upon the flint with the iron, he hummed between his
+teeth the old song that the memories of Odelin's and Hervé's infancy had
+recalled to his mind:
+
+    "A Franc-Taupin had an ash-tree bow,
+    All eaten with worms, and all knotted its cord;
+    His arrow was made out of paper, and plumed,
+    And tipped at the end with a capon's spur.
+    _Derideron, vignette on vignon! Derideron!_"
+
+During the song of the old soldier, who calmly continued to strike at
+the flint, the blows aimed at the door redoubled in violence. Presently
+it was heard to crack, yield, break, and one of its fragments fell
+inside the apartment. Immediately thereupon Josephin applied the lighted
+wick to the train of powder and vanished underground letting down the
+heavy trap door over his head. The train of powder took fire, shot along
+its course as rapid as a flash of lightning, and reached the fuse of
+the petard, which exploded with a great crash at the very moment when
+the door, finally broken through, offered a passage to the Marquis of
+Montbar, closely followed by his henchmen. Like himself, they were blown
+up, mutilated or killed by the fragments of the iron box which flew into
+pieces. The masonry of the door, being torn down by the explosion,
+ripped the rest of the wall after it, bringing down the ceiling which
+fell in a heap upon the heads of the royalists.
+
+Cornelia, Antonicq, Master Barbot, Captain Mirant and six resolute
+mariners who accompanied him but whose help was not needed, were soon
+joined at the bottom of the aqueduct by the apprentice and the
+Franc-Taupin. Josephin forthwith blew up the mine that he had laid at
+that place in order completely to obstruct the passage of the royalists
+in case they attempted to pursue the fugitives. The whole party soon
+arrived safe and sound at La Rochelle, where they met Louis Rennepont
+and his wife, a prey to mortal anxiety upon the issue of the enterprise,
+which had that morning been planned, upon Theresa's bringing back from
+the beach the news of Cornelia's capture and reservation for the Duke of
+Anjou.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The bloody defeat, sustained by the royalists at the assault of the
+Bastion of the Evangelium, was the presage of the raising of the siege
+of La Rochelle. After two other stubbornly contested encounters, at
+which the royalist forces were again repulsed, the Duke of Anjou
+commissioned several seigneurs as parliamentarians to the Rochelois
+with propositions of peace. The majority of the City Council took the
+stand that the Huguenots refused to lay down arms until a new royal
+edict consecrated their rights and their liberty. The minority of the
+City Council, aware of the worthlessness of all royal edicts, favored
+breaking with royalty for all time. The view of the majority prevailed.
+Commissioners were appointed by both sides, to agree upon the bases of a
+new edict. The Catholic commissioners were the Seigneur of La Vauguyon,
+René of Villequier, Francis of La Baume, the Count of Suze, the Seigneur
+of Malicorne, Marshal Montluc, Armand of Gontaut-Biron, and the Count of
+Retz. The Rochelois commissioners were two bourgeois, Morrisson the
+Mayor, and Captain Gargouillaud. The reformers stoutly maintained their
+position, and stipulated for the same, not in the name of their own city
+only, but in the name of all the reformers of the Protestant Republican
+Union. These stipulations were subsequently rejected by the Union, so
+soon as they became known, upon the just ground of the rest of the
+Union's not having been consulted, and of its declining to recognize the
+royal authority. Thus, thanks to their bold insurrection and their
+heroic resistance the Rochelois imposed upon Charles IX the new edict of
+July 15, 1573. This edict consecrated and extended all the rights
+previously conquered by the reformers. A clause in this edict, which was
+a crushing document to the Catholic party, provided: "That all armed
+insurrections which took place AFTER THE NIGHT OF AUGUST 23, 1572, are
+amnestied." Thus Charles IX was made to admit that the reformers had
+justly drawn the sword to avenge the crime of St. Bartholomew's night!
+
+Thus the siege of La Rochelle was disgracefully raised by the Catholic
+army. This expedition cost the King immense sums of money, and he lost
+in the course of the several assaults upon the city, and also from
+sickness, about twenty-two thousand men. Among the seigneurs and
+captains killed during the siege were the Duke of Aumale, Clermont,
+Tallard, Cosseins, Du Guast, etc., besides over three hundred subaltern
+officers.
+
+Thus you see, Oh, sons of Joel! the glorious issue to the Rochelois of
+the siege of their city once more consecrates this truth, so often
+inscribed in the annals of our plebeian family: "Never falter! Let us
+struggle, let us battle without flagging. It is fatedly decreed that,
+only and ever through force, arms in hand, through INSURRECTION, we can
+conquer our freedom and our rights, which are ever denied to us, ignored
+and violated by our eternal foes--ROYALTY AND THE CHURCH OF ROME."
+
+
+
+
+EPILOGUE.
+
+
+On this day, the 29th of September, 1609, I, Antonicq Lebrenn, now in my
+sixty-first year, close, on our farm of Karnak, this legend of our
+family, which is the continuation of the narrative written and
+bequeathed to us by my grandfather Christian the printer and friend of
+Robert Estienne.
+
+Immediately upon the raising of the siege of La Rochelle I married
+Cornelia Mirant. Shortly after I put into execution a project that I had
+long been fondly nursing--that of moving to Brittany and establishing
+myself in the neighborhood of the cradle of my family. Before leaving La
+Rochelle, Colonel Plouernel, who recovered from his wounds sustained in
+the siege, renewed his offer of leasing out to me a farm belonging to
+the seigniorial estate of Mezlean, a patrimony of his wife's father, and
+known as the Karnak farm by reason of its being in the close
+neighborhood of the druid stones that bear that name. These stones are
+still extant, ranged in wide avenues, as they stood in the days of
+Julius Caesar, when our ancestress Hena, the Virgin of the Isle of Sen,
+offered herself to the gods as a holocaust, in the hope of causing them
+to render the arms of the Gauls victorious in their impending struggle
+for independence. I accepted Colonel Plouernel's offer, an offer that
+also pleased Cornelia and her father, who, as he continued almost
+constantly to travel by water between La Rochelle and Vannes, a port
+located near Karnak, foresaw, as happened in fact, that he would spend
+near us all the time that he did not spend aboard ship. I sold my
+armorer's shop. Leaving my sister Theresa and her husband Louis
+Rennepont at La Rochelle, where the latter practiced the profession of
+law, and taking with us my uncle the Franc-Taupin, who promised to
+himself the pleasure of rocking our children on his knees and singing to
+them his Franc-Taupin songs, as he had done to my father Odelin, my
+ill-starred aunt Hena, and my uncle Hervé of sad memory, we departed
+from La Rochelle and settled down on our farm of Karnak on October 20 of
+the year 1573.
+
+My sister Theresa and her husband Louis Rennepont still reside in the
+old Protestant city. Every year they come to see us. Thanks to the
+numerous trips that his profession compelled him to make to Paris, my
+brother-in-law came in contact with several Huguenots who were well
+informed on current events. His conversations with them, together with
+extracts from several books that were published concerning leading
+public men and important occurrences, furnished him with copious
+materials which he left with me. These materials enable me here to make
+a summary sketch of the leading events since the siege of La Rochelle
+was raised:
+
+The edict of pacification of La Rochelle was not wholly satisfactory to
+the Huguenots of the other provinces. The example of the Low Countries,
+then in successful revolt against the monarchic-clerical power of Spain,
+and organized upon the republican pattern, inspired their brothers in
+France to renewed efforts. The "Politicals" gained new recruits every
+day. The Prince of Condé, ashamed of his act of desertion, fled the
+court and issued a manifesto from Strasburg repudiating his abjuration.
+Measures were in train to renew the war, and to overthrow Charles IX,
+when his death gave a new turn to affairs.
+
+The monster expired in 1574, barely twenty-four years of age and haunted
+by his bloody deeds. "Oh! nurse, nurse!" he would cry in agonies of
+terror; "Oh! nurse, how much blood--it is St. Bartholomew's blood! Oh!
+how many murders--how many victims struggling to escape under the sword.
+I see them--Oh! what wicked councillors I had! Oh, God! Oh, God! have
+mercy upon me!"[85]
+
+Charles IX was followed by his brother the Duke of Anjou, who, in the
+meantime, had been elected King of Poland. Apprized by his mother of his
+brother's decease, he fled his Polish kingdom, and mounted the French
+throne under the name of Henry III. True to his family traditions, Henry
+III sought at first to violate the Edict of La Rochelle. Finding this
+act of treachery unfeasible, he vacillated between extreme reaction and
+progress. This course earned for him the suspicion of the Catholic
+clergy and he was assassinated by a Dominican monk, James Clement, in
+1589.
+
+War again broke out, with Henry of Bearn now at the head of the
+Huguenots, to whom he returned during the reign of Henry III. Henry of
+Bearn now claimed the crown by inheritance as Henry IV, besieged Paris,
+and was finally crowned, but not until he once more abjured
+Protestantism. His reign was benign and favorable to the Reformation. In
+1598 the Edict of Nantes was signed, granting the Huguenots absolute
+freedom of conscience. The policy of Henry IV enraged the priesthood,
+and he also fell a victim to the assassin's knife. The assassin's name
+was Francis Ravaillac. "Nine days after the death of Henry IV, on
+Tuesday, May 23, 1610, an altercation took place between Monsieur
+Leomenie and Father Cotton in full council. Leomenie said to the Jesuit
+that it was he _and his Society of Jesus that murdered the King_. On
+that same day, Ravaillac, being interrogated by the commission, answered
+_in accordance with the maxims of the Jesuits Mariana, Becanus and
+others, whose writings recommend the killing of a tyrant_."
+
+The death of Henry IV conjured away the danger that Rome, the Empire and
+Spain saw themselves threatened with--the Christian Republic and the
+perpetual peace of Europe. The fresh murder, also committed at the
+instigation of the disciples of Loyola, had fatal consequences. But
+sooner or later Right triumphs over Wrong, Justice over Iniquity.
+Therefore, Oh, sons of Joel! no faltering. Some day the Universal
+Republic will unfurl the red banner of freedom, and will break the yoke
+both of the Roman Church and of this royalty that has oppressed Gaul
+for so many centuries.
+
+As to our own family, Cornelia Mirant with whom I have now been married
+thirty-seven years, gave me after twenty years of our wedded life, a son
+whom I have named Stephan. We have lived on our farm near the sacred
+stones of Karnak, and not far from Craigh, the high hill upon which,
+according to our family traditions, stood the house of our ancestor Joel
+in the days of Julius Caesar. My uncle the Franc-Taupin remained with us
+to the end of his long and eventful life. He died on the 12th of
+November, 1589.
+
+My brother-in-law Louis Rennepont continues to exercise his profession
+at La Rochelle. The youngest of his sons, Marius Rennepont, embraced the
+career of merchant mariner and sailed away, when still very young, on
+board a merchant vessel commanded by one of Captain Mirant's friends.
+Captain Mirant died in 1593. That same year we lost our old friend
+Master Barbot, the boilermaker of the isle of Rhe.
+
+I preserved amicable relations to the end with Colonel Plouernel, since
+the battle of Roche-la-Belle the head of his house. Shortly before his
+death we visited upon his invitation the old Castle of Plouernel, where
+our ancestor Den-Brao the mason was buried alive together with other
+serfs in the donjon constructed by themselves, and out of which Fergan
+the Quarryman, Den-Brao's son, rescued his own child, a poor boy whose
+blood was to assist the incantations of Azenor the Pale, the mistress of
+Neroweg VI. Nothing is left to-day of that feudal edifice but imposing
+ruins. Its place is now taken by a magnificent castle built in the style
+of the Renaissance, and raised at the foot of the mountain. Colonel
+Plouernel's son remained faithful to the Reformed religion, but, after
+his death, his son abjured Protestantism and took up his residence at
+the court of Louis XIII, the successor of Henry IV, with whom he became
+a favorite. The new head of the family never returned to his own castle,
+which, together with the vast domains attached to it, is ruled by the
+bailiffs of the seigniories of Plouernel and Mezlean.
+
+Once, on the occasion of a trip to the port of Vannes, I met a traveler
+just arrived from Germany, who informed me of the death of Prince
+Charles of Gerolstein, a descendant of one of the branches of our
+plebeian family whose ancestor was Gaëlo, one of the companions of old
+Rolf, the chief of the Northman pirates. Prince Charles left a son
+behind, heir of his principality, who remains faithful to the Reformed
+religion.
+
+Our life has run peaceful and happy at this place. We cultivate our
+fields, and they satisfy our wants. My son Stephan, now sixteen years of
+age, helps me in my field labors. He is of a kind, timid and diffident
+disposition, although born of so intrepid a mother as Cornelia. He will,
+I hope, live peacefully here, unless the civil discords, which already
+begin to threaten the minority of Louis XIII, should extend into
+Brittany.
+
+I shall here close this narrative which my grandfather Christian the
+printer began under the reign of Francis I. I shall join it to the
+archives and relics of our family together with the pocket Bible printed
+by my grandfather, and which his daughter Hena, baptized in religion
+Sister St. Frances-in-the-Tomb, held in her hands before she was plunged
+twenty-five times into the flames on the 21st of January, 1535, under
+the eyes of King Francis I, to the greater glory of the Roman Catholic
+and Apostolic Church.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Tire-Laines means literally Wool-Pluckers.
+
+[2] Tire-Soies: literally Silk-Pluckers.
+
+[3] Mauvais-Garçons; literally Bad Boys.
+
+[4]
+
+    From the bowels of the earth I have cried up to thee, O, Lord;
+    O, Lord, give ear unto my voice.
+    May thy ears be ready to listen
+    To the voice of my supplications.
+
+
+[5] This whole sermon la a reproduction from the records of the time.
+See Merle d'Aubigné, _History of the Reformation in the XVI Century_,
+vol. 1. p. 332. (Pp. 86, 87, edition H. W. Hagemann Publishing Co., New
+York, 1894.)
+
+[6] We consider it our duty to cite literally the monstrous fact against
+which the heart rises in revolt, and reason feels indignant:
+
+"Sub commissariis insuper ac praedicatoribus veniarum imponere ut si
+quis, per impossibile. _Dei genetricem_, semper virginem violasset, quod
+eundem indulgentiarum vigore absolvere posset luce clarius
+est...."--(l'ositiones fratris J. Tezelil, quibus defendit indulgentias
+contra Lutherum. Theses 99, 100 and 101). Cited by Merle d'Aubigné,
+_History of the Reformation in the XVI Century_, p. 86, edition H. W.
+Hagemann Publishing Co., New York, 1894.
+
+[7] Merle d'Aubigné. _History of the Reformation in the XVI Century_,
+vol. I, pp. 328, 329. (P. 88, edition H. W. Hagemann Publishing Co., New
+York, 1894.)
+
+[8] The seat of the University of Paris.
+
+[9] For these horrible calumnies spread by the clergy against the
+Reformation, see De Thou, vol. I, book II, p. 97.
+
+[10] In Spanish, as well as French, "woman" and "wife" are the same
+word. Loyola punned upon the word.
+
+[11] For a thrilling account of one of these invasions, see "The Iron
+Arrow Head," the tenth of this series.
+
+[12] "Executio ad alios pertinet."--Bellarmin, vol. I, chap. VII, p.
+147.
+
+[13] Mariana, _De Rege, vol. I_, chap. VI, p. 60.
+
+[14] "'Alas', the monk explained, ' ... men have arrived at such a pitch
+of corruption now-a-days, that unable to make them come to us, we must
+e'en go to them, otherwise they would cast us off altogether; ... our
+casuists have taken under consideration the vices to which people of
+various conditions are most addicted, with a view of laying down maxims
+which ... are so gentle that he must be a very impracticable subject
+indeed who is not pleased with them.'"--Blaise Pascal, _Letters to a
+Provincial_, Letter VI, pp. 219, 220, edition Houghton, Osgood & Co.,
+Boston, 1880.
+
+[15] _Practice According to the School of the Society of Jesus (Praxis
+ex Societatis Jesu Schola)._ The passage reads: "Si habitum dimmittat ut
+furetur occulte, vel fornicetur."--Treatise 6, example 7, number 103.
+Also in Diana: "Ut eat incognitus ad lupanar."--Cited by Blaise Pascal,
+_Letters to a Provincial_, Letter VI, p. 215, edition Houghton, Osgood &
+Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[16] Father Gaspar Hurtado, _On the Subject of Sins (De Sub. Pecc._),
+diff. 9; Diana, p. 5; treatise 14, r. 99.--Cited by Blaise Pascal,
+_Letters to a Provincial_, Letter VII, p. 234, edition Houghton, Osgood
+& Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[17] Father Anthony Escobar of Mendoza, _Exposition of Uncontroverted
+Opinions in Moral Theology_, treatise 7, example 4, no. 223.--Cited by
+Pascal, _Letters to a Provincial_, Letter VI, p. 226, edition Houghton,
+Osgood & Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[18] Father Etienne Bauny, _Summary of Sins_ (1633), sixth edition, pp.
+213, 214.--Cited by Pascal, _Letters to a Provincial_, Letter VI, p.
+226, edition Houghton, Osgood & Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[19] "Non ut malum pro malo reddat, sed ut conservet honorem." are the
+words of Reginaldus, in _Practice According to the School of the Society
+of Jesus_, book 21, no. 62, p. 260. Also Lessius, _Concerning Justice
+(De Justitia)_, book 2, chap. 9, division 12, no. 79.--Cited by Pascal,
+_Letters to a Provincial_, Letter VII, pp. 233, 234, edition Houghton,
+Osgood & Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[20] Sanchez, _Moral Theology_, book 2, chap. 39, no. 7.--Cited by
+Pascal, _Letters to a Provincial_, Letter VII, p. 237, edition Houghton,
+Osgood & Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[21] Molina, vol. 1, treatise 2, division 88, no. 6. Also Escobar,
+_Moral Theology_, treatise 6, example 6, no. 48.--Cited by Pascal,
+_Letters to a Provincial_, Letter VIII, pp. 249, 250, edition Houghton,
+Osgood & Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[22] Father Bauny, _Summary of Sins_, chap. 14.--Cited by Pascal,
+_Letters to a Provincial_, Letter VIII, p. 252, edition Houghton, Osgood
+& Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[23] "Media benevolentia."--Escobar, _Moral Theology_, treatise 3,
+example 5, no. 4.33,34.--Cited by Pascal, _Letters to a Provincial_,
+Letter VIII, p. 253, edition Houghton, Osgood & Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[24] Lessius, confirmed by Escobar, treatise 3, example 2, no.
+163.--Cited by Pascal, _Letters to a Provincial_, Letter VIII, pp. 254,
+255, edition Houghton, Osgood & Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[25] Lessius, book 2, chap. 14, division 8; approved and endorsed by
+Escobar: "Quamvis mulier illicite acquirat, licite tamen retinet
+acquisita." treatise 1, example 8, no. 59.--Cited by Pascal, _Letters to
+a Provincial_, Letter VIII, pp. 257, 258, edition Houghton, Osgood &
+Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[26] Lessius, book 2, chap. 14, division 8. Also Escobar, treatise 1,
+example 9, no. 9.--Cited by Pascal, _Letters to a Provincial_, Letter
+VIII, p. 256, edition Houghton, Osgood & Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[27] Vasquez, _Treatise upon Alms_, chap. 4. So, also, Diana.--Cited by
+Pascal, _Letters to a Provincial_, Letter VI, p. 214, edition Houghton,
+Osgood & Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[28] Escobar, treatise 3, example 1, no. 23; treatise 5, example 5, no.
+53.--Cited by Pascal, _Letters to a Provincial_, Letter VIII, p. 258,
+edition Houghton, Osgood & Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[29] Sanchez, part 2, book 3, chap. 6, no. 13; Filiutius, treatise 25,
+chap. 11, nos. 331, 328.--Cited by Pascal, _Letters to a Provincial_,
+Letter IX, pp. 276, 277, edition Houghton, Osgood & Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[30] Father Bauny, _Summary of Sins_, p. 148.--Cited by Pascal, _Letters
+to a Provincial_, Letter IX, p. 279, edition Houghton, Osgood & Co.,
+Boston, 1880.
+
+[31] Escobar, chapter on thieving, treatise 1, example 9, no. 13.--Cited
+by Pascal, _Letters to a Provincial_, Letter IX, p. 281, edition
+Houghton, Osgood & Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[32] "Ob naturalem fastus inclinationem"--Escobar, treatise 1, example
+8, no. 5.--Cited by Pascal, _Letters to a Provincial_, Letter IX, pp.
+279, 280, edition Houghton, Osgood & Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[33] Father Bauny, _Summary of Sins_, p. 165.--Alluded to by Pascal,
+_Letters to a Provincial_, Letter IX, p. 279, edition Houghton, Osgood &
+Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[34] To the greater glory of God.
+
+[35] Confession of Faith of the English Reformers.--Theodore de Beze,
+_Ecclesiastical Annals_, vol. 1, pp. 109-118.
+
+[36] This charming passage is to be found in _The Book of Master Bernard
+Palissy_; quoted in the _Protestant Review_, vol. I, p. 23.
+
+[37] Form adopted by the Consistory
+
+[38] Protestant marriage service, according to the Psalms of David;
+translated into French by Clement Marot, Geneva.
+
+[39] _History of the Town of Paris_, by Dom Felibien, of the
+congregation of St. Maur; Paris, 1725, vol. V, p. 343. Also given in the
+_Registers of the Town Hall of Paris_, and the _Registers of the
+Parliaments_, folios 507-686.
+
+[40] Dom Felibien, _History of the Town of Paris_, vol. V, pp. 343-347;
+_French Ceremonial_, pp. 940 and following; _Registers of the Town Hall
+of Paris_, etc.
+
+[41] De Thou, _History of France_, book I, p. 271.
+
+[42] These monstrosities seem to exceed the boundaries of the possible.
+Let us quote literally the text of the historians:
+
+"On the evening of the same day (January 21, 1535) the six culprits were
+taken to the parvise of Notre Dame, where the fires were prepared to
+burn them. Above the pyres rose a sort of scaffolding on which the
+patients were tied fast. The fire was then lighted under them, and the
+executioners, GENTLY slacking the rope of the lever, allowed the
+miscreants to dip down to the level of the flames, in order that they be
+caused to feel the sharpest smart; they were then raised up again, kept
+hanging ablaze in midair, and, after having been several times put
+through that painful torment, they were dropped into the flames where
+they expired." (_History of France_ by Father Daniel of the Society of
+Jesus, vol. IV, page 41, Paris, 1751.)
+
+"On the said day (January 21, 1535) in the presence of the King, the
+Queen and all the court, and after the aforesaid remonstrances, the six
+heretics were brought forward to make the _amende honorable_ before the
+church of Notre Dame of Paris, and immediately after they were burned
+alive." (_Acts and Deeds of the Kings of France and England_, by Jean
+Bouchet. Poitiers, 1557, in-folio, pp. 271-272.)
+
+"In order to purge their sin, the said heretics were burned to death on
+the said day (January 21, 1535) at several places, as the King passed
+by, while in vain the poor sufferers cried and implored him for mercy."
+(_History of the State of Religion_, by Jean Sleidan. 1557, vol. IX, p.
+137). (Quotations from Catholic works.)
+
+[43] _Exhortation of the King of France against the Heretics_, Jean
+Bouchet, Poitiers, 1557, in-folio, p. 272.
+
+[44] On the subject of this decree, which was later forcibly annulled,
+see _Extracts of the Registers of the Parliament of Paris_, LXXVI, folio
+113, collated and extracted by M. Taillandier.--Cited in the
+introduction to the _History of the Printing Press in Paris, Memoirs of
+the Society of Antiquaries_, vol. XII.
+
+[45] It was no infrequent occurrence to cause the tongues of heretics to
+be cut out, in order to prevent them from confessing aloud the
+Evangelical doctrine as they marched to the stake.--See the following
+citation, from Theodore of Beze.
+
+[46] "Among those burnt at Paris that day, January 21, 1535, were: John
+Dubourg, a merchant-draper of Paris, living in St. Denis Street, at the
+sign of the Black Horse; Etienne Laforge, of Tournay, but long an
+inhabitant of Paris, a man very rich and very charitable; a
+schoolmistress named Mary La Catelle; and Anthony Poille, an architect
+formerly of Meaux, and blessed of God in that he carried off the palm
+among the martyrs, for having been the most cruelly treated. He had his
+tongue cut out, as more fully it is set forth in the book of the
+martyrs."--_Ecclesiastical Chronicles_, Theodore of Beze, vol. I, p. 1.
+
+[47] "Jacques Bonhomme," literally Goodman Jack, or Jack Drudge.
+
+[48] Contribution in forced labor.
+
+[49] Latin: "Let us pray."
+
+[50] Brantoine, _Illustrious Women_, vol. IX, p. 171.
+
+[51] _Register Journal of L'Etoile_, p. 28.
+
+[52] The queen's words are historical. The book was _Marvelous
+Discourses on Catherine De Medici_, by Robert Estienne, Geneva, 1565.
+
+[53] _Register Journal of L'Etoile_, p. 30.
+
+[54] That was the familiar appellation at court of Princess Marguerite,
+the daughter of Catherine of Medici and Henry II, so famous for her
+excesses. She married Henry IV, who later divorced her.
+
+[55] De Thou, _History of France_, book LXXIV, p. 240.
+
+[56] _Register Journal of L'Etoile_, supplement, p. 57.
+
+[57] _Register Journal of L'Etoile_, supplement, p. 198.
+
+[58] _Register Journal of L'Etoile_, p. 234. It is impossible to cite in
+full this all too true satire on the abominable morals of the court of
+France in the sixteenth century.
+
+[59] _Register Journal of L'Etoile_, supplement, pp. 236, 239.
+
+[60] _Register Journal of L'Etoile_, supplement, p. 239.
+
+[61] "Driven thereto by the Cardinal of Lorraine, who blamed the conduct
+of the Duke of Anjou, the Queen came to the army in person in order to
+enlighten herself upon the mistake of not having engaged battle before
+the enemy's forces had effected a junction, that is, after the death of
+the Duke of Deux-Ponts, who was poisoned by some wine presented to him
+by a wine merchant of Avallon. Her Majesty wished to take the field with
+Marshal Tavannes."--_Memoirs of Gaspard of Sault, Seigneur of Tavannes._
+pp. 322-323.
+
+[62] Letters of Pius V. March 23-April 13, 1569, at Catena--_Life Of
+Pius_ V, p. 85.
+
+[63] De Thou, _History of France_, LXXXV, p. 129.
+
+[64] Machiavelli, _The Prince_, chap. 18.
+
+[65] _Journal and Memoirs of Francis of Lorraine_, Duke of Aumale and of
+Guise, containing the affairs of France and the negotiations with
+Scotland, Italy and Germany, pp. 664-665.
+
+[66] Exodus 21, 23-25.
+
+[67] Morning prayer of the guard, 1569.--_Protestant Review_, vol. I, p.
+105.
+
+[68] The document, here reproduced, is the literal testament of Admiral
+Coligny, taken from the original manuscripts of the National Library,
+Collection of Puy, vol. LXXXI. This document, of so great a historic
+value, was first published in full in 1852 by the Historical Society of
+French Protestants, vol. I. p. 263. That which, in our estimation,
+imparts a double interest to the testament, is the circumstance that it
+was written by the Admiral during the war (June, 1569) after the battle
+of Jarnac and before the battle of Montcontour.
+
+[69] _Register Journal of L'Etoile_, p. 217. The original of this
+monstrous letter was deposited among the manuscripts of the National
+Library of France by decree of the Convention, the 11th, Ventose, year
+II of the Republic. The immortal Constitutionals wished thus to nail
+royalty once more to the pillory of history.
+
+[70] "While the admiral was in camp, Dominic, one of his chamber valets,
+convicted of having tried to poison his master, was hanged.... Having
+been captured by La Riviere, captain of the guard of the Duke of Anjou,
+he was overwhelmed with promises; he was made to expect everything, if
+he would poison his master. Dominic yielded, received money and a
+poisonous powder, and returned to the camp of Monsieur Coligny."--De
+Thou, _History of France_, vol. V, p. 626-627. See the same historian on
+the poisoning of the Duke of Deux-Ponts, of Dandolet, and others.
+
+[71] Inhabitants of the fortified city of La Rochelle.
+
+[72] For the details of this battle, see De Thou, vol. V. p. 500;
+_Memoires of Gaspard of Sault_, Seigneur of Tavannes, vol. I, p. 323 and
+following. _Memoires of Francis of Lanoüe_, vol. I, p. 623, and
+following.
+
+[73] _Memories of the State of France under Charles IX_, vol. 1, pp.
+5-12.
+
+[74] "Contre-Un" (Against-One) is the title at a book written in the
+sixteenth century by Estienne of La Boetie against monarchy.
+
+[75] La Boétie is to-day known mainly through the friendship that united
+him to Montaigne, and which inspired the latter to write one of his most
+charming passages.
+
+La Boétie was born in Sarlat, November 1, 1530; he died in Germignat,
+near Bordeaux, August 18, 1563. He left several works, all of which are
+to-day almost unknown. Unquestionably the most curious of his
+productions is the one mentioned by Montaigne in these terms:
+
+"My power of handling not being such that I dare to offer as a fine
+piece richly painted and set off according to art, I have therefore
+thought best to borrow one of Estienne of La Boetie, and such a one as
+will honor and adorn all the rest of my work: namely, a discourse that
+he called _Voluntary Servitude_, which others have since further
+baptized the _Contre-Un_, a piece written in his younger years, by way
+of essay, in honor of liberty against tyranny, and which has since been
+in the hands of several men of great learning and judgment, not without
+singular and merited commendation, for it is finely written and as full
+as anything can possibly be."--Montaigne, Essays, Book I, chap. 27.
+
+[76] An allusion to the Vision of Victoria, depicted in "The Casque's
+Lark," the fifth of this series.
+
+[77] It is certain that Admiral Coligny's head departed for Rome;
+whether it ever arrived there is not known. Mandelot, the Governor of
+Lyons, acknowledged receipt of a letter from Charles IX ordering the
+nobleman "_to arrest the carrier of the head, and to take the same away
+from him_."--Extracts from the correspondence of Mandelot, published by
+M. Paulin, Paris, 1845, p. 119.
+
+[78] Out of respect for our female readers we dare not here quote the
+_Register Journal of L'Etoile_, page 81, where is found _in extenso_ the
+conversation, marked by a savage obscenity, between the Queen and the
+court ladies who accompanied her. The conversation is confirmed by all
+contemporaneous historians.
+
+[79] See "The Brass Bell," number two in this series.
+
+[80] See "The Carlovingian Coins," the ninth of this series.
+
+[81] See, on the siege of La Rochelle, the daring manoeuvres of Captain
+Mirant; the combat sustained by Barbot the boilermaker, single-handed
+against two companies; the firing of the stranded ship _L'Ensensoir_ by
+the Rochelois women, and their heroism in the combats in which they took
+part, _History of La Rochelle and of the Country of Aunis_, by Arcère
+1756, 2 vols. in quarto. I refer my readers to that excellent work in
+order that those who would wish to certify the facts may see that all
+the episodes herein narrated concerning the siege of La Rochelle are
+strictly historic.
+
+[82] As thrillingly recounted in "The Pilgrim's Shell," the twelfth work
+of this series.
+
+[83] As an instance of the proud and noble bearing of the staunch
+republicans in this Council, the story is told that when it was found
+that in the passport issued by the Duke of Anjou the Rochelois were
+designated as "rebels," they refused to accept it, and Anjou was forced
+to send another passport.--_History of La Rochelle_, by Arcere, p. 417.
+
+[84] "I am guilty, I am guilty, I am very guilty."
+
+[85] _Register Journal of L'Etoile_, p. 34.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
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+  The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Pocket Bible, by Eugene Sue.
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+<pre>
+
+Project Gutenberg's The Pocket Bible or Christian the Printer, by Eugène Sue
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Pocket Bible or Christian the Printer
+       A Tale of the Sixteenth Century
+
+Author: Eugène Sue
+
+Translator: Daniel De Leon
+
+Release Date: January 25, 2011 [EBook #35067]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POCKET BIBLE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was
+produced from scanned images of public domain material
+from the Google Print project.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+<hr />
+
+<div class="image" style="width: 368px;">
+<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="368" height="550" alt="image of the book&#39;s cover" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<h1>THE POCKET BIBLE</h1>
+
+<div class="boxseries">
+<div class="boxdouble">
+<p class="full">THE FULL SERIES OF</p>
+
+<p class="c"><img src="images/ill_mysteries.png"
+alt="The Mysteries of the People"
+width="300"
+height="28"
+title="The Mysteries of the People"
+/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="c">OR</p>
+
+<p class="c">History of a Proletarian Family<br />Across the Ages</p>
+
+<p class="c">B y &nbsp; E U G E N E &nbsp; S U E</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="c"><i>Consisting of the Following Works:</i></p>
+
+<p class="nind"><b>THE GOLD SICKLE; or, <i>Hena the Virgin of the Isle of Sen</i>.<br />
+THE BRASS BELL; or, <i>The Chariot of Death</i>.<br />
+THE IRON COLLAR; or, <i>Faustine and Syomara</i>.<br />
+THE SILVER CROSS; or, <i>The Carpenter of Nazareth</i>.<br />
+THE CASQUE'S LARK; or, <i>Victoria, the Mother of the Camps</i>.<br />
+THE PONIARID'S HILT; or, <i>Karadeucq and Ronan</i>.<br />
+THE BRANDING NEEDLE; or, The <i>Monastery of Charolles</i>.<br />
+THE ABBATIAL CROSIER; or, <i>Bonaik and Septimine</i>.<br />
+THE CARLOVINGIAN COINS; or, <i>The Daughters of Charlemagne</i>.<br />
+THE IRON ARROW-HEAD; or, <i>The Buckler Maiden</i>.<br />
+THE INFANT'S SKULL; or, <i>The End of the World</i>.<br />
+THE PILGRIM'S SHELL; or, <i>Fergan the Quarryman</i>.<br />
+THE IRON PINCERS; or, <i>Mylio and Karvel</i>.<br />
+THE IRON TREVET; or Jocelyn the Champion.<br />
+THE EXECUTIONER'S KNIFE; or, Joan of Arc.<br />
+THE POCKET BIBLE; or, <i>Christian the Printer</i>.<br />
+THE BLACKSMITH'S HAMMER; or, <i>The Peasant Code</i>.<br />
+THE SWORD OF HONOR; or, <i>The Foundation of the French Republic</i>.<br />
+THE GALLEY SLAVE'S RING; or, <i>The Family Lebrenn</i>.</b></p>
+
+<div class="boxdouble">
+<p class="c"><small>Published Uniform With This Volume By</small><br />
+THE NEW YORK LABOR NEWS CO.<br />
+<small>28 CITY HALL PLACE &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; NEW YORK CITY</small></p></div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="box">
+<div class="box2">
+<h1 style="font-family:serif;">
+T<small>HE</small> P<small>OCKET</small> B<small>IBLE</small><br />
+
+<small><small>: : &nbsp; : : &nbsp;OR&nbsp; : : &nbsp; : :</small></small><br />
+<small><small>C&nbsp;H&nbsp;R&nbsp;I&nbsp;S&nbsp;T&nbsp;I&nbsp;A&nbsp;N
+&nbsp;
+&nbsp; T&nbsp;H&nbsp;E
+&nbsp;
+&nbsp; P&nbsp;R&nbsp;I&nbsp;N&nbsp;T&nbsp;E&nbsp;R</small></small></h1>
+
+<table summary="name" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"
+style="border-bottom:6px double black;
+letter-spacing:8px;font-size:125%;">
+<tr><td>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
+&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
+&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
+&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>
+<br />
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="c"><b>A Tale of the Sixteenth Century</b></p>
+
+<table summary="name" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"
+style="border-top:4px double black;
+border-bottom:6px double black;">
+<tr><td><b>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;B y &nbsp; E U G E N E &nbsp; S U E&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</b></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>
+<br />
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="c"><b>In Two Volumes</b></p>
+
+<table summary="name" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"
+style="border-bottom:6px double black;
+letter-spacing:8px;font-size:125%;">
+<tr><td>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
+&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
+&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
+&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="c"><b><small>TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL FRENCH BY</small></b></p>
+
+<p class="c"><b>D&nbsp;A&nbsp;N&nbsp;I&nbsp;E&nbsp;L
+&nbsp; D&nbsp;E
+&nbsp; L&nbsp;E&nbsp;O&nbsp;N</b></p>
+
+<p class="c"><b><small>NEW YORK LABOR NEWS COMPANY, 1910</small></b></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="c"><br />
+<br />
+<small>Copyright 1910, by the<br />
+NEW YORK LABOR NEWS CO.</small><br />
+</p>
+
+<h3><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX</h3>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" summary="contents"
+style="font-family:courier new, serif;font-weight:bold;">
+<tr><td colspan="3" align="center">Volume 1.</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3" align="center">PART I. THE SOCIETY OF JESUS.</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2"><a href="#INTRODUCTION-vol-1">INTRODUCTION</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-1-001">1</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3">CHAPTER.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_vol-1-I">I.</a></td><td>THE THEFT</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-1-007">7</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_vol-1-II">II.</a></td><td>THE NEOPHYTE</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-1-018">18</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_vol-1-III">III.</a></td><td>THE SALE OF INDULGENCES</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-1-033">33</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_vol-1-IV">IV.</a></td><td>THE "TEST OF THE LUTHERANS"</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-1-053">53</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_vol-1-V">V.</a></td><td>MONSIEUR JOHN</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-1-078">78</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_vol-1-VI">VI.</a></td><td>THE FRANC-TAUPIN</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-1-087">87</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_vol-1-VII">VII.</a></td><td>BROTHER ST. ERNEST-MARTYR</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-1-112">112</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_vol-1-VIII">VIII.</a></td><td> IN THE GARRET</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-1-128">128</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_vol-1-IX">IX.</a></td><td>THE PENITENT</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-1-133">133</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_vol-1-X">X.</a></td><td>LOYOLA AND HIS DISCIPLES</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-1-138">138</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_vol-1-XI">XI.</a></td><td>MOTHER AND DAUGHTER</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-1-166">166</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_vol-1-XII">XII.</a></td><td>HERVE'S DEMENTIA</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-1-176">176</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_vol-1-XIII">XIII.</a></td><td> CALVINISTS IN COUNCIL</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-1-193">193</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_vol-1-XIV">XIV.</a></td><td>HENA'S DIARY</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-1-231">231</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_vol-1-XV">XV.</a></td><td>DIARY OF ST. ERNEST-MARTYR</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-1-244">244</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_vol-1-XVI">XVI.</a></td><td>THE TAVERN OF THE BLACK GRAPE</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-1-252">252</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_vol-1-XVII">XVII.</a></td><td> THE COTTAGE OF ROBERT ESTIENNE</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-1-266">266</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_vol-1-XVIII">XVIII.</a></td><td> FOR BETTER AND FOR WORSE</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-1-286">286</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_vol-1-XIX">XIX.</a></td><td>ON THE ROAD TO PARIS</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-1-304">304</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_vol-1-XX">XX.</a></td><td>JANUARY 21, 1535</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-1-323">323</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><br />
+<br /></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3" align="center">Volume 2.</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3" align="center">PART II&mdash;THE HUGUENOTS.</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2"><a href="#INTRODUCTION-vol-2">INTRODUCTION</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-2-001">1</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3">CHAPTER.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_vol-2-I">I.</a></td><td>THE QUEEN'S "FLYING SQUADRON"</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-2-007">7</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_vol-2-II">II.</a></td><td> ANNA BELL</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-2-032">32</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_vol-2-III">III.</a></td><td>THE AVENGERS OF ISRAEL</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-2-071">71</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_vol-2-IV">IV.</a></td><td>GASPARD OF COLIGNY</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-2-090">90</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_vol-2-V">V.</a></td><td>FAMILY FLOTSAM</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-2-112">112</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_vol-2-VI">VI.</a></td><td>THE BATTLE OF ROCHE-LA-BELLE</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-2-132">132</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_vol-2-VII">VII.</a></td><td>"CONTRE-UN"</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-2-163">163</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_vol-2-VIII">VIII.</a></td><td>ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S NIGHT</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-2-185">185</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_vol-2-IX">IX.</a></td><td>THE SIEGE OF LA ROCHELLE</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-2-215">215</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_vol-2-X">X.</a></td><td>THE LAMBKINS' DANCE</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-2-233">233</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_vol-2-XI">XI.</a></td><td>CAPTURE OF CORNELIA</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-2-254">254</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_vol-2-XII">XII.</a></td><td>THE DUKE OF ANJOU</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-2-264">264</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_vol-2-XIII">XIII.</a></td><td>THE BILL IS PAID</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-2-273">273</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2"><a href="#EPILOGUE">EPILOGUE</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_vol-2-288">288</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+<p><a name="page_vol-1-i" id="page_vol-1-i"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="TRANSLATORS_PREFACE" id="TRANSLATORS_PREFACE"></a>TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.</h3>
+
+<p>The epoch covered by this, the 16th story of Eugene Sue's dramatic
+historic series, entitled <i>The Mysteries of the People; or, History of a
+Proletarian Family Across the Ages</i>, extends over the turbulent yet
+formative era known in history as the Religious Reformation.</p>
+
+<p>The social system that had been developing since the epoch initiated by
+the 8th story of the series, <i>The Abbatial Crosier; or, Bonaik and
+Septimine</i>, that is, the feudal system, and which is depicted in full
+bloom in the 14th story of the series, <i>The Iron Trevet; or, Jocelyn the
+Champion</i>, had been since suffering general collapse with the approach
+of the bourgeois, or capitalist system, which found its first open, or
+political, expression in the Reformation, and which was urged into life
+by Luther, Calvin and other leading adversaries of the Roman Catholic
+regime.</p>
+
+<p>The history of the Reformation, or rather, of the conflict between the
+clerical polity which symbolized the old and the clerical polity which
+symbolized the new social order, is compressed within the covers of this
+one story with the skill at once of the historian, the scientist, the
+philosopher and the novelist. The various springs from which human
+action flows, the various types which human crises produce, the virtues
+and the vices which great historic<a name="page_vol-1-ii" id="page_vol-1-ii"></a> conflicts heat into activity&mdash;all
+these features of social motion, never jointly reproduced in works of
+history, are here drawn in vivid colors and present a historic canvas
+that is prime in the domain of literature.</p>
+
+<p>In view of the exceptional importance of some of the footnotes in which
+Sue refers the reader to the pages of original authorities in French
+cited by him, the pages of an accessible American edition are in those
+cases either substituted or added in this translation.</p>
+
+<p class="r">D<small>ANIEL</small> D<small>E</small> L<small>EON</small>.</p>
+
+<p>New York, February, 1910.</p>
+
+<p><a name="page_vol-1-iii" id="page_vol-1-iii"></a></p>
+
+<h2><a name="PART_I" id="PART_I"></a>PART I<br />
+<br />THE SOCIETY OF JESUS</h2>
+
+<p><a name="page_vol-1-001" id="page_vol-1-001"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="INTRODUCTION-vol-1" id="INTRODUCTION-vol-1"></a>INTRODUCTION.</h3>
+
+<p>What great changes, sons of Joel, have taken place in Paris since the
+time when our ancestor Eidiol the Parisian skipper lived in this city,
+in the Ninth Century, at the time of the Northman invasion! How many
+changes even since 1350, when our ancestor Jocelyn the Champion fell
+wounded beside Etienne Marcel, who was assassinated by John Maillart and
+the royalists!</p>
+
+<p>The population of this great city now, in the year 1534, runs up to
+about four hundred thousand souls; daily new houses rise in the suburbs
+and outside the city walls, whose boundaries have become too narrow,
+although they enclose from twelve to thirteen thousand houses. But now,
+the same as in the past, Paris remains divided into four towns, so to
+speak, by two thoroughfares that cross each other at right angles. St.
+Martin, prolonged by St. James Street, traverses the city from east to
+west; St. Honoré, prolonged by St. Antoine Street, traverses it from
+north to south. The Louvre is the quarter of the people of the court;
+the quarter of the Bastille, of the Arsenal, filled with arms, and of
+the Temple is that of the people whose profession is war; the quarter of
+the University is that of the men of letters; finally the quarter of
+Notre Dame and St. Germain, where lie the convents of the Cordeliers, of
+the Chartreux, of the<a name="page_vol-1-002" id="page_vol-1-002"></a> Jacobins, of the Augustinians, of the Dominicans
+and of many other hives of monks and nuns besides the monasteries that
+are scattered throughout the city, is that of the men of the Church. The
+merchants, as a general thing, occupy the center of Paris towards St.
+Denis Street; the manufacturers are found in the eastern, the shabbiest
+of all the quarters, where, for one liard, workingmen can find lodging
+for the night. The larger number of the bourgeois houses as well as all
+the convents are now built of stone, and are no longer frame structures
+as they formerly were. These modern buildings, topped with slate or lead
+roofs and ornamented with sculptured facades, become every day more
+numerous.</p>
+
+<p>Likewise with crimes of all natures; their increase is beyond measure.
+With nightfall, murderers and bandits take possession of the streets.
+Their numbers rise to twenty-five or thirty thousand, all organized into
+bands&mdash;the <i>Guilleris</i>, the <i>Plumets</i>, the <i>Rougets</i>, the
+<i>Tire-Laines</i>,<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> the latter of whom rob bourgeois, who are inhibited
+from carrying arms. The <i>Tire-Soies</i>,<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> a more daring band, fall upon
+the noblemen, who are always armed. The <i>Barbets</i> disguise themselves as
+artisans of several trades, or as monks of several Orders and introduce
+themselves into the houses for the purpose of stealing. Besides these
+there are the bands of <i>Mattes</i> or <i>Fins-Mattois</i>, skilled cut-purses
+and pick-pockets; and finally the <i>Mauvais-Garçons</i>,<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> the most
+redoubtable of all, who publicly, for a price chaffered<a name="page_vol-1-003" id="page_vol-1-003"></a> over and
+finally agreed upon, offer their daggers to whomsoever wishes to rid
+himself of an enemy.</p>
+
+<p>Nor is this the worst aspect presented by the crowded city. Paris runs
+over with lost women and courtesans of all degrees. Never yet did
+immorality, to which the royal court, the Church and the seigniory set
+so shocking a pace, cause such widespread ravages. A repulsive disease
+imported from America by the Spaniards since the conquests of
+Christopher Columbus poisons life at its very source.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, Paris presents a nameless mixture of fanaticism, debauchery and
+ferocity. Above the doors of houses of ill fame, images of male and
+female saints are seen in their niches, before which thieves, murderers
+and courtesans uncover and bend the knee as they hurry by, bent on their
+respective pursuits. The Tire-Laines, the Guilleris and other brigands
+burn candles at the altars of the Virgin or pay for masses for the
+success of their crimes in contemplation. Superstition spreads in even
+step with criminality. Pious physicians are cited who regularly take the
+weekly communion, and who, bought by impatient heirs, poison with their
+pharmaceutical concoctions the rich patients, whose decease is too slow
+in arriving. The most horrid felonies have lost their dreadfulness,
+especially since the papal indulgences, sold for cash, insure absolution
+and impunity to the criminals. The virtues of the hearth and all good
+morals seem to have fled to the bosom of those families only who have
+discarded the paganism of Rome and, although styled heretics, practice
+the simplicity of evangelical morality. One of these families is that
+of<a name="page_vol-1-004" id="page_vol-1-004"></a> Christian the Printer, the great-grandchild of Jocelyn the
+Champion's son, who, due to the rapid progress made by the printing
+press, which rendered manuscript books useless and unnecessarily
+expensive, found it ever more difficult to earn his living at his trade
+of copyist and illuminator of manuscripts.</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly, after the death of his father, who was the son of Jocelyn
+the Champion and continued to live at Vaucouleurs after witnessing the
+martyrdom of Joan of Arc, Allan Lebrenn moved to Paris, induced thereto
+by John Saurin, a master-printer of this city who, having during a short
+sojourn at Vaucouleurs been struck by the young man's intelligence at
+his trade, promised to aid him in finding work in the large city. He
+accepted the offer and speedily succeeded in his new field. He married
+in 1465, died in 1474, and left a son, Melar Lebrenn, who was born in
+1466 and was the father of Christian the Printer.</p>
+
+<p>Melar Lebrenn followed his father's occupation, and worked long after
+his father's death in John Saurin's establishment, where his services
+were highly appreciated. But after John Saurin's death, Melar Lebrenn,
+who had in the meantime married and had three children, Christian and
+two daughters, was dismissed by Saurin's successor, a man named Noel
+Compaign. Compaign was a religious bigot. He was incensed at what he
+termed Melar Lebrenn's unbelief, hounded him with odious calumnies, and
+spoke of him to the other members of the guild as dishonest and
+otherwise unfit. Melar Lebrenn soon felt the<a name="page_vol-1-005" id="page_vol-1-005"></a> effect of these calumnies;
+his trade went down; his savings were consumed; his family was
+breadless; he had nothing left to him but the legends and relics of his
+family, that were handed down from generation to generation.</p>
+
+<p>Under these circumstances Melar Lebrenn made one more and desperate
+effort to rise to his feet. He knew by reputation Henry Estienne, the
+most celebrated printer of the last century. Estienne's goodness of
+heart as well as his knowledge were matters of common repute. Melar
+Lebrenn decided to turn to him, but he found Estienne strongly
+prejudiced against him through the calumnies that Compaign had
+circulated. But Melar Lebrenn was not yet discouraged. He explained to
+Estienne circumstantially the reason of Compaign's hatred, and offered
+Estienne to serve him on trial. The offer was accepted, and Melar
+Lebrenn soon acquitted himself so well both as a typesetter and a reader
+of proof, that Master Henry Estienne, judging from the falseness of the
+accusations concerning Melar Lebrenn's skill at his trade, concluded he
+was equally wronged in his private character. From that time on,
+Estienne took a deep interest in Melar and was soon singularly attached
+to him, as much by reason of his skill, as for the probity of his
+character and the kindness of his heart.</p>
+
+<p>The two daughters of Melar Lebrenn were carried away by the pest that
+swept over Paris in 1512; his wife survived them only a short time; and
+Melar himself died in 1519. His only surviving child, Christian, married
+Bridget Ardouin, an embroiderer in gold and silver thread.<a name="page_vol-1-006" id="page_vol-1-006"></a> Christian
+entered the printing establishment of Henry Estienne as an apprentice at
+his twelfth year. After the death of the venerated Henry Estienne,
+Christian remained under the employ of Robert Estienne, his father's
+heir in virtue and his superior in scientific acquirements. The editions
+that Robert Estienne issued of the old Greek, Hebrew or Latin authors
+are the admiration of the learned by the correctness of the text, the
+beauty of the type, and the perfection of the printing. Among other
+things he published a pocket edition of the New Testament, translated
+into French, a veritable masterpiece of typography. The bonds that
+united Master Robert Estienne and his workman Christian Lebrenn became
+of the closest.</p>
+
+<p>Three children were born of the marriage of Christian Lebrenn with
+Bridget Ardouin&mdash;a boy, born in 1516, and at the commencement of this
+history eighteen years of age; a girl in 1518, and a boy in 1520. The
+latter is named Odelin; he is an apprentice in the establishment of
+Master Raimbaud, one of the most celebrated armorers of Paris. The
+eldest son is named Hervé, in memory of his mother's father, and he
+follows his father Christian's profession of printer. The girl is named
+Hena in remembrance of the Virgin of the Isle of Sen.<a name="page_vol-1-007" id="page_vol-1-007"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_vol-1-I" id="CHAPTER_vol-1-I"></a>CHAPTER I.<br />
+<br />THE THEFT.</h3>
+
+<p>It was one evening towards the middle of the month of August of 1534.
+Christian Lebrenn occupied a modest house situated at about the center
+of the Exchange Bridge. Almost all the other bridges thrown over the two
+arms of the Seine are, like this one, lined with houses and constitute a
+street under which the river flows. The kitchen, where the meals were
+taken, was on the first floor, even with the street; behind this room,
+the door and window of which opened upon the public thoroughfare, was a
+smaller one, used for bed chamber by Hervé, Christian's eldest son, and
+the younger brother Odelin, the apprentice at Master Raimbaud's. At the
+time, however, when this narrative opens, Odelin was absent from Paris,
+traveling in Italy with his master, who had gone to Milan in order to
+study the process by which the Milanese armors, as celebrated as those
+of Toledo, were manufactured. The upper floor of Christian's house
+consisted of two rooms. One of these he occupied himself with his wife
+Bridget; his daughter Hena occupied the other. Finally, a garret that
+served as storeroom for winter provisions, topped the house and had a
+window that opened upon the river.<a name="page_vol-1-008" id="page_vol-1-008"></a></p>
+
+<p>On this evening Christian was in an animated conversation with his wife.
+It was late. The children were both asleep. A lamp lighted the room of
+the husband and wife. Near the window, with its small lozenge-shaped
+panes fastened between ribs of lead, lay the embroideries at which
+Bridget and Hena had been at work. In the rear of this rather spacious
+chamber stood the conjugal bed, surmounted with its canopy and enclosed
+by its curtains of orange serge. A little further away was a little
+book-case containing in neat rows the volumes in the printing of which
+Christian and his father contributed at the printing establishment of
+Masters Henry and Robert Estienne. In the same case Christian kept under
+lock his family legends and relics, together with whatever else that he
+attached special value to. Above the case an old cross-bow and battle
+axe hung from the wall. It was always well to have some arms in the
+house in order to repel the attacks of bandits who had of late grown
+increasingly bold. Two flat leather covered coffers for clothes and a
+few stools completed the humble furnishings of the room. Christian
+seemed greatly troubled in mind. Bridget, looking no less concerned than
+her husband, dropped the work that she expected to finish by lamp-light,
+and stepped towards her husband. With his eyes fixed upon the ground,
+his elbows upon his knees and his head in his hands, the latter
+observed:</p>
+
+<p>"There can be no doubt. The person who stole the money, here, in this
+room, out of that case, and without breaking the lock, must be familiar
+with our house."<a name="page_vol-1-009" id="page_vol-1-009"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I can assure you, Christian, since yesterday when we discovered the
+theft, I have been in a continuous fever."</p>
+
+<p>"None but we and our children enter this room."</p>
+
+<p>"No, excepting our customers or their employees. But as I am well aware
+that the Barbets are bold and wily enough to put on the disguise of
+honest merchants, whenever occasion demands it, in order to gain access
+to a house and steal, and that they might play that trick upon me under
+the pretext of bringing an order for some embroidery, neither Hena nor I
+ever leave the room when a stranger is with us."</p>
+
+<p>"I am ransacking my mind for the intimate acquaintance who could have
+entered the room," the printer proceeded as if communing with himself
+with painful anxiety. "Occasionally, Lefevre spends an evening with us;
+I have come up into this room with him several times when he requested
+me to read some of our family legends to him."</p>
+
+<p>"But, my friend, it is a long time since we have seen Lefevre; you
+yourself were wondering the other day what may have become of him;
+moreover, it is out of all question to suspect your friend, a man of
+austere morals, always wrapt in science."</p>
+
+<p>"God prevent my suspecting him! I was only going over the extremely
+small number of persons who visit us familiarly."</p>
+
+<p>"Then there is my brother. The fellow is, true enough, a soldier of
+adventure; he has his faults, grave faults, but&mdash;"<a name="page_vol-1-010" id="page_vol-1-010"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Ah, Bridget, Josephin has for you and our children so tender a love, so
+touching&mdash;I hold him capable of doing almost anything in a hostile
+country, as is customary with people of his vocation; but he, who almost
+every day sits at our hearth&mdash;he, commit a theft in our house? Such a
+thought never crossed my mind&mdash;and never will!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I thank you for these words! I thank you!"</p>
+
+<p>"And did you suppose that I suspected your brother? No! A thousand
+times, no!"</p>
+
+<p>"What shall I say? The vagabond life that he has led since his early
+youth&mdash;the habits of violence and rapine with which the 'Franc-Taupins,'
+the 'Pendards,' and the other soldiers of adventure who are my brother's
+habitual companions are so justly reproached, might have caused
+suspicion to rise in some prejudiced mind, and&mdash;but my
+God&mdash;Christian&mdash;what ails you, tell me what ails you?" cried Bridget,
+seeing her husband hide his face between his hands in utter despair, and
+then suddenly rise and pace the room, as if pursued by a thought from
+which he sought to flee. "My friend," insisted Bridget, "what sudden
+thought has struck and afflicts you? There are tears in your eyes. Your
+face is strangely distorted. Answer me, I pray you!"</p>
+
+<p>"I take heaven to witness," cried the artisan, raising his hands
+heavenward with a face that betrayed the tortures of his heart, "the
+loss of the twenty gold crowns, that we gathered so laboriously, is a
+serious matter to me; it was<a name="page_vol-1-011" id="page_vol-1-011"></a> our daughter's dower; but that loss is as
+nothing beside&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Beside what? Let me know!"</p>
+
+<p>"No. Oh, no! It is too horrible!"</p>
+
+<p>"Christian, what have you in mind?"</p>
+
+<p>"Leave me! Leave me!" but immediately regretting the involuntary
+rudeness, the artisan took Bridget's hands in his own, and said to her
+in a deeply moved voice: "Excuse me, poor, dear wife. You see, when I
+think of this affair I lose my head. When, at the printing shop, to-day,
+the horrible suspicion flashed through my mind, I feared it would drive
+me crazy! I struggled against it all I could&mdash;but a minute ago, as I was
+running over with you our intimate acquaintances who might be thought
+guilty of the theft, the frightful suspicion recurred to me. That is the
+reason of my distress."</p>
+
+<p>Christian threw himself down again upon his stool; again a shudder ran
+over his frame and he hid his face between his hands.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me, my friend, what is the suspicion that assails you and that you
+so violently resist? Impart it to me, I pray you."</p>
+
+<p>After a painful struggle with himself that lasted several minutes, the
+artisan murmured in a faint voice as if every word burnt his lips:</p>
+
+<p>"Like myself, you noticed, recently&mdash;since about the time of Odelin's
+departure for Milan&mdash;you noticed, like myself, that a marked change has
+been coming over the nature and the habits of Hervé."</p>
+
+<p>"Our son!" cried Bridget stupefied; and she added:<a name="page_vol-1-012" id="page_vol-1-012"></a> "Mercy! Would you
+suspect him of so infamous an act?"</p>
+
+<p>Christian remained steeped in a gloomy silence that Bridget, distracted
+with grief as she was, did not at first venture to disturb. Presently
+she proceeded:</p>
+
+<p>"Impossible! Hervé, whom we brought up in the same principles as his
+brother&mdash;Hervé, who never was away from us&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Bridget, I told you, the suspicion is horrible; I have struggled
+against it with all my might," and the artisan's voice was smothered
+with sobs. "And yet, if after all it should be so! If our son is indeed
+the guilty one!"</p>
+
+<p>"My friend, your suspicion bereaves me of my senses. You love Hervé so
+dearly, and your judgment is always so sound, your mind so penetrating,
+that I can not conceive how so unjustifiable a thought could take
+possession of you. Our son is continuously at the printing shop, at your
+side, as Hena is at mine; better than anyone else should you know your
+son's heart." Bridget remained silent for a moment and then proceeded
+while scalding tears rolled down her cheeks: "Oh, I feel it, even if
+your suspicion is never justified, it will embitter the rest of my life!
+Oh, to think our son capable of stealing!"</p>
+
+<p>"And for that very reason there is no one else in the world but you, and
+you alone, to whom I confide the horrid suspicion. Oh, Bridget, it is
+more than a suspicion. Let us not exaggerate matters; let us not be
+unnecessarily cast down; let us calmly look into the affair; let us
+carefully refresh our memories; we may arrive&mdash;may God hear my words&mdash;at
+the conclusion that the suspicion is unfounded.<a name="page_vol-1-013" id="page_vol-1-013"></a> As I was just saying, a
+great change has lately come over Hervé. You noticed the singular
+manifestations as well as I."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, recently, he, who formerly was so cheerful, so open, so
+affectionate, has of late been cold and somber, dreamy and silent. He
+has grown pale and thin; he is quickly irritated. Shortly before the
+departure of our little Odelin, he often and without cause scolded the
+poor boy, for whom he always before had only kind words. And often since
+then, have I had occasion to reproach Hervé for his rudeness, I should
+almost say harshness towards his sister, whom he dearly loved. He now
+seems to avoid her company. At times I simply cannot understand his
+conduct towards her. Why, only yesterday, when you and he came home from
+the printing shop, after embracing you, as is her custom, Hena offered
+her forehead to her brother&mdash;but he rudely pushed her aside."</p>
+
+<p>"I did not notice that; but I did notice the growing indifference of
+Hervé towards his sister. What mystery can lie below that?"</p>
+
+<p>"And yet, my friend, we love all our children equally. Hervé might feel
+hurt if we showed any preference for Hena or Odelin. But we do not. We
+are equally kind to all the three."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, indeed. We shall have to look elsewhere for the cause of the
+change that afflicts us. Can it be that, without our knowledge, he keeps
+bad company? There is one circumstance in this affair that has struck
+me. Paternal love does not blind me. I see great aptitudes in Hervé.
+Not<a name="page_vol-1-014" id="page_vol-1-014"></a> to mention the gift of an easy flowing eloquence that is
+exceptional at his age, he has become an excellent Latinist. Owing to
+his aptitude in that direction he has more than once been chosen to
+gather precious manuscripts at the houses of some men of letters, who
+are the friends of Master Robert Estienne. Usually our son attended to
+such work with accuracy and despatch. Of late, however, his absence from
+the shop on such errands is often long, unnecessarily so and also
+frequent, and he does not attend properly to his errands, sometimes does
+not attend to them at all. Master Robert Estienne has complained to me
+in a friendly way, saying that Hervé should be watched, that he was
+drawing near his eighteenth year and might contract acquaintances that
+would be cause of trouble for us later."</p>
+
+<p>"On that very subject, my friend, only a few days ago I was reproaching
+Hervé for his estrangement from the friends of his boyhood, all of whom
+are good and honest lads. He flees their company and spurns their
+cordial advances. The only person with whom he seems to be intimate is
+Fra Girard, the Franciscan friar and son of our neighbor the mercer."</p>
+
+<p>"I would prefer some other company for our son, but not that I accuse
+Fra Girard of being, like so many other monks, an improper person to
+associate with. He is said to be of austere morals, but being older than
+Hervé, he has, I am afraid, gained considerable influence over him, and
+rendered him savagely intolerant. Several of the artisans at the shop of
+Master Estienne are, like he himself, par<a name="page_vol-1-015" id="page_vol-1-015"></a>tisans of the religious
+reform; some are openly so, despite the danger that their outspokenness
+entails, others more privately. More than once did our son raise his
+voice with excessive violence against the new ideas which he calls
+heresies. And yet he knows that you and I share them."</p>
+
+<p>"Alas! my friend, what woman, what mother would not share the reform
+ideas, seeing that they reject auricular confession? Did we not find
+ourselves compelled to stop our daughter from attending the confessional
+on account of the shameful questions that a priest dared to put to her
+and which, in the candor of her soul, she repeated to us? But to return
+to Hervé, even though, in some respects, I dislike his intimacy with Fra
+Girard and fear it may tend to render him intolerant, the influence of
+the monk, the austerity of whose morals is commented upon, must have had
+the effect of keeping far from our son's mind an act so ugly that we can
+not mention it without shedding tears of sorrow," added Bridget wiping
+her moist eyes; "Hervé's piety, my friend, becomes daily more fervent;
+as you know, the unhappy boy imposes upon himself, at the risk of
+impairing his health, ever longer fasts. Did I not discover from the
+traces of blood upon his shirt that on certain days he carries close to
+his skin a belt that is furnished within with sharp iron pricks? That is
+not the conduct of a hypocrite! He sought to conceal from all eyes the
+secret macerations that he inflicts upon himself in penitence. It was
+only accidentally that I discovered the fact. I deplore such fanaticism;
+but his fanaticism may also be a safeguard. The very exaggeration to
+which Hervé car<a name="page_vol-1-016" id="page_vol-1-016"></a>ries his religious principles must strengthen him
+against temptation. Heaven be blessed! You were right, Christian; by
+closely considering the circumstances, we can come at no other
+conclusion than that such suspicions are unfounded. Our son is innocent,
+do you not think so, Christian?"</p>
+
+<p>Gloomy and pensive the artisan listened to his wife without interrupting
+her. He replied:</p>
+
+<p>"No, dear wife; fanaticism is no safeguard against evil. Alas!
+differently from you, the more I consider the facts that you adduce&mdash;I
+hardly dare say so to you&mdash;my suspicions, so far from being removed,
+grow in weight. Yes, I believe our son guilty."</p>
+
+<p>"Great God! What a horrible thought!"</p>
+
+<p>"I believe our son is sincere in his devout practices, however
+exaggerated these may be. But I also know that one of the most frightful
+consequences of fanaticism is that it clouds and perverts the most
+elemental principles of right and wrong, of justice and injustice, with
+those whom it dominates. Religious faith substitutes morality."</p>
+
+<p>"But theft, seeing that I must mention the word&mdash;theft&mdash;how can
+fanaticism excuse that? You must be mistaken upon that subject!"</p>
+
+<p>"Listen, Bridget. A few days ago&mdash;and it was the recollection of the
+circumstance that first awoke my suspicions&mdash;a few days ago one of our
+fellow workmen at the shop expressed himself with indignation at the
+traffic of indulgences that has recently been carried on in Paris, and
+he said emphatically that besides the immorality of<a name="page_vol-1-017" id="page_vol-1-017"></a> the trade that was
+being practiced in the Pope's name, the extortion of money by such means
+from ignorance and from popular credulity was nothing short of a fraud
+practiced upon the people. And do you know the answer that our son made?
+'That is a lie! It is impious! The money that is devoted to a pious
+deed, even if it be the fruit of a theft, of a murder, is purified and
+sanctified from the moment that it is employed to the greater glory of
+the Lord!'"</p>
+
+<p>Bridget grew pale, and murmured in a voice smothered by sobs:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! now I fear&mdash;I also fear! May God have mercy upon us!"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you now understand how, if our son is indeed guilty of the shameful
+act which we hesitate to impugn to him, in his blind fanaticism the
+unhappy boy will have believed that he was doing a meritorious act if he
+employed the money in some such work of devotion as ordering the saying
+of masses?"<a name="page_vol-1-018" id="page_vol-1-018"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_vol-1-II" id="CHAPTER_vol-1-II"></a>CHAPTER II.<br />
+<br />THE NEOPHYTE.</h3>
+
+<p>As Christian was saying these words, he heard, first at a distance and
+soon after on the Exchange Bridge itself, the loud clang of several
+bells and the sharp twirl of metal rattles, intercepted with a
+lugubrious psalmody, at the close of which the noise of bells and
+rattles became deafening. No less astonished than his wife, the artisan
+rose from his seat, opened the window, and saw a long procession filing
+before the house. At its head marched a detachment of archers carrying
+their cross-bows on their left shoulders and long thick wax candles in
+their right hands; behind them came several Dominican monks in their
+white robes and black cowls, ringing the bells and turning the rattles;
+after these followed a cart drawn by two horses caparisoned in black and
+silver network. The four sides of the cart were of considerable height
+and constituted a huge quadrangular transparency, lighted from within,
+and representing the figures of men and women of all ages, together with
+children, plunged up to the waist in a sea of flames, and, amid
+desperate contortions, raising their suppliant arms towards an image of
+God seated on a throne. On each of the four sides of the wagon and above
+the<a name="page_vol-1-019" id="page_vol-1-019"></a> painting the following inscription was to be seen, printed in thick
+black and red letters:</p>
+
+<p class="c">P<small>RAY</small><br />
+ F<small>OR THE</small> S<small>OULS IN</small> P<small>URGATORY</small><br />
+ T<small>O-MORROW</small><br />
+A<small>AT</small><br />
+ T<small>HE</small> C<small>HURCH OF THE</small> C<small>ONVENT OF</small> S<small>T</small>. D<small>OMINIC</small><br />
+ THE INDULGENCE<br />
+ W<small>ILL</small> R<small>AISE ITS</small> T<small>HRONE</small>.<br />
+ P<small>RAY AND</small> G<small>IVE</small><br />
+ F<small>OR THE</small> P<small>OOR</small> S<small>OULS THAT ARE IN</small> P<small>URGATORY</small>.</p>
+
+<p>Four monks equipped with long gilded staves, topped with glass
+lanthorns, on which also souls in torture were painted, marched on
+either side of the cart. A large number of other Dominican monks
+carrying a large silver crucifix at their head, followed the cart. The
+monks chanted in a loud voice the following lugubrious psalm of
+penitence:</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left"><i>"De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine;</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><i>Domine, exaudi vocem meam.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><i>Fiant aures tuæ intendentes</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><i>In vocem deprecationis meæ!"</i><a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>Every time, at the close of the funereal chant, the clatter of bells and
+rattles was struck up anew as the procession<a name="page_vol-1-020" id="page_vol-1-020"></a> marched along. Finally, a
+second detachment of archers brought up the rear. A crowd of ragged men
+and women, all with cynic and even ruffianly faces, almost all
+night-strollers, if not worse, followed in the wake of the march. They
+held one another by the arms, sang, crossed themselves and shouted:</p>
+
+<p>"Glory to the Holy Father!"</p>
+
+<p>"He sends us indulgences!"</p>
+
+<p>"We need them!"</p>
+
+<p>"Blessings upon him!"</p>
+
+<p>Interspersed between these exclamations, coarse and even obscene jokes
+were exchanged. The mob nevertheless bore the impress of conviction in
+the most deplorable of superstitions. A large number of the inhabitants
+of the houses built upon the bridge threw open their windows as the
+procession filed by; some of these reverently knelt down at their
+windows. After the procession had passed and the noise sounded only from
+a distance, Christian re-shut the window of his room, and said to his
+wife in voice that was even sadder than before:</p>
+
+<p>"Alas, this procession seems to me to bode us only ill."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not understand you, my friend."</p>
+
+<p>"You saw, Bridget, the picture on the transparency of the cart that
+these monks surrounded. It represented the souls in purgatory, writhing
+in flames. The Dominican monks, whom the Pope has delegated to sell
+plenary indulgences, also sell the ransoming of souls in pain. All those
+who share that belief are convinced that, by means of money, they are
+able to snatch from the flames of purgatory,<a name="page_vol-1-021" id="page_vol-1-021"></a> not only the near
+relatives or friends whom they imagine exposed to such torture, but also
+strangers to them. Could not Hervé have thought to himself: 'With the
+gold that I purloin from my father I shall be able to ransom twenty
+souls&mdash;fifty souls from purgatory'?"</p>
+
+<p>"Say no more, Christian, say no more!" cried Bridget with a shudder;
+"say no more! My doubts, alas! almost turn into certainty;" but suddenly
+interrupting herself and listening in the direction of the door of the
+room, she added in a low voice: "Listen&mdash;listen."</p>
+
+<p>Husband and wife remained silent. In the midst of the profound silence
+of the night they heard a noise that sounded like the intermittent
+strapping of a body. A thought flashed through Christian's mind; he
+motioned his wife not to stir; took up the lamp, and gently opened the
+door leading to the wooden staircase through which the lower floor was
+reached. Leaning over the banister with his hand shading the lamp,
+Christian saw Hervé, whom, no doubt, the clatter of bells and rattles of
+the procession had awakened, kneeling in only his shirt and trousers
+upon the floor and inflicting a rude discipline upon his sides and
+shoulders by means of a cat-o'-nine-tails, the thongs of which ended in
+knots. The lad flagellated himself with such intense exaltation that he
+did not notice the proximity of his father on the staircase, although
+the light shed by the lamp projected its rays into the lower hall.
+Bridget had followed her husband with tears in her eyes, walking on
+tip-toe. He felt the trembling hand of his<a name="page_vol-1-022" id="page_vol-1-022"></a> wife upon his shoulder and
+in his ear the whispered words of distress that forced themselves
+through her sobs:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, the unhappy boy!"</p>
+
+<p>"Come, my dear wife; the moment is favorable to obtain a confession from
+our son."</p>
+
+<p>"And if he confesses, let everything be pardoned," replied the indulgent
+mother. "He must have succumbed to an impulse of fanatical charity."</p>
+
+<p>With the lamp in his hand the artisan descended into the kitchen with
+his wife without seeking to conceal their approach. The sound of their
+steps and the creak of the wooden staircase under their feet finally
+attracted Hervé's attention. He suddenly turned his head, and, seeing
+his father and mother, rose from the floor with a start as if propelled
+by a spring. In his surprise the lad dropped his instrument of torture.</p>
+
+<p>Christian's son was almost eighteen years of age. His once open, happy
+and blooming face, that breathed frankness, had become pale and somber;
+his unsteady, restless eyes seemed to eschew observation. The unexpected
+presence of his parents seemed at first to cause him a painful
+impression; he looked embarrassed; but doubtlessly calling himself to
+account for the unguarded impulse of false shame, he said resolutely
+without raising his eyes:</p>
+
+<p>"I was administering a discipline to myself&mdash;I thought I was alone&mdash;I
+was fulfilling a penance&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"My son," replied the artisan, "seeing that you are up, sit down upon
+that chair&mdash;your mother and I have serious matters to speak about with
+you; we shall be better here<a name="page_vol-1-023" id="page_vol-1-023"></a> than upstairs, where our voice might wake
+up your sister."</p>
+
+<p>Not a little astonished, the lad sat down, on a stool. Christian also
+sat down; Bridget remained standing near her husband, leaning upon his
+shoulder, with her eyes resting compassionately upon her son.</p>
+
+<p>"My boy," said Christian, "I wish, first of all, to assure you that
+neither I nor your mother have ever thought of crossing you in the
+religious practices that you have of late been indulging in with all the
+impetuous ardor of a neophyte. But seeing that the occasion presents
+itself, I wish to make some observations to you upon the subject in all
+fatherly love."</p>
+
+<p>"I listen, father; speak."</p>
+
+<p>"You, as well as your sister and brother, have been brought up by us in
+the evangelical doctrine&mdash;love one another, do not unto others what you
+would not like to be done to, pardon those who trespass against you,
+pity the sinners, help the sorrowful, honor those who repent, be
+industrious and honest. These few words sum up the eternal morality that
+your mother and myself have preached and held up to you since your
+infancy as the example to be followed. When you reached riper years of
+intelligence I sought to inculcate in your mind that belief of our
+fathers that we are immortal, body and soul, and that after what is
+called death, a moment of transition between the existence that ends and
+that which begins, we are born again, or, rather, continue to live,
+spirit and matter, in other spheres, thus rising successively, at each
+of those stages of<a name="page_vol-1-024" id="page_vol-1-024"></a> our eternal existence, towards infinite perfection
+equal to that of the Creator."</p>
+
+<p>"That, father, is heresy, and flies in the face of Catholic dogma."</p>
+
+<p>"Be it so. I do not force the belief upon you. Every man is free to
+strive in his religious aspirations after his own ideal of the relations
+between the Creator and the creature. The freedom to do so is the most
+priceless attribute of the soul, the sublimest right of human
+conscience."</p>
+
+<p>"There is no religion in the world beside the Catholic religion, the
+revealed religion," put in Hervé in a sharp voice. "All other belief is
+false&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"My friend," said Christian interrupting his son, "I do not wish to
+enter into a theological discussion with you. You have of late lost your
+former happy disposition, you seem to mistrust us, you grow more and
+more reserved and taciturn, your absences from the printing shop are
+becoming frequent and are prolonged beyond all measure; your nature,
+once so pleasant and buoyant, has become irritable and sour, even to the
+point of rudeness towards your brother Odelin before his departure for
+Milan. Besides that and since, your asperity towards your sister is ever
+more marked&mdash;and yet you know that she loves you dearly."</p>
+
+<p>At these last words a thrill ran over Hervé's frame. At the mention of
+his sister, his physiognomy grew more intensely somber and assumed an
+undefinable expression. For a moment he remained silent, whereupon his
+voice, that sounded sharp and positive shortly before in his answers<a name="page_vol-1-025" id="page_vol-1-025"></a>
+regarding religious matters, became unsteady as he stammered:</p>
+
+<p>"At times I am subject to fits of bad humor that I pray God to free me
+of. If&mdash;I have been&mdash;rude&mdash;to my sister&mdash;it is without meaning to. I
+entertain a strong affection for her."</p>
+
+<p>"We are certain of that, my child," Bridget replied; "your father only
+mentions the circumstance as one of the symptoms of the change that we
+notice in you, and that so much alarms us."</p>
+
+<p>"In short," Christian proceeded, "we regret to see you give up the
+company of the friends of your childhood, and no longer share the
+innocent pleasures that become your age."</p>
+
+<p>Hervé's voice, that seemed so much out of his control when his sister
+Hena was the topic, became again harsh and firm:</p>
+
+<p>"The friends whom I formerly visited are worldly, they are running to
+perdition; the thoughts that to-day engage me are not theirs."</p>
+
+<p>"You are free to choose your connections, my friend, provided they be
+honorable. I see you have become an intimate friend of Fra Girard, the
+Franciscan monk&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"God sent him across my path&mdash;he is a saint! His place is marked in
+paradise."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not dispute the sanctity of Fra Girard; he is said to be a man
+of probity, and I believe it. I must admit, however, that I would have
+preferred to see you form some other friendship; the monk is several
+years your<a name="page_vol-1-026" id="page_vol-1-026"></a> senior; you seem to have a blind faith in him; I fear lest
+the fervor of his zeal may render you intolerant, and lead you to share
+his own excessive religious exaltation. For all that, I never reproached
+you for your intimacy with Fra Girard&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Despite anything that you could have done or said, father, I would have
+seen to my own salvation. God before the family."</p>
+
+<p>"And do you imagine, my son, that we could be opposed to your welfare?"
+asked Bridget in an accent of affectionate reproach. "Do you not know
+how much we love you? Are not all our thoughts dictated by our
+attachment to you? Can you doubt our affection?"</p>
+
+<p>"Happiness lies in the faith, and the faith comes to us from heaven.
+There is no welfare outside of the bosom of the Church."</p>
+
+<p>"It would have become you better to answer your mother's kind words with
+other terms," observed Christian, as he saw his wife hurt and saddened
+by the harshness of Hervé's words. "If your faith comes from heaven,
+filial love also is a celestial sentiment; may God forfend that it be
+weakened in your heart&mdash;in fine, may God forfend that Fra Girard's
+influence over you should tend to pervert, despite himself and despite
+yourself, your sense of right and wrong."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not understand you, father."</p>
+
+<p>The artisan cast a significant look at Bridget, who, guessing her
+husband's secret thoughts, felt assailed by mortal anguish.<a name="page_vol-1-027" id="page_vol-1-027"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I shall explain myself more clearly," Christian continued. "Do you
+remember a few days ago at the shop when some of our fellow workmen
+expressed indignation at the traffic in indulgences?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, father; and I withered the blasphemous utterances with the
+contempt that they deserved. Indulgences open the gates of heaven."</p>
+
+<p>"One of our fellow workingmen loudly likened the commerce in indulgences
+to a theft," Christian proceeded, unable completely to overcome his
+emotion, while Bridget in vain sought to catch the eyes of her son, who,
+from the start of this conversation held his eyes nailed to the floor.
+"Upon hearing so severe an opinion expressed upon the indulgences,"
+Christian added, "you, my son, shouted that all money, even if it
+proceeded from theft, became holy if devoted to pious works; you said
+so, did you not? You thereby justified a reprehensible action."</p>
+
+<p>"It is my conviction."</p>
+
+<p>After a momentary silence the artisan again resumed:</p>
+
+<p>"My boy, you were surely awakened to-night, as we ourselves were, by the
+noise of the procession. It was the procession of indulgences."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, father&mdash;and in order to render my prayers for the deliverance of
+the souls in purgatory more efficacious, I macerated myself."</p>
+
+<p>"The monks claim that the souls in purgatory can be ransomed by money;
+do they not make the claim?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is the doctrine of the Catholic Church, father. The Church can not
+err."<a name="page_vol-1-028" id="page_vol-1-028"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Hervé, let me suppose that you find on the street a purse full of gold;
+would you believe yourself justified to dispose of it in behalf of the
+souls in purgatory, without first inquiring after the rightful owner of
+the purse?"</p>
+
+<p>"I would not hesitate a minute to do what you said. I would take it to
+the Church."</p>
+
+<p>Christian and Bridget exchanged looks of distress at this answer. Their
+suspicions were almost confirmed. They now counted at least with Hervé's
+frankness. Convinced that all means were legitimate in order to compass
+the salvation of souls in pain, he would assuredly admit the theft. The
+artisan proceeded:</p>
+
+<p>"My son, we never set you the example of duplicity. Particularly at this
+moment when we must appeal to your frankness, we shall speak without
+circumlocution. I have this to say to you: The fruits of your mother's
+laborious savings and my own have been recently purloined; the sum
+amounted to twenty gold crowns."</p>
+
+<p>Hervé remained impassable and silent.</p>
+
+<p>"The theft was committed yesterday or the day before," pursued
+Christian, painfully affected by his son's impassiveness. "The money was
+deposited in the case in our bedroom, and could have been taken away by
+none except a person familiar in our house."</p>
+
+<p>With his hands crossed over his knees and his eyes on the floor, Hervé
+remained silent, impenetrable.</p>
+
+<p>"Your mother and I first cudgeled our brains to ascertain who could have
+committed the guilty act," Christian proceeded, driving the point nearer
+and nearer home, and<a name="page_vol-1-029" id="page_vol-1-029"></a> he added slowly, accentuating these last words:
+"It then occurred to us that, seeing the theft was justifiable by your
+convictions&mdash;that is to say, that it was legitimate if committed for the
+sake of some pious work&mdash;you might&mdash;in a moment of mental
+aberration&mdash;have appropriated the sum for the purpose of consecrating it
+to the ransoming of souls in purgatory."</p>
+
+<p>The husband and wife awaited their son's answer with mortal anxiety.
+Christian watched him closely and observed that, despite Hervé's
+apparent impassiveness, a slight flush suffused his face; although the
+lad did not raise his eyes, he cast furtive glances at his parents. The
+somber and guilty glances, caught by Christian, surprised and distressed
+him. He no longer doubted his son's guilt, he even despaired of drawing
+from the lad a frank admission that might somewhat have extenuated the
+ugly action. Christian continued with a penetrating voice:</p>
+
+<p>"My son, I have acquainted you with the painful suspicions that weigh
+upon our hearts&mdash;have you no answer to make?"</p>
+
+<p>"Father," said Hervé firmly and tersely, "I have not touched your
+money."</p>
+
+<p>"He lies," thought the desolate artisan to himself; "it is our own son
+who committed the theft."</p>
+
+<p>"Hervé," cried Bridget with her face bathed in tears and throwing
+herself at the feet of her son, around whom she threw her arms, "my son,
+be frank&mdash;we shall not scold you! Good God, we believe in the sincerity
+of your new convictions&mdash;they are your only excuse! You certainly<a name="page_vol-1-030" id="page_vol-1-030"></a> must
+have believed that with the aid of that money, which lay idle on the
+shelf of the book-case, you might redeem poor souls from the tortures of
+purgatory. The charitable purpose of such a superstition might, aye, it
+is bound to, carry away a young head like yours. I repeat to you; we
+shall look upon that as your excuse; we shall accept the excuse, in the
+hope of leading you back again to more wholesome ideas of good and evil.
+From your point of view, so far from your action being wrongful, it must
+have seemed meritorious to you. Why not admit it? Is it shame that
+restrains you, my poor boy? Fear not. The secret will remain with your
+father and me." And embracing the lad with maternal warmth, Bridget
+added: "Do not the principles in which we brought you up make us feel
+sure that, despite your temporary blindness, you will know better in the
+future? Could you possibly become confirmed in dishonesty, you, my son?
+You who until now gave us so much cause for happiness? Come, Hervé, make
+a manly effort&mdash;tell us the truth&mdash;you will thereby change our sorrow
+into joy; your confession will prove your frankness and your confidence
+in our indulgence and tenderness. You still are silent?&mdash;not a word&mdash;you
+have not a word for me?" cried the wretched woman, seeing her son
+remaining imperturbable. "What! we who should complain, are imploring
+you! You should be in tears, and yet it is I alone who weep! You should
+be at our feet, and I am at yours! And yet you remain like a piece of
+icy marble! Oh, unhappy child!"<a name="page_vol-1-031" id="page_vol-1-031"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Mother," repeated Hervé with inflexible voice without raising his eyes,
+"I have not touched your money."</p>
+
+<p>In despair at such insensibility, Bridget rose and threw herself
+convulsively sobbing into the arms of her husband: "I am a mother to be
+pitied."</p>
+
+<p>"My son," now said Christian in a severe tone, "if you are guilty&mdash;and I
+regret but too deeply that I fear you are&mdash;learn this: Even if you
+should have employed the money that has been purloined from my room in
+what you term 'pious works,' you would not therefore be less guilty of a
+theft, do you understand?&mdash;a theft in all the disgraceful sense of the
+word! I was not mistaken! It has turned out so! By means of unworthy
+sophisms, your friend Fra Girard has perverted your one-time sense of
+right and wrong! Oh, whatever insane or impostor monks may say to the
+contrary, human and divine morality will always condemn theft, whatever
+the disguises or hypocritical pretexts may be under which it is
+committed. To believe that such a disgraceful action deserves no
+punishment&mdash;worse yet, that it is meritorious&mdash;by reason of the fruits
+thereof being consecrated to charitable works, is about the most
+monstrous mental aberration that can ever insult the conscience of an
+honest man!" Christian thereupon supported and led Bridget in tears back
+towards the staircase, took up the lamp, and walked upstairs with these
+parting words to his son: "May heaven open your eyes, my son and inspire
+you with repentance!"</p>
+
+<p>Imperturbable as ever, Hervé did not seem to hear his<a name="page_vol-1-032" id="page_vol-1-032"></a> father's last
+words. When the latter re-entered his own room with his wife and closed
+the door, the young man, who had remained in the dark, threw himself
+down upon his knees, picked up his instrument of discipline and began
+flagellating himself with savage fury. The lad smothered the cries that
+the pain involuntarily forced from him, and, a prey to delirious
+paroxysms, only murmured from time to time, with bated breath, the name
+of his sister Hena.<a name="page_vol-1-033" id="page_vol-1-033"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_vol-1-III" id="CHAPTER_vol-1-III"></a>CHAPTER III.<br />
+<br />THE SALE OF INDULGENCES.</h3>
+
+<p>The morning after the trying night experienced by Christian and his
+wife, a large crowd filled the church of the Dominican Convent. It was a
+bizarre crowd. It consisted of people of all conditions. Thieves and
+mendicants, artisans, bourgeois and seigneurs, lost women and devout old
+dames, ladies of distinction and plebeian women and children of all
+ages, elbowed one another. They were all attracted by that day's
+religious celebration; they crowded especially near the choir. This
+space was shut off by an iron railing four feet in height; it was to be
+the theater of the most important incidents in the ceremony. Among the
+spectators nearest to the choir stood Hervé Lebrenn together with his
+friend Fra Girard. The Franciscan monk was about twenty-five years of
+age, and of a cadaverous, austere countenance. The mask of asceticism
+concealed an infernal knave gifted with superior intelligence. The monk
+enveloped his young companion, so to speak, with a fascinating gaze; the
+latter, apparently a prey to profound preoccupation, bent his head and
+crossed his arms over his breast.</p>
+
+<p>"Hervé," said Fra Girard in a low voice, "do you re<a name="page_vol-1-034" id="page_vol-1-034"></a>member the day when
+in a fit of despair and terror you came to me to confession&mdash;and
+confessed a thing that you hardly dared admit to yourself?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," answered Hervé with a shudder and dropping his eyes still lower;
+"yes, I remember the day."</p>
+
+<p>"I then told you," the Franciscan proceeded to say, "that the Catholic
+Church, from which you were separated from childhood by an impious
+education, afforded consolation to troubled hearts&mdash;even better, held
+out hope&mdash;still better than that, gave positive assurance even to the
+worst of sinners, provided they had faith. By little and little our long
+and frequent conversations succeeded in causing the divine light to
+penetrate your mind, and the scales dropped from your eyes. The faith
+that I then preached to you, has since filled and now overflows your
+soul. Fasting, maceration and ardent prayer have smoothed the way for
+your salvation. The hour of your reward has arrived. Blessed be the
+Lord!"</p>
+
+<p>Fra Girard had hardly uttered these words when the deep notes of the
+organ filled with a melancholic harmony the lugubrious church into which
+the light of day broke only through narrow windows of colored glass. A
+procession that issued from the interior of the Dominican cloister
+entered the church and marched around the aisles. The cortege was headed
+by four footmen clad in red, the papal livery, who held aloft four
+standards upon which the pontifical coat-of-arms was emblazoned; they
+were followed by priests in surplices surrounding a cross and chanting
+psalms of penitence; behind these came an<a name="page_vol-1-035" id="page_vol-1-035"></a>other platoon of papal
+footmen, bearing a stretcher covered with gold cloth, and in the center
+of which, on a cushion of crimson velvet, lay a red box containing the
+bull of Leo X empowering the Order of St. Dominic to dispense
+indulgences. Several censer-bearers walked backward before the
+stretcher, and stopped from time to time in order to swing their copper
+and silver censers from which clouds of perfumed vapor issued and
+circled upward. A Dominican prior walked behind the stretcher clasping a
+large cross of red wood in his arms; this dignitary&mdash;a man in the full
+vigor of age, tall of stature and so corpulent that his paunch
+threatened to burst his frock&mdash;was the Apostolic Commissioner entrusted
+with the sale of indulgences; a heavy black beard framed in his
+high-colored face; the monk's triumphant gait and the haughty looks that
+he cast around him pointed him out as the hero of the approaching
+ceremony. He was followed by a long line of penitentiaries and
+sub-Apostolic Commissioners with white wands in their hands. A last
+squad of papal footmen, holding by leather straps a huge coffer also
+covered with crimson velvet and locked with three gilded clasps, closed
+the procession. A slit, similar to that of the poor-boxes in churches,
+was cut into the lid of the coffer. Through it the moneys were to be
+dropped by the purchasers of indulgences, or by the faithful, anxious to
+redeem the souls in purgatory.</p>
+
+<p>When the procession, at the passage of which the crowd prostrated itself
+religiously, completed the circuit of the church, the papal footmen who
+bore the banners grouped<a name="page_vol-1-036" id="page_vol-1-036"></a> them as trophies upon the main altar, before
+which the stretcher, covered with gold cloth, the bull, and the big
+coffer were processionally borne. The Apostolic Commissioner with the
+cross of red wood in his hand placed himself near the coffer; the
+penitentiaries ranked themselves in front of several confessionals that
+were set up for the occasion near the choir, and all of which bore the
+pontifical arms.</p>
+
+<p>The excitement and curiosity awakened by the procession together with
+the peals of the organ and the chant of the priests excited a
+considerable agitation in the church. By degrees quiet was restored, the
+kneeling faithful rose again to their feet, and all eyes turned
+impatiently towards the choir. Hervé, who had been one of the first to
+prostrate himself, was among the last to rise; the lad was a prey to
+profound agony; perspiration bathed his now livid face; he was hardly
+able to breathe. Turning his wandering eyes towards Fra Girard, he said
+to the monk in broken accents:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, if I only can rely upon your promises! The moment has arrived when
+I must believe. I tremble!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, man of little faith!" answered the Franciscan with severity and
+pointing to the papal commissioner, who was preparing to speak;
+"listen&mdash;and repent that you doubted. Ask God to pardon you."</p>
+
+<p>The silence became profound; the dealer in indulgences deftly rolled up
+the sleeves of his robe, just as a juggler in the market would have done
+in order not to be hindered in the tumultuous motions of his
+performance, and point<a name="page_vol-1-037" id="page_vol-1-037"></a>ing to the red cross which he placed beside him,
+he cried in a stentorian voice fit to make the glass windows of the
+building rattle:</p>
+
+<p>"In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, Amen!<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> You see
+this cross, my beloved brothers? Well, this cross is as efficacious as
+the cross of Jesus Christ! You will ask me, How so? My answer is that
+this is, so to speak, the symbol of the indulgences that our Holy Father
+has commissioned me to dispense. But what are these indulgences? you
+will then ask? What they are, my brothers? They are the most precious
+gift, the most miraculous, the most wonderful that the Lord has ever
+bestowed upon His faithful! Therefore, I say unto you&mdash;Come, come to me;
+I shall give you letters furnished with the seal of our Holy Father, and
+thanks to these letters, my brothers&mdash;would you believe it?&mdash;not only
+will the sins that you have committed be pardoned, but they will give
+you absolution for the sins that you desire to commit!"</p>
+
+<p>"Did you hear that?" Fra Girard whispered to Hervé. "One can obtain
+absolution both for the sins that he has committed, and for the sins
+that he intends to commit!"</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;there&mdash;are&mdash;things&mdash;crimes and outrages," stammered Hervé with
+secret horror, "that, may be, one can not obtain absolution for! Oh, woe
+is me! I feel myself sliding down a fatal slope!</p>
+
+<p>"Listen," replied the Franciscan, "listen to the end; you will then
+understand."<a name="page_vol-1-038" id="page_vol-1-038"></a></p>
+
+<p>The mass of people that were crowded in the church received with
+indescribable signs of satisfaction the words uttered by the Dominican
+seller of indulgences; especially did those whose purses were well lined
+hail with delight the prospect of their salvation if they but took the
+precaution of equipping themselves in advance with an absolution that
+embraced the past, the present and the future. The Apostolic
+Commissioner observed the magic effect that his words produced; in a
+jovial and familiar tone he proceeded to harangue the audience amidst
+violent contortions of both face and limbs:</p>
+
+<p>"Now, let us have a heart-to-heart talk, my brothers; let us reason
+together. Let us suppose that you wish to undertake a voyage into some
+strange country that is infested with thieves; fearing that you will be
+rifled of all that you carry about you before you attain the end of your
+journey, you do not wish to take your money with you. What do you do?
+You take your money to a banker, do you not? You allow him a slight
+profit, and he furnishes you with a draft, by means of which the money
+that you deposited with him is paid over to you in the strange country,
+upon your arrival there. Do you understand me well, my beloved
+brothers?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," answered several of the faithful; "we understand&mdash;proceed with
+your discourse."</p>
+
+<p>"Miserable sinners!" replied the Dominican suddenly changing his jovial
+tone into a thundering voice. "Miserable sinners! You understand me, say
+you? and yet you hesitate to buy from me for the small price of a few
+crowns<a name="page_vol-1-039" id="page_vol-1-039"></a> a draft of salvation! What! Despite all the sins that you may
+render yourselves guilty of during the voyage of life, infested as that
+road is with diabolical temptations that are infinitely more dangerous
+than thieves, this draft will be paid to you in paradise in the divine
+money of eternal salvation by the Almighty, upon whom we, the bankers of
+souls, have drawn in your name&mdash;and yet you hesitate to insure to
+yourselves at so small a cost your share of the celestial enjoyments
+reserved for the blissful! No! No! You will not hesitate, my brothers!
+You will buy my indulgences!" the Dominican now proceeded to say with a
+resumption of familiar and even paternal solicitude. "Nor is this all,
+my brothers; my indulgences do not save the living only, they redeem the
+dead! Aye, the dead, be they even as hardened as Lucifer himself! But,
+you may ask, how can your indulgences deliver the dead?" cried the
+merchant of salvation again shouting at the top of his voice, "How will
+my indulgences save the dead? Can it be that you do not hear the voices
+of your parents, your friends, even of strangers to you&mdash;but what does
+that matter, seeing that you are Christians?&mdash;can it be that you do not
+hear their frightful concert of maledictions, of groans, of gnashing of
+teeth which rises from the bottom of the abyss of fire, where those poor
+souls are writhing in the furnace of purgatory&mdash;where they writhe,
+waiting for the mercy of God or the pious works of man to deliver them
+from their dreadful tortures? Can it be that you do not hear those
+miserable sinners, the piteous meanings of those unhappy people, who
+from the bottom<a name="page_vol-1-040" id="page_vol-1-040"></a> of the yawning gulf where the flames are devouring them
+cry out to you: 'Oh, ye stony hearts! we are enduring frightful torture!
+An alms would deliver us! You can give it! Will you refuse to give it?'
+Will you refuse, my brothers? No! I know you will give the alms. I know
+you will give it when you consider that the very instant your gold
+crowns drop into this trunk," (pointing to it) "crack&mdash;psitt&mdash;the soul
+pops out of purgatory and flies into heaven like a dove liberated from
+its cage! Amen! Empty your purses, empty your purses, my friends!"</p>
+
+<p>The majority of the audience before the Dominican seemed little
+concerned about the deliverance of souls in pain. However blind their
+superstitious belief, it had a certain charitable side, but that side
+had no attraction whatever for the faithful ones who were attracted only
+by the expectation of being able, by means of indulgences, to give a
+loose, in perfect security of conscience, to whatever excesses or crimes
+they had in mind.</p>
+
+<p>A man with a gallows-bird face named Pichrocholle, one of the
+Mauvais-Garçons who hired out their homicidal daggers to the highest
+bidder, said in a low voice to a Tire-Laine, another bandit, and one of
+the worst of his kind:</p>
+
+<p>"As truly as the Franc-Taupin whom I was speaking about to you a short
+time ago saved my life at the battle of Marignan, I would not give six
+silver sous for the redemption of the souls in purgatory! Oh, if I only
+were rich enough to purchase a good letter of absolution&mdash;'sdeath!&mdash;I
+would pay for it gladly and spot-cash, too!<a name="page_vol-1-041" id="page_vol-1-041"></a> Once the papal absolution
+is in your pocket, your hand is firmer at its work; it does not tremble
+when dispatching your man! With an absolution duly executed, you can
+defy the fork of Satan on the Judgment Day. But by St. Cadouin, what do
+I care for the souls in purgatory! I laugh at their deliverance! And
+you, Grippe-Minaud?"</p>
+
+<p>"I confess," answered the Tire-Laine, "I bother as little about the
+souls in purgatory as about an empty purse. But tell me, Pichrocholle,"
+added Grippe-Minaud with a pensive air, "letters of absolution are too
+dear for poor devils like ourselves&mdash;suppose we stole one of those
+blessed letters from the commissioner, would the theft be a sin?"</p>
+
+<p>"'Sdeath! How could it be? Does it not give absolution in advance? But
+those jewels are kept too safely to be pilfered."</p>
+
+<p>While the Mauvais-Garçon and the Tire-Laine were exchanging these
+observations, the Apostolic Commissioner rolled his sleeves still
+higher, and continued his sermon, interspersing his words with smiles or
+violent gestures according as the occasion demanded:</p>
+
+<p>"But, my brothers, you will say to me: You puff your indulgences a good
+deal; nevertheless there are such frightful crimes, crimes that are so
+abominable, so monstrous that your indulgences could never reach them!
+You are mistaken, my brothers. No! A thousand times no! My indulgences
+are so good, they are so sure, they are so efficacious, so powerful that
+they absolve everything&mdash;yes, everything! Do you want an example? Let us
+suppose an impossible thing&mdash;let us suppose that someone were<a name="page_vol-1-042" id="page_vol-1-042"></a> to rape
+the holy Mother of God&mdash;an abominable act of sacrilege!"<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p>
+
+<p>A long murmur expressive of dreadful suspense and hope received these
+last words of the trafficker in indulgences; a boundless horizon was
+opened for all manner of the blackest and most unheard-of felonies.
+Among others in the crowd, Hervé remained hanging upon the lips of the
+Dominican; the lad was seized with dizziness; he imagined himself
+oppressed by a nightmare. The hollow-sounding voice of Fra Girard awoke
+him to reality. With a triumphant accent the Franciscan whispered to his
+disciple:</p>
+
+<p>"An insult to the Mother of God herself would be pardoned! Even such a
+crime would be reached by an indulgence! Did you hear him? Did you? An
+indulgence would cover even that!"</p>
+
+<p>A tremor ran through Hervé from head to foot; he made no answer, hid his
+face in his hands, and feeling himself reel like an intoxicated man and
+even his knees to yield under him, the lad found himself obliged to lean
+upon the arms of the Franciscan, who contemplated him with an expression
+of infernal joy.</p>
+
+<p>The merchant of indulgences had paused for a moment<a name="page_vol-1-043" id="page_vol-1-043"></a> upon uttering his
+abominable supposition in order the better to assure himself of its
+effect; he then proceeded in a stentorian voice:</p>
+
+<p>"You tremble, my brothers! So much the better! That proves that you
+appreciate in the fulness of its horror the sacrilege which I cited as
+an example! Now, then, the more horrible the sacrilege, all the more
+sovereign is the virtue of my indulgences, seeing that they give
+absolution therefor! Yes, my brothers, whatever the sacrilege that you
+may commit, you will be pardoned&mdash;provided you pay for it&mdash;provided you
+pay bountifully for it! That is clearer than day! Our Lord God will have
+no power over you, he ceases to be God, having assigned His pardoning
+power to the Pope. But, you may still ask, why does our Holy Father so
+bountifully distribute the boon of his indulgences? Why?" repeated the
+Dominican in a voice of deep lament; "why? Alas! alas! alas! my
+brothers, it is in order to be enabled, thanks to the returns from the
+sales of these indulgences, to rebuild the Basilica of St. Peter and St.
+Paul in Rome with such splendor that there is none to match it in the
+world. Indeed, none other must be like that basilica, which contains the
+sacred bodies of the two apostles! And this notwithstanding&mdash;would you
+believe it, my brothers?&mdash;the Cathedral of Rome is in such a state of
+dilapidation that the holy bones, the sacrosanct bones of St. Peter and
+St. Paul are so constantly exposed to the peltings of rain and hail,
+they are so soiled and dishonored by dust and vermin that they are
+falling to pieces!"<a name="page_vol-1-044" id="page_vol-1-044"></a></p>
+
+<p>A shudder of painful indignation ran over the faithful crowd assembled
+before the Dominican when thus informed that the relics of the apostles
+were exposed to the inclemencies of the weather and the soilure of
+vermin as a result of the dilapidated state of the Basilica of Rome,
+while, since then, the most marvelous monument of architecture that
+immortalizes the genius of Michael Angelo, was reared to the admiration
+of the world. Perceiving the effect made by his peroration, the
+Dominican proceeded in a thundering voice:</p>
+
+<p>"No, my brothers! No! The sacred ashes of the apostles shall no longer
+remain in dirt and disgrace! No! Indulgence has set up its throne in the
+Church of St. Dominic!" and pointing to the large coffer and beating
+with his fists a tattoo upon the lid, the Apostolic Commissioner added
+with the roar of a bull: "Now, bring your money! Bring it, good people!
+Bring plenty! I shall put you the example of charity. I consecrate this
+gold piece to the redemption of souls in purgatory!"</p>
+
+<p>And pulling out of his pocket a half ducat which he held up glistening
+to the eyes of the crowd, he dropped it into the coffer through the slit
+in the lid, upon which he continued to strike with his fists, keeping
+time to his words as he cried:</p>
+
+<p>"Fetch your money! Fetch it, good people! Fetch your ducats!"</p>
+
+<p>The front ranks of the crowd broke in response to the summons of the
+trafficker in indulgences and hastened to<a name="page_vol-1-045" id="page_vol-1-045"></a> empty their purses. But the
+Dominican held back the surging crowd with a gesture of his hand and
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"One more word, my dear brothers! Do you see these confessionals
+decorated with the armorial bearings of the Holy Father? The priests who
+will take your confessions represent the apostolic penitentiaries of
+Rome on the occasions of grand jubilees. All those who wish to
+participate in the three principal indulgences will proceed to these
+confessionals and will conscientiously notify the confessor of the
+amount of money that they are disposed to deprive themselves of in order
+to obtain the following favors:</p>
+
+<p>"The first is the absolute remission of all sins&mdash;past, present and
+future.</p>
+
+<p>"The second is freedom from participation in the works of the Holy
+Church, such as fasts, prayers, pilgrimages and macerations of all
+nature.</p>
+
+<p>"The third&mdash;listen carefully, my brothers, pay particular attention to
+the last words, as the saying is&mdash;this indulgence exceeds all that the
+most faithful believers can wish for!"</p>
+
+<p>"Listen," whispered Fra Girard to Hervé; "listen, and repent your having
+doubted the resources of the faith."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I doubt no longer, and yet I hardly dare to hope," murmured the son
+of Christian with bated breath, while the Dominican proceeded to
+announce aloud:</p>
+
+<p>"The third favor, my brothers, gives you the right to choose a
+confessor, who, every time that you fear you are about to die, will be
+bound&mdash;by virtue of the letter of absolution that you will have
+purchased and which you will<a name="page_vol-1-046" id="page_vol-1-046"></a> display before him&mdash;to give you absolution
+not only for your ordinary sins, but also for those greater crimes the
+remission of which is reserved to the apostolic See, to wit, bestiality,
+the crime against nature, parricide and incest."</p>
+
+<p>The Dominican had hardly pronounced these words when Hervé's features
+became frightful to behold. The lad's eyes shot fire, and a smile of the
+damned curled his lips as Fra Girard stooped down to him and whispered
+in his ear:</p>
+
+<p>"Did I deceive you? The indulgence is absolute, even for incest."</p>
+
+<p>"Finally, my brothers," the Apostolic Commissioner proceeded to say,
+"the fourth favor consists in redeeming souls from purgatory. For this
+favor, my brothers, it is not necessary, as for the three first ones, to
+be contrite of heart and to confess. No, no! It is enough if you drop
+your offerings in this coffer. You will thereby snatch the souls of the
+dead from the tortures that they are undergoing; and you will be
+moreover contributing towards the holy work of restoring the Basilica of
+St. Peter and St. Paul at Rome. Now, then, my brothers," he added,
+thumping anew upon the coffer, "come forward with your money! Come
+forward with your ducats! Come!"</p>
+
+<p>Upon this last exhortation the railing of the choir was thrown open. The
+small number of the charitably disposed who wished to deliver the souls
+in pain began filing before the coffer into which they dropped their
+offerings after making the sign of the cross; the confessionals,
+however, in which the pontifical penitentiaries took their<a name="page_vol-1-047" id="page_vol-1-047"></a> seats, ready
+to issue letters of absolution, were immediately besieged by a mob of
+men and women, anxious to obtain impunity in the eyes of heaven and of
+their own conscience for sins ranging from the most venial up to
+monstrous deeds that cause nature to shudder. It was a frightful sight,
+the spectacle presented by the mob around these confessionals crowding
+to the quarry of impunity for crime.</p>
+
+<p>Good God! Your vicars order and exploit the traffic! Behold human
+conscience upturned, shaken at its very foundation, losing even the
+sense of discrimination between vice and virtue! The moral sense is
+perverted, it is smothered by sacrilegious superstition! Mankind is
+lashed to a vertigo of folly and evil by the assurance of impunity,
+feeling certain, Oh, God of justice! of having You for an accomplice!
+Souls, until then innocent, no longer recoil before any passion however
+execrable, the bare thought of which is a crime! Does not the Pope of
+Rome absolve for all eternity, in exchange for a few gold crowns, even
+parricide and incest? If only its faith is strong enough the incestuous
+or parricidal heart knows, feels itself absolved! Oh, in honor at least
+to the religious sentiment&mdash;the divine gift implanted in man's heart,
+whatever the dogma may be in which it is wrapped&mdash;there are Catholic
+priests of austere morals who, despite their intolerance, have, in these
+accursed times, indignantly repudiated the monstrous idolatries and
+savage fetichism that even ancient paganism knew nothing of! No! No!
+Christ, your celestial gospel is and will remain the most<a name="page_vol-1-048" id="page_vol-1-048"></a> scathing
+condemnation of the horrors that are committed in your venerated name.
+Those papal penitentiaries in the confessionals emblazoned with the
+pontifical arms, those new dealers in merchandise in the Temple dare to
+sell for cash patents of salvation! Alas! After a few hurried words
+exchanged with Fra Girard, Hervé was one of the first to hurry to the
+confessionals and kneel down; he did not long remain there; those near
+him heard the papal penitentiary first utter a cry of surprise; silence
+ensued, broken by the intermittent sobs of the lad; the chinking of the
+money that was being counted out to the priest in the confessional
+announced the close of the absolutional conversation. Hervé issued out
+of the tribunal of penitence holding a parchment with a convulsive
+clutch, closely followed by Fra Girard; he cleaved the compact mass of
+people, and withdrew to one of the lateral chapels; there he knelt down
+before a sanctuary of the Virgin that a lamp illumined, and by its light
+read the letter of absolution that he had just bought with his father's
+money. The pontifical letter was couched in the following terms:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>May our Lord Jesus Christ have mercy upon you [here followed a
+blank space into which the name of the owner of the letter was to
+be inserted]; may He absolve you by the virtue of the Holy Passion.
+And I, in virtue of the apostolical power in me vested, do hereby
+absolve you from all ecclesiastical censures, judgments and
+punishments that you may have deserved; furthermore <i>of all
+excesses, sins and crimes that you may have committed, however
+grave and enormous these may be, and whatever the cause thereof</i>,
+even if such sins and crimes be those reserved<a name="page_vol-1-049" id="page_vol-1-049"></a> to our Holy Father
+the Pope and to the apostolic See&mdash;<i>such as bestiality, the sin
+against nature, parricide and incest</i>. I hereby efface from you all
+traces of inability, all the marks of infamy that you may have
+drawn upon yourself on such occasions; I induct you anew as a
+participant of the sacraments of the Church; I re-incorporate you
+in the community of saints; I restore you to the innocence and
+purity that you were in at the hour of your baptism, so that, at
+the hour of your death, the door through which one passes to the
+place of torments and pain shall be closed to you, while on the
+contrary, the gate that leads to the Paradise of joy shall be wide
+open to you, <i>and should you not die speedily, Oh, my son! this
+token of mercy shall remain unalterable until your ultimate end</i>.</p>
+
+<p>In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, Amen!</p>
+
+<p class="r">B<small>ROTHER</small> J<small>OHN</small> T<small>EZEL</small>,<br />
+Apostolic Commissioner, signed by his own hand.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a><br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>Without rising from his knees Hervé frequently interrupted the reading
+of the document with suppressed signs of pleased and blissful
+astonishment. The absolution that he was now the owner of extended to
+the past, it covered the present, it reached the future. As Fra Girard
+called the purchaser's attention to the fact, the document bore no date
+and thereby extended the apostolic efficacy over all the sins, all the
+crimes that the holder of the indulgence might commit to the end of his
+days. Hervé folded the parchment and inserted it into the scapulary that
+hung from his neck under his shirt, bowed down till his forehead touched
+the slab of the floor at the foot of the sanctuary and kissed it
+devoutly. Alas! The unfortunate lad was sincere in his frightful
+thankfulness towards the divine power that granted him the remission.
+His mind<a name="page_vol-1-050" id="page_vol-1-050"></a> being led astray by a detestable influence, he felt himself,
+he believed himself, absolved of all the wrongs that his delirious
+imagination raved over. Fra Girard contemplated the prostrate lad with
+an expression of sinister triumph. The latter suddenly rose and, as if
+seized with a vertigo, staggered towards the railing of the chapel. The
+Franciscan held him back by the arm, and pointing at the image of the
+Virgin, arrayed in a flowing robe of silver cloth studded with pearls,
+and her head crowned with a golden crown that glistened in the
+semi-darkness of the dimly-lighted sanctuary, said in a solemn voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Behold the image of the mother of our Savior, and remember the words of
+the Apostolic Commissioner. Even if the horrible sacrilege that he
+mentioned were a feasible thing, it could be absolved by the letter that
+you now own. If that is so, and it may not be doubted, what then becomes
+of the remorse and the terrors that have assailed you during the last
+three months? Since the day when, distracted with despair by the
+discovery of the frightful secret that had lain concealed in the bottom
+of your heart, you came to me, and yielding, despite yourself, to the
+irresistible instinct that whispered to you: 'Only in faith will you be
+healed,' you confessed your trials to me&mdash;since that day you have hourly
+realized that your instinct guided you rightly and that my words were
+true. To-day you are assured of a place in paradise. Hervé&mdash;do you hear
+me?"</p>
+
+<p>"I hear," and after a moment of pensiveness: "Oh, celestial miracle for
+which, with my forehead in the dust, I rendered thanks to the mother of
+our Savior. Yes, since<a name="page_vol-1-051" id="page_vol-1-051"></a> a minute ago, from the moment that I became the
+owner of this sacred schedule, my conscience has regained its former
+serenity, my mind is in peace, my heart is full of hope. I now only need
+to will and to dare&mdash;I shall will, I shall dare! Mine is the bliss of
+paradise!"</p>
+
+<p>Hervé uttered these words with calm conviction. He did not lie. No, his
+conscience was serene, his mind at peace, his heart full of hope, even
+the lines on his face seemed suddenly transfigured; their savage and
+tormented expression made room for a sort of blissful ecstasy, a slight
+flush again enlivened the cheeks that frequent fasts, macerations and
+mental conflicts had paled. The monk smiled silently at the
+metamorphosis; he took Hervé by the arm, walked with him out of the
+church, and as the two stepped out upon the street said to him:</p>
+
+<p>"You have now entered upon the path of salvation; your faith has been
+tried&mdash;will you still hesitate to join the ranks of the militants, who
+openly preach and cause this faith to triumph, the miraculous efficacy
+of which you have yourself experienced this day? Think of the glory of
+our holy mother the Church."</p>
+
+<p>"Speak not now to me of such things. My thoughts are elsewhere&mdash;they are
+near my sister Hena."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well; but, Hervé, never forget what I have often told you, and
+that your modesty makes you disregard. Your intelligence is exceptional;
+your erudition extensive; heaven has endowed you with the precious gift
+of a persuasive eloquence; the monastic Orders, especially the one to
+which I belong, I say so in all humility, recruit them<a name="page_vol-1-052" id="page_vol-1-052"></a>selves carefully
+with young men whose gifts give promise of a brilliant future; this is
+enough to tell you of what priceless value you would be to our Order;
+you could make with us a rapid and brilliant career; you might even
+become the prior of our monastery. But I shall not pursue this subject;
+you are not listening to me; we shall take up the matter later. Where
+are you going so fast?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am going back to my father, to the printing shop of Master Robert
+Estienne."</p>
+
+<p>"Be prudent&mdash;above all, no indiscretion!"</p>
+
+<p>"Girard," answered Hervé with a slightly moved voice and after a
+second's reflection, "I know not what may happen during the next few
+days; I will, and I shall dare; can I at all events count upon obtaining
+asylum in your cell?"</p>
+
+<p>"Whatever the hour of the day or night may be, you may ring at the
+little gate of the convent, where the faithful repair who come to ask
+our assistance for the dying; ask the brother gateman for me; that will
+let you in and you will find an inviolable asylum within our walls; you
+will there be sheltered from all pursuit."</p>
+
+<p>"I thank you for the promise, and I rely upon it. Adieu. Think of me in
+your prayers."</p>
+
+<p>"Adieu, and let me see you soon again," answered the Franciscan as he
+followed with his eyes the rapidly retreating figure of Hervé. "Whatever
+may happen," added Fra Girard to himself, "he now belongs to us, body
+and soul. Such acquisitions are precious in these days of implacable
+struggle against heresy. God be praised!"<a name="page_vol-1-053" id="page_vol-1-053"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_vol-1-IV" id="CHAPTER_vol-1-IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br />
+<br />THE "TEST OF THE LUTHERANS."</h3>
+
+<p>At the time of this narrative there rose at about the middle of St. John
+of Beauvais Street a large, new house built in the simple and graceful
+style recently imported from Italy. Upon a gilt sign, ornamented with
+the symbolical arms of the University of Paris, and placed immediately
+over the door, the inscription: R<small>OBERT</small> E<small>STIENNE</small>, P<small>RINTER</small> was painted in
+bold letters. Heavy iron bars protected the windows of the ground floor
+against any bold attempts that might be contemplated by the bandits that
+the city was infested with, and the defensive precaution was completed
+by a heavy sheet of iron fastened with heavy nails to an already solid
+and massive door that was surmounted by a sculptured allegory of the
+Arts and Sciences, an elegant piece of work from the chisel of one of
+the best pupils of Primaticio, a celebrated Italian artist whom Francis
+I called to France. The house belonged to Master Robert Estienne, the
+celebrated printer, the worthy successor of his father in that learned
+industry, and one of the most erudite men of the century. Profoundly
+versed in the Latin, Greek and Hebrew languages, Master Robert Estienne
+raised the art of printing to a high degree<a name="page_vol-1-054" id="page_vol-1-054"></a> of perfection. Passionately
+devoted to his art, he lavished so much care upon the publications that
+issued from his establishment, that not only did he himself correct the
+proofs of the Latin, Greek and Hebrew works which he printed, but he
+furthermore stuck the revised proofs to his office door and kept them
+there for a certain time with the offer of a reward to whomsoever should
+point out an error or blemish. Among the handsomest works published by
+Master Robert Estienne were a Bible and a New Testament, both translated
+into French. These two productions were the admiration of the learned
+and the source of profound uneasiness to the Sorbonne<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> and the clergy,
+who felt as alarmed as irritated to see the press popularize the textual
+knowledge of the holy books that condemned a mass of abuses, idolatrous
+practices and exactions which the Church of Rome had for centuries been
+introducing into the Catholic cult.</p>
+
+<p>Robert Estienne was recently wedded to Perrine Bade, a young and
+handsome woman, the daughter of another learned printer, and herself
+well versed in the Latin. The home of Robert Estienne presented the
+noble example of those bourgeois families whose pure morals and virile
+domestic virtues so strongly contrasted with the prevalent corruption of
+those days. Accused of being a partisan of the religious Reformation,
+and both the Sorbonne and parliament, both of which were bound by
+personal and material interests to the Catholic cause, having expressed
+their anger at him, Robert Estienne would long before have been<a name="page_vol-1-055" id="page_vol-1-055"></a> dragged
+to the pyre as a heretic, but for the powerful protection of Princess
+Marguerite of Valois, the sister of Francis I, a woman of letters, of
+daring spirit, a generous nature, and withal secretly inclined to the
+reform. The King himself, who loved the arts and letters more out of
+vanity and the desire to imitate the princes of Italy than out of true
+intellectual loftiness, extended his protection to Robert Estienne, whom
+he considered an illustrious man whose glory would reflect upon his
+prince as a Maecenas. His rare mental equipment, his talent, and, last
+not least, the considerable wealth that he had inherited from his father
+and increased by his own labor, had won for the celebrated printer
+numerous and bitter enemies: his fellow tradesmen were jealous of the
+inimitable perfection of his works: the members of the Sorbonne, of the
+parliament and of the court, among all of whom the King and his evil
+genius, the Cardinal and Chancellor Duprat, distributed the goods
+confiscated from the heretics, had many times and oft expected to be
+about to enrich themselves with the plunder of Robert Estienne's
+establishment. But ever, thanks to the potent influence of Princess
+Marguerite, the printer's adversaries had remained impotent in their
+machinations against him. Nevertheless, knowing but too well how
+capricious and precarious royal favor is, Robert Estienne was ever ready
+for the worst with the serenity of the wise man and the clear conscience
+of a man of honor, while the affection of his young wife was a source of
+inexhaustible support in his struggle with the evil-minded.<a name="page_vol-1-056" id="page_vol-1-056"></a></p>
+
+<p>The workshop of Master Robert Estienne occupied the ground floor of the
+house. His artisans, all carefully selected by himself, and almost all
+of whom were the sons of workmen whom his father had employed before
+him, were worthy of the confidence that he reposed in them. More than
+once did they have to repel with arms the assaults of fanatical bandits,
+egged on by the monks, who pointed at the printing shop as a hot-bed of
+diabolical inventions that should be demolished and burned down. The
+populace, ignorant and credulous, rushed upon the house of Robert
+Estienne, and but for the courage displayed by the defenders of the
+establishment, the place would have been looted. Due to such
+possibilities many employers felt under the necessity of building around
+themselves a sort of bodyguard composed of their own workmen. The famous
+goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini, whom Francis I invited from Florence to
+settle in Paris, was in such constant dread of the jealousy of the
+French and Italian artists, that he never went out upon the street
+without being accompanied by several of his pupils, all armed to the
+teeth. And not long ago he had sustained a regular siege in the little
+Castle of Neste of which the King had made him a present. The fray
+lasted two full days; victory remained with Benvenuto and his private
+garrison; and Francis I was highly amused at the occurrence. Such is the
+order that reigns in the city, such the security enjoyed by the citizens
+in these sad days.</p>
+
+<p>Robert Estienne's establishment resembled an arsenal as much as it did a
+printing shop. Pikes, arquebuses and<a name="page_vol-1-057" id="page_vol-1-057"></a> swords hung near the presses, the
+composers' cases or the stone tables. Although it was night, Christian
+remained on this evening at the shop; he remained behind upon his
+master's request, and was waiting for him. The artisan's face, which had
+borne the marks of worry since the conversation that he had with his son
+Hervé on the preceding night, now looked cheerful. When Hervé returned
+from the Church of St. Dominic, long after the customary hour for work
+to be begun at Master Estienne's shop, and saw his father surprised and
+displeased at the renewed absence from work, he said hypocritically:</p>
+
+<p>"Please do not judge me by appearances; be sure, father, that I shall
+again be worthy of you&mdash;you will pardon me a fatal slip. I begin to
+realize the danger of the influence that I was blindly yielding to."</p>
+
+<p>Saying this, the lad had hastened to make good the lost time, and
+diligently set to work. Shortly after, the conversation among the
+workingmen turned accidentally upon the sale of indulgences, which they
+condemned with renewed energy. So far from violently taking up the
+cudgels for the nefarious traffic, as he had done on previous occasions,
+Hervé remained silent and even looked confused. Christian drew favorable
+conclusions from his son's embarrassment.</p>
+
+<p>"Our last night's conversation must have borne good fruit," thought the
+artisan to himself; "the poor boy's eyes must have been opened; he must
+have realized that fanaticism was driving him down into an abyss.
+Patience!<a name="page_vol-1-058" id="page_vol-1-058"></a> The principles in which I brought him up will win the upper
+hand. I may now hope for the better."</p>
+
+<p>When towards the close of the day's work he was notified by Master
+Estienne that he wished to speak with him, and was asked to remain
+behind, Christian told his son to inform Bridget of the reason of his
+anticipated delay, in order that she be not alarmed at not seeing him
+home at the usual hour. When he was finally left alone at the shop, he
+continued the paging of a Latin book by the light of a lamp. In the
+midst of this work he was interrupted by one of his friends named
+Justin, a pressman in the shop. Some urgent presswork had kept him in a
+contiguous room. Surprised at finding Christian still at work, Justin
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"I did not expect to find you here so late, dear comrade. The hour for
+rest has sounded."</p>
+
+<p>"Master Estienne sent me word asking that I wait for him after the shop
+closed. He wishes to speak with me."</p>
+
+<p>"That fits in with my plans. I had meant to call at your house this
+evening and propose a trip for to-morrow to Montmartre, in order to
+visit the place that you know of&mdash;the more I think of the matter, the
+more convinced am I that we could select no better place for our
+purpose."</p>
+
+<p>"I am inclined to believe you after all the details that you have given
+me upon the matter. But are you quite certain that the place offers us
+all the requisite guarantees of secrecy and safety?"</p>
+
+<p>"In order to convince ourselves fully upon the matter, I wished to
+examine the place once more with you. It is<a name="page_vol-1-059" id="page_vol-1-059"></a> a long time since I was
+there. Maybe the place is no longer what it was. Well, shall we make the
+investigation to-morrow evening?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I think it is high time for us to set to work, and organize our
+army, Justin! I can see no other means to combat our powerful enemies;
+they seem almost all-powerful. From day to day they become more
+threatening. On their side they have force, numbers, power, audacity,
+the judges, the trained soldiers, the priests, the jailers and
+executioners, moss-grown tradition, the ferocious fanaticism of a
+populace whose mind is poisoned and who are misled by the monks. And we,
+what have we? This," added Christian pointing to a printing press that
+stood in the center of the shop, "that instrument, that lever of
+irresistible force&mdash;thought&mdash;the mind! Courage, my friend! Let us,
+humble soldiers of reason, know how to wait. The printing press will
+change the face of the earth&mdash;and all our casqued, mitred and crowned
+tyrants will have seen their day! The printing press will be the weapon
+of emancipation!"</p>
+
+<p>"As well as you, Christian, I have faith in that future, whether it be
+near or far away. Thought, subtle as light itself, will penetrate
+everywhere. The midnight darkness of ignorance will be dispelled, and
+freedom will dart its rays upon all. Let us to work, Christian. The
+moment we shall have chosen our place, we will put our projects into
+execution. I shall be at your house to-morrow evening. The moon will be
+up late; her light will guide us; and&mdash;" here Justin interrupted himself
+saying: "Here is our master;<a name="page_vol-1-060" id="page_vol-1-060"></a> I shall leave you. Until to-morrow! I
+shall be promptly on time."</p>
+
+<p>"Till to-morrow," answered Christian as his friend left by a door of the
+shop that opened upon a deserted side street.</p>
+
+<p>Master Robert Estienne, a man of about thirty years of age, was of
+middle size, and of a firm, kind and at once serious physiognomy. His
+eyes sparkled with intelligence; a few premature lines furrowed his wide
+forehead; study and concentration of mind had begun to thin out his
+hair. He wore a coat and puffed-out hose of black taffeta; a white
+crumpled cap sat upon his head, and seemed fastened under his chin by a
+light and closely cropped beard that ended in a point.</p>
+
+<p>"Christian," said Robert Estienne, "I have a service to ask of you, a
+great service."</p>
+
+<p>"Speak, Master Estienne; you know the feelings that I entertain for your
+house and all that concerns you; I am as devoted to you as my father was
+to yours. If it pleases God," added the artisan smothering a sigh, "it
+will be so with my son towards yours."</p>
+
+<p>"These long-continued relations between our two families honor them
+both, Christian. It is for that reason that I do not hesitate to ask a
+great service from you. This is the matter: As you know, my house is a
+thorn in the side of my enemies; without mentioning the assault that it
+had to sustain against the wretched fanatics whom the monks aroused
+against it, the place is constantly spied upon. The persecutions
+redouble in number and vehe<a name="page_vol-1-061" id="page_vol-1-061"></a>mence against all those who are suspected of
+favoring the religious Reformation, especially since printed placards
+violently hostile to the Church of Rome were posted over night in the
+streets of Paris. John Morin, the Criminal Lieutenant and worthy
+instrument of Cardinal-Chancellor Duprat, who keeps himself informed by
+the miserable spy who goes under the name of Gainier, keeps Paris in a
+state of terror through his police searches. Only the other day he
+issued an order by which the sergeants of the gendarmes are empowered at
+all hours of the day or night to search from cellar to garret the
+residence of whomsoever is accused of heresy. I am among these. Despite
+the protection of Princess Marguerite, it may happen that, at any
+moment, my domicile is invaded by the lackeys of Duprat's lieutenant."</p>
+
+<p>"That is unfortunately true; your enemies are powerful and numerous."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, now, Christian, a man whom I love like my own brother, an
+honorable man, foe to the priests, and proscribed by them, has asked me
+for asylum. He is here since last evening, in hiding. I am in constant
+apprehension of having my house searched, and my friend's place of
+refuge discovered. His life is at stake."</p>
+
+<p>"Great God! I can understand your uneasiness. Your friend is, indeed, in
+great peril."</p>
+
+<p>"Driven to this extremity, I determined to turn to you. It occurred to
+me that your happy obscurity saves you from the espionage that pursues
+me. Could you extend hospitality to my friend for two or three days, and
+take<a name="page_vol-1-062" id="page_vol-1-062"></a> him this very evening to your house? You would be running no
+risk."</p>
+
+<p>"With all my heart!"</p>
+
+<p>"I shall never forget this service," said Master Robert Estienne, warmly
+pressing the artisan's hand; "I knew I could count upon your
+generosity."</p>
+
+<p>"All I wish to remind you of, sir, is that the asylum is as humble as it
+is safe."</p>
+
+<p>"The proscribed man has for several months been accustomed to travel
+from city to city; more than once, the generous apostle has spent the
+night in the woods and the day in some dark cavern. Any place of refuge
+is good to him."</p>
+
+<p>"That being so, I have this proposition to make to you. I live, as you
+know, on the Exchange Bridge; there is a garret under the roof of the
+house; it is so very low one can hardly stand in it; but it is
+sufficiently ventilated by a little window that opens upon the river.
+To-morrow morning, after my son and I shall have left the house to come
+to the shop, my wife&mdash;I shall have to take her into the secret, but I
+answer for her as for myself&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I know it, Bridget deserves your full confidence; you may tell her
+everything."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, to-morrow morning, after we shall have left the house, my
+wife will send my daughter on some errand or other, and will, during her
+absence, transport to the garret a mattress, some bed linen and whatever
+else may be necessary in order to render the refuge bearable. To-night,
+however, our guest will have to resign himself<a name="page_vol-1-063" id="page_vol-1-063"></a> to a simple quilt for
+bedding; but a night is soon over&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That matters little. But how is he to be taken to your house to-night
+without the knowledge of your family? I know your domestic habits. Your
+wife and children are now waiting for you to take supper in the ground
+floor room, the door of which opens on the bridge. They will all see you
+come in with the stranger. Then also, it occurs to me, does not your
+wife's brother, the old Franc-Taupin, join you almost every evening at
+meals? That is an additional difficulty to be overcome."</p>
+
+<p>"That is true; and I do not intend to take him into the secret, although
+his faults&mdash;and these are numerous with the poor soldier of
+adventure&mdash;are wholly counterbalanced in my eyes by his devotion to my
+family; he fairly worships his sister and her children."</p>
+
+<p>"How, then, shall we manage this evening?"</p>
+
+<p>"I shall take the proscribed man to my house as an old friend whom I met
+and invited to supper. As customary, my son and daughter will withdraw
+to their rooms after the meal, and my wife, her brother the
+Franc-Taupin, if he calls this evening, and I will remain alone with my
+guest. I shall then request my wife's brother to go out for a pot of
+wine in order that we close the day pleasantly. The wine is sold at a
+tavern near the wharf and at some little distance from my house. I shall
+profit by the Franc-Taupin's absence in order to apprize my wife in a
+few words of the secret; my guest will go up into the garret: and when
+my brother-in-law returns I shall tell him that our guest feared it
+would grow too late, and left, request<a name="page_vol-1-064" id="page_vol-1-064"></a>ing me to present his regards to
+the Franc-Taupin and bid him adieu. As you see, the matter can be safely
+and secretly arranged."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, very well. But, Christian, there is a matter that I must seriously
+call your attention to. It is not an impossible thing that, despite all
+your precautions, the proscribed man may be discovered in your house by
+the police of Duprat's lieutenant; it is my duty to remind you that, in
+such an event, you run the risk of imprisonment, perhaps even of a
+severer, more terrible punishment; remember that justice can not be
+relied upon in these days. The ecclesiastical tribunals are implacable;
+it is with them&mdash;torture or death."</p>
+
+<p>"Master Estienne, do you think me accessible to fear?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I know your devotion to me. But I wish you to feel sure that were
+it not for the strictness of the surveillance that is kept over my
+house, and that renders it impossible for me to offer asylum to the
+friend whom I entrust to you, I would not then expose you to dangers
+that I would otherwise be anxious myself to brave. I first thought of
+hiding him in my cottage at St. Ouen; that country-seat is secluded and
+far enough from the village. But for several reasons that I am not yet
+free to communicate to you, my friend should remain hidden in the very
+heart of Paris. I repeat it, Christian: if, however improbable, it
+should betide that you are put to trouble, if harm should come to you by
+reason of the service that you will have rendered me, your wife and your
+children will find protection and support in my family."<a name="page_vol-1-065" id="page_vol-1-065"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Master Estienne, I shall never forget that my father, laboring under
+the shameless calumnies of the successor of the printer John Saurin,
+would have himself and his family died of hunger and despair but for the
+generous assistance of your father. Whatever I may do, never could I pay
+that debt of gratitude to you and yours. My modest havings and myself
+are at your disposal."</p>
+
+<p>"My father acted like an upright man, that was all; but if you
+absolutely insist upon considering yourself in our debt, your noble
+assistance in this instance will be to us one more proof of your
+gratitude. But I have not yet told you all, worthy Christian. Yielding
+no doubt to a feeling of delicacy, you have not asked me in behalf of
+whom I solicited asylum with you."</p>
+
+<p>"The proscribed man is worthy of your friendship; he is an apostle,
+Master Estienne; need I know more?"</p>
+
+<p>"Without imparting to you a secret that is not mine, I feel free to
+inform you that this proscribed man is the bravest of the apostles of
+the Reformation. I owe only to your personal attachment the service that
+you render to me, seeing that, in granting asylum to my friend, you are
+not yet aware whether you are in accord with his ideas. Your generous
+action is dictated by your affection towards me and mine; in my turn, I
+now contract a debt of gratitude towards you and yours. And once upon
+this subject, Christian," added Master Estienne in penetrating accents,
+"allow me frankly to state my thoughts to you with respect to your son.
+We have recently talked more than<a name="page_vol-1-066" id="page_vol-1-066"></a> once upon the worry that he caused
+you; I regret the circumstance doubly; I expected great things from
+Hervé. He has developed a variety of aptitudes in other directions
+besides the mechanical part of our art in which he begins to excel. The
+lad's precocious knowledge, his exceptional eloquence&mdash;all these
+qualities ranked him in my eye among that small number of men who are
+destined to shine in whatever career they embrace. Finally, that which
+enhanced with me Hervé's intellectual powers was the goodness of his
+heart and the straightforwardness of his character. But his habits have
+latterly become irregular; his one-time affectionate, open and
+communicative nature has undergone a change. I have hitherto refrained
+from letting him perceive the grief that his conduct caused me. In the
+midst of all this I imagine he has preserved some love and respect for
+me. Would you authorize me to have a serious and paternal conversation
+with him? It may have a salutary effect."</p>
+
+<p>"I thank you, Master Estienne, for your kind offer. I am glad to be able
+to say that I have reasons to think that since to-day my son has turned
+to better thoughts; that a sudden and happy change has come over him,
+because&mdash;" Christian could not finish his sentence. Madam Estienne, a
+handsome young woman of a sweet and grave countenance, precipitately
+entered the shop and handing to her husband an open letter said to him
+in a moved voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Read, my friend; as you will see, there is not a minute<a name="page_vol-1-067" id="page_vol-1-067"></a> to lose;" and
+turning aside to Christian: "Can we count with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Absolutely and in all things, madam."</p>
+
+<p>"There is no longer any doubt!" cried Master Estienne after he read the
+letter. "Our house will be searched, this very night perhaps; they are
+on my friend's tracks."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall run for him," said Madam Estienne; "Christian and he will go
+out by the side street. I think the house is watched on the St. John of
+Beauvais Street side."</p>
+
+<p>"Master Estienne," said the artisan to his employer, "in order to make
+assurance doubly sure I shall go down to the end of the side alley and
+reconnoiter whether the passage is clear; I shall explore it
+thoroughly."</p>
+
+<p>"Go, my friend, you will find us in the small yard with the proscribed
+man."</p>
+
+<p>Christian left the shop, crossed the small yard, drew the bolt of a door
+that opened into the side alley and stepped out. He found the lane
+completely deserted, from end to end not a soul was in sight. Although
+it was night there was light enough to see a long distance ahead. Having
+convinced himself that the issue was safe, Christian returned to the
+door of the yard where he found Master Estienne pressing in his own the
+hand of a man of middle size and clad in plain black.</p>
+
+<p>"Master Estienne," said Christian to his employer, "the alley is
+deserted; we can go out without being seen by anyone."</p>
+
+<p>"Adieu, my friend," said Master Estienne in a trembling voice to the
+proscribed man. "You may rely upon<a name="page_vol-1-068" id="page_vol-1-068"></a> your guide as upon me. Follow him
+and observe all that he may recommend to you for your safety. May heaven
+protect your precious life!"</p>
+
+<p>"Adieu! Adieu!" answered the unknown who seemed to be no less moved than
+the printer; saying which he followed Christian. After issuing from the
+alley and walking for a while in the direction of the Exchange Bridge,
+the two men arrived at a gate which they had to pass in order to cross
+the Cour-Dieu. At that place their progress was delayed by a compact
+mass of people who were gathered near the gate, in the center of which
+was a turnstile intended to keep horses and wagons from entering the
+square. Many patrolmen were seen among the crowd.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the meaning of this gathering?" inquired Christian from a man
+of athletic carriage, with the sleeves of his shirt turned up, a
+blood-bespattered apron and a long knife by his side.</p>
+
+<p>"St. James!" exclaimed the butcher in a tone of pious satisfaction; "the
+reverend Franciscan fathers of the Cour-Dieu have been struck by a good
+idea."</p>
+
+<p>"In what way?" again Christian asked. "What is their idea? Inform us of
+what is going on."</p>
+
+<p>"The good monks have placed upon the square in front of the door of
+their convent a lighted chapel at the foot of a beautiful station of the
+Holy Virgin, and a mendicant monk stands on either side of the statue,
+with a club in one hand and a purse in the other&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And what is the purpose of the chapel and the mendicant monks and their
+clubs?"<a name="page_vol-1-069" id="page_vol-1-069"></a></p>
+
+<p>"St. James!" and the butcher crossed himself; "thanks to that chapel the
+Lutheran dogs can be discovered as they pass by."</p>
+
+<p>"How can they be recognized?"</p>
+
+<p>"If they pass before the chapel without kneeling down at the feet of the
+Holy Virgin, and without dropping a piece of money into the purse of the
+mendicant monks, it is a proof that the painim are heretics&mdash;they are
+immediately set upon, they are slain, they are torn to shreds. Listen!
+Do you hear that?"</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, at that moment, piercing shrieks half drowned by an angry roar
+of many voices went up from the interior of the Cour-Dieu. As the
+turnstile allowed a passage to only one person at a time, the approaches
+of the square were blocked by a crowd that swelled from moment to moment
+and that was swayed with the ardent desire to witness the <i>Test of the
+Lutherans</i>, as the process was called. Every time that the cries of a
+victim ceased, the clamor subsided, and the mob awaited the next
+execution. The butcher resumed:</p>
+
+<p>"That painim has ceased to scream&mdash;his account is settled. May the fire
+of St. Anthony consume those laggards who are getting so slowly through
+the gate! I shall not be able to witness the killing of a single one of
+those accursed fellows!"</p>
+
+<p>"My friend," said the mysterious companion of Christian to the butcher,
+"those Lutherans must be very great criminals, are they not? I ask you
+because I am a stranger here&mdash;"<a name="page_vol-1-070" id="page_vol-1-070"></a></p>
+
+<p>A score of voices charitably hastened to answer the unknown man, who,
+together with Christian was so completely hemmed in by the crowd that
+they had no choice but patiently to wait for their turn at the
+turnstile.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor man, where do you come from?" said some, addressing the unknown.
+"What! You ask whether the Lutherans are criminals? Why, they are
+infamous brigands!"</p>
+
+<p>And thereupon they vied with one another in citing the felonies that the
+reformers were guilty of:</p>
+
+<p>"They read the Bible in French!"</p>
+
+<p>"They do not confess!"</p>
+
+<p>"They do not sing mass!"</p>
+
+<p>"They believe neither in the Pope, nor the saints, nor in the virginity
+of Mary, nor in holy relics!"</p>
+
+<p>"Nor in the blood of our Savior!&mdash;nor in the drop of milk of his holy
+mother!&mdash;nor in the miraculous tooth of St. Loup!"</p>
+
+<p>"And what do those demons substitute for the holy mass? Abominable
+incantations and orgies!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes&mdash;it is so!"</p>
+
+<p>"I, who now speak to you, knew the son of a tailor who was once caught
+in the net of those ministers of the devil. I'll tell you what he
+saw&mdash;he told me all about it the next day. The Lutherans assembled at
+night&mdash;at midnight&mdash;in a large cave, men, young girls and women to
+celebrate their <i>Luthery</i>. A rich bourgeois woman, who lived on the same
+street with the tailor attended the incantation with her two daughters.
+When all the canting hypocrites were<a name="page_vol-1-071" id="page_vol-1-071"></a> assembled, their priest donned a
+robe of goatskin with a headgear of spreading oxhorns; he then took a
+little child, spread the poor little fellow upon a table lighted by two
+tall wax candles, and, while the other heretics sang their psalms in
+French, interspersed with magical invocations, their priest cut the
+child's throat!"</p>
+
+<p>"The assassins! The monsters! The demons!"</p>
+
+<p>"The priest of Lucifer thereupon gathered the child's blood in a vase
+and sprinkled the assembly with the warm gore! He then tore out the
+child's heart and ate it up! That closed the celebration of the
+Luthery."</p>
+
+<p>"Holy St. James, and shall we not bleed these sons of Satan to the last
+man?" cried the butcher, carrying his hand to his knife, while the
+proscribed man exchanged significant glances with Christian and remarked
+to those standing near him:</p>
+
+<p>"Can such monstrosities be possible? Could such things have happened?"</p>
+
+<p>"Whether they are possible! Why, Brother St. Lawrence-on-the-gridiron, a
+reverend Carmelite who is my confessor, told me, Marotte, there never
+was an assembly of those heretics held without at least one or two
+little children being sacrificed."</p>
+
+<p>"Jesus, God! Everybody knows that," pursued the first narrator; "the
+tailor's son that I am talking about witnessed the heretical orgy; he
+saw everything with his own eyes; then, after the Lutherans had been
+sprinkled with the child's blood as a sort of baptism, their priest
+spoke up and said: 'Now, take off your clothes, and pray to God<a name="page_vol-1-072" id="page_vol-1-072"></a> in our
+fashion. Long live hell and the Luthery!' As soon as he said this, he
+put out the two wax candles, whereupon all the he and she canting
+hypocrites, with as much clothing on as Adam and Eve, men, women and
+young girls, all thrown helter-skelter in the dark&mdash;well, you
+understand&mdash;it is an abomination!"<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p>
+
+<p>"What a horror! Malediction upon them!"</p>
+
+<p>"Mercy! May God protect us from such heretics!"</p>
+
+<p>"Confession! Such infamies portend the end of the world!"</p>
+
+<p>"Brother St. Lawrence-on-the-gridiron, the reverend Carmelite friar, my
+confessor, told me, Marotte, that all the Lutheries closed in the same
+fashion. The good father felt so indignant that he gave me accurate
+details upon the devilish heretics; they were details that made my
+cheeks burn red and hot like a piece of coal."</p>
+
+<p>These snatches of reports, that summed up the stupid and atrocious
+calumnies spread about by the monks against the reformers, were
+interrupted by new shrieks and vociferations that went up from the
+Cour-Dieu. Listening with secret disgust and silent indignation to the
+calumnious indignities that were huckstered about by an ignorant and
+credulous populace, Christian and the unknown man in his charge had
+followed the stream of the crowd, and presently found themselves under
+the vault of the gate that led to the square, whence they could take in
+at a glance what was happening there. A sort of altar lighted with wax
+candles rose in front of the main entrance to the<a name="page_vol-1-073" id="page_vol-1-073"></a> Franciscan Convent; a
+life-sized statue of the Virgin wrought in wood and gorgeously attired
+in a robe of gold brocade and with her face painted like a picture,
+surmounted the altar. Several Franciscan monks, among whom Christian
+recognized Fra Girard were stationed near the lighted chapel. Two of
+them, holding large velvet purses in their hands, were posted one on
+either side of the statue. A large crowd of tattered men and women, of
+cynical, repulsive or brutal countenances, all armed with clubs and
+grouped near the door of the convent, stood waiting for the moment when,
+at a signal from the monks, they were to rush upon the ill-starred
+passer-by who was designated as suspected of heresy. Each passer-by had
+inevitably to cross the square at only a slight distance from the statue
+of the Virgin. If they knelt down before it and dropped their alms into
+the purse of the mendicant friars, no danger threatened them. But if
+they failed to fulfil this act of devotion, the ferocious band that
+stood in waiting would be let loose at the signal from the monks, and
+would rush upon the Lutheran, beat him with their sticks, and not
+infrequently leave him lying dead upon the square. All the persons who
+were just ahead of Christian and the unknown man proceeded straight to
+the altar, and either out of fear or out of piety knelt down before the
+image of the Virgin and then rose and deposited their offerings in the
+purse held out by the Franciscans. A man, still young but frail and
+short of stature, behind whom Christian stood, said to himself in an
+undertone just as he was about to thread the turnstile and emerge into
+the square:<a name="page_vol-1-074" id="page_vol-1-074"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I am a Catholic, but by the blood of God! I prefer to be cut to pieces
+rather than submit to such extortion. May the devil take the monks!"</p>
+
+<p>"You will be wrong," said Christian to him in a low voice. "I revolt as
+much as you at the indignity. But what is to be done against force?
+Submit to the ignominy."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall protest at the peril of my life! Such excesses dishonor
+religion," the man answered Christian, and stepping out of the gate into
+the square with a firm step, he crossed the place without turning his
+head in the direction of the altar. Hardly, however, had he passed by
+when the tattered mob who stood near the monks, ready at the latters'
+beck, rushed forward in pursuit of the unhappy fellow; they overtook
+him, surrounded, and bawled at him: "Heretic!" "Lutheran!" "He insults
+the image of the mother of the Savior!" "Down on your knees!" "The
+canting hypocrite!" "Down on your knees!" "Death to the heretic!"</p>
+
+<p>While these fanatics surrounded their victim, Christian said to his
+companion:</p>
+
+<p>"Let us profit by the tumult to escape from these ferocious beasts;
+unfortunately it were idle to seek to snatch that senseless but
+stout-hearted man from the clutches of his assailants."</p>
+
+<p>Christian and the unknown man in turn stepped out of the gate into the
+square and were hurriedly walking towards the opposite issue without
+stopping at the altar when, being caught sight of by the monks, the
+latter cried out:<a name="page_vol-1-075" id="page_vol-1-075"></a></p>
+
+<p>"There go two other heretics! They are trying to escape without kneeling
+before the holy Virgin! Stop them! Bring them back and make them empty
+their purses!"</p>
+
+<p>The voices of the Franciscans did not reach the ears of the demoniac
+pack, greedy as it was for its prey; they emitted savage yells as they
+beat to death, not a heretic, but a Catholic, whose sin consisted in
+refusing to submit to an adoration imposed upon him in a brutal manner,
+and which he otherwise would cheerfully have complied with. After the
+unhappy fellow had bravely defended himself with his cane, the only
+weapon that he carried, he was finally overwhelmed by numbers and fell
+livid, bleeding, and almost unconscious upon the pavement. A
+horrid-looking shrew seized him by the hair and while she dragged the
+almost lifeless body towards the altar other dastards from the dregs of
+the mob struck him in the face with their feet.</p>
+
+<p>"Mercy!" cried the unhappy fellow in a faint voice. "Jesus!&mdash;My
+God!&mdash;Have pity upon me!&mdash;They are murdering a good Catholic!"</p>
+
+<p>These were the brave fellow's last words. His voice was soon heard no
+more. The butcher with whom Christian had exchanged a few words ran
+towards and joined the assassin mob. He piously knelt down before the
+statue of the Virgin, then rose, drew his knife, and brandishing it in
+the air cried:</p>
+
+<p><a name="page_vol-1-076" id="page_vol-1-076"></a>"St. James! Let me bleed the damned Lutheran! It will be worth an
+indulgence to me! You know, bleeding is my profession!"</p>
+
+<p>The sanguinary sally was received with loud outbursts of laughter; room
+was made for the butcher near the bleeding body; he squatted upon its
+still palpitating chest, slashed his knife through the prostrate man's
+throat, cut the head from the trunk, seized it by the hair, and, holding
+up the shocking trophy to the gaze of the mob, he cried with wild
+ecstasy:</p>
+
+<p>"The heretic dog would not bow down before the mother of the Savior&mdash;he
+shall now plant his forehead on the pavement at her feet!"</p>
+
+<p>So said, so done. Followed by the demented band at his heels, the
+butcher ran back to the altar, holding the livid head in his hands, red
+and streaming with the warm blood of the victim; he knelt down himself,
+and slammed the head face down upon the ground at the feet of Mary,
+amidst the savage acclaim of his fellow assassins, all of whom piously
+threw themselves down upon their knees like himself.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, monsieur, this is frightful!" murmured Christian suffocating for
+breath as his companion and he stepped out of the square. "To think that
+such horrors are perpetrated in the name of the benign mother of Christ!
+Oh, the wretches, as stupid as they are bloodthirsty!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ignorance, misery and fanaticism!&mdash;that is their excuse. Let us not
+blame these unhappy people; they are<a name="page_vol-1-077" id="page_vol-1-077"></a> what the monks have made them,"
+answered the unknown with a bitter and desolate smile. "Oh, these monks,
+these monks! When will society be finally purged of the infernal breed!"</p>
+
+<p>Christian and his companion hastened their steps towards the artisan's
+house, nor dared they to turn and look behind.<a name="page_vol-1-078" id="page_vol-1-078"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_vol-1-V" id="CHAPTER_vol-1-V"></a>CHAPTER V.<br />
+<br />MONSIEUR JOHN.</h3>
+
+<p>"Fear not; I have a certain means of regaining the good graces of my
+family"&mdash;such were among the last words said by Hervé to Fra Girard as
+they stepped out of the Church of St. Dominic, where he purchased the
+letter of indulgence that absolved him in advance from all his future
+misdeeds. Hervé was, alas! true to his promise. Back long in advance of
+his father that evening under the paternal roof, he pursued his plan of
+infernal hypocrisy, and succeeded in awaking in his mother's breast the
+same hopes for the better that he awoke in the breast of Christian.
+Seeing Hervé pray her feelingly to suspend her judgment with regard to
+himself on the theft that he was suspected of; seeing him admit that,
+however late, he now realized the fatal effect of a dangerous influence
+over himself; finally, seeing her son respond with unexpected
+effusiveness to the affectionate greeting of his sister, Bridget said to
+herself, as Christian had done: "Let us hope; Hervé is returning to
+better sentiments; the painful conversation of last night has borne its
+fruit; our remonstrances have had a salutary effect upon him; the
+principles that we have inculcated in him, will regain their sway. Let
+us hope!"<a name="page_vol-1-079" id="page_vol-1-079"></a></p>
+
+<p>With a heart, now as brimful of joy as it was of distress on the
+previous evening, the happy mother busied herself with preparing the
+evening meal. No less joyful than Bridget at the return of Hervé's
+tenderness, Hena was radiant with happiness, and the sentiment enhanced
+her beauty. Barely in her seventeenth year, lithesome and generously
+built, the young girl wore her golden-blonde hair braided in two strands
+coiled over her head and crowning her blooming cheeks. The gentleness of
+her features, that were of angelic beauty, would have inspired the
+divine Raphael Sanzio. White as a lily, she had a lily's chaste
+splendor; candor and kindness stood out clear in the azure of her eyes.
+Often did those eyes rest upon that naughty yet so dearly beloved
+brother, of whom the poor child had feared she was disliked. Seated
+beside him, and engaged at some needle-work, she now felt herself, as in
+former days, filled with sweet confidence in Hervé, while the latter,
+once more affectionate and jovial as ever before, entertained himself
+pleasantly with his sister. By a tacit accord, neither made any allusion
+to the recent and painful past, and chatted as familiarly as if their
+fraternal intimacy had never suffered the slightest jar. Despite his
+self-control and profound powers of dissimulation, Hervé was ill at
+ease; he felt the necessity of speaking, and sought distraction in the
+sound of words in order to escape the obsession of his secret thoughts.
+He rambled at haphazard from one subject to the other. Brother and
+sister were thus engaged as Bridget absented herself for a<a name="page_vol-1-080" id="page_vol-1-080"></a> moment on
+the floor above in pursuit of some household duty.</p>
+
+<p>"Hervé," the young girl was saying to her brother, thoughtfully, "your
+account interests me greatly. How old would you take that monk to be?"</p>
+
+<p>"I could not tell; perhaps twenty-five."</p>
+
+<p>"He had a face that was at once handsome, sad and benign, did he not?
+His beard is of a somewhat lighter hue than his auburn hair; his eyes
+are black, and he is very pale; he has a sympathetic countenance."</p>
+
+<p>While thus chatting with her brother, Hena proceeded to sew and could
+not notice the expression of surprise that Hervé's face betrayed. His
+feelings notwithstanding, he answered:</p>
+
+<p>"That is a very accurate description. One must have observed a person
+very attentively in order to preserve so life-like a picture of him. But
+what induces you to believe that the monk in question is the handsome
+auburn-haired monk, whose picture you have just sketched?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, did you not just tell me, dear brother, that you recently
+witnessed a touching action of which a monk was the author? Well, it
+struck me that probably he was the friar that I described. But proceed
+with the story."</p>
+
+<p>"But who is that monk? Where did you see him? How did you happen to know
+him?" Hervé interrogated his sister in short, set words, inspired by an
+ill-suppressed agonizing feeling of jealousy. The naïve girl, however,
+mistaking the sentiment that prompted her brother's question, answered
+him merrily:<a name="page_vol-1-081" id="page_vol-1-081"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Oh! Oh! Seigneur Hervé, you are very inquisitive. First finish your
+story; I shall tell you afterwards."</p>
+
+<p>Affecting a pleasant tone, Hervé replied as he cast upon his sister a
+sharp and penetrating look: "Oh! Oh! Mademoiselle Hena, you twit me with
+being inquisitive, but, it seems to me, that you are no less so. Never
+mind, I shall accommodate you. Well, as I was saying, when passing this
+morning by the porch of St. Merry's Church, I saw a crowd gathered, and
+I inquired the reason. I was answered that a babe, six months old at the
+most, had been left over night at the portal of the church."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor little creature!"</p>
+
+<p>"At that moment a young monk parted the crowd, took up the child in his
+arms, and with tears in his eyes and his face marked with touching
+compassion, he warmed with his breath the numb hands of the poor little
+waif, wrapped the baby carefully in one of the long sleeves of his robe,
+and disappeared as happy as if he carried away a treasure. The crowd
+applauded, and I heard some people around me say that the monk belonged
+to the Order of the Augustinians and was called Brother St.
+Ernest-Martyr."</p>
+
+<p>"Why 'Martyr'&mdash;and he so charitable?"</p>
+
+<p>"You do not seem to know, sister, that when taking orders a monk
+renounces his family names and assumes the name of some saint&mdash;such as
+St. Peter-in-bonds, or St. Sebastian-pierced-with-arrows, or St.
+Lawrence-on-the-gridiron, or St. Anthony-with-the-pig&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what mournful names! They make one shudder. But the last one is
+really grotesque."<a name="page_vol-1-082" id="page_vol-1-082"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Well," proceeded Hervé, without detaching his prying eyes from Hena,
+"Brother St. Ernest-Martyr was hastily walking away with his precious
+burden when I heard someone remark:</p>
+
+<p>"'I am quite sure the good monk will take the poor little one to Mary La
+Catelle'&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I thought so!" exclaimed Hena ingenuously; "I knew it was he; it is my
+monk!"</p>
+
+<p>"How, your monk?" asked Bridget smiling, her heart dilating with joy as
+she descended the stairs and saw her son and daughter engaged in cordial
+conversation as was their former wont. "Of what monk are you talking,
+Hena, with so much unction?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you not know, mother, La Catelle and her school? Do you remember
+that charming woman?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, I do. I remember the young widow Mary La Catelle. The school
+that she founded for poor children is a work of touching charity, which,
+however, also owes a good deal to John Dubourg, the linen draper of St.
+Denis Street, and to another rich bourgeois, Monsieur Laforge. They both
+generously sustain La Catelle and her sister Martha, the wife of Poille,
+the architect, who shares with her the maternal cares that she bestows
+upon poor orphans whom she takes up in her house&mdash;a place which has
+justly earned the name of 'the house of God'."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you remember, mother," Hena proceeded with her reminiscences, "that
+when we went to the house of La Catelle, it happened to be school hour?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, an Augustinian monk was instructing a group of<a name="page_vol-1-083" id="page_vol-1-083"></a> children who stood
+around him or sat at his feet, and some were seated on his knees."</p>
+
+<p>"Well mother, I listened to the monk as he was explaining to the
+children the parable of: 'Wicked are they who live on the milk of a
+sheep, who clothe themselves in her fleece, and yet leave the poor beast
+without pasture.' He uttered upon that subject words imprinted with such
+sweet and tender charity, and yet so easy for the intelligence of
+children to grasp, that tears came to my eyes."</p>
+
+<p>"And I shared your sister's emotion, Hervé," replied Bridget, addressing
+her son, who, silent and absorbed in his own thoughts, had dropped out
+of the conversation. "You can not imagine with what charming benignity
+the young monk instructed those little ones; he measured his words to
+their intelligence, in order to indoctrinate them with the simple and
+pure evangelical morality. Mary La Catelle assured us that his knowledge
+was no less than his virtue."</p>
+
+<p>Two raps at the street door from without interrupted the conversation.</p>
+
+<p>"At last!" said Bridget to Hervé. "This is surely your father. The
+streets are not quite safe at night. I prefer to see him indoors. I
+hardly think we shall see my brother this evening. The hour for supper
+is long gone by," observed Bridget, stepping towards her husband, to
+whom Hervé had opened the house door.</p>
+
+<p>Christian came in accompanied with the unknown personage, a young man
+of, however, a striking countenance by reason of its expression of
+deliberate firmness. His<a name="page_vol-1-084" id="page_vol-1-084"></a> black eyes, instinct with intelligence and
+fire, were set so close that they imparted a singular character to his
+pale and austere visage. At the sight of the unexpected visitor Bridget
+made a gesture of surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear wife," said Christian, "I have brought Monsieur John along for
+supper. He is an old friend whom I accidentally met to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"He is welcome to our house," answered Bridget, while the two children
+looked at the stranger with curiosity. As was her custom, Hena embraced
+her father affectionately; but Hervé, looking at him with a timid and
+repentant eye, seemed doubtful whether to follow his sister's example.
+The artisan opened his arms to his son and whispered in his ear as he
+pressed him to his heart:</p>
+
+<p>"I have not forgotten your fair promises of this morning," and turning
+to his guest: "This is my family&mdash;my daughter is an embroiderer, like
+her mother; my eldest son is, like myself, a printer in Monsieur Robert
+Estienne's workshop; my second son, who is apprenticed to an armorer, is
+now traveling in Italy. Thanks to God our children are wise and
+industrious, and deserve to be loved as my worthy wife and I love them."</p>
+
+<p>"May the blessing of God continue upon your family," answered Monsieur
+John in an affectionate voice, while Hena and her brother arranged the
+covers and set upon the table the dishes that had been prepared for the
+family meal.</p>
+
+<p>"Bridget," said Christian, "where is your brother?"</p>
+
+<p>"I had just been wondering at his absence, my friend; I<a name="page_vol-1-085" id="page_vol-1-085"></a> would feel
+uneasy, if it were not that I rely upon his bravery, his long sword&mdash;in
+short, upon his general appearance, which is not exactly attractive to
+sneaking night thieves," added Bridget with a smile. "Neither
+Tire-Laines nor Guilleris will be very anxious to attack a Franc-Taupin.
+We need not wait for him; if he comes he will know how to make up for
+lost time at table, and will take double mouthfuls."</p>
+
+<p>The family and their guest sat down to table, with Monsieur John placed
+between Christian and Bridget. Addressing her, he said:</p>
+
+<p>"Such order and exquisite propriety reigns in this house, madam, that
+the housekeeper deserves to be complimented."</p>
+
+<p>"Household duties are a pleasure to me and to my daughter, monsieur;
+order and cleanliness are the only luxuries that we, poor people, can
+indulge in."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Sancta simplicitas!</i>" said the stranger, and he proceeded with a
+smile: "It is a good and old motto&mdash;Holy simplicity. You will pardon me,
+madam, for having spoken in Latin. It was an oversight on my part."</p>
+
+<p>"By the way of Latin," put in the artisan, addressing his wife, "did
+Lefevre drop in during the day?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, my friend; I am as much surprised as yourself at the increasing
+rareness of his calls; formerly few were the days that he did not visit
+us; perhaps he is sick, or absent from Paris. I shall inquire after him
+to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"Lefevre is a learned Latinist," said Christian, addressing Monsieur
+John; "he is one of my oldest friends; he<a name="page_vol-1-086" id="page_vol-1-086"></a> teaches at the University. He
+is a rough and tough mountaineer from Savoy. But under his rude external
+appearance beats an excellent heart. We think very highly of him."</p>
+
+<p>Christian was about to proceed when he was interrupted by the following
+ditty that came from the street, and was sung by a sonorous voice:</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left">"A Franc-Taupin had an ash-tree bow,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">All eaten with worms, and all knotted its cord;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">His arrow was made out of paper, and plumed,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">And tipped at the end with a capon's spur.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><i>Derideron, vignette on vignon! Derideron!</i>"</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>"It is uncle! His favorite song announces him!" said Hena joyfully, as
+she rose to open the house-door.<a name="page_vol-1-087" id="page_vol-1-087"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_vol-1-VI" id="CHAPTER_vol-1-VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br />
+<br />THE FRANC-TAUPIN.</h3>
+
+<p>Josephin, Bridget's brother, surnamed Tocquedillon the Franc-Taupin,
+stepped into the room. A soldier of adventure since his fifteenth year,
+he had run away from the paternal home, and soon thereafter enrolled
+with the Franc-Taupins, a sort of irregular militia, whose duty it was
+to dig the trenches intended to cover the approaches of the assailants
+at the siege of a city. These mercenary soldiers were named
+"Franc-Taupins" because, like the franc archers, they were "frank" or
+free from taxation, and because their underground work bore great
+resemblance to that of the <i>taupe</i>&mdash;mole. Once out of their trenches,
+the saying was, the Franc-Taupins displayed but little courage. Whether
+justly or unjustly, the poltroonery of the Franc-Taupin became
+proverbial, as evidenced by the favorite song of Bridget's brother. This
+personage, however, was anything but a poltroon. Just the reverse. After
+he had twice or three times turned up the earth at as many sieges, he
+disdained to belong to a corps of such cowardly renown, and enrolled in
+another irregular militia, one that stood in general dread&mdash;the
+Adventurers or Pendards, of whom<a name="page_vol-1-088" id="page_vol-1-088"></a> a contemporaneous writer drew the
+following and, unfortunately, but too truthful picture:</p>
+
+<p>"What a vagabond, flagitious, murderous set are these Pendards! They are
+deniers of God, ravishing wolves, violators of women, devourers of the
+people! They drive the good man out of his house, empty his pot of wine
+and sleep in his bed. Their garb matches their disorderly habits. They
+wear shirts with long sleeves, open in front and exposing their hirsute
+chests; their streaked hose do not cover their flesh; their calves are
+left bare and they carry their socks in their belts for fear of wearing
+them out. Poultry trembles in the hen-coops at their approach, and so
+does bacon in the pantry. Brawling, roistering, audacious, ever with
+their mouths wide open, they love nothing better than to guzzle in
+company the wine that they have jointly stolen."</p>
+
+<p>Despite his intrepidity in war, and without resembling at all points
+this picture of the Pendards, Tocquedillon the Franc-Taupin, preserved
+strong features of the same. For all that, however, he adored, venerated
+his sister, and from the moment that he sat down at her hearth he would
+seem metamorphosed. Nothing in either his words or his conduct would
+then recall the audacious adventurer. Timid, affectionate, realizing how
+unbecoming the slang of the tavern or of even worse places would be in
+the presence of Bridget's children, of whom he was as fond as of her
+herself, he always controlled himself and never uttered in their
+presence any but decorous language. For Christian he had as much love as
+respect. As the saying goes, he<a name="page_vol-1-089" id="page_vol-1-089"></a> would have gone through fire for the
+family. The Franc-Taupin was at this time about thirty years of age; he
+was lean, bony and about six feet high. Scarred with innumerable wounds,
+and partly blinded in battle, he wore a large black patch over his left
+eye. He kept his hair close cropped, his beard cut into a point under
+his chin, and his moustache twisted upward. His nose was pimply through
+excessive indulgence in wine, and his thick-lipped mouth, slit from ear
+to ear, exposed two rows of desultory shark's teeth every time that, as
+a true roisterer, he gave a loose to his imperturbable mirthfulness.</p>
+
+<p>The moment he stepped into the room, the Franc-Taupin deposited his old
+and weather-beaten sword in a corner, embraced his sister and her two
+children, shook hands cordially with Christian, bowed respectfully to
+the unknown man, and timidly took his usual place at the family table.</p>
+
+<p>Christian came to the relief of his brother-in-law's embarrassment and
+said to him jovially:</p>
+
+<p>"We would have felt uneasy at your absence, Josephin, if we did not know
+that you are of those who, with their swords at their side, defy the
+world and are able to defend themselves against all assailants."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, brother, the best sword in the world will not protect one against a
+surprise; the surprise that I have just experienced has knocked me down.
+As my surprise tastes strongly of salt, I am dying with thirst&mdash;allow me
+to empty a cup." After his cup was emptied the Franc-Taupin proceeded
+with a scared look: "By the bowels of St. Quenet, what did I see! I'm
+quite certain that I am not deceived;<a name="page_vol-1-090" id="page_vol-1-090"></a> I have only one eye left, but it
+is good for two. By all the devils, I saw him! I saw him distinctly! A
+singular encounter!"</p>
+
+<p>"Whom did you see, Josephin?"</p>
+
+<p>"I saw, just now, just before nightfall, here, in Paris, Captain Don
+Ignatius Loyola, a Spanish nobleman&mdash;a devil of a fighter and an
+inveterate lover of amorous adventures&mdash;a terrible man."</p>
+
+<p>At the mentioning of Ignatius Loyola's name the guest at Christian's
+table shuddered, while Christian himself asked the Franc-Taupin:</p>
+
+<p>"But who is that Spanish captain the sight of whom in Paris affects you
+so greatly?"</p>
+
+<p>"Did you really know the man?" inquired Monsieur John in an accent of
+deep interest. "Did you know Ignatius Loyola personally?"</p>
+
+<p>"I should think I did! I was his page."</p>
+
+<p>"And so, Loyola was a captain?" again inquired Monsieur John, more and
+more interested in what the Franc-Taupin said. "You must, then, have
+some information on the man's life, his character, his habits. Please
+tell us something about him."</p>
+
+<p>"By the bowels of St. Quenet! I was continuously with him for three
+whole months! By all the devils, I never left his side, either day or
+night!"</p>
+
+<p>"What were his morals?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! Oh! friend guest, I would not like to answer that question in my
+sister's presence&mdash;it is too racy a story."</p>
+
+<p>"Friend Christian," said Monsieur John, "I notice that<a name="page_vol-1-091" id="page_vol-1-091"></a> you are
+surprised at my curiosity concerning the Spanish captain. You will some
+day understand that the information in question interests you as well.
+It will be an interesting history for you to know."</p>
+
+<p>"Hena, Hervé," said the artisan, "supper is nearly ended, my children;
+it is growing late; you may retire."</p>
+
+<p>"And I," put in Bridget, "have some embroidery to finish; I shall go
+upstairs and work at it with Hena; I shall come down later and put away
+the dishes. You can call for me, Christian, if you need anything. You
+and Josephin can entertain our guest."</p>
+
+<p>Hervé embraced his father with an affectation of increased tenderness,
+and withdrew to his bedroom; Bridget and her daughter went upstairs. The
+unknown man and Christian remained alone with the Franc-Taupin, and the
+latter proceeded, laughing:</p>
+
+<p>"My sister and her children being out of the way, my tongue is at
+freedom. Tell me, brother, did you ever hear the story of the greyhound?
+The handsomest bitches sighed after him; he remained insensible to all
+their tender growls; one day a monk's frock was thrown upon him, and he
+immediately became as amorous as one possessed. Well, Captain Loyola was
+as possessed for love adventures as the greyhound in the story, without,
+however, having need of a monk's frock to give him the start; and&mdash;but I
+was almost forgetting. Do you know, brother, in whose company I saw the
+fire-eater and hell-rake this evening? With your friend Lefevre."<a name="page_vol-1-092" id="page_vol-1-092"></a></p>
+
+<p>Christian remained for an instant speechless with astonishment; and
+turning to Monsieur John, he said:</p>
+
+<p>"I must admit that great is my astonishment. Lefevre, whose name I
+mentioned to you before, is an austere man, wholly absorbed in
+scientific pursuits and in study. What can he have in common with the
+Spanish libertine? I am unable to explain the mystery."</p>
+
+<p>"If you are surprised, brother, no less so am I," replied the
+Franc-Taupin. "Captain Loyola, whom fourteen or fifteen years ago I knew
+as the handsomest, gayest and most dissolute of cavaliers, dressed in
+velvets, silks and lace, looks to-day as tattered as any tramp or
+starving beggar. The transformation is so radical, that I never would
+have thought of looking for my frisky Spanish captain under the black
+smock-frock of a halepopin, had it not been for Lefevre, who, stopping
+me near the booths of the market place, which I was then crossing,
+inquired after you. It was then that I looked more attentively at his
+seedy companion and recognized&mdash;Don Ignatius!"</p>
+
+<p>"The man's relations astonish me so much, Josephin, that I am no less
+impatient than our guest to hear you."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it was in the year 1521, during the siege of Pampeluna," the
+adventurer began, "and shortly after my enrollment with the
+Franc-Taupins. I was digging a trench with them before the place; we
+were throwing up the earth like veritable moles. The Spaniards made a
+sortie in order to destroy our works. At the first shot of the Spanish
+arquebuses, all my companions threw themselves flat down, with their
+noses in the hole. Their cowardice<a name="page_vol-1-093" id="page_vol-1-093"></a> angered me. I took up my pick and
+rushed into the melee, plying my improvised weapon upon the Spaniards. A
+blow with a mace over my head knocked me down half dead. When I
+recovered consciousness I found myself lying upon the battle field among
+several of our men, all prisoners like myself. A company of Spanish
+arquebusiers surrounded us. Their captain, with the visor of his casque
+raised and mounted upon a Moorish horse as black as ebony, the housings
+of which were of red velvet embroidered with silver, was wiping his
+long, blood-stained sword upon the animal's mane. The captain was Don
+Ignatius Loyola. Moustache turned up in Castilian style, goatee, an
+olive complexion, intrepid mien, haughty and martial bearing&mdash;such was
+his portrait. He had noticed me pounding his soldiers with my pick, and
+took a fancy both to my pick and my youth. When he saw that I had
+regained consciousness, he started to laugh and addressed me in French:
+'Will you be my page? Your wideawake face denotes an intelligent
+scapegrace; I shall furnish you a silver-embroidered red livery and a
+ducat a month, and you can eat your fill at my residence.' Oh, brother,
+an offer to eat my fill, to me whose stomach had long been as hollow as
+the barrel of St. Benoit and as open as an advocate's purse! The
+prospect of putting on a beautiful silver-embroidered livery, when my
+hose had for some time been reporting to me from which corner the wind
+blew! The thought of pocketing every month a ducat, when all my earnings
+during the whole campaign had so far been a wooden bowl that I plundered
+somewhere, and that I<a name="page_vol-1-094" id="page_vol-1-094"></a> used for a hat! In token of glad acceptance I
+seized my pick that lay near me, threw it as far away as I could, and I
+told Don Ignatius that I accepted, and would follow him to the very
+devil's residence. The long and short of the affair was that I entered
+Pampeluna with my new master."</p>
+
+<p>"I feel more and more mystified," interjected Christian; "what service
+could a page, ignorant of the country's language, render to Don
+Ignatius?"</p>
+
+<p>"The devil take it! That was the very reason why I was employed by the
+cunning slyboots of a Don Ignatius. No sooner did I arrive at his
+residence, than an old majordomo, the only one of his men who spoke
+French, rigged me up in new clothes, from my feet to my head,&mdash;puffed
+hose of red velvet, white satin jacket, short cloak with silver
+trimmings, ruffs and bonnet after the Spanish style. Thus behold me,
+brother, attired as a genuine court page. In those days I had both my
+eyes&mdash;two luminaries of deviltry, besides the cunning nose of a fox cub.
+Thus dressed up in spick and span dashing new clothes, the majordomo led
+me to Captain Loyola, 'Do you know,' he asked me, 'why I take you, a
+Frenchman, for my page? It is because, as you do not know Spanish, you
+can not choose but be discreet towards the people in my house and those
+outside.'"</p>
+
+<p>"That is not badly planned," remarked Christian; "Don Ignatius had, I
+suppose, many amorous secrets to conceal?"</p>
+
+<p>"By the bowels of St. Quenet! I knew him to have as many as three
+sweethearts at a time: a charming merchant'<a name="page_vol-1-095" id="page_vol-1-095"></a>s wife, a haughty
+marchioness, and a bedeviled gipsy girl, the most beautiful daughter of
+Bohemia that ever trilled a tambourine. But Captain Loyola, a veritable
+Franc-Taupin in matters of love, courted behind concealed trenches. He
+reveled in mystery. 'What is not known does not exist' was, with him, a
+favorite maxim that the old majordomo, his master's echo, often repeated
+to me."</p>
+
+<p>"'What is not known does not exist,'" repeated Monsieur John pensively.
+"Yes, judging by the motto, the man must be just what he has been
+described to me to be."</p>
+
+<p>"Just listen," Josephin proceeded; "I shall describe to you the
+experiences that I made the first evening that I served Don Ignatius as
+page. You will then be able to judge of the scamp's calibre. A
+fifteen-days' truce was agreed upon between the French and the
+Spaniards, as a result of the sortie at which I was taken prisoner. As a
+longheaded man, Captain Loyola proposed to profit by the truce in his
+amorous intrigues. Towards midnight he summoned me to his side. The
+devil! If the fellow looked martial in battle outfit, he looked frisky
+in his court costume! A jacket slashed with gold-embroidered velvet,
+puffed hose of white satin, shoes turned like a crawfish, plumed bonnet,
+a gold bejeweled chain on his neck! What shall I say? He shone and
+glittered, and besides, smelled of balsam! A veritable muskrat! He hands
+for me to carry a silken ladder and a guitar; takes his dagger and
+sword; and wraps himself up to the eyes in a taffeta mantle of light
+yellow. The old majordomo opens a secret door to us; we issue out of the
+house; after crossing a few<a name="page_vol-1-096" id="page_vol-1-096"></a> narrow streets, we arrive at a deserted
+little square. My master glides under a balcony that is shut with
+lattices, takes the guitar from my hands, and there you have him
+warbling his roundelay. In response to the carol of the moustachioed
+nightingale, one of the shutters of the balcony opens slightly, and a
+bouquet of pomegranate blossoms drops at our feet. Don Ignatius picks it
+up, extracts from amidst the flowers a little note concealed among them,
+and gives me the guitar together with the bouquet to hold for him. I
+imagined our evening performance concluded. By the bowels of St. Quenet,
+it had only commenced! Don Ignatius fanned the sparks of his
+libidinousness with his guitarade, on the same principle that one fans
+the sparks of his thirst by chewing on a pork-rind dipped in mustard.
+But by the way of thirst, brother, let us imbibe that pot; appetite
+comes with eating, but thirst goes with drinking. He who drinks without
+being thirsty drinks for the thirst that is to come. Thirst is an
+animal's quality, but to crave for drink is a quality of man. By St
+Pansard and St. Goguelu, let's moisten, let's moisten our whistles! Our
+tongues will dry up soon enough! Unhappy Shrove-Tuesday, the patron of
+pots and sausages&mdash;and the devil take the Pope and all his friarhood!"</p>
+
+<p>"Josephin," said Christian, smiling and filling the Franc-Taupin's cup,
+as he broke into the midst of the latter's flow of bacchic invocations,
+"I know you to be an expert in the matter of quaffing, but our guest and
+myself are more curious about the end of your story."</p>
+
+<p>"God's head! As truly as the mere shadow of a Car<a name="page_vol-1-097" id="page_vol-1-097"></a>melite convent is
+enough to cure any woman of sterility, I shall not allow the end of the
+adventure of Don Ignatius to drown at the bottom of this cup! There, it
+is now empty!"</p>
+
+<p>Saying this, the Franc-Taupin passed the back of his hand over his
+moustache, moist with wine, wiped it dry, and proceeded:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, as I was saying, after his guitarade, Don Ignatius proceeded with
+his nocturnal adventure on the streets of Pampeluna. We moved away, and
+pulled up next before a pretentious dwelling. My master plants himself
+under a balcony at some distance from the main entrance; passes his long
+sword over to me to keep with the guitar, and retains no weapon other
+than his dagger; he then disengages himself of his mantle also, which he
+throws over my arm and says to me: 'You will hold the lower end of the
+ladder while I climb up to the balcony; you will then keep a sharp
+lookout near the door of this house; if you see anyone go in, you will
+run quickly under this window and clap your hands twice; I shall hear
+your signal.' This being agreed upon, Don Ignatius himself claps his
+hands three times. Immediately thereupon I see through the darkness of
+the night, a white form lean over the balustrade and drop us a cord. My
+master ties his ladder to it; the white form draws it up; the upper end
+of the ladder is fastened to the balcony; I steady it by holding the
+lower rung in my hands; and there you have Captain Loyola clambering up
+nimbly and light of heel, like a tom-cat running over a roof-pipe. As to
+myself, no less distressed<a name="page_vol-1-098" id="page_vol-1-098"></a> than the dog of the cook who is turning the
+roast on the spit over a fire, and looks at the savory meat out of the
+corner of his eyes without partaking of it, I run and place myself in
+ambush near the door. The devil! A few minutes later, what is that I
+see? Several seigneurs, lighted by lackeys with torches in their hands
+turn into the street. One of them walks straight to the door near which
+I stand on the watch, and enters the house where my master is regaling
+himself. Obedient to the watchword, but forgetting that the flames of
+the torches are lighting me, I run to the balcony and clap my hands
+twice. By the bowels of St. Quenet, I am perceived! Two lackeys seize me
+at the moment when, notified by my signal, Captain Loyola is straddling
+the balustrade in order to descend into the street. He is recognized by
+the light of the torches. 'It is he!' 'There he is!' cry the seigneurs
+who stand in a bunch in the street. Although discovered, Don Ignatius
+glides bravely down the ladder, touches ground and calls: 'Halloa,
+there, page, my sword!' 'Don Ignatius of Loyola, I am Don Alonzo, the
+brother of Donna Carmen,' says one of the cavaliers. 'I am ready to give
+you satisfaction,' answers the captain proudly. But by the bowels of St.
+Quenet, it was with Don Ignatius's duels as with his amorous
+appointments: before the one was well finished the next commenced.
+Suddenly, the man whom I had seen enter the house, in short, the
+husband, Don Hercules Luga, appeared at the balcony; he held a bleeding
+sword in his hand. He leans forward into the street and cries: 'Friends,
+justice is done to the woman! There now remains justice<a name="page_vol-1-099" id="page_vol-1-099"></a> to be done to
+her accomplice. Hold him. I am coming down!'"</p>
+
+<p>"Poor woman!" said Christian. "The death that he was the cause of must
+have horrified the libertine."</p>
+
+<p>"Him? The devil! Horrified at so little? Judge for yourself. At the
+moment he learned of the death of his inamorata he receives his sword
+from the hands of Don Alonzo, who had taken it away from me. Don
+Ignatius pricks its point into the tip of his shoe, and without winking
+bends the blade in order to satisfy himself on its temper. That shows
+how frightened he was at the death of his lady-love. The husband, Don
+Hercules, comes out of the house, steps up to my master and says to him:
+'Don Ignatius of Loyola, I received you as a friend at my hearth; you
+have led my wife astray; you are a felon, unworthy of knighthood!' And
+what do you imagine, brother, is the answer that Captain Loyola made to
+that? If you can guess, I shall be willing to die of thirst. But no; a
+pox on these funereal prognostics! I prefer to drink, to drink until my
+soles sweat wine!"</p>
+
+<p>"Proceed, Josephin; proceed with your story."</p>
+
+<p>"'Don Hercules,' answers Captain Loyola loftily, 'in leading Carmen
+astray, it was not <i>your</i> woman<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> that I led astray, but <i>a</i> woman, as
+any other! You insult me by accusing me of a felony. You shall pay
+dearly, and on the spot, for such an insult. I shall kill you like a
+dog.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Did you grasp that? Can you imagine a more odious subtlety?" asked
+Christian of Monsieur John. "What a<a name="page_vol-1-100" id="page_vol-1-100"></a> hypocritical distinction! The
+libertine seduced the unfortunate woman, but not his friend's wife&mdash;only
+the <i>woman</i>, as a <i>woman</i>! Just God, such subtle quibbling! and that
+while his victim's corpse is still warm!"</p>
+
+<p>"That is, indeed, the man as he has been described to me," repeated the
+guest, with a pensive air. "What I am learning is a revelation to me."</p>
+
+<p>"The issue of the duel could not be doubtful," proceeded the
+Franc-Taupin. "Captain Loyola enjoyed the reputation of being the most
+skilful swordsman in Spain. He fully deserved his reputation. Don
+Hercules drops dead upon the ground. Don Alonzo endeavors to avenge his
+sister and brother-in-law, but the young man is readily disarmed by Don
+Ignatius, who, raising his sword, says: 'Your life belongs to me; you
+have insulted me by sharing the unworthy suspicions of Don Hercules, who
+accused me of having betrayed his friendship. But go in peace, young
+man, repent your evil thoughts&mdash;I pardon you!' After which Captain
+Loyola repaired to the gypsy girl and spent with her the rest of the
+night. I heard the two (always like the cook's dog) laugh, sing and
+carouse, clinking their glasses filled with Spanish wine. We returned
+home at dawn. Now tell me, brother Christian, what do you think of the
+gallant? You may judge by the experience of that night the number of
+pretty women whom the captain Loyolized!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, the man's infernal hypocrisy only deepens the blackness of his
+debaucheries and swordsman's prowess!"</p>
+
+<p>Absorbed in his private thoughts, Monsieur John re<a name="page_vol-1-101" id="page_vol-1-101"></a>mained in a brown
+study. Presently he said to the Franc-Taupin:</p>
+
+<p>"You followed Loyola to war. Was the captain's regiment well
+disciplined? How did he treat his soldiers?"</p>
+
+<p>"His soldiers? By the bowels of St. Quenet! Imagine, not men, but iron
+statues, that, with but a gesture, a wink of his eye, Don Ignatius
+either moved or petrified, as he chose. Broken in and harnessed to his
+command like so many machines, he said: 'Go!'&mdash;and they went, not only
+into battle but whithersoever he ordered. They were no longer
+themselves, but he. What the devil, Captain Loyola controlled men and
+women like horses&mdash;by the identical methods."</p>
+
+<p>"What methods, let us hear them, Josephin."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, one day a wild stallion of Cordova was brought to him; the animal
+was savage, a veritable demon; two strong stablemen were hardly able to
+hold him by the halter. Don Ignatius ordered the wild beast to be taken
+to a small enclosed yard, and remained there alone with him. I was
+outside, behind the gate. First I heard the stallion neigh with fury,
+then with pain, and then there was silence. Two hours later Captain
+Loyola issued from the yard mounted on the animal which steamed with
+foam and still trembled with fear, but as docile as a curate's mule."</p>
+
+<p>"That is wonderful!" cried Christian. "Was the man possessed of a magic
+charm with which to curb wild beasts?"</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly so, brother, and his talisman consisted in a set<a name="page_vol-1-102" id="page_vol-1-102"></a> of reins so
+fearfully and skilfully contrived that, if the horse yielded passive
+obedience to the hand that guided him, he felt no pain whatever; but at
+the slightest show of resistance, Captain Loyola set in motion a certain
+steel saw contrivance supplied with sharp points and fastened in the
+bit. Immediately the animal would neigh with pain, remain motionless and
+sink down upon his haunches, whereupon Don Ignatius would pat it with
+his hand and give it some cream cakes. By the bowels of St. Quenet! Iron
+reins and cream cakes&mdash;this was the trick wherewith the captain
+Loyolized men, women and horses!"</p>
+
+<p>"And did his soldiers love him, despite his inflexible yoke?" asked
+Monsieur John.</p>
+
+<p>"Did they love him? The devil! Do you forget the cream cakes? Puddings,
+sausages, capons, fatted geese, pouches filled with Val-de-Peñas wine,
+gay wenches, high jinks in the barracks; in the enemy's country, free
+pillage, free rape, fire, blood and sack, and long live the saturnalia!
+These were the cream cakes of Captain Loyola. Whenever occasion
+required, he would treat his soldiers to these dainties out of his own
+pocket like a magnificent seigneur; but to allow his soldiers to
+reflect, to think, to reason, to will?&mdash;Never! To ask why this and why
+that? Never! 'Kill,' the captain would say, and the response was:
+'Listen, he says kill&mdash;we kill!' But it is your friend, your brother,
+your father, your sister, your mother that he orders you to kill. 'Makes
+no difference, he said kill&mdash;we kill, and we kill;' and then come the
+cream cakes and more cream cakes, otherwise the reins begin to play, and
+they<a name="page_vol-1-103" id="page_vol-1-103"></a> play so severely&mdash;clubbings, strappings, croppings of ears,
+hanging by the limbs and other devices of the devil. 'Our dear master,'
+often did the old majordomo say to me, 'our dear master is everything to
+all of us, provided all of us let him have his own will untrammeled;
+omnipotence is the secret joy of the dear Don Ignatius; to possess a
+woman, curb a mettlesome horse, manoeuvre his men of iron as one bends a
+reed&mdash;that is his enjoyment! He delights in absorbing souls. As to
+bodies, he fondles, caresses, indulges, dandles, fattens and greases
+them&mdash;provided they move at his will.' It is ever so, he who holds the
+soul holds the body."</p>
+
+<p>Christian hesitated to believe the account of the Franc-Taupin; he could
+hardly give credence to the monstrous description. Monsieur John looked
+less surprised, but more alarmed. He said to Josephin, who, having
+wished to help himself to some more wine, sighed at finding the pot
+empty:</p>
+
+<p>"But by what combination of circumstances could Ignatius Loyola, such as
+you described him to us and such as, I do believe, he was, metamorphose
+himself to the extent of coming here, to Paris, and seat himself on the
+benches of the Montaigu College among the youngest of the students?"</p>
+
+<p>"What!" cried Christian, stupefied. "Is Ignatius Loyola to-day a simple
+student?"</p>
+
+<p>"He attended the College," replied Monsieur John; "and one day he
+submitted to be publicly whipped in punishment for a slip of memory.
+There is something unexplainable,<a name="page_vol-1-104" id="page_vol-1-104"></a> or frightful, in such humility on the
+part of such a man."</p>
+
+<p>"Ignatius Loyola! the debauchee, the skilful swordsman! The haughty
+nobleman, did he do that?" cried Christian. "Can it be possible?"</p>
+
+<p>"By the bowels of St. Quenet, brother," put in the Franc-Taupin in his
+turn, "as well tell me that the monks of Citeaux left their kegs empty
+after vintage! Even such a thing would sound less enormous than that
+Captain Loyola slipped down his hose to receive a flogging! The devil
+take me!" cried the Franc-Taupin vainly trying to extract a few more
+drops from the pot. "I am choked with surprise!"</p>
+
+<p>"But you must not be allowed to choke with thirst, good Josephin," put
+in Christian, smiling and exchanging a look of intelligence with
+Monsieur John. "The pot is empty. As soon as your story is ended, and in
+order to feast our guest, I shall have to ask you to go to the tavern
+that you know of and fetch us a pot of Argenteuil wine. That is agreed,
+brother."</p>
+
+<p>"St. Pansard, have pity upon my paunch! By my faith, brother, the pots
+are empty. I guess the reason why. One time I used to drink it all&mdash;now
+I leave nothing. Did you say a pot of wine? Amen!" said the Franc-Taupin
+rising from his seat. "We shall furnish our guest with a red border,
+like a cardinal! Yes, brother, it is agreed. And so I shall go for the
+pot, but not for one only&mdash;for two, or three."</p>
+
+<p>"Not so fast, first finish your story; I am interested in<a name="page_vol-1-105" id="page_vol-1-105"></a> it more than
+you can imagine," said Monsieur John with great earnestness. "I must
+again ask you: To what do you, who knew Loyola so well, attribute this
+incredible change?"</p>
+
+<p>"May my own blood smother me; may the quartain fever settle my hash, if
+I understand it! A few hours ago I strained my remaining eye fit to give
+it a squint, in contemplating Don Ignatius. Seeing him so threadbare, so
+wan, so seedy and leaning upon his staff, I had not the courage to
+remind him of me. By the bowels of St. Quenet, I felt ashamed of having
+been page to the worn-out old crippled hunch-back."</p>
+
+<p>"How is that! You described him as having been such a fine-looking
+cavalier and such a skilful swordsman&mdash;and yet he was hunch-backed?"</p>
+
+<p>"He was crippled through two wounds that he received at the siege of
+Pampeluna. The devil! All the fathers, all the brothers, all the
+husbands whose daughters, sisters and wives the captain Loyolized, would
+have felt themselves thoroughly revenged if, like myself, they had seen
+him writhe like one possessed and howling like a hundred wolves from the
+pain of his wounds. By the bowels of the Pope, what horrible grimaces
+the man made!"</p>
+
+<p>"But how could so intrepid a man display such weakness at pain?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not at the pain itself; not that. On the contrary. As a result of his
+wounds he voluntarily endured positive torture, beside which his first
+agonies were gentle caresses."<a name="page_vol-1-106" id="page_vol-1-106"></a></p>
+
+<p>"And why did he submit to such tortures? Can you explain that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. The truce between the Spaniards and the French lasted several
+days. At its close Captain Loyola mounted his horse, and placing himself
+at the head of his forces ordered a sortie. He made havoc among the
+enemy; but in the melee he received two shots from an arquebus. One of
+them fractured his right leg just below the knee, the other took him
+under the left hip. My gallant was carried to his house and we laid him
+in his bed. Do you know what were the first words that Don Ignatius
+uttered? They were these: 'Death and passion, I may remain deformed all
+my life!' And would you believe it? Captain Loyola wept like a woman!
+Aye, he wept, not with pain, no, by the bowels of St. Quenet, but with
+rage! You may imagine how crossed the handsome and roistering cavalier
+felt at the prospect. Imagine a limping cripple strolling under
+balconies and warbling his love songs! Imagine such a figure running
+after the señoras! What a sight it would be to have such a disjointed
+lover throwing himself at their feet at the risk of being unable to pick
+himself up again and yelling with pain: 'Oh, my leg! Oh, my knee!' Just
+think of such a lame duck attempting to try conclusions with jealous and
+irate husbands and brothers, arms in hand! Don Ignatius must have
+thought of all that&mdash;and wept!"</p>
+
+<p>"It is almost incomprehensible that a man of his temper could be so
+enamoured of his physical advantages," remarked Christian.<a name="page_vol-1-107" id="page_vol-1-107"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Not at all!" replied Monsieur John thoughtfully. "Oh, what an abyss is
+the human soul! I now think I understand&mdash;" but suddenly breaking off he
+asked the Franc-Taupin: "Accordingly, Don Ignatius was dominated by the
+fear of remaining crippled for life?"</p>
+
+<p>"That was his only worry. But I must hurry on. I have a horror of empty
+wine pots. My present worry is about the wine spigot. Well, all the
+same, after healing, Captain Loyola's legs remained, as he feared, of
+unequal length. 'Oh, dogs! Jews! Pagan surgeons!' bawled Don Ignatius
+when he made the discovery. 'Fetch me here the robed asses! the brothers
+of Beelzebub! I shall have them quartered!' Summoned in great hurry, the
+poor wretches of surgeons hastened to Don Ignatius. They trembled;
+turned and turned him about; they examined and re-examined his leg;
+after all of which, the slashers of Christian flesh and sawers of
+Christian bones declared that they could render Captain Loyola as nimble
+of foot as ever he was. 'A hundred ducats to each of you if you keep
+your promise!' he cried, already seeing himself prancing on horseback,
+prinking in his finery, strutting about, warbling love songs under
+balconies, parading, and above all Loyolizing. 'Yes, señor; the lameness
+will disappear,' answered the bone-setters, 'but, we shall have, first
+of all, to break your leg over again, where it was fractured before; in
+the second place, señor, we shall have to cut away the flesh that has
+grown over the bone below your knee; in the third place, we shall have
+to saw off a little bone that protrudes; that all being done, no doe of
+the forest will be more agile than<a name="page_vol-1-108" id="page_vol-1-108"></a> your Excellency.' 'Break, re-set,
+cut off, saw off, by the death of God!' cried Captain Loyola 'provided I
+can walk straight! Go ahead! Start to work!'"</p>
+
+<p>"But that series of operations must have caused him frightful pain!"</p>
+
+<p>"By the bowels of St. Quenet! When the protruding bone was being sawed
+off, the grinding of Captain Loyola's teeth drowned the sound of the
+saw's teeth. The contortions that he went through made him look like a
+veritable demon. His suffering was dreadful."</p>
+
+<p>"And did he heal?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perfectly. But there still remained the left thigh in its bandages. The
+fraternity of surgeons swore that that limb would be as good if not
+better than before the injury that it sustained. At the end of six weeks
+Captain Loyola rose and tried to walk. He did walk. Glory to the
+bone-setters! He no longer limped of the right leg; but, the devil! his
+left thigh had shrunk by two inches by reason of a tendon that was
+wounded. And there was my gallant still hobbling, worse than ever. It
+had all to be done over again."</p>
+
+<p>"Don Ignatius's fury must have been fierce!"</p>
+
+<p>"Howling tigers and roaring lions would have been as bleating lambs
+beside Captain Loyola in his boiling rage. 'Dear, sweet master,' his old
+majordomo said to him, 'the saints will help you; why despair? The
+surgeons performed a miracle on your right leg; why should not they be
+equally able to do the same thing on your left thigh?' The drowning man
+clings to a straw. 'Halloa, page, run<a name="page_vol-1-109" id="page_vol-1-109"></a> to the surgeons!' yelled my
+master at me; 'bring them here instantly!' The surgeons came. 'Here they
+are, señor.' 'I suffered the pangs of death for the cure of my right
+leg; I am willing to suffer as much or worse for the lengthening of my
+left thigh. Can you do it?' said Don Ignatius to the bones-setters.
+Whereupon they fell to feeling, pressing, kneading and manipulating the
+twisted thigh of the patient; without desisting from their work at the
+member after a while they raised their heads and mumbled between their
+teeth: 'Señor, yes, we can free you from this limp&mdash;but, firstly, we
+shall have to strap you down upon your back, where you will have to lie,
+motionless, for two months; secondly, a strap will have to be passed
+under your arms and fastened firmly to the head of your couch; thirdly,
+a weight of fifty pounds will have to be adjusted to a ring and fastened
+to your left leg, to the end that the weight slowly, steadily, and
+constantly distend your thigh. The result will then be obtained, seeing
+you will be held firm and motionless by the two straps, the one that
+binds you down to your bed and the other, under your arms, that holds
+you to the head of your couch. With the aid of these contrivances, your
+thigh will be restored to its normal condition at the end of two months,
+and the does of the forest will then be less agile than your
+Excellency.' 'Do it!' was Loyola's answer. 'Strap, distend, stretch me
+out, blood of God, provided I can walk!'"</p>
+
+<p>"That is frightful!" cried Christian. "It is the 'wooden horse' torture,
+prolonged beyond the point of human endurance."<a name="page_vol-1-110" id="page_vol-1-110"></a></p>
+
+<p>"By the bowels of St. Quenet! There is nothing beyond endurance to a
+gallant who is determined not to hobble. Don Ignatius underwent the
+torture for the two months. The old majordomo and myself nursed our
+master. At times he screamed&mdash;Oh, such screams! They were heard a
+thousand feet from the house. Exhausted with pain, his eyelids would
+droop in sleep, but only to be suddenly reawakened with a start by his
+shooting pains. At such times the sounds that he emitted were screams no
+longer, but the howlings of the damned. At the end of two months of
+insomnia and continuous agony, which left nothing but the skin on his
+bones, but during which he was held up at least with the hope of final
+cure, Captain Loyola's surgeons held a consultation, and allowed him to
+leave his bed of torture. He rose, walked&mdash;but, the devil! not only was
+his left thigh not sufficiently lengthened, but his right knee, that had
+been previously operated upon, had become ossified from lying motionless
+for so long a time! Captain Loyola said not a word; he became livid as a
+corpse and dropped unconscious to the floor. We all thought he was dead.
+The next day the majordomo notified me that our master did no longer
+need a page. My wages were paid me; I left Spain and returned to France
+with other prisoners who had been set free. After all that, and after
+the lapse of fourteen or fifteen years, I ran a few hours ago across Don
+Ignatius, near a booth on the market place, in the company of your
+friend Lefevre. That, brother, ends my story. Jarnigoy! Is it not racy?
+But by the bowels of St. Quenet, my tongue is parched; it cleaves to<a name="page_vol-1-111" id="page_vol-1-111"></a>
+the roof of my mouth; my whistle burns; it is on the point of breaking
+out into flame; help! help! wine! wine! Let the wine act as water to put
+out the fire! I shall now run out for the promised nectar of
+Argenteuil!" added the Franc-Taupin, rising from his seat. "I shall be
+back in a jiffy! And then we shall drinkedrille, drinkedraille, gaily
+clink glasses with our guest. A full pot calls for a wide throat!"</p>
+
+<p>So saying, Josephin went out, singing in a sonorous voice his favorite
+refrain:</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left">"A Franc-Taupin had an ash-tree bow,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">All eaten with worms, and all knotted its cord;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">His arrow was made out of paper, and plumed,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">And tipped at the end with a capon's spur.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><i>Derideron, vignette on vignon! Derideron!</i>"</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p><a name="page_vol-1-112" id="page_vol-1-112"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_vol-1-VII" id="CHAPTER_vol-1-VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br />
+<br />BROTHER ST. ERNEST-MARTYR.</h3>
+
+<p>The moment the Franc-Taupin left the house the stranger said to
+Christian:</p>
+
+<p>"Your brother-in-law's story is a revelation to me. The past life of
+Ignatius Loyola explains to me his present life."</p>
+
+<p>"But who is that man? Whence the interest, curiosity and even alarm that
+he seems to inspire you with?"</p>
+
+<p>Christian was saying these words when his wife descended from the floor
+above. The sight of her reminded him it was urgent that the stranger be
+taken to the garret before the return of Josephin. "Bridget," he
+accordingly said to his wife, "has Hena gone to bed?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; both the dear children have retired for the night."</p>
+
+<p>"Master Robert Estienne has confided a secret to me and asked of me a
+service, dear Bridget. For two or three days we are to hide Monsieur
+John, our guest of this evening, in this house. The garret seems to me
+to offer a safe retreat. I have temporarily got your brother out of the
+way. Take our refugee upstairs; I shall remain here to wait for
+Josephin."</p>
+
+<p>Bridget took up again the lamp that she had deposited<a name="page_vol-1-113" id="page_vol-1-113"></a> upon the table,
+and said to the stranger as she prepared to lead the way upstairs:</p>
+
+<p>"Come, monsieur; your secret will remain with Christian and myself; you
+may rely upon our discretion."</p>
+
+<p>"I am certain of that, madam," answered Monsieur John; "I shall never
+forget your generous hospitality;" and addressing the artisan: "Could
+you join me later, after your brother-in-law has gone? I should like to
+speak with you."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall join monsieur after Josephin's departure," Christian answered
+the stranger, who followed Bridget to the upper loft.</p>
+
+<p>The latter two had both withdrawn when suddenly an uproar was heard in
+the street. Peals of laughter were interspersed with the plaintive cries
+of a woman. Although quite familiar with these nocturnal disorders,
+seeing that the Guilleris, the Mauvais-Garçons, the Tire-Laines and
+other bandits infested the streets at night, and not infrequently
+disturbed the carousals of the young seigneurs bent upon their
+debauches, Christian's first impulse was to go out to the help of the
+woman whose cries resounded ever more plaintive. Considering, however,
+that no decent woman would venture outside of her house at such a late
+hour, and, above all, fearing that by interfering in the affray he might
+provoke an assault upon his house and thereby put the safety of his
+guest in jeopardy, he contented himself with partly opening the window,
+whereupon, by the light of the torches held by several pages dressed in
+rich liveries, he saw three seigneurs, evidently<a name="page_vol-1-114" id="page_vol-1-114"></a> just come from some
+orgy, surrounding a woman. The seigneurs were in an advanced stage of
+intoxication and sought to drag the woman after them; she resisted and
+held her arms closely clasped around a large cross that stood in the
+center of the bridge. The woman cried imploringly: "Oh, leave me,
+seigneurs. In the name of heaven, leave me! Mercy! Have pity for a
+woman&mdash;mercy, seigneurs!"</p>
+
+<p>"May the flames of St. Anthony consume me if you do not come with us,
+strumpet!" yelled one of the seigneurs, seizing the woman by the waist.
+"A street walker to put on such airs! Come, my belle, either walk or we
+shall strip you on the spot!"</p>
+
+<p>"You are mistaken, seigneurs," answered the poor creature panting for
+breath in the unequal struggle; "I am an honest widow."</p>
+
+<p>"Honest and a widow!" exclaimed one of the debauchees. "'Sdeath, what a
+windfall! We shall marry you over again."</p>
+
+<p>Saying which the seigneurs tried anew to tear their victim from the foot
+of the cross to which she clung with terror and screamed aloud for help.
+Attracted by the cries, a young monk, who happened to be in a nearby
+side street, ran to the scene, saw the distressed condition of the
+persecuted woman, and rushed at her aggressors, saying in a deeply moved
+voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, brothers, to outrage a woman at the very foot of the cross! That is
+a cowardly act, condemned by God!"</p>
+
+<p>"What business is that of yours, you frockist, you convent rat!" cried
+one of the assailants, stepping towards the<a name="page_vol-1-115" id="page_vol-1-115"></a> monk with a menacing
+gesture. "Do you know whom it is that you are talking with? Do you know
+that I have the power, not only to kill you, but to excommunicate you,
+you beggar? I am the Marquis of Fleurange, the colonel of the regiment
+of Normandy, and over and above that, Bishop of Coutances. So, then, go
+your ways quickly and without further ado, you tonsured knave and
+mumbler of masses. If you do not, I shall use my spiritual powers and my
+temporal powers&mdash;I shall excommunicate you and run you through with my
+sword!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Brother St. Ernest-Martyr! Come to my help! It is I, Mary La
+Catelle!" cried the young widow, as she recognized the monk by the light
+of the torches. "For pity's sake stand by me!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my brothers!" cried the monk indignantly, running towards Mary.
+"The woman whom you are outraging is a saint! She gathers the little
+children that are left unprotected; she instructs them; she is blessed
+by all who know her; she is entitled to your respect."</p>
+
+<p>"If she is a saint, I am a bishop&mdash;and between a female saint and a
+bishop the relations are close!" answered the Marquis of Fleurange with
+a winey guffaw. "She loves children! 'Sdeath, she shall be delighted! I
+shall swell her family!"</p>
+
+<p>"You shall kill me before you reach her!" cried the monk, vigorously
+thrusting the marquis back. The latter, being heavily in his cups,
+reeled, swore and blasphemed, while Brother St. Ernest-Martyr threw
+himself between the widow, who clung to the cross, and her assailants.<a name="page_vol-1-116" id="page_vol-1-116"></a>
+Crossing his arms over his chest, he looked defiantly at the seigneurs
+and said to them challengingly, as he barred their way to their victim:</p>
+
+<p>"Come forward, if you will; but you will have to kill me before you
+touch this woman!"</p>
+
+<p>"Insolent frockist! You dare threaten us and to raise your hand against
+me!" yelled the colonel-bishop furious and tottering on his unsteady
+limbs; and drawing his sword in its scabbard out of his baldric, he took
+it in both his hands, and struck so hard a blow with its heavy hilt upon
+the forehead of the monk, that the latter was dazed by the blow,
+staggered backward, and fell bleeding from an ugly scalp wound at the
+feet of Mary La Catelle.</p>
+
+<p>Despite the caution that his guest's safety imposed upon him, Christian
+could no longer remain a passive witness of such acts of brutality; he
+entertained a respectful esteem for the young widow whose virtuous life
+he was acquainted with; moreover, he feared lest the monk, who had so
+generously interposed between the drunken seigneurs and their victim, be
+subjected to further maltreatment. Christian shut the window, armed
+himself with a heavy iron bar, slipped quietly out of his house, shut
+the door after him without making any noise, in order to prevent its
+being known from whence he came, and, seeing several of his neighbors,
+whom the disturbance had drawn to their windows, he shouted:</p>
+
+<p>"To your clubs, my friends, to your clubs! Will you allow women to be
+assailed, and defenseless men to be<a name="page_vol-1-117" id="page_vol-1-117"></a> killed? To your clubs, my friends,
+to your clubs! Let us save the victims!"</p>
+
+<p>Saying this, Christian ran resolutely upon the three seigneurs and their
+pages. At that very moment, the Franc-Taupin returned upon the bridge
+with the pot of Argenteuil wine that he had gone after. Seeing the
+artisan by the light of the torches and hearing him summon the neighbors
+to their clubs, the Franc-Taupin deposited the pot of wine at the
+threshold of the door, drew his sword and rushed to the fray crying:</p>
+
+<p>"By the bowels of St. Quenet, here I am! My fine blade has not taken the
+air for a long time! It itches in my hands! Death to the enemies of the
+good people of Paris! Death to the nobles and their pages!"</p>
+
+<p>Several of Christian's neighbors answered his summons and issued from
+their houses, some armed with clubs, others with pikes. For a moment the
+three seigneurs stood their ground bravely; they drew close abreast of
+one another and drew their swords. Their pages, however, as much out of
+fear of being hurt in the broil as out of mischief, suddenly put out
+their torches and screamed:</p>
+
+<p>"Seigneurs! There is a squad of armed constables coming this way! There,
+on the bridge! Look out! Run who run can!"</p>
+
+<p>Upon shouting this lie the pages ran off as fast as their legs could
+carry them and left their masters and their assailants in utter
+darkness. The three seigneurs did not feel much concern on the score of
+the constables, who never dared to suppress the disorders of the
+nobility; but<a name="page_vol-1-118" id="page_vol-1-118"></a> realizing that they had to do with eight or ten
+determined men, the assailants of the defenseless woman profited by the
+darkness in which they found themselves to slip away upon the heels of
+their pages, while Christian's neighbors called for lanthorns in order
+to raise the wounded man. The artisan ran back into his house, lighted,
+and came out with a taper. By the light the monk was discovered
+stretched out at the foot of the cross, with his head bathed in the
+blood that ran profusely from his scalp wound. On her knees beside him,
+and weeping tears of thankfulness, Mary La Catelle sought to staunch the
+wound of her defender. Brother St. Ernest-Martyr was carried into
+Christian's house with the help of the Franc-Taupin and some neighbors.
+The artisan offered asylum also to the widow, who was almost fainting
+with fright. Commissioned by her husband to conduct the stranger to the
+garret, the only window of which opened upon the river, Bridget remained
+ignorant of what was occurring upon the street. When, however, she
+returned downstairs, great was her surprise and alarm at the sight of
+Mary La Catelle, pale, her dress thrown into disorder, and leaning
+against a table compassionately contemplating the wounded young monk.
+The latter was slowly regaining consciousness, thanks to the attention
+that he was receiving from the artisan and the Franc-Taupin.</p>
+
+<p>"Good God!" cried Bridget, hastening to approach the young widow. "Look
+at the poor monk covered with blood. What has happened, Mary?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was delayed at a friend's longer than I had expected;<a name="page_vol-1-119" id="page_vol-1-119"></a> her maid
+servant accompanied me home; we were crossing the bridge when several
+swaggering seigneurs approached and made insulting remarks to us. The
+poor servant was frightened and ran away, leaving me alone. The men
+sought to drag me away with them. Brother St. Ernest-Martyr happening
+by, came to my rescue; he received on the forehead a blow with the hilt
+of a sword and fell bleeding at my feet. Happily your husband and
+several neighbors rushed to our help; thanks to them we escaped further
+maltreatment from our assailants; but the poor monk is wounded."</p>
+
+<p>"Dear sister, let me have some fresh water and some lint," said the
+Franc-Taupin to Bridget. Having often been wounded in war the soldier of
+adventure had some knowledge of the dressing of wounds.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall go upstairs for the lint, and bring my daughter down to help
+you," answered Bridget as she proceeded to the storey above.</p>
+
+<p>Slightly recovered from her own fright, Mary La Catelle drew nearer to
+the monk with deepening interest. The Franc-Taupin looked around and
+said to Christian:</p>
+
+<p>"What has become of your guest? Did he show the white feather? I would
+have preferred he were a braver man."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, Josephin. Our guest left the house shortly before the
+disturbance on the street; he feared it was growing too late for him."</p>
+
+<p>"Why did he not wait for me? I would have escorted him home safely after
+emptying our pot of Argenteuil.<a name="page_vol-1-120" id="page_vol-1-120"></a> But, coming to think of it," the
+Franc-Taupin broke off, while he left Christian to hold up the head of
+the friar, "I shall pour a few drops of wine down the wounded man's
+throat; the devil! wine has the miraculous power of being as helpful to
+the sick as to the well;" and taking up the pot he approached it to his
+own lips. "Before administering the potion to others let me try it
+myself&mdash;it is the duty of all prudent pharmacists to assure themselves
+of the quality of their own medicine."</p>
+
+<p>While the Franc-Taupin was thoroughly "trying" the beverage, Bridget
+came down again with her daughter. The latter had hastily put on her
+clothes. Her brother also, whom the noise had awakened, dressed himself
+and came out of his room. Hervé was on the point of inquiring from his
+father what was the cause of the commotion in the house when his eyes
+alighted upon St. Ernest-Martyr, and he recognized the man whom his
+sister Hena had ingenuously called "her monk." A flash of lightning shot
+from Hervé's eyes and for an instant his looks assumed a ferocious
+expression. The lad, however, controlled his sentiments and closely
+watched his sister and the friar, to the latter of whom the Franc-Taupin
+was administering a few mouthfuls of the comforting wine. Speedily
+recalled to himself by the strengthening elixir, Brother St.
+Ernest-Martyr opened his eyes. Before him he saw, like a celestial
+apparition, the angelic countenance of Hena, who, with eyes moist with
+pity, held out to her uncle with a trembling hand the lint that he was
+using to dress the wound of the monk whose head Christian held in his
+hands.<a name="page_vol-1-121" id="page_vol-1-121"></a> When he had completely regained consciousness and collected his
+thoughts, the monk became aware of the solicitude with which he was
+surrounded by the family that had taken him in; tears of gratitude and
+tenderness welled up in his eyes and rolled down his face, which, pale
+with the loss of blood, recalled the touching beauty that painters
+impart to the image of Christ. The expression of ineffable gratitude on
+the monk's countenance gave it at the moment so sweet a charm that Hervé
+trembled with suppressed rage. His anger was such that it even
+threatened to break out when he surprised the eyes of the monk and of
+his sister once as they accidentally met. The lad noticed that both
+dropped their eyes and seemed embarrassed. These circumstances escaped
+all the other members of the family. Brother St. Ernest-Martyr turned
+his head towards Christian and said to him in a feeble voice:</p>
+
+<p>"It is to you, no doubt, monsieur, that I owe my life. And yet I am a
+stranger to you. May heaven place it some day in my power to attest to
+you the gratitude with which I am penetrated. I thank you for your
+help."</p>
+
+<p>"Brother," answered the artisan, "I would have fulfilled my duty as a
+Christian by assisting you even if you were a stranger to me; but often
+did our mutual friend Mary La Catelle speak to us of you and of the
+esteem that you deserve. Besides, my wife often was present when you
+were teaching the little ones. She has preserved cherished recollections
+of the evangelical morality that you preached to them."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, we could never sufficiently praise the good brother!"<a name="page_vol-1-122" id="page_vol-1-122"></a> exclaimed
+Mary La Catelle. "What is known of him is like nothing beside the
+numerous acts of charity that he practices in secret&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Sister, sister," said the monk, blushing with modesty and interrupting
+the widow, "do not exaggerate my poor deserts; I love little ones; to
+instruct them is a pleasure to me and their affection more than rewards
+me for the little that I do for them. My duty squares with my pleasure."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, brother, I shall say no more," replied Mary La Catelle; "I shall
+not say how highly I think of you, and how I but re-echo the sentiments
+of all who know you; I shall say nothing of how, a short time ago, you
+rushed to my defense at the risk of your life; I shall not say how, only
+yesterday, a man who fell into the river near the isle of Notre Dame was
+being carried down stream and about to sink when you threw yourself&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Dear sister," insisted Brother St. Ernest-Martyr with a melancholy
+smile, and again interrupting the widow whose praises of the monk placed
+Hervé upon the rack, "your style of not saying things is too
+transparent. Oblige me; draw a veil over the acts that you refer to;
+anyone else would have done as much. We all in this world owe assistance
+to our fellows." As the young monk spoke these words, his eyes
+involuntarily again encountered Hena's; he sought to flee from their
+influence upon him; he rose from his stool, and said to Christian:
+"Adieu, monsieur; I am only a poor friar of the Order of St. Augustine;
+I can only preserve the deepest gratitude for your timely help.<a name="page_vol-1-123" id="page_vol-1-123"></a> Believe
+me, the remembrance of yourself and of your sympathetic family will
+always be present in my mind. May the blessing of God rest upon your
+house."</p>
+
+<p>"What, brother," interposed the artisan, "your wound is barely dressed,
+and you would leave the house so soon? Rest yourself a little longer;
+you are still too weak to proceed on your route."</p>
+
+<p>"It is late, and I feel quite strong enough to return to my convent. I
+went with the Superior's consent to carry some consolation to a good old
+priest of Notre Dame who lies dangerously ill. Night is now far
+advanced, allow me to withdraw. I think that the fresh air will do me
+good," and respectfully bowing to Hena and her mother, blushingly he
+said to Mary La Catelle: "To-morrow will be school day, dear sister; I
+hope I shall be able to go to your house as usual, and give the children
+their lessons."</p>
+
+<p>"May it please God that you can keep your promise, dear brother,"
+answered the young widow; "but I am less courageous than you; I would
+not dare to return home to-night any more; I shall request Bridget to be
+so kind as to afford me asylum for the night."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you imagine, dear Mary, that I would have allowed you to go?"
+answered Christian's wife. "You shall share Hena's bed."</p>
+
+<p>After the monk's wound was dressed, the Franc-Taupin had remained
+silent, sharing, as he did, the interest felt by the whole family,
+Hervé, alas, only excepted, in poor Brother St. Ernest-Martyr. The
+latter's modest bearing, the sweetness of his countenance, the good
+words that all<a name="page_vol-1-124" id="page_vol-1-124"></a> had for him, deeply moved Josephin, who, his soldier's
+manners and the adventurous life he led notwithstanding, was susceptible
+to generous emotions. Seeing the friar, after expressing his thanks anew
+to Christian, move towards the door, the Franc-Taupin took up his sword,
+put on his hat, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"My reverend man, you shall not go out alone. I shall escort you to the
+Augustinian Convent. It is common with blows received on the skull, to
+be followed after a while by dizziness. You might be seized with such a
+fit on your way. Let me offer you my arm."</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks, Josephin," said Bridget affectionately; "thanks for your kind
+thoughtfulness, my friend. Do accompany the worthy monk."</p>
+
+<p>"I am obliged to you for your offer," answered the monk to the
+Franc-Taupin; "but I can not consent to your troubling yourself by
+escorting me. The function with which I am clad, besides my robe, will
+be ample protection against marauders."</p>
+
+<p>"Your robe! Were it not that I know how worthy a man is inside of it, I
+would let it depart alone. By the bowels of St. Quenet! I have no love
+for frockists. Monkeys do not watch houses like dogs, they do not draw
+the plow like oxen, they do not carry loads like horses. Very much like
+the useless monkey, monks do not till the soil like the peasant, they do
+not defend the country like the soldier, they do not heal the sick like
+the physician. By the bowels of St. Quenet! These frockists deafen their
+neighborhood with the clatter of their bells, on the theory<a name="page_vol-1-125" id="page_vol-1-125"></a> that the
+mass that is well rung is half said. They mumble their prayers in order
+to earn their fat soups, not to save souls. You, however, my reverend
+man, you who plow the field of science, you who defend the oppressed,
+you who comfort the sorrowful, you who sacrifice your life for others,
+you who are the prop of the poor, you who indoctrinate the little ones
+like a good evangelical doctor&mdash;you are not one of those mumblers of
+prayers, of those traffickers in masses, although you wear their
+costume. It might, therefore, well happen that some gang of
+Mauvais-Garçons, or of Tire-Laines, or of the associates of these <i>in
+partibus</i>, mendicant monks, might scent the honest man under your frock,
+and hurt you out of sheer hatred of good. For that reason you shall take
+my arm, by the devil, and I shall escort you whether you want it or
+not."</p>
+
+<p>At first alarmed at the unconventionality of the Franc-Taupin's words,
+the family of Christian soon felt easier, and, so far from interrupting
+him, took pleasure in listening to him bestowing, after his own fashion,
+praise upon the friar. Hena, above all, seemed with her ingenuous and
+delighted smile to applaud her uncle, while Hervé, on the contrary, was
+hardly able to repress his annoyance, and cast jealous side glances at
+St. Ernest-Martyr.</p>
+
+<p>The monk answered the Franc-Taupin: "My dear brother, if the larger part
+of my brotherhood are, indeed, such as you depict them, I would request
+you rather to pity and pardon them; if they are different from what you
+take them for, if they are worthy beings, pray devoutly that they may
+persevere in the right path. You offer me your arm;<a name="page_vol-1-126" id="page_vol-1-126"></a> I accept it. If I
+were to refuse you, you might think that I resent your satirical
+outburst."</p>
+
+<p>"Resent! You, my reverend man! One might as well expect ferocity from
+the lamb. Good night, sister; good night, children," added the
+Franc-Taupin as he embraced Bridget, Hena and Hervé successively. "The
+only one wanting to my hugs is my little Odelin. But by the bowels of
+St. Quenet! I shall not do like the paymaster of my company, who pockets
+the pay of the absent men. When the darling apprentice to the armorer is
+back again, I shall pay him the full arrears of hugs due him."</p>
+
+<p>"The dear boy!" observed Bridget tenderly, as her thoughts flew to her
+absent son. "May he soon again be back in our midst! It looks so long to
+us before his return."</p>
+
+<p>"His absence grieves me as much as it does you," interjected Christian.
+"It seems to me so long since his place is vacant at our hearth."</p>
+
+<p>"You will see him return to us grown up, but so grown that we shall
+hardly know him," put in Hena. "How we shall celebrate his return! What
+a joy it will be to us to make him forget the trials of the journey!
+What a delight it will be to hear him tell us all about his trip to
+Milan, his experiences on the road, and his excursions in Italy!"</p>
+
+<p>Hervé alone had not a word on the absence of his brother.</p>
+
+<p>Rising from the seat into which he had dropped for a moment, the young
+monk took leave of the artisan, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"May the heavens continue to bless your hospitality and<a name="page_vol-1-127" id="page_vol-1-127"></a> your happy
+home, the sanctuary of the domestic virtues that are so rare in these
+days!"</p>
+
+<p>"The devil, my friend! Your words are golden!" exclaimed the
+Franc-Taupin, as he offered the monk the support of his arm. "Whenever I
+step into this poor but dear house, it seems to me I leave the big devil
+of hell behind me at the door; and whenever I go out again, I feel as if
+I am quitting paradise. Look out! Who knows but Beelzebub, the wicked
+one with the cloven hoofs, is waiting for me outside? But to-night,
+seeing me in your company, my reverend man, he will not dare to grab me.
+Come, let's start, reverend sir!"</p>
+
+<p>So saying, the Franc-Taupin left with the monk; Bridget led La Catelle
+to Hena's chamber; and Christian climbed up to the garret for a chat
+with Monsieur John.</p>
+
+<p>Left alone in the lower apartment, his fists clenched and his lips drawn
+tight together, Hervé murmured moodily:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that monk&mdash;that accursed monk!" The lad relapsed into gloomy
+thoughts; suddenly he resumed: "What a scheme! Yes, yes&mdash;it will remove
+even the shadow of a suspicion. I shall follow the inspiration, whether
+it proceed from the devil or from God&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Hervé did not finish his sentence. He listened in the direction of the
+staircase by which Mary La Catelle, Bridget and Hena and his father had
+just mounted to the floor above.<a name="page_vol-1-128" id="page_vol-1-128"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_vol-1-VIII" id="CHAPTER_vol-1-VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br />
+<br />IN THE GARRET.</h3>
+
+<p>Cautiously climbing the ladder that led up to the garret, Christian
+found the stranger seated upon the sill of the narrow window that opened
+upon the river. The moon, then on the wane, was rising in a sky studded
+with stars, and shed her pale light upon the austere visage of the
+unknown guest. Drawn from his absorbing thoughts, he turned towards
+Christian:</p>
+
+<p>"I thought I heard some noise toward the bridge. Has anything happened?"</p>
+
+<p>"Some seigneurs, out on a carousal, attempted to do violence to a woman.
+Several of our neighbors rushed to her aid with me and my
+brother-in-law. Thanks be to God, Mary La Catelle is safe."</p>
+
+<p>"What!" cried Monsieur John with deep concern, breaking in upon the
+artisan's report. "Was that worthy widow, who is associated with John
+Dubourg, the draper of St. Denis Street, with Etienne Laforge, the rich
+bourgeois of Tournay, and the architect Poille in the charitable work of
+gathering abandoned orphans, in peril? Poor woman, her charity, the
+purity of her principles and her devotion<a name="page_vol-1-129" id="page_vol-1-129"></a> to the little ones entitle
+her to the esteem of all right-minded people."</p>
+
+<p>"The task that she has imposed upon herself bristles with dangers. The
+monks and friars of her quarter suspect her of partaking of the ideas
+and hopes of the reformers. Already has she been locked up in the
+Chatelet, and her school been closed. Thanks, however, to the
+intervention of one of her relatives, who is in the service of Princess
+Marguerite, a protector of the reform, Mary was set at liberty and her
+school was re-opened. But the persecutions of the heretics are
+redoubling, and I apprehend fresh dangers for our friend, whose faith is
+unshakable."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, the persecutions are redoubling," rejoined Monsieur John
+thoughtfully. "Monsieur Christian Lebrenn, I know I can unbosom myself
+to you with all frankness. I am a stranger in Paris; you know the city.
+Could I find within the walls, or even without, some secluded spot where
+about a hundred persons could be gathered secretly and safely? I must
+warn you, these persons belong to the Reformation."</p>
+
+<p>The artisan reflected for a moment and answered: "It would be difficult
+and dangerous to assemble so large a number of people within Paris.
+Gainier, the chief spy of the Criminal Lieutenant, expends undefatigable
+activity to discover and denounce all assemblages that he suspects. His
+agents are spread everywhere. So considerable a gathering would
+undoubtedly call their attention. Outside of Paris, however, we need not
+apprehend the same watchfulness. I may be able to indicate some safe
+place<a name="page_vol-1-130" id="page_vol-1-130"></a> to you. But before proceeding farther, I should make a
+confidential disclosure to you. A friend of mine and myself contemplate
+printing secretly a few handbills intended to propagate the reform
+movement. We are in the hope that, scattered through Paris, or posted
+over night on the walls, these placards may stir public opinion. Only
+one obstacle has, so far, held us back&mdash;the finding of some safe and
+secluded place, where, without danger of being detected, we might set up
+our little printing establishment. I understand from my friend that he
+has at last found a suitable place for our purpose. It may turn out to
+be suitable for yours also."</p>
+
+<p>"Is the house outside the walls of Paris?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is not a house; it is an abandoned quarry situated on Montmartre. My
+friend was born in that suburb; his mother still lives there; he is
+familiar with every nook and corner of that rocky hill. He is of the
+opinion that a certain wide and deep grotto which he inspected will
+guarantee to us the seclusion and safety that we are in search of. If he
+is not mistaken, the meeting that you have mentioned to me might be held
+at Montmartre. To-morrow evening I am to go with my friend to look the
+place over. When I shall have done so, I shall acquaint you with the
+circumstances, and if the place is fit, you may fix the day of your
+gathering."</p>
+
+<p>"Suppose that your excursion to Montmartre to-morrow evening satisfies
+you that the quarry is suitable for my meeting, that it offers perfect
+safety; in what manner<a name="page_vol-1-131" id="page_vol-1-131"></a> could the people, whom I shall convoke, be
+furnished with the necessary directions to find the place?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think that would be an easy matter, after the locality had been
+carefully inspected. I shall be able to furnish you to-morrow with the
+full particulars."</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur Christian, could you also tell me where I could find some
+trustworthy person whom I could commission to carry the letters of
+convocation to certain persons, who, in their turn, would notify their
+friends?"</p>
+
+<p>"I shall carry those letters myself, if you will, monsieur. I realize
+the gravity of such a mission."</p>
+
+<p>"In the name of the Cause that we both serve, Monsieur Christian, I
+thank you heartily for your generous offer," replied the stranger with
+effusion. "Oh, the times bode evil. The conversation that we had this
+evening with your brother-in-law was almost a revelation to me
+concerning the singular man, the intrepid swordsman, the former runner
+of gallant adventures, whose darksome dealings I was previously
+acquainted with."</p>
+
+<p>"Ignatius Loyola? And what may be his scheme?"</p>
+
+<p>"Some slight overtures made by him to a man whom I hold worthy of all
+credence, and whom he hoped to capture, were reported to me. I was
+thereby enabled to penetrate the infernal project pursued by Ignatius
+Loyola, and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Bridget's voice, sounding from the middle of the ladder that led up to
+the garret, and cautiously calling her husband, interrupted the unknown.
+Christian listened and heard his wife say:<a name="page_vol-1-132" id="page_vol-1-132"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Come down quick; I heard Hervé come out of his room; I hear him coming
+upstairs; he may want to see us."</p>
+
+<p>The artisan made a sign to his guest that he had nothing to fear, and
+quickly descended the stairs into a dark closet, the only door of which
+opened into the chamber occupied by himself and his wife. Christian had
+just time to close noiselessly the door of the closet and to sit down,
+when Hervé rapped gently at his father's door and called him. Bridget
+opened and said to her son:</p>
+
+<p>"What do you want, my child?"</p>
+
+<p>"Dear parents, grant me a few words with you."</p>
+
+<p>"Gladly," responded Christian, "but let us go downstairs. Our poor
+friend Mary La Catelle is sharing your sister's bed; the woman needs
+rest; our conversation might disturb her sleep."<a name="page_vol-1-133" id="page_vol-1-133"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_vol-1-IX" id="CHAPTER_vol-1-IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.<br />
+<br />THE PENITENT.</h3>
+
+<p>Father, mother and son proceeded downstairs to the room on the ground
+floor where the distressing scene of the night before was enacted.
+Hardly had they touched the lowermost step of the staircase when Hervé
+threw himself upon his knees, took his father's hands, kissed them
+tearfully and murmured in a smothered voice:</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon&mdash;for my past conduct&mdash;pardon me&mdash;my good parents!"</p>
+
+<p>"God be praised! We were not deceived in the boy," was the thought that
+rushed to the minds of Christian and Bridget as they exchanged a look of
+profound satisfaction. "The unfortunate lad has been touched by
+repentance."</p>
+
+<p>"My son," said the artisan, "rise."</p>
+
+<p>"No, not before I have obtained from you and my mother forgiveness for
+my infamous act;" and he added, amid sobs: "It was myself, I, your
+son&mdash;it was I who stole your gold!"</p>
+
+<p>"Hervé," replied Christian, deeply moved by the manifestations of
+remorse which he took to be sincere, "last night, in this same room,
+your mother and I said to you:<a name="page_vol-1-134" id="page_vol-1-134"></a> 'If you forgot yourself for a moment and
+committed the theft, admit it&mdash;you will be forgiven.'"</p>
+
+<p>"And we shall gladly keep our promise," added Bridget. "We pardon you,
+seeing that you repent. Rise."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, never more so than at this moment am I penetrated with the
+unworthiness of my conduct. Good God! So much kindness on your part, and
+so much baseness on mine! My whole life shall be consecrated to the
+atonement of my infamy!" said Hervé, rising from the floor.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not conceal it from you, my boy," proceeded Christian with
+paternal kindness. "I was quite prepared for this admission of your
+guilt. Certain happy symptoms that your mother and myself noticed
+to-day, led us to expect your return to the right path, to the
+principles of honesty in which we brought you up."</p>
+
+<p>"Did I not tell you so, yesterday?" broke in Bridget. "Could our son
+really become unworthy of our tenderness, unworthy of the example that
+we set to him, as well as to his sister and brother? No; no; we will
+regain him; he will see the error of his ways. So you see, dear, dear
+boy," she added embracing him effusively, "I knew you better than you
+knew yourself! Blessed be God for your return to the path of
+righteousness!"</p>
+
+<p>The consummate hypocrite threw himself upon his mother's neck, and
+answering her caresses with feigned affection, said in a moved voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Good father, good mother, the confession of my shameful act earned your
+pardon for me. Later I hope your esteem for me may return, when you will
+have been able to<a name="page_vol-1-135" id="page_vol-1-135"></a> judge of the sincerity of my remorse. Let me tell you
+the cause of my repentance, the suddenness of which may astonish you."</p>
+
+<p>"A sweet astonishment, thanks be to God. Speak, speak, my son!"</p>
+
+<p>"You surmised rightly, father. Yes, led astray, corrupted by the counsel
+of Fra Girard, I pilfered your money for the purpose of consecrating it
+to works that I took to be pious."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, it is with pride both for us and yourself that I say it," cried
+Bridget; "never once, while we suspected you, did we believe you capable
+of the guilty act out of love for gold, out of a craving for selfish
+enjoyment, or out of cupidity! No, a thousand times no!"</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks! Oh, thanks, good mother, to do me at least that justice, or,
+rather, to do it to the bringing up that I owe you! No; the fruit of my
+larceny has not been dissipated in prodigality. No; I did not keep it
+like a miser, out of love for gold. The gold pieces were all thrown into
+the chest of the Apostolic Commissioner of indulgences, for the purpose
+of obtaining the redemption of the souls in purgatory."</p>
+
+<p>"I believe you, my son. The charitable and generous side of that
+idolatry, that is so profitable to the cupidity of the Church of Rome,
+must have had its fascination for your heart. But how did you discover
+the fraud of that monastic traffic? Explain that to me."</p>
+
+<p>"This morning, after I deposited my offering in the chest of indulgences
+that was set up in the Church of St.<a name="page_vol-1-136" id="page_vol-1-136"></a> Dominic, I heard the Apostolic
+Commissioner preach. Oh, father, all the still lingering sentiments of
+honor within me revolted at his words. My eyes were suddenly opened; I
+fathomed the depth of the abyss that blind fanaticism leads to. Do you
+know what that monk, who claimed to speak in the name of the Almighty,
+dared to say to the mass of people gathered in the church? 'The virtue
+of my indulgences is so efficacious,' the monk cried out, 'so very
+efficacious, that, even if it were possible for any man to have raped
+the mother of our Savior, that crime without name would be remitted to
+him by the virtue of my indulgences. So, then, buy them, my brothers!
+Bring, bring your money! Rummage in your purses, rummage'&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Christian and his wife listened to their son's tale in silent affright.
+The sacrilegious words which the lad reported to them caused them to
+shiver with horror and their own horror explained to them the repentance
+and remorse of Hervé.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I now see it all, my child!" cried Christian. "The sacrilegious
+monstrosity was a revelation to you! It shocked you back to your senses!
+Yes, your eyes were suddenly opened to the light; you conceived a horror
+for those infamous priests; you recoiled with dread from the fatal slope
+down which superstition was driving you!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, father, the monstrous thought was a revelation to me; the veil was
+torn; I regained my sight. I was to be either the dupe or the accomplice
+of these abominable frauds. Disgust and indignation recalled me to
+myself.<a name="page_vol-1-137" id="page_vol-1-137"></a> It was to me as if I awoke from a painful dream. When I
+recalled that, for several months, I had been dominated by the influence
+of Fra Girard, I cursed the detestable charm under which the man had
+held me captive, and which was alienating me from a cherished, a
+venerated family. I cursed the devilish sophisms, which, exactly as you
+expressed it, father, were corrupting in my mind the most elemental
+principles of right and wrong, and led me to the commission of a theft,
+an act that was doubly infamous seeing that it was perpetrated under the
+trusting security of the paternal roof! Oh, mother, in the measure that
+I thus regained the possession of my soul, overwhelmed with shame as I
+was, and torn with remorse, I felt there was but one way of
+safety&mdash;repentance! Only one hope&mdash;your pardon! Only one refuge&mdash;your
+love. I have returned to you, beloved parents."</p>
+
+<p>Christian and Bridget could not suspect their son's sincerity. They
+reposed faith in his repentance, in the return of his filial devotion,
+in the horror that the past inspired him with. Father and mother
+devoutly rendered thanks to God for having restored their son to them.
+When the two closed their eyes in sleep that night their last thought
+concerned their son Hervé&mdash;alas, a treacherous happiness.<a name="page_vol-1-138" id="page_vol-1-138"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_vol-1-X" id="CHAPTER_vol-1-X"></a>CHAPTER X.<br />
+<br />LOYOLA AND HIS DISCIPLES.</h3>
+
+<p>The day after the proscribed stranger and friend of Robert Estienne had
+found an asylum in the home of Christian, the latter sallied forth after
+dark with his friend Justin for the purpose of inspecting the abandoned
+quarry where the two expected to be able to set up their secret press.
+The secluded spot was also expected speedily to serve as the trysting
+place for the leaders of the Reformation in Paris. The late moon was
+rising when the two artisans arrived in the neighborhood of the Abbey of
+Montmartre. They struck a road to the left of the church, leading to a
+hillock crowned with a cross. Arrived there they descended a steep path
+at the bottom of which was the entrance to the quarry.</p>
+
+<p>"Unless the recollections of my childhood deceive me," said Justin to
+Christian, "I'm under the impression that this quarry formerly had two
+openings&mdash;one being this, through which we are about to enter, the
+other, the issue of a sort of underground gallery, located at the
+opposite slope of the hill, and through which the descent is steep down
+to the bottom of the quarry. I even recall that a<a name="page_vol-1-139" id="page_vol-1-139"></a> portion of the
+gallery bore traces of some very ancient masonry."</p>
+
+<p>"It probably is one of those places of refuge that, centuries ago, were
+dug into the bowels of the earth by the inhabitants of these regions, in
+the days of the invasions of the Northman pirates."<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p>
+
+<p>"Quite probable. At the same time, seeing it is well to be prepared for
+all emergencies, this quarry can be rendered an all the safer meeting
+place for our friends of the Reformation by placing a watchman at each
+entrance. The alarm being given from either side, escape could then be
+safely made by the other. The agents of the Criminal Lieutenant have a
+hundred eyes and as many ears. We cannot take too many precautions."</p>
+
+<p>"If your recollections are correct, that double entrance would be a
+priceless fact. The meeting place would be doubly guarded."</p>
+
+<p>"We can easily make sure of that," said Justin. Saying this he fumbled
+in his pocket for his tinder and flint, while Christian drew out of his
+pocket the butt of a candle that he had provided himself with for the
+occasion.</p>
+
+<p>The jagged opening of the grotto was overhung by an abutting ledge of
+lime rock, covered with a few inches of earth overgrown with briars and
+furze. A rather abrupt path led to the species of platform that lay
+under the beetling rock. The two artisans stepped in. They did not light
+their candle at first for fear it would be extinguished by the wind. But
+after having groped their way<a name="page_vol-1-140" id="page_vol-1-140"></a> through the dark for a few paces, they
+struck a light, and presently the feeble flame of the candle threw its
+light into the wide though low-arched cavern. A huge boulder, about five
+or six feet high and from eight to ten through, that doubtlessly had
+been loosened and dropped from the walls of the cave, seemed to mark the
+further extremity of the underground walk.</p>
+
+<p>"I now remember the place exactly," said Justin; "the inside opening of
+the gallery that I spoke of to you must be on the other side of the
+stone. Let's move on. We are on the right path."</p>
+
+<p>Saying this, and followed by his friend, Justin stepped into a narrow
+space left between the natural wall and the boulder. Suddenly they heard
+the noise of footsteps and the voices of several persons drawing near
+from the side of the opening through which they had themselves shortly
+before entered the cavern. As much surprised as alarmed, the first
+motion of Justin was to extinguish the candle, and approaching his lips
+to the ear of Christian he whispered: "Let us not budge from this spot.
+We may here remain unseen, should these people come this way."</p>
+
+<p>The two artisans held their breath and remained motionless in their
+hiding place, wondering with as much astonishment as anxiety who it
+might be that was resorting at so late an hour to so solitary a spot.</p>
+
+<p>The personages who penetrated into the quarry had also equipped
+themselves with lighting materials. One of them lighted a large wax
+candle, the reddish glare of which illuminated the features of the new
+arrivals, seven in<a name="page_vol-1-141" id="page_vol-1-141"></a> number. The one who came in last, cast around him
+soon as the torch was lighted, looks indicative of the retreat being
+familiar to him. He walked with difficulty, and he stooped low as he
+leaned upon a heavy staff much resembling a crutch. Yet he seemed to be
+a man in the maturity of life. Black, threadbare and shabby clothes
+outlined his tall and robust stature. A Spanish ruff of doubtful white
+set off his long and olive-hued visage that terminated in a pointed
+beard. His head was almost bare of hair. His dominating eyes, his
+imperious brow, the haughty carriage of his head&mdash;all imparted to his
+strongly marked physiognomy the impression of absolute inflexibility.
+That personage stepped forward. It was Ignatius Loyola.</p>
+
+<p>His six companions were James Lainez, a Spaniard; Alfonso Salmeron,
+Inigo of Bobadilla, and Rodriguez of Azevedo, Portuguese; Francis
+Xavier, a French nobleman; and lastly, Peter Lefevre, a native of the
+mountains of Savoy, the same who, for ten years, had been the intimate
+friend of Christian Lebrenn.</p>
+
+<p>Francis Xavier held the lighted wax candle. Lefevre carried on his
+shoulder a large bundle. Motionless and mute the six disciples of Loyola
+fixed their eyes upon their master, not in order to discover his
+thoughts&mdash;they were incapable of such audacity&mdash;but in order to
+forestall his will, whatever it might be.</p>
+
+<p>Looking around in silent contemplation of the interior of the grotto,
+Loyola broke the silence in a solemn voice: "I greet thee, secret
+retreat, where, as formerly in the cavern of Manres, I have often
+meditated, and matured<a name="page_vol-1-142" id="page_vol-1-142"></a> my purposes!" He then sat down upon a nearby
+stone, crossed his hands over his staff, leaned his chin upon his hands,
+let his eyes travel slowly over his disciples, who, impassive as statues
+stood beside him, and, after an instant of silent meditation resumed:
+"My children, I said to you this evening: 'Come!' You came, ignorant of
+whither I was leading you. Why did you follow me? Answer, Xavier. To
+hear one of my disciples is to hear them all&mdash;to hear one of them
+to-day, is to hear all those who are to follow them from age to age&mdash;all
+will be but the distant echoes of my thought."</p>
+
+<p>"Master, you said to us: 'Come!' We came. Command, and you shall be
+obeyed."</p>
+
+<p>"Without inquiring whither I led you; without even seeking to ascertain
+what I might demand of you? Answer, Lefevre."</p>
+
+<p>"Master, we followed you without reflecting&mdash;without inquiring."</p>
+
+<p>"Why without reflecting, without inquiring? Answer, Lainez."</p>
+
+<p>"The members of the body obey the will that directs them; they do not
+interrogate that will; they obey."</p>
+
+<p>"Xavier," resumed Loyola, "plant your candle in some interstice of that
+boulder. Lefevre, deposit your bundle at your feet. It contains your
+sacerdotal vestments and the articles necessary to celebrate the holy
+sacrifice of the mass."</p>
+
+<p>Francis Xavier planted the lighted candle firmly between two stones.
+Lefevre deposited his bundle on the ground. The other disciples remained
+standing, their eyes lowered.<a name="page_vol-1-143" id="page_vol-1-143"></a> Still keeping his seat, and with his chin
+resting on the handle of his staff, Loyola resumed:</p>
+
+<p>"Francis Xavier, when I first met you on the benches of the
+University&mdash;what was then your nature? What were your habits?"</p>
+
+<p>"Master, I was passionately given to the pleasures of life."</p>
+
+<p>"And you, Inigo of Bobadilla?"</p>
+
+<p>"Master, all obstacles upset me. I was weak and pusillanimous. My spirit
+lacked energy. My nature was cowardly and springless."</p>
+
+<p>"And you, John Lainez?"</p>
+
+<p>"Master, I had excessive confidence in myself. Extreme vanity&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And you, Rodriguez of Azevedo?"</p>
+
+<p>"Master, my heart ran over with tenderness. A touching act, an
+affectionate word, was enough to bring the tears to my eyes. I was kind
+to all, was ever eager to run to the help of our fellow men. I was of a
+confiding and accessible nature."</p>
+
+<p>"And you, Alfonso Salmeron?"</p>
+
+<p>"Master, pride dominated me. I was proud of my vigor of bone and of my
+intelligence. I deemed myself a superior man."</p>
+
+<p>"And you, John Lefevre?"</p>
+
+<p>"Master, my mountaineer tenacity never looked upon any obstruction but
+to overcome it. I brooked no contradiction."<a name="page_vol-1-144" id="page_vol-1-144"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Aye! Such were you. And what are you now? Answer, John Lefevre. To hear
+one of you is to hear all the rest."</p>
+
+<p>"Master, we are no longer ourselves. Your soul has absorbed ours. We are
+now the instruments of your will. We are the body, you the spirit. We
+are submissive slaves, you the inflexible master. We are the clubs, you
+the hand. Without your animating breath we are but corpses."</p>
+
+<p>"How did you arrive at this complete self-effacement? In what manner was
+the absorption of your personalities in mine effected?"</p>
+
+<p>"Master, the study of your <i>Spiritual Exercises</i> effected the miracle."</p>
+
+<p>Loyola seemed satisfied. With his chin resting upon his two hands
+crossed over the head of his heavy staff, he remained silent for a
+moment. Presently he resumed: "Yes, that you were; now you are this. And
+I myself, what was I, and what have I become? I shall tell you. I was a
+haughty Grandee of Viscaya, a handsome cavalier, a valiant captain, a
+daring seducer, and lucky swordsman. The hand of God suddenly smote me
+in war and rendered me a cripple. Great was my despair! To renounce
+women, dueling, horses, the battle, the command of my regiment, which I
+had broken in, drilled and fashioned by military discipline! Nailed to a
+couch of tortures, which I welcomed in the hope of removing my
+deformity, I was seized by Grace! I felt myself full of strength and of
+energy. I was possessed of an invincible craving for dominion. At that
+juncture the Holy Ghost said to me:<a name="page_vol-1-145" id="page_vol-1-145"></a> 'Devote thyself to the triumph of
+the Catholic Church. Thy dominion shall extend in the measure of thy
+faith.' I then asked myself what services could I render the Catholic
+Church. I looked around me. What did I see? The spirit of Liberty, that
+pestilential emanation of a fallen humanity, everywhere at war with
+Authority, that sacred emanation of Divinity. I promised to myself to
+curb the spirit of Liberty with the inflexible curb of Authority,
+identically as I had formerly subjugated indomitable horses. The goal
+being set, what were the means to reach it? I looked for them. I wished
+first to experiment upon myself, to determine upon myself the extent to
+which, sustained by faith in the idea a man pursues, he can shake off
+his former self. Rich by birth, I begged my bread; a haughty Grandee, I
+exposed myself to outrage; a skilful swordsman, I submitted to insult;
+sumptuous in my habits of dress, careful of my personal appearance, I
+have lived in rags and in the gutter. Ignorant of letters, I took my
+seat at the age of thirty among children on the benches of the Montaigu
+College, where any slight inattention was visited upon me with the whip.
+Some of my purposes, being detected by orthodox priests, earned for me
+their persecution and I was ostracised. I stood it all without a murmur.
+From that time, certain that I could demand from my disciples the
+sacrifices I imposed upon myself, I made you that which you are required
+to be. You have said it. You are the members, I the spirit; you are the
+instrument, I the will. The hour for action has come; our work calls us.
+What work is that?"<a name="page_vol-1-146" id="page_vol-1-146"></a></p>
+
+<p>"That work is the insurance of the reign of authority upon earth."</p>
+
+<p>"What authority?"</p>
+
+<p>"Master, there is but one. The authority of God, visibly incarnated in
+His vicar, the Pope, who is in Rome."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you understand by that the spiritual or the temporal authority?"</p>
+
+<p>"Master, he who has authority over the soul must have authority over the
+body also. He who dictates the Divine law must dictate the human law
+also."</p>
+
+<p>"What must the Pope be?"</p>
+
+<p>"Pontiff and Emperor of the Catholic world."</p>
+
+<p>"Who, under him, is to govern the nations?"</p>
+
+<p>"The clergy."</p>
+
+<p>"Must temporal authority, accordingly, also belong to the Roman Catholic
+and Apostolic Church?"</p>
+
+<p>"All authority flows from God. His ministers are by divine right the
+masters of the nations, and must be invested with full authority."</p>
+
+<p>"Is that, then, the work in hand?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, master."</p>
+
+<p>"Are there any obstacles to its accomplishment?"</p>
+
+<p>"Enormous ones."</p>
+
+<p>"What are they?"</p>
+
+<p>"First of all, the Kings."</p>
+
+<p>"Next?" queried Loyola impatiently. "Next?"</p>
+
+<p>"The indocility of the bourgeois classes."</p>
+
+<p>"Next?"<a name="page_vol-1-147" id="page_vol-1-147"></a></p>
+
+<p>"The new heresy known by the name of the Reformation."</p>
+
+<p>"Next?"</p>
+
+<p>"The printing press, that scourge that every day and everywhere spreads
+its ravages."</p>
+
+<p>"Next?"</p>
+
+<p>"The too publicly scandalous habits of the ecclesiastics."</p>
+
+<p>"And lastly?"</p>
+
+<p>"Often the ineptness, the feebleness, the insatiable cupidity and the
+excesses of the papacy."</p>
+
+<p>"These, then, are the obstacles to the absolute rule of the Catholic
+world by her Church?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, master."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it possible to overcome these obstacles?"</p>
+
+<p>"We can, master, provided your spirit speaks through our mouths, and
+your will dictates our actions."</p>
+
+<p>"All honor to the Lord&mdash;let's begin with the Kings. What are they with
+regard to the Popes?"</p>
+
+<p>"Their rivals."</p>
+
+<p>"What should they be?"</p>
+
+<p>"Their first subjects."</p>
+
+<p>"Would it not be preferable for the greater glory and security of the
+Catholic Church that royalty were abolished?"</p>
+
+<p>"That would be preferable."</p>
+
+<p>"How are Kings to be absolutely subordinated to the Popes? Or, rather,
+how is royalty to be destroyed?"</p>
+
+<p>"By causing all its subjects to rise against it."</p>
+
+<p>"By what process?"<a name="page_vol-1-148" id="page_vol-1-148"></a></p>
+
+<p>"By unchaining the passions of an ignorant populace; by exploiting the
+old commune spirit of the bourgeoisie; by fanning the hatred of the
+seigneurs, once the peers of Kings in feudal days; by setting the people
+against one another."</p>
+
+<p>"Is there a last resort for the riddance of Kings?"</p>
+
+<p>"The dagger, or poison."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you understand by that that a member of the Church may and has the
+right to stab a King; may and has the right to poison a King?"</p>
+
+<p>"Master, it is not the part of a monk to kill a King, whether openly or
+covertly. The King should first be paternally admonished, then
+excommunicated, then declared forfeit of royal authority. After that
+<i>his execution falls to others</i>."<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p>
+
+<p>"And who is it that declares Kings forfeit of royal authority, and thus
+places them under the ban of mankind, and outside the pale of human and
+divine law?"</p>
+
+<p>"Either the people's voice, or an assembly of priests and theologians,
+or the decision of men of sense."<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p>
+
+<p>"Suppose royal authority is overthrown by murder, or otherwise, will not
+the power thereby fall either into the hands of the nobility and the
+seigneurs, or into those of the bourgeoisie, or into the hands of the
+populace?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but only for a short interval. If the power falls into the hands
+of the populace, the seigneurs, that is, the nobility and the
+bourgeoisie, are to be turned against the<a name="page_vol-1-149" id="page_vol-1-149"></a> populace. If the power should
+fall into the hands of the bourgeoisie, then the populace and the
+nobility are to be turned against the bourgeoisie; finally, in case the
+power falls into the hands of the nobility, the bourgeoisie and the
+populace are to be turned against the nobility."</p>
+
+<p>"Civil war being over, what will be the state of things?"</p>
+
+<p>"All powers being annihilated, the one destroyed by the other, only the
+Catholic Church will remain standing, imperishable."</p>
+
+<p>"You spoke of operating upon the populace, upon the bourgeoisie, upon
+the nobility, to the end of using these several classes for the
+overthrow of royal power, and subsequently of letting them loose against
+one another. What lever will you operate upon them?"</p>
+
+<p>"The direction of their conscience, especially that of their wives,
+through the confessional."</p>
+
+<p>"In what manner do you expect to be able to direct their conscience?"</p>
+
+<p>"By establishing maxims so sweet, so flexible, so comfortable, so
+complaisant to men's passions, vices and sins that the larger number of
+men and women will choose us for their confessors, and will thereby hand
+over to us the direction of their souls.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> To direct the souls of the
+living is to secure the empire of the world."<a name="page_vol-1-150" id="page_vol-1-150"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Let us consider the application of this doctrine," said Loyola.
+"Suppose I am a monk, you, I suppose," he added addressing his disciples
+successively, "are my confessor. I say to you: 'Father, it is forbidden,
+under penalty of excommunication, to doff, even for an instant, the garb
+of our Order. I accuse myself of having put on lay vestments.'"</p>
+
+<p>"'My son,' I would answer," responded one of the disciples of Ignatius,
+"'let us distinguish. If you doffed your religious garb in order not to
+soil it with some disgraceful act, such as going on a pickpocket
+expedition, or patronizing a gambling house, or indulging in debauchery,
+you obeyed a sentiment of shame, and you do not then deserve
+excommunication.'"<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p>
+
+<p>"Now," resumed Loyola, "I am a trustee, under obligation to pay a life
+annuity to someone or other, and I desire his death that I may be free
+of the obligation; or, say, I am the heir of a rich father, and am
+anxious to see his last day&mdash;I accuse myself of harboring these
+sentiments."</p>
+
+<p>"'My son,' I would answer, 'a trustee may, without sin, desire the death
+of those who receive a pension from his trust, for the reason that what
+he really desires is, not the death of his beneficiary, but the
+cancellation of the debt. My son,' I would answer the penitent, 'you
+would be committing an abominable sin were you, out of pure wickedness,
+to desire the death of your father; but you commit<a name="page_vol-1-151" id="page_vol-1-151"></a> no manner of sin if
+you harbor the wish, not with parricidal intent, but solely out of
+impatience to enjoy his inheritance.'"<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p>
+
+<p>"I am a valet, and have come to accuse myself of acting as go-between in
+the amours of my master, and, besides, of having robbed him."</p>
+
+<p>"'My son,' I would answer, 'to carry letters or presents to the
+concubine of your master, even to assist him in scaling her window by
+holding the ladder, are permissible and indifferent matters, because, in
+your quality of servant, it is not your will that you obey, but the will
+of another.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> As to the thefts that you have committed, it is clear
+that if, driven by necessity, you have been forced to accept wages that
+are too small, you are justified in recouping your legitimate salary in
+some other way.'"<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p>
+
+<p>"I am a swordsman. I accuse myself before the penitential tribunal of
+having fought a duel."</p>
+
+<p>"'My son,' I would answer, 'if in fighting you yielded, not to a
+homicidal impulse, but to the legitimate call to avenge your honor, you
+have committed no sin.'"<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p>
+
+<p><a name="page_vol-1-152" id="page_vol-1-152"></a>"I am a coward. I rid myself of my enemy by murdering him from ambush.
+I come to make the admission to you, my confessor, and to ask
+absolution."</p>
+
+<p>"'My son,' I would answer, 'if you committed the murder, not for the
+sake of the murder itself, but in order to escape the dangers which your
+enemy might have thrown you into, in that case you have not sinned at
+all. In such cases it is legitimate to kill one's enemy in the absence
+of witnesses.'"<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p>
+
+<p>"I am a judge. I accuse myself of having rendered a decision in favor of
+one of the litigants, in consideration of a present made to me by him."</p>
+
+<p>"'Where is the wrong in that, my son?' I would ask. 'In consideration of
+a present you rendered a decision favorable to the giver of the gift.
+Could you not, by virtue of your own will, have favored whom you
+pleased? You stand in no need of absolution.'"<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p>
+
+<p>"I am a usurer. I accuse myself of having frequently derived large
+profits from my money. Have I sinned according to the law of the
+Church?"</p>
+
+<p>"'My son,' I would answer, 'this is the way you should in future conduct
+yourself in such affairs: Someone asks a loan of you. You will answer:
+"I have no money to loan, but I have some ready to be honestly invested.
+If you will guarantee to reimburse me my capital, and, besides that, to
+pay me a certain profit, I shall entrust the<a name="page_vol-1-153" id="page_vol-1-153"></a> sum in your hands so that
+you may turn it to use. But I shall not loan it to you."<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> For the
+rest, my son, you have not sinned, if, however large the interest you
+may have received from your money, the same was looked upon by you
+simply as a token of gratitude, and not a condition for the loan.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> Go
+in peace, my son.'"</p>
+
+<p>"I am a bankrupt. I accuse myself of having concealed a considerable sum
+from the knowledge of my creditors."</p>
+
+<p>"'My son,' I would answer, 'the sin is grave if you retained the sum out
+of base cupidity. But if your purpose was merely to insure to yourself
+and your family a comfortable existence, even some little luxury, you
+are absolved.'"<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p>
+
+<p>"I am a woman. I accuse myself of having committed adultery, and of
+having in that way obtained considerable wealth from my paramour. May I
+enjoy that wealth with an easy conscience?"</p>
+
+<p>"'My daughter,' I would answer, 'the wealth acquired through gallantry
+and adultery has, it is true, an illegitimate source. Nevertheless, its
+possession may be considered legitimate, seeing that no human or divine
+law pronounces against such possession.'"<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a><a name="page_vol-1-154" id="page_vol-1-154"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I have stolen a large sum. I accuse myself of the theft, and ask for
+your absolution."</p>
+
+<p>"'My son,' I would answer, 'it is a crime to steal, unless one is driven
+thereto by extreme necessity; and even less so if grave reasons prompt
+the act.'"<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p>
+
+<p>"I am rich, but I give alms sparingly, if at all. I accuse myself."</p>
+
+<p>"'My son,' I would answer, 'charity towards our fellows is a Christian
+duty. Nevertheless, if superfluity is needed by you, you commit no sin
+by not depriving yourself of those things which, in your eyes, are
+necessaries.<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> I absolve you.'"</p>
+
+<p>"I coveted a certain inheritance. I accuse myself of having poisoned the
+man from whom I was to inherit. May I retain the property?"</p>
+
+<p>"'My son,' I would answer, 'the possession of property, acquired by
+unworthy means, and even through manslaughter, is legitimate, so far as
+possession is concerned. You may retain the property.'"<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p>
+
+<p>"I am summoned to take an oath. My conscience forbids, my interest
+orders me to commit perjury. You are my confessor. I wish to consult you
+on the matter."</p>
+
+<p>"'You can, my son, reconcile your interest and your conscience. This
+way&mdash;I suppose you will be asked: "Do<a name="page_vol-1-155" id="page_vol-1-155"></a> you swear you did not commit such
+and such an act?" You will answer aloud: "I swear before God and man
+that I have not committed that act," and then you add mentally: "<i>On
+such and such a day</i>." Or, you are asked: "Do you swear you will never
+do such or such a thing?" You will answer: "I swear," and mentally you
+add: "<i>Unless I change my mind; in which case I shall do the
+thing</i>."'"<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p>
+
+<p>"I am an unmarried woman. I have yielded to a seducer. I fear the anger
+and reproaches of my family."</p>
+
+<p>"'My daughter,' I would answer, 'take courage. A woman of your age is
+free to dispose of her body and herself. Have all the lovers you please.
+I absolve you.'"<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p>
+
+<p>"I am a woman, passionately addicted to gambling. I accuse myself of
+having purloined some moneys from my husband, in order to repay my
+losses at the gaming table."</p>
+
+<p>"'My daughter,' I would answer, 'seeing that, between man and wife,
+everything is, or ought to be, in common, you have not sinned by drawing
+from the common purse.<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> You may continue to do so. I absolve you.'"</p>
+
+<p>"I am a woman. I love ornaments. I accuse myself."</p>
+
+<p>"'My daughter,' I would answer, 'if you ornament yourself without impure
+intentions, and only in order to satisfy your natural taste for
+ornamentation, you do not sin.'"<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a><a name="page_vol-1-156" id="page_vol-1-156"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I accuse myself of having seduced the wife of my best friend."</p>
+
+<p>"'My son,' I would answer, 'let us distinguish: If you treacherously
+seduced the woman just because she was the wife of your best friend,
+then you have sinned. But if you seduced her, as you might have done any
+other woman, you have not outraged friendship.<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> It is a natural thing
+to desire the possession of a handsome woman. You have not sinned. There
+is no occasion for absolution.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Well done!" exclaimed Loyola. "But I notice you grant absolution for
+all that human morality and the Fathers of the Church condemn."</p>
+
+<p>"Master, you said: 'Absolved penitents will never complain.'"</p>
+
+<p>"What is the object of the complaisance of your doctrines in all
+circumstances?"</p>
+
+<p>"At this season an incurable corruption reigns among mankind. Rigor
+would estrange them from us. Our tolerance for their vices is calculated
+to deliver the penitents to us, body and soul. By leaving to us the
+direction of their souls, this corrupt generation will later relinquish
+to us the absolute education of their children. We will then raise those
+generations as may be suitable, by taking them in charge from the cradle
+to the grave; by molding them; by petrifying them in such manner that,
+their appetites being satisfied, and their minds for all time delivered
+from the temptation of those three infernal rebels&mdash;Reason, Dignity and
+Freedom&mdash;those generations will bless their<a name="page_vol-1-157" id="page_vol-1-157"></a> sweet servitude, and will
+be to us, master, what we are to you&mdash;servile slaves, body and soul,
+mere corpses!"</p>
+
+<p>"Among the obstacles that our work will, or may encounter, you mentioned
+the papacy."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, master, because the elections of the sacred college may call to
+the pontifical throne Popes that are weak, stupid or vicious."</p>
+
+<p>"What is the remedy at such a juncture?"</p>
+
+<p>"To organize, outside of the papacy, of the college of cardinals, of the
+episcopacy, of the regular clergy and of the religious Orders, a society
+to whose members it shall be strictly forbidden ever to be elected Pope,
+or to accept any Catholic office, however high or however low the office
+may be. Thus this society will ever preserve its independence of action
+for or against the Church, free to oppose or uphold its Chief."</p>
+
+<p>"What shall be the organization of that redoubtable society?"</p>
+
+<p>"A General, elected by its own members, shall have sovereign direction
+over it."</p>
+
+<p>"What pledge are its members to take towards him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Dumb, blind and servile obedience."</p>
+
+<p>"What are they to be in his hands?"</p>
+
+<p>"That which we are in yours, O, master! Instruments as docile as the
+cane in the hand of the man who leans upon it."</p>
+
+<p>"What will be the theater of the society's work?"</p>
+
+<p>"The whole world."</p>
+
+<p>"Into what parts will it divide the universe?"<a name="page_vol-1-158" id="page_vol-1-158"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Into provinces&mdash;the province of France, the province of Spain, the
+province of Germany, the province of England, the province of India, the
+province of Asia, and others. Each will be under the government of a
+'provincial,' appointed by the General of the society."</p>
+
+<p>"The society being organized, what name is it to assume?"</p>
+
+<p>"The name of the <span class="smcap">Society of Jesus</span>."</p>
+
+<p>"In what manner is the Society of Jesus to become a counterpoise to the
+papacy, and, if need be, dominate the papacy itself, should the latter
+swerve from the route it should pursue in order to insure the absolute
+government of the nations of the world to the Catholic Church?"</p>
+
+<p>"Independent of the established Church, from whom it neither expects nor
+demands aught&mdash;neither the purple, nor the cross, nor benefices&mdash;the
+Society of Jesus, thanks to its accommodating and tolerant doctrines,
+will speedily conquer the empire of the human conscience. It will be the
+confessor of Kings and lackeys, of the mendicant monk and the cardinal,
+of the courtesan and the princess, the female bourgeois and her cook, of
+the concubine and the empress. The concert of this immense clientage,
+acting as one man under the breath of the Society of Jesus, and inspired
+by its General, will insure to him such a power that, at a given moment,
+he will be able to dictate his orders to the papacy, threatening to
+unchain against it all the consciences and arms over which he disposes.
+The General will be more powerful than the Pope himself."<a name="page_vol-1-159" id="page_vol-1-159"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Besides its action upon the conscience, will the Society of Jesus
+dispose over any other and secondary levers?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, master, and very effective ones. Whosoever, whether lay or
+clerical, poor or rich, woman or man, great or small, will blindly
+surrender his soul to the direction of the Society of Jesus, will always
+and everywhere, and against whomsoever, be sustained, protected,
+favored, defended and held scathless by the Society and its adherents.
+The penitent of a Jesuit will see the horizon of his most ardent hopes
+open before him; the path to honors and wealth will be smoothed before
+his feet; a tutelary mantle will cover his defects, his errors and his
+crimes; his enemies will be the Society's enemies; it will pursue them,
+track them, overtake them and smite them, whoever and wherever they may
+be, and with all available means. Thus the penitent of a Jesuit may
+aspire to anything. To incur his resentment will be a dread ordeal."</p>
+
+<p>"Accordingly, you have faith in the accomplishment of our work?"</p>
+
+<p>"An absolute faith."</p>
+
+<p>"From whom do you derive that faith?"</p>
+
+<p>"From you, master; from you, Ignatius Loyola, whose breath inspires us;
+from you, our master, him through whom we live."</p>
+
+<p>"The work is immense&mdash;to dominate the world! And yet there are only
+seven of us."</p>
+
+<p>"Master, when you command, we are legion."<a name="page_vol-1-160" id="page_vol-1-160"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Seven&mdash;only seven, my sons&mdash;without other power than our faith in our
+work."</p>
+
+<p>"Master, faith removes mountains. Command."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my brave disciples!" exclaimed Ignatius Loyola rising and
+supporting himself with his staff. "What joy it is to me to have thus
+imbued you with my substance, and nourished you with the marrow of my
+doctrine! Be up! Be up! The moment for action has come. That is the
+reason I have caused you to gather this evening here at Montmartre,
+where I have so often come to meditate in this hollow, this second to
+that cavern of Manres, where, in Spain, after long years of
+concentration, I at last perceived the full depth, the immensity of my
+work. Yes, in order to weld you together in this work, I have broken,
+bent and absorbed your personalities. I have turned you into instruments
+of my will as docile as the cane in the hand of the man who leans upon
+it. Yes, I have captured your souls. Yes, you are now only corpses in my
+hands. Oh, my dear corpses! my canes! my serfs! my slaves! glorify your
+servitude. It delivers to you the empire of the world! You will be the
+masters of all the men! You will be supreme rulers of all the women!"</p>
+
+<p>Loyola's disciples listened to him in devout silence. For a moment he
+remained steeped in the contemplation of his portentous ambition,
+meditating universal domination. Presently he proceeded:</p>
+
+<p>"We must prepare ourselves by means of the holy sacrifice of the mass
+for the last act of this great day. We must receive the body of Jesus,
+we who constitute his in<a name="page_vol-1-161" id="page_vol-1-161"></a>trepid militia! We the Jesuits!" And addressing
+himself to Lefevre: "You have brought with you the necessaries for the
+celebration of mass. Yonder rock"&mdash;pointing to the boulder behind which
+Christian and Justin were concealed&mdash;"yonder rock will serve us for
+altar. Come, to work, my well-beloved disciple."</p>
+
+<p>Lefevre opened the bundle which he had taken charge of. He drew from it
+a surplice, a chasuble, a Bible, a stole, a chalice, a little box of
+consecrated wafers, and two small flasks with wine and water. He clothed
+himself in sacerdotal garb, while one of the disciples took the wax
+candle, knelt down and lighted the improvised altar upon which the other
+Jesuits were engaged in disposing the rest of the requisites for the
+celebration of the divine sacrifice. It was done before Loyola and his
+disciples. The voice of Lefevre, as he droned the liturgy, alone
+disturbed the silence of the solitude upon which the wax candle cast a
+flickering ruddy glow. The time for communion having come, the seven
+founders of the Society of Jesus received the Eucharist with unction.
+The service over, Loyola rose again to his feet, and with an inspired
+mien said to his disciples:</p>
+
+<p>"And now, come, come."</p>
+
+<p>He walked away, limping and followed by his acolytes, leaving behind
+them the religious implements on the block of stone.</p>
+
+<p>Soon as the Jesuits moved away, Christian and Justin cautiously emerged
+from their hiding place, astounded at the secret they had just had
+revealed to them. Christian<a name="page_vol-1-162" id="page_vol-1-162"></a> could still hardly believe that Lefevre,
+one of his oldest friends, and whose sentiments inclined him to the
+Reformation, had become a priest, and was one of the most ardent
+sectarians of Loyola.</p>
+
+<p>"They are gone," Justin whispered to his companion; "I have not a drop
+of blood left in my veins. Let's flee!"</p>
+
+<p>"What imprudence! We might run against those fanatics. I doubt not they
+will come back. Let us wait till they have departed."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no! I will not stay here another minute. I am overcome with fear."</p>
+
+<p>"Then let us try to escape by the other issue, which, as you were
+telling me, runs behind this rock. Come, be brave!"</p>
+
+<p>"I am not sure whether that passage is not now obstructed. It would be
+dangerous to enter it without a light. A light would betray us. Let's
+return upon our steps."</p>
+
+<p>More and more frightened, Justin walked rapidly towards the entrance of
+the quarry. Christian followed, unwilling to leave him alone. The moment
+they were about to emerge from the subterranean cavern, their ears were
+struck by the sound of human voices coming from above. The moon was now
+high in the sky, and lighted the only path that led to the abbey.</p>
+
+<p>"We can not leave this place without being seen," observed Justin in a
+low and anxious voice. "Those men have gathered upon the platform above
+the entrance of the cave."<a name="page_vol-1-163" id="page_vol-1-163"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Listen," said Christian, yielding to an irresistible impulse of
+curiosity; "listen, they are talking."</p>
+
+<p>The artisans remained motionless and mute. For a moment a solemn silence
+reigned. Presently the voice of Ignatius Loyola reached them as if it
+descended from heaven.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you swear?" came from the founder of the Society of Jesus. "Do you
+swear in the name of the living God?"</p>
+
+<p>"In the name of God," responded the Jesuits. "We swear! We shall obey
+our master!"</p>
+
+<p>"My sons," Loyola's voice resumed solemnly, "from this place you can see
+the four cardinal points of that world whose empire I parcel out among
+you, valiant soldiers of the Society of Jesus. Down yonder, towards the
+north, lie the land of the Muscovite, Germany, England. To you, Germany,
+England and the land of the Muscovite&mdash;John Lainez."</p>
+
+<p>"Master, your will be done!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yonder, to the east, Turkey, Asia, the Holy Land. To you, Turkey, Asia
+and the Holy Land&mdash;Rodriguez of Acevedo."</p>
+
+<p>"Master, your will be done!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yonder, towards the west, the new America and the Indies. To you, the
+new America and the Indies&mdash;Alfonso Salmeron."</p>
+
+<p>"Master, your will be done!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yonder, to the south, Africa, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the islands of
+Corsica and Sardinia, and the Balearic Isles. To you, Africa, Italy,
+Spain, Portugal, the islands of Cor<a name="page_vol-1-164" id="page_vol-1-164"></a>sica and Sardinia and the Balearic
+Isles&mdash;Inigo of Bobadilla. Behold your empire."</p>
+
+<p>"Master, your will be done!"</p>
+
+<p>"Finally, here at our feet, Paris, the capital of France, a world in
+itself. To you, Paris, to you, France&mdash;John Lefevre."</p>
+
+<p>"Master, your will be done!"</p>
+
+<p>"Beginning with to-morrow, gird up your loins. Depart, staff in hand,
+alone, unknown. To work, soldiers of Jesus! To work, Jesuits! The
+kingdom of earth is ours! To-morrow I depart for Rome, to offer or force
+upon the Pope our invincible support."</p>
+
+<p>Loyola's voice died away. Hearing the sectarians descending from the
+platform, Christian and Justin hurried back to their hiding place,
+behind the huge rock upon which were the implements that Lefevre had
+used in the celebration of the mass. The latter soon came back, followed
+by his companions. He doffed his sacerdotal vestments, and approached
+the improvised altar to gather the sacred vessels. So busied, his hand
+struck against the chalice, which rolled down and fell behind the rock
+at the place where the two artisans were crowding themselves from sight.
+John Lefevre walked back of the rock after the chalice which had fallen
+close to Christian's feet. The latter saw the Jesuit approach; stoop
+down and pick up the vase, without seeming, in the demi-gloom, to notice
+his old friend, whom his hand almost touched, and rejoin the other
+disciples.</p>
+
+<p>"Lefevre has seen us!" thought Christian to himself.<a name="page_vol-1-165" id="page_vol-1-165"></a> "It is impossible
+he should not have noticed us. And yet, not a word, not a gesture
+betrayed upon his countenance the astonishment and uneasiness into which
+he must have been plunged by our presence at this place, and the
+knowledge that we are in possession of the secret of his society."</p>
+
+<p>While Christian was absorbed by these thoughts, Lefevre, ever
+imperturbable, returned to his bag the objects which he used in
+celebrating the mass, walked out of the cavern with his companions, and
+whispered a few words into the ear of Loyola. A slight tremor ran
+through the frame of the latter, who, however, immediately recovered his
+composure, and whispered back his answer to Lefevre. The latter lowered
+his head in token of acquiescence. Thereupon the founder of the Society
+of Jesus and his disciples disappeared in the windings of the road and
+reached Paris.</p>
+
+<p>Such was the origin of that infernal society.<a name="page_vol-1-166" id="page_vol-1-166"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_vol-1-XI" id="CHAPTER_vol-1-XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.<br />
+<br />MOTHER AND DAUGHTER.</h3>
+
+<p>As soon as Christian returned home, late towards midnight, he hastened
+to communicate to his guest the occurrences at Montmartre. Monsieur John
+concluded it was urgent to assemble the chiefs of the Reformation in the
+abandoned quarry, where there was no danger of apprehending the return
+of the Jesuits, seeing that Ignatius Loyola was to depart immediately
+for Rome, while his disciples were to scatter to the distant countries
+parceled out to them. Finally, if, as Christian persisted with good
+reason in believing, Lefevre had noticed the presence of the two
+artisans at the Jesuit conventicle, it would be an additional reason to
+keep them from returning to the spot. Accordingly, Monsieur John decided
+to convoke the chiefs of the Reformation in Paris for six o'clock in the
+afternoon of the following day at Montmartre. To this effect he prepared
+a letter giving the directions to the trysting place. Justin was to
+proceed in time to make certain that the second issue was practicable.
+Furthermore, it was agreed between Bridget and her husband that she
+would absent herself together with her daughter before sunset, in order
+to allow the stranger to leave the house unnoticed<a name="page_vol-1-167" id="page_vol-1-167"></a> by Hena. On his
+part, Christian was to pretend an invitation to supper with a friend, in
+order to engage his son's company in a walk, and was to dismiss him when
+he thought that Monsieur John had departed. The program was carried out
+as agreed. When Bridget and Hena returned home after a short walk along
+the banks of the Seine, the proscribed man had quitted his hospitable
+refuge, and betaken him to the Montmartre Gate, where Christian was to
+await him, and conduct him to the place of meeting.</p>
+
+<p>The artisan's wife and daughter busied themselves at their trade of
+embroidery. They worked in silence by the light of a lamp&mdash;Bridget
+musing over Hervé's repentance, while Hena, lost in revery, frequently
+allowed her needle to drop inactive on her lap. The young girl was
+absorbed in her own thoughts, a stranger to what went on around her. The
+hour of nine struck from the distant clock in the tower of St.
+James-of-the-Slaughter-House.</p>
+
+<p>"Nine o'clock," observed Bridget to herself. "My son can not be long in
+coming back. With what joy shall I not embrace him this evening! What a
+heavy load did not his repentance roll off my heart! The dear child!"</p>
+
+<p>And addressing Hena without removing her eyes from her needlework:</p>
+
+<p>"God be blessed! Dear child, you will no longer have cause to complain
+of Hervé's indifference. No, no! And when my little Odelin comes back
+from Italy we shall then all live together again, happy as of old. I am
+awaiting<a name="page_vol-1-168" id="page_vol-1-168"></a> with impatience the return of Master Raimbaud, the armorer,
+who will bring us back our gentle Odelin."</p>
+
+<p>Not receiving any answer from her daughter, Bridget looked up and said
+to her:</p>
+
+<p>"I have been speaking to you some time, dear daughter. You do not seem
+to hear me. Why are you so absentminded?"</p>
+
+<p>Hena remained silent for an instant, then she smiled and answered
+naïvely:</p>
+
+<p>"Singular as it may be, why should I not tell you, mother? It would be
+the first time in my life that I kept a secret from you."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my child, what is the reason of your absent-mindedness?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is&mdash;well, it is Brother St. Ernest-Martyr, mother."</p>
+
+<p>Dropping her embroidery, Bridget contemplated her daughter with extreme
+astonishment. Hena, however, proceeded with a candid smile:</p>
+
+<p>"Does that astonish you, mother? I am, myself, a good deal more
+astonished."</p>
+
+<p>Hena uttered these words with such ingenuousness, her handsome face,
+clear as her soul, turned to her mother with such trustfulness, that
+Bridget, at once uneasy and confident&mdash;uneasy, by reason of the
+revelation; confident, by reason of Hena's innocent assurance&mdash;said to
+her after a short pause:</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, dear daughter, I am astonished at what I learn from you. You
+saw, it seems to me, Brother St. Ernest-Martyr only two or three times
+at our friend Mary La Catelle'<a name="page_vol-1-169" id="page_vol-1-169"></a>s, before that unhappy affair of the
+other evening on the bridge."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, mother. And that is just the extraordinary thing about it. Since
+day before yesterday I constantly think of Brother St. Ernest-Martyr.
+And that is not all. Last night I dreamt of him!"</p>
+
+<p>"Dreamt of him!" exclaimed Bridget.</p>
+
+<p>So far from evading her mother's gaze, Hena's only answer was two
+affirmative nods of the head, which she gave, opening wide her beautiful
+blue eyes, in which the childlike and charming astonishment, that her
+own sentiments caused her, was depicted.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, mother; I dreamt of him. I saw him picking up at the door of a
+church a poor child that shook with cold. I saw him pick up the child,
+hold it in his arms, warm it with his breath, and contemplate it with so
+pitying and tender an air, that the tears forced themselves to my eyes.
+I was so moved that I woke up with a start&mdash;and I really wept!"</p>
+
+<p>"That dream is singular, my daughter!"</p>
+
+<p>"Singular? No! The dream is explainable enough. Day before yesterday
+Hervé was telling me of the charitable nature of Brother St.
+Ernest-Martyr. That same evening we saw the poor monk carried into our
+house with his face bleeding. That I should have been deeply impressed,
+and should have dreamt of him, I understand. But what I do not
+understand is that when I am awake, wide awake, I should still think of
+him. Look, even now, when I shut my eyes"&mdash;and, smiling, Hena suited the
+ac<a name="page_vol-1-170" id="page_vol-1-170"></a>tion to the words&mdash;"I still see him as if he stood there, with that
+kind face of his that he turns upon the little children."</p>
+
+<p>"But, my dear daughter, when you think of Brother St. Ernest-Martyr,
+what is the nature of your thoughts?"</p>
+
+<p>Hena pondered for an instant, and then answered:</p>
+
+<p>"I would not know how to explain it to you, mother. When I think of him
+I say to myself: 'How good, how generous, how brave is Brother St.
+Ernest-Martyr! Day before yesterday he braved the sword to defend Mary
+La Catelle; another day, on the Notre Dame Bridge, he leaped into the
+water to save an unhappy man who was drowning; he picks up little
+deserted children, or gives them instruction with so much interest and
+affection that their own father could not display more solicitude in
+them.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Thinking over it, dear child, there is nothing in all that but what is
+perfectly natural. The brother is an upright man. Your thoughts turn
+upon his good deeds. That's quite simple."</p>
+
+<p>"No, mother, it is not quite so simple as you put it! Are not you all
+that is best in this world? Is not my father as upright a man as Brother
+St. Ernest-Martyr? Are not you two my beloved and venerated parents? And
+yet&mdash;that is what puzzles me, how comes it that I oftener think of him
+than of either of you?"</p>
+
+<p>And after a pause the young maid added in an accent of adorable candor:</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you, mother, it is truly extraordinary!"<a name="page_vol-1-171" id="page_vol-1-171"></a></p>
+
+<p>Several impatient raps, given at the street door interrupted the
+conversation. Bridget said to her daughter:</p>
+
+<p>"Open the window, and see who it is that knocks. Probably it is your
+brother."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, mother; it is he; it is Hervé," said Hena, opening the window.</p>
+
+<p>She descended to the floor below.</p>
+
+<p>"My God!" thought Bridget to herself in no slight agitation. "How am I
+to interpret the confidence of Hena? Her soul is incapable of
+dissimulation. She has told me the whole truth, without being aware of
+the sentiments the young monk awakens in her. I can hardly wait to
+inform Christian of this strange discovery!"</p>
+
+<p>The sound of Hervé's steps hurriedly ascending the stairs drew Bridget
+from her brown study. She saw her son rush in, followed by his sister.
+As he stepped into the room he cried with a troubled countenance:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, mother! mother!" and embracing her tenderly he added: "Oh, mother!
+What sad news I bring you!"</p>
+
+<p>"Dear child, what is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Our poor Mary La Catelle&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"What has happened to her?"</p>
+
+<p>"This evening, as I was about to leave the printing shop, father asked
+me to accompany him part of the way. He was going to a friend's, with
+whom he was to take supper this evening. Father said: 'La Catelle's
+house is on our way, we shall drop in and inquire whether she is still
+suffering from her painful experience of the other evening'&mdash;"<a name="page_vol-1-172" id="page_vol-1-172"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Yesterday morning," Bridget broke in, "after I took her home with your
+sister, we left Mary calm and at ease. She is a brave woman."</p>
+
+<p>"Notwithstanding her firm nature and her self-control, she succumbed to
+the reaction of that night's excitement. Last night she was seized with
+a high fever. She was bled twice to-day. A minute ago we found her in a
+desperate state. A fatal end is apprehended."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Mary!" exclaimed Hena, clasping her hands in despair, and her eyes
+filling with tears. "What a misfortune! This news overwhelms me with
+sorrow!"</p>
+
+<p>"Unhappily her sister-in-law left yesterday for Meaux with her husband,"
+remarked Hervé. "La Catelle, at death's door, is left at this moment to
+the care of a servant."</p>
+
+<p>"Hena, quick, my cloak!" said Bridget rising precipitately from her
+seat. "I can not leave that worthy friend to the care of mercenary
+hands. I shall run to her help."</p>
+
+<p>"Good, dear mother, you but forestall father's wishes," observed Hervé,
+as his sister hurried to take Bridget's cloak out of a trunk. "Father
+told me to hurry and notify you of this misfortune. He said he knew how
+attached you were to our friend, and that you would wish to spend the
+night at her bed, and render her the care she stands in need of."</p>
+
+<p>Wrapping herself in her cloak, Bridget was about to leave the house.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother," said Hena, "will you not take me with you?"<a name="page_vol-1-173" id="page_vol-1-173"></a></p>
+
+<p>"How can you think of such a thing, child, at this hour of night!"</p>
+
+<p>"Sister, it is for me to escort mother," put in Hervé; and, with a
+tender voice, accompanied with the offer of his forehead for Bridget to
+kiss, the hypocrite added:</p>
+
+<p>"Is it not the sweetest of my duties to watch over you, good mother?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," said Bridget, moved, and kissing her son's forehead, "I recognize
+you again, my son!" With this passing allusion to the painful incidents
+of the last few days, which she had already forgiven, the unsuspecting
+mother proceeded: "A woman of my age runs no risk on the street, my son;
+besides, I do not wish your sister to remain alone in the house."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not afraid, mother," Hena responded. "I shall bolt the door from
+within. I shall feel easier that way than to have you go out without
+company at this hour of night. Why, mother, remember what happened to La
+Catelle night before last! Let Hervé go with you."</p>
+
+<p>"Mother," put in Hervé, "you hear what my dear sister says."</p>
+
+<p>"Children, we are losing precious time. Let us not forget that, at this
+hour, our friend may be expiring in the hands of a stranger. Good-bye!"</p>
+
+<p>"How unlucky that just to-day our uncle should have gone to St. Denis!"
+put in Hervé with a sigh. But seeming to be struck with an idea he
+added: "Mother, why could not both Hena and I accompany you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, darling brother, you deserve an embrace, twenty<a name="page_vol-1-174" id="page_vol-1-174"></a> embraces, for that
+bright thought," said the young girl, throwing her arms around Hervé's
+neck. "It is agreed, mother, we shall all three go together."</p>
+
+<p>"Impossible. The house can not be left alone, children. Who will open
+the door to your father when he comes home? Besides, did not Master
+Simon send us yesterday a little bag of pearls to embroider on the
+velvet gown for the Duchess of Etampes? The pearls are of considerable
+value. I would feel very uneasy if these valuable articles remained
+without anybody to watch them. Knowing you are here, Hervé, I shall feel
+easy on that score," remarked Bridget with a look of affectionate
+confidence that seemed to say to her son: "Yesterday you committed
+larceny; but you are now again an honorable boy; to-day I can entrust
+you with the guardianship of my treasure."</p>
+
+<p>Hervé divined his mother's thoughts. He raised her hand to his lips and
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"Your trust in me shall be justified."</p>
+
+<p>"Still, this very evening, shortly before nightfall, we left the house
+all alone for a walk along the river," objected Hena. "Why should we run
+any greater risk now, if we go out all three of us?"</p>
+
+<p>"Dear daughter, it was then still light; the shops of our neighbors were
+still open; burglars would not have dared to make a descent upon us at
+such a time. At this hour, on the contrary, all the shops being closed,
+and the streets almost deserted, thieves are in season."</p>
+
+<p>"And it is just at such an hour that you are going to expose yourself,
+mother."<a name="page_vol-1-175" id="page_vol-1-175"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I have nothing about me to tempt the cupidity of thieves. Good-bye!
+Good-bye, my children!" Bridget said hastily, and embracing Hena and her
+brother: "To-morrow morning, my dear girl, your father will take you to
+La Catelle's, where you will find me. We shall return home together.
+Hervé, light me downstairs."</p>
+
+<p>Preceded by her son, who carried the lamp, Bridget quickly descended the
+stairs and left the house.<a name="page_vol-1-176" id="page_vol-1-176"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_vol-1-XII" id="CHAPTER_vol-1-XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.<br />
+<br />HERVE'S DEMENTIA.</h3>
+
+<p>No sooner had Hervé closed the street door upon his mother than he
+slowly re-ascended the stairs to the upper chamber, saying to himself:</p>
+
+<p>"It will take my mother an hour to reach La Catelle's house; at least as
+long to return; father will not be home until midnight; I have two full
+hours to myself. They shall be turned to profit."</p>
+
+<p>Pressing with a convulsive hand against his heart the scapulary
+containing Tezel's letter of absolution, Hervé entered the room in which
+Hena was left alone.</p>
+
+<p>From the threshold Hervé saw his sister on her knees. Astonished at her
+posture, he stepped towards her and asked:</p>
+
+<p>"Hena, what are you doing?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was praying to God that He may guard mother, and restore our friend
+to health," answered the young girl, rising; and she proceeded with a
+sigh: "My heart feels heavy. May no misfortune threaten us."</p>
+
+<p>Saying this, the confiding girl sat down to her embroidery. Her brother
+took a seat beside her on a stool. After a few seconds he broke the
+silence:<a name="page_vol-1-177" id="page_vol-1-177"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Hena, do you remember that about three months ago I suddenly changed
+towards you?"</p>
+
+<p>Not a little surprised at these opening words, the young girl answered:</p>
+
+<p>"Why recall those evil days, brother? Thank heaven, they are over; they
+will not return."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you remember," Hervé proceeded without noticing his sister's words,
+"do you remember that, so far from returning, I repelled your caresses?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not wish to remember that, Hervé; I do not think of it now."</p>
+
+<p>"Hena, the reason was I had made a strange discovery in my heart&mdash;I
+loved you!"</p>
+
+<p>The young girl dropped her needle, turned suddenly towards her brother,
+and, fixing upon him her astonished eyes, looked at him for a moment in
+silence. Thereupon, smiling, and in accents of tender reproach, she
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"How! Were you so long making the discovery that you loved me? And did
+the discovery seem to you&mdash;strange?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," answered Hervé, ignoring the childlike reproach implied in his
+sister's words; "yes, the discovery was slow&mdash;yes, it seemed to me
+strange. Long did I struggle against that sentiment; my nights were
+passed sleepless."</p>
+
+<p>"You slept no more because you loved me? That's odd!"</p>
+
+<p>"Because I loved you&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Come, Hervé, it is not handsome to joke about so painful a subject. Do
+you forget the sorrow that fell on us all when, all of a sudden, we saw
+you become so somber,<a name="page_vol-1-178" id="page_vol-1-178"></a> so silent, and almost to seem indifferent to us?
+Our dear little Odelin, who departed since then to Milan with Master
+Raimbaud, was probably less saddened by the thought of leaving us, than
+by your coolness for us all."</p>
+
+<p>"Remorse gave me neither peace, nor rest. Alas, I say correctly,
+remorse."</p>
+
+<p>"Remorse?" repeated the young girl stupefied. "I do not understand you."</p>
+
+<p>"The tortures of my soul, coupled with a vague instinct of hope, drove
+me to the feet of a holy man. He listened to me at the confessional. He
+unrolled before my eyes the inexhaustible resources of the faith. Well,
+my remorse vanished; peace re-entered my heart. Now, Hena, I love you
+without remorse and without internal struggles. I love you in security."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if that is the game, I shall proceed with my embroidery," said
+the young girl; and picking up her needle, she resumed her work, adding
+in a playful tone: "Seeing that the Seigneur Hervé loves me without
+remorse and in security, all is said&mdash;although, for my part, I do not
+fathom those big words 'struggles' and 'tortures' with regard to the
+return of the affection of the Seigneur Hervé for a sister who loves him
+as much as she is beloved." But speedily dropping the spirit of banter
+and sadly raising her eyes to her brother's, she continued: "Here, my
+friend, I must quit jesting. You have long suffered. You seemed whelmed
+with a secret sorrow. Come, what was the cause? I am still in the dark
+thereon. Acquaint me with it."</p>
+
+<p>"The cause was love for you, Hena!"<a name="page_vol-1-179" id="page_vol-1-179"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Still at it? Come, Hervé, I am but a very ignorant girl, beside you who
+know Latin. But when you say that the cause of your secret sorrow was
+your attachment for me&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I said love, Hena&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Love, attachment, tenderness&mdash;is it not all one?"</p>
+
+<p>"You spoke to me day before yesterday of Brother St. Ernest-Martyr."</p>
+
+<p>"I did. And only a short time ago I was talking about him with mother&mdash;"
+Suddenly breaking off, Hena exclaimed: "Good God! Dear, good mother!
+When I think of her being all alone at this hour on the street, without
+anyone to protect her!"</p>
+
+<p>"Be not alarmed. Our mother runs no danger whatever."</p>
+
+<p>"May heaven hear you, Hervé!"</p>
+
+<p>"Let us return to Brother St. Ernest-Martyr, of whom you were just
+before speaking with mother. Do you love the monk in the same manner
+that you love me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Can the two things be compared? I have spent my life beside you; you
+are my brother&mdash;on the other hand, I have seen that poor monk but five
+or six times, and then for a minute only."</p>
+
+<p>"You love him&mdash;do not lie!"</p>
+
+<p>"My God! In what a tone you speak, Hervé. I have nothing to conceal."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you love that monk?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly&mdash;just as one loves all that is good and just. I know the
+generous actions of Brother St. Ernest-Martyr.<a name="page_vol-1-180" id="page_vol-1-180"></a> You, yourself, only a
+few days ago, told me a very touching deed done by him."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you constantly think of the monk?"</p>
+
+<p>"Constantly, no. But this very evening I was saying to mother that I was
+astonished I thought so frequently of him."</p>
+
+<p>"Hena, suppose our parents thought of marrying you, and that the young
+monk, instead of being a clergyman, was free, could become your husband
+and loved you&mdash;would you wed him?"</p>
+
+<p>"What a crazy supposition!"</p>
+
+<p>"Let us suppose all I have said&mdash;that he is not a monk and loves you; if
+our parents gave their consent to the marriage, would you accept that
+man for your husband?"</p>
+
+<p>"Dear brother, you are putting questions to me&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You would wed him with joy," Hervé broke in with hollow voice, fixing
+upon his sister a jealous and enraged eye that escaped her, seeing the
+embroidery on which she was engaged helped her conceal the embarrassment
+that the singular interrogatory to which she was being subjected threw
+her into. Nevertheless, the girl's natural frankness regained the upper
+hand, and without raising her eyes to her brother, Hena answered:</p>
+
+<p>"Why should I not consent to wed an honorable man, if our parents
+approved the marriage?"</p>
+
+<p>"Accordingly, you love the monk! Yes, you love him passionately! The
+thought of him obsesses you. Your grief and the sorrow that day before
+yesterday you felt when he was carried wounded into the house, the tears
+I<a name="page_vol-1-181" id="page_vol-1-181"></a> surprised in your eyes&mdash;all these are so many symptoms of your love
+for him!"</p>
+
+<p>"Hervé, I know not why, but your words alarm me, they disconcert me,
+they freeze my heart, they make me feel like weeping. I did not feel
+that way this evening when I conversed with mother about Brother St.
+Ernest-Martyr. Besides, your face looks gloomy, almost enraged."</p>
+
+<p>"I hate that monk to death!"</p>
+
+<p>"My God! What has he done to you?"</p>
+
+<p>"What has he done to me?" repeated Hervé. "You love him! That is his
+crime!"</p>
+
+<p>"Brother!" cried Hena, rising from her work to throw herself on the neck
+of her brother and holding him in a tight embrace. "Utter not such
+words! You make me wretched!"</p>
+
+<p>Convulsed with despair, Hervé pressed his sister passionately to his
+breast and covered her forehead and hair with kisses, while Hena,
+innocently responding to his caresses, whispered with gentle emotion:</p>
+
+<p>"Good brother, you are no longer angry, are you? If you only knew my
+alarm at seeing you look so wicked!"</p>
+
+<p>A heavy knock resounded at the street door, followed immediately by the
+sonorous and merry voice of the Franc-Taupin singing his favorite song:</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left">"A Franc-Taupin had an ash-tree bow,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">All eaten with worms, and all knotted its cord;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><i>Derideron, vignette on vignon!! Derideron!</i>"</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>A tremor ran through Hervé. Quickly recalling himself,<a name="page_vol-1-182" id="page_vol-1-182"></a> he ran to the
+casement, opened it, and leaning forward, cried out: "Good evening,
+uncle!"</p>
+
+<p>"Dear nephew, I am back from St. Denis. I did not wish to return to
+Paris without telling you all good-day!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear uncle, a great misfortune has happened! La Catelle is dying.
+She sent for mother, who left at once. I could not accompany her, being
+obliged to remain here with Hena in father's absence. We feel uneasy at
+the thought that mother may have to come back all alone on this dark
+night."</p>
+
+<p>"All alone! By the bowels of St. Quenet, of what earthly use am I, if
+not to protect my sister!" replied Josephin. "I shall start on a run to
+La Catelle's, and see your mother home. Be not uneasy, my lad. When I
+return I shall embrace you and your sister, if you are not yet in bed."</p>
+
+<p>The Franc-Taupin hastened away. Hervé shut the window, and returned in a
+state of great excitement to Hena, who inquired:</p>
+
+<p>"Why did you induce uncle to go to-night after mother? She is to stay
+all night at La Catelle's. Why do you not answer me? Why is your face so
+lowering? My God! What ails you? Brother, brother, do not look upon me
+with such eyes! I am trembling all over."</p>
+
+<p>"Hena, I love you&mdash;I love you carnally!"</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;do not comprehend&mdash;what&mdash;you say. I do not understand your words.
+You now frighten me. Your eyes are bloodshot."</p>
+
+<p>"The kind of love you feel for that monk&mdash;that love I feel for you! I
+love you with a passionate desire."<a name="page_vol-1-183" id="page_vol-1-183"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Hervé, you are out of your mind. You do not know what you say!"</p>
+
+<p>"I must possess you!"</p>
+
+<p>"Good God, am I also going crazy? Do my eyes&mdash;do my ears deceive me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hena&mdash;you are beautiful! Sister, I adore you&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Do not touch me! Mercy! Hervé, brother, you are demented! Recognize
+me&mdash;it is I&mdash;Hena&mdash;your own sister&mdash;it is I who am here before you&mdash;on
+my knees."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, come into my arms!"</p>
+
+<p>"Help! Help! Mother! Father!"</p>
+
+<p>"Mother is far away&mdash;father also. We are alone&mdash;in the dark&mdash;and I have
+received absolution! You shall be mine, will ye nil ye!"</p>
+
+<p>The monster, intent upon accomplishing his felony in obscurity, knocked
+down the lamp with his fist, threw himself upon Hena, and gripped her in
+his arms. The girl slipped away from him, reached the staircase that led
+to the lower floor, and bounded down. Hervé rushed after her, and seized
+her as she was about to clear the lowest steps. The distracted child
+called for help. Holding her with one hand, her brother tried to gag her
+with the other, lest her cries be heard by the neighbors. Suddenly the
+street door was thrown open, flooding the room with moonlight, and
+disclosing Bridget on the threshold. Thunderstruck, the mother perceived
+her daughter struggling in the arms of her brother, and still, though in
+a smothered voice, crying: "Help! Help!" The wretch, now rendered
+furious at the danger of his victim's escaping him, and<a name="page_vol-1-184" id="page_vol-1-184"></a> dizzy with the
+vertigo of crime, did not at first recognize Bridget. He flung Hena
+behind him, and seizing a heavy iron coal-rake from the fireplace, was
+about to use it for a club, not even recoiling before murder in order to
+free himself from an importunate witness. Already the dangerous weapon
+was raised when, by the light of the moon, the incestuous lad discovered
+the features of his mother.</p>
+
+<p>"Save yourself, mother," cried Hena between her sobs; "he is gone crazy;
+he will kill you. Only your timely help saved me from his violent
+assault."</p>
+
+<p>"Infamous boy!" cried the mother. "That, then, was your purpose in
+removing me from the house. God willed that half way to La Catelle's I
+met her brother-in-law&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Be gone!" thundered back Hervé, a prey to uncontrollable delirium; and
+raising the iron coal-rake which he had lowered under the first impulse
+of surprise at the sight of his mother, he staggered towards Bridget
+yelling: "Be gone!"</p>
+
+<p>"Matricide! Dare you raise that iron bar against me&mdash;your mother?"</p>
+
+<p>"All my crimes are absolved in advance! Incest&mdash;parricide&mdash;all are
+absolved! Be gone, or I kill you!"</p>
+
+<p>Hardly were these appalling words uttered, when the sound of numerous
+and rapidly approaching steps penetrated into the apartment through the
+door that Bridget had left open. Almost immediately a troop of
+patrolling archers, under the command of a sergeant-at-arms, and led by
+a man in a black frock with the cowl drawn over his head, halted and
+drew themselves up before the house<a name="page_vol-1-185" id="page_vol-1-185"></a> of Christian. The Franc-Taupin had
+met them a short distance from the Exchange Bridge. A few words,
+exchanged among the soldiers, notified him of the errand they were on.
+Alarmed at what he overheard, he had quickly retraced his steps and
+followed them at a distance. The sergeant in command stepped in at the
+very moment that Hervé uttered the last menace to his mother.</p>
+
+<p>"Does Christian Lebrenn dwell here?" asked the soldier. "Answer
+quickly."</p>
+
+<p>Ready to sink distracted, Bridget was not at first able to articulate a
+word. Hena gathered strength to rise from the floor where Hervé had
+flung her, and ran to Bridget, into whose arms she threw herself. Hervé
+dropped at his feet the iron implement he had armed himself with, and
+remained motionless, savage of mien, his arms crossed over his breast.
+The man whose face was hidden by the cowl of his black frock&mdash;that man
+was John Lefevre, the disciple of Ignatius Loyola&mdash;whispered a few words
+in the ear of the sergeant. The latter again addressed Bridget, now in
+still more peremptory tones:</p>
+
+<p>"Is this the dwelling of Christian Lebrenn, a typesetter by trade?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," answered Bridget, and greatly alarmed by the visit of the
+soldiers, she added: "My husband is not at home. He will not be back
+until late."</p>
+
+<p>"You are the wife of Christian Lebrenn?" resumed the sergeant, and
+pointing to Hena and then to Hervé: "That young girl and that young man
+are your children, are they not? By order of Monsieur John Morin, the
+Criminal<a name="page_vol-1-186" id="page_vol-1-186"></a> Lieutenant, I am commissioned to arrest Christian Lebrenn, a
+printer, his wife, his son and his daughter as being charged with
+heresy, and to take them to a safe place."</p>
+
+<p>"My husband is not at home!" cried Bridget, her first thought being to
+the safety of Christian, although herself stupefied with fear at the
+threatened arrest. That instant, and standing a few steps behind the
+archers, the Franc-Taupin, taller by a head than the armed troop before
+him, caught the eyes of Bridget. With a sign he warned her to keep
+silent. He then bent his long body in two, and vanished.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you want to make us believe your husband is not at home?" resumed
+the sergeant. "We shall search the house." Then turning to his men:
+"Bind the hands of that young man, of the young girl and of the woman,
+and keep guard over the prisoners."</p>
+
+<p>John Lefevre, his face still concealed under the cowl of his frock,
+could not be recognized by Bridget. He knew the inmates of the house, at
+whose hearth he had often sat as a friend. He motioned to the sergeant
+to follow him, and taking a lanthorn from the hand of one of the
+archers, mounted the stairs, entered the chamber of the married couple,
+and pointing with his finger to a cabinet in which Christian kept his
+valuables, said to him:</p>
+
+<p>"The papers in question must be in there, in a little casket of black
+wood."</p>
+
+<p>The key stood in the lock of the cabinet. The sergeant<a name="page_vol-1-187" id="page_vol-1-187"></a> opened the two
+doors. From one of the shelves he took down a casket of considerable
+proportions.</p>
+
+<p>"That is the one," said John Lefevre. "Give it to me. I shall place it
+in the hands of Monsieur the Criminal Lieutenant."</p>
+
+<p>"That Christian must be hiding somewhere," remarked the sergeant,
+looking under the bed, and behind the curtains.</p>
+
+<p>"It is almost certain," answered John Lefevre. "He rarely goes out at
+night. There is all the greater reason to expect to find him in at this
+hour, seeing he spent part of last night out of the house."</p>
+
+<p>"Why did they not try to arrest him during the day at the printing
+office of Monsieur Estienne?" the sergeant inquired while keeping up his
+search. "He could not have been missed there."</p>
+
+<p>"As to that, my friend, I shall say, in the first place, that, due to
+the untoward absence of Monsieur the Criminal Lieutenant, who was
+summoned early this morning to Cardinal Duprat's palace, our order of
+arrest could not be delivered until too late in the evening. In the
+second place, you know as well as I that the artisans of Monsieur
+Estienne are infected with heresy; they are armed; and might have
+attempted to resist the arrest of their companion. No doubt the archers
+would have prevailed in the end. But Christian might have made his
+escape during the struggle, whereas the chances were a thousand to one
+he could be taken by surprise at his house, in the dark, along with his
+family."<a name="page_vol-1-188" id="page_vol-1-188"></a></p>
+
+<p>"And yet he still escapes us," observed the sergeant, after some fresh
+searches. Noticing the door of Hena's chamber, he entered and rummaged
+that room also, with no better results, and said: "Nothing in this
+direction either."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, let us investigate the garret. Give me the lanthorn, and follow
+me. If he is not there either, then we must renounce his capture for
+to-night. Fortunately we got the woman and the children&mdash;besides this,"
+added the Jesuit, tapping upon the casket under his arm. "We shall find
+Christian, sure enough."</p>
+
+<p>Saying this, John Lefevre opened the panel leading to the nook where
+stood the ladder to the attic; he climbed it, followed by the sergeant,
+arrived in the garret which had served as refuge to the unknown, noticed
+the mattress, some crumbs of bread and the remains of some fruit, pens
+and an inkhorn on a stool, and, scattered over the floor, fragments of
+paper covered with a fine and close handwriting.</p>
+
+<p>"Somebody was hiding here, and spent some time, too!" exclaimed the
+sergeant excitedly. "This mattress, these pens, indicate the presence of
+a stranger of studious habits;" and running to the dormer window that
+opened upon the river, he mused: "Can Christian have made his escape by
+this issue?"</p>
+
+<p>While the archer renewed his search, vainly rummaging every nook and
+corner of the garret, John Lefevre carefully collected the bits of paper
+that were strewn over the floor, assorted them, and kneeling down beside
+the stool, on<a name="page_vol-1-189" id="page_vol-1-189"></a> which he placed the lanthorn, examined the manuscript
+intently. Suddenly a tremor ran over his frame, and turning to the
+sergeant he said:</p>
+
+<p>"There is every reason to believe that Christian Lebrenn is not in the
+house. I think I can guess the reason of his absence. Nevertheless,
+before quitting the place we must search the bedroom of his two sons. It
+is in the rear of the ground floor room. Let us hurry. Your expedition
+is not yet ended. We shall probably have to leave Paris to-night, and
+carry our investigation further."</p>
+
+<p>"Leave Paris, reverend Father?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, perhaps. But I shall first have to notify the Criminal Lieutenant.
+What a discovery! To be able at one blow to crush the nest of
+vipers!&mdash;<i>ad majorem Dei gloriam!</i>"<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p>
+
+<p>John Lefevre and the sergeant re-descended to the ground floor. After a
+few whispered words to the soldier, the Jesuit departed, carrying with
+him the casket in which the chronicles of the Lebrenn family were
+locked.</p>
+
+<p>The chamber occupied by Hervé was ransacked as vainly as had been the
+other apartments of the house. During these operations Bridget had
+striven to allay the fright of her daughter. Hervé, somber and sullen,
+his hands bound like his mother's and sister's, remained oblivious to
+what was happening around him. Giving up the capture of Christian, the
+sergeant returned to his prisoners and announced to Bridget that he was
+to carry both her and her children away with him. The poor woman
+implored him<a name="page_vol-1-190" id="page_vol-1-190"></a> to take pity on her daughter who was hardly able to keep
+her feet. The sergeant answered harshly, that if the young heretic was
+unable to walk she would be stripped and dragged naked over the streets.
+Finally, addressing his archers, he concluded:</p>
+
+<p>"Three of you are to remain in this house. When Christian raps to be let
+in you will open the door, and seize his person."</p>
+
+<p>Bridget could not repress a moan of anguish at hearing the order.
+Christian, she reflected, was fatedly bound to fall into the trap, as he
+would return home unsuspecting. The three archers locked themselves up
+on the ground floor. The others, led by their chief, left the house,
+and, taking Bridget and her two children with them, marched away to lead
+them to prison.</p>
+
+<p>"For mercy's sake," said the unhappy mother to the sergeant, "untie my
+hands that I may give my daughter the support of my arm. She is so
+feeble that it will be impossible for her to follow us."</p>
+
+<p>"That's unnecessary," answered the sergeant. "On the other side of the
+bridge you will be separated. You are not to go to the same prison as
+your daughter."</p>
+
+<p>"Good God! Where do you mean to take her to?"</p>
+
+<p>"To the Augustinian Convent. You are to go to the Chatelet. Come, move
+on, move quickly."</p>
+
+<p>Hervé, who had until then remained sullenly impassive, said impatiently
+to the sergeant:</p>
+
+<p>"If I am to be taken to a convent, I demand to go to the Cordeliers."<a name="page_vol-1-191" id="page_vol-1-191"></a></p>
+
+<p>"The Criminal Lieutenant is to decide upon that," replied the sergeant.</p>
+
+<p>After a short wait, the archers took up their march. Alas! How shall the
+pain and desolation of Hena and her mother be described at learning they
+were not to be allowed even the consolation of suffering this latest
+trial in each other's company? Nevertheless, a ray of hope lighted
+Bridget's heart. Her last words with the sergeant had been exchanged
+near the cross that stood in the middle of the bridge, and close to
+which the archers were passing at the time. Christian's wife saw the
+Franc-Taupin on his knees at the foot of the crucifix, gesticulating
+wildly, raising his head and crying out like a frantic devotee:</p>
+
+<p>"Lord! Lord! <i>Thy eye has seen everything. Thy ear has heard
+everything</i>; there is nothing hidden from Thee. Have pity upon me,
+miserable sinner, that I am! Thanks to Thee <i>he will be saved</i>. I hope
+so! In the name of the most Holy Trinity."</p>
+
+<p>"There is a good Catholic who will not fail to be saved," said the
+sergeant, making the sign of the cross and looking at the kneeling
+figure of the Franc-Taupin, who furiously smote his chest without
+intermission, while the archers redoubled their pace and marched away,
+dragging their prisoners behind them.</p>
+
+<p>"God be blessed!" said Bridget to herself, understanding the information
+that Josephin meant to convey. "My brother has seen everything and heard
+everything. He will remain in the neighborhood of the house. He expects
+to save Christian from the danger that threatens him. He<a name="page_vol-1-192" id="page_vol-1-192"></a> will inform
+Christian that his daughter has been taken to the Augustinian Convent
+and I to the Chatelet prison."</p>
+
+<p>Such indeed was the purpose of the Franc-Taupin. When the archers had
+disappeared he drew near to Christian's house and contemplated it sadly
+and silently by the light of the moon. Accidentally his eyes fell upon a
+scapulary that had dropped near the threshold. He recognized it, having
+more than once seen it hanging on the breast of Hervé. The strings of
+the relic had snapped during the struggle of Hena with her brother, and
+the bag being thus detached from Hervé's neck it had slipped down
+between his shirt and his jacket, and dropped to the ground. The
+Franc-Taupin picked up the relic, and opened it mechanically. Finding
+therein the letter of absolution, he ran his eye hurriedly over the
+latter, and at once replaced it in the scapulary.<a name="page_vol-1-193" id="page_vol-1-193"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_vol-1-XIII" id="CHAPTER_vol-1-XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.<br />
+<br />CALVINISTS IN COUNCIL.</h3>
+
+<p>While the events narrated in the previous chapter were occurring at his
+house, Christian Lebrenn was climbing in the company of his mysterious
+guest the slope of Montmartre, along the path that led to the abbey.</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur Lebrenn," said Monsieur John, who had been in deep silence, "I
+should feel guilty of an act of ingratitude and of mistrust were I any
+longer to withhold from you my name. Perhaps it is not unknown to you. I
+am John Calvin."</p>
+
+<p>"I feel happy, monsieur, in having given asylum to the chief of the
+Reformation, to the valiant apostle who has declared war to Catholicism,
+and who propagates the new ideas in France."</p>
+
+<p>"Alas, our cause already counts its martyrs by the thousands. Who knows
+but I may soon be added to their number? My life is in the hands of the
+Lord."</p>
+
+<p>"Our enemies are powerful."</p>
+
+<p>"Among these, the most redoubtable ones will be the Jesuits, the
+sectarians whose secret you surprised. Their purposes were not so well
+concealed but that I already had intimation of the endeavors of their
+chief to gather around<a name="page_vol-1-194" id="page_vol-1-194"></a> himself active, devoted and resolute men. Hence
+the lively interest I felt in the narrative of your relative, the
+one-time page of Ignatius Loyola, when the latter was still a military
+chieftain. That revelation, coupled with yours, has given me the key to
+the character of the founder of the Society of Jesus, his craving after
+power, and the means that he uses in order to satisfy his ambition. The
+military discipline, that turns the soldier into a passive instrument of
+his captain, is to be applied to the domination of souls, which are to
+be rendered no less passive, no less servile. His project is to center
+in himself, to direct and to subjugate human conscience, thanks to a
+doctrine that extenuates and encourages the most detestable passions.
+Ignatius Loyola said the word: 'The penitent of a Jesuit will see the
+horizon of his most ardent hopes open before him; all paths will be
+smoothed before his feet; a tutelary mantle will cover his defects, his
+errors and his crimes; to incur his resentment will be a dreaded
+ordeal.'"</p>
+
+<p>"I shuddered as I heard that man distribute the empire of the world
+among his disciples in the name of such an impious doctrine. It cannot
+choose&mdash;the painful admission must be made&mdash;but impart to the Jesuits a
+formidable power until man be regenerated. Thanks, however, to God, the
+Reformation also now counts fervent adepts."</p>
+
+<p>"The disciples of the Reformation are still few in number, but their
+influence upon the masses of the people is no less extensive, due to the
+moral force of our doctrine. All straightforward, pure and generous
+souls are with us. Men of learning, poets, merchants, enlightened
+artisans<a name="page_vol-1-195" id="page_vol-1-195"></a> like yourself, Monsieur Lebrenn; rich men, bourgeois, artists,
+professors; even military men will gather this evening at our meeting to
+confess the true Evangelium."</p>
+
+<p>"Civil war is a fearful extremity. All the same, the day may come when
+the men of arms will be needed by the Reformation."</p>
+
+<p>"May that untoward day never arrive! My opinion is that patience,
+resignation and respect for the laws and the Crown should be carried to
+the utmost limit possible. Nevertheless, should the sword have to be
+drawn, not for the purpose of imposing the Evangelical church through
+violence, but for the purpose of defending our lives, and the lives of
+our brothers, I should not, then, hesitate to call upon the men of arms
+who are partisans of the Reformation. Among these, it is my belief, we
+shall number a young man who has barely emerged from adolescence, and
+who gives promise of becoming a great captain at maturer age. He is
+called Gaspard of Coligny. His father bore himself bravely in the late
+wars of Italy and Germany. He died leaving his sons still in their
+childhood. Madam Coligny raised them in the Evangelical faith. About a
+year ago I found a place of refuge under her roof, at her castle of
+Chatillon-on-the-Loing, in Burgundy. I there met her eldest son,
+Gaspard. The precocious intellectual maturity of the lad, his devotion
+to our cause, awakened in me the best of hopes. He will be one of the
+pillars of the new temple&mdash;besides a terrible enemy raised against the
+Pope and Satan."</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur," put in Christian, interrupting John Cal<a name="page_vol-1-196" id="page_vol-1-196"></a>vin in a low voice,
+"we are shadowed. I have noticed for some little while three men not far
+behind us, who seem to be timing their steps to ours."</p>
+
+<p>"Let us stop, let us allow them to pass. We shall ascertain whether they
+are bent upon following us. They may be friends, like ourselves bound to
+our assembly."</p>
+
+<p>Christian and John Calvin halted. Shortly they were passed by three men
+clad in dark colors, and all three carrying swords. One of these seemed,
+as he passed closely by John Calvin, to scan his face intently in the
+moonlight. A moment later, after having proceeded a little distance with
+his friends, he left them, retraced his steps, and walking towards
+Christian and his companion, said, courteously touching his cap with his
+hand:</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur Calvin, I am happy to meet you."</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur Coligny!" exclaimed the reformer gladly. "You did come&mdash;as I
+hoped you would."</p>
+
+<p>"It was natural I should respond to the summons of him whose doctrines I
+share, and for whom my mother entertains so much esteem and affection."</p>
+
+<p>"Are the two gentlemen you are with of our people, Monsieur Coligny?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. One is French, the other a foreigner, both devoted to our cause. I
+have felt safe to bring them to our assembly. I vouch for them, as for
+myself. The foreigner is a German Prince, Charles of Gerolstein, a
+cousin of the Prince of Deux-Ponts, and, like him, one of the boldest
+followers of Luther. My other friend, a younger son of Count Neroweg of
+Plouernel, one of the great seigneurs of<a name="page_vol-1-197" id="page_vol-1-197"></a> Brittany and Auvergne, is as
+zealous in favor of the Reformation as his elder brother for the
+maintenance of the privileges and dominion of the Church of Rome."</p>
+
+<p>"Sad divisions of the domestic hearth!" observed John Calvin with a
+sigh. "It is to be hoped the truth of the Evangelium may penetrate and
+enlighten all the hearts of the great family of Christ!"</p>
+
+<p>"May that era of peace and harmony soon arrive, Monsieur Calvin,"
+replied Gaspard of Coligny. "The arrival of that great day is anxiously
+desired by my friend Gaston, the Viscount of Plouernel and captain of
+the regiment of Brittany. With all his power has he propagated the
+Reformation in his province. To draw you his picture with one stroke, I
+shall add that my mother has often said to me I could not choose a wiser
+and more worthy friend than Gaston Neroweg, the Viscount of Plouernel."</p>
+
+<p>"The judgment of a mother, and such a mother as Madam Coligny, is not
+likely to go astray regarding her son's choice of his friends," answered
+John Calvin. "Our cause is the cause of all honorable people. I would
+like to express to your friends my great gratification at the support
+they bring to us."</p>
+
+<p>Gaspard of Coligny stepped ahead to inform his friends of John Calvin's
+wish that they be introduced to him.</p>
+
+<p>Upon hearing the name of the Viscount of Plouernel, Christian had
+started with surprise. Accident was bringing him in friendly contact
+with one of the descendants of the Nerowegs, that stock of Frankish
+seigneurs which the sons of Joel the Gaul had, in the course of
+generations, so<a name="page_vol-1-198" id="page_vol-1-198"></a> often encountered, to their sorrow. He felt a sort of
+instinctive repulsion for the Viscount of Plouernel, and cast upon him
+uneasy and distrustful looks as, accompanied by Gaspard of Coligny and
+Prince Charles of Gerolstein, he stepped towards John Calvin. While the
+latter was exchanging a few words with his new friends, Christian
+examined the descendant of Neroweg with curiosity. His features
+reproduced the typical impress of his race&mdash;bright-blonde hair, aquiline
+nose, round and piercing eyes. Nevertheless, the artisan was struck by
+the expression of frankness and kindness that rendered the young man's
+physiognomy attractive.</p>
+
+<p>"Gentlemen," said John Calvin, whose voice interrupted the meditations
+of Christian, "I am happy, in my turn, to introduce you to one of ours,
+Monsieur Lebrenn, a worthy coadjutor in the printing office of our
+friend Robert Estienne. Monsieur Lebrenn has incurred no little danger
+in affording hospitality to me. Moreover, it is to him we are indebted
+for the discovery of the locality where we are to meet to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur," replied Gaspard of Coligny addressing Christian with
+emotion, "my friends and I share the sentiments of gratitude that
+Monsieur John Calvin entertains for you."</p>
+
+<p>"Besides that, Monsieur Lebrenn," added Neroweg, the Viscount of
+Plouernel, "I am delighted to meet one of the assistants of the
+illustrious Robert Estienne. All that we, men of arms and war, have to
+place at the service of the cause of religious liberty is our sword; but
+you and your<a name="page_vol-1-199" id="page_vol-1-199"></a> companions in your pursuit, you operate a marvelous
+talisman&mdash;the press! Glory to that invention! Light follows upon
+darkness. No longer is Holy Writ, in whose name the Church of Rome
+imposed so many secular idolatries upon the people, an impenetrable
+mystery. Its truth owes to the press its second revelation. Finally,
+thanks to the effect of the press, the hope is justified that
+Evangelical fraternity will one day reign on earth!"</p>
+
+<p>"You speak truly, Monsieur Plouernel. Yes, the invention of the press
+bears the mark of God's hand," observed John Calvin. "But the night
+advances. Our friends are surely waiting for us. Let us move on, and
+join them."</p>
+
+<p>With Gaspard of Coligny on one side, and the Viscount of Plouernel on
+the other, John Calvin, the great promoter of the new doctrines,
+proceeded to climb the slope of the hill of Montmartre.</p>
+
+<p>Much to his regret, the extreme astonishment that the affable words of
+the descendant of the Plouernels threw him into, deprived Christian of
+the power to formulate an answer. He followed John Calvin in silence,
+without noticing that, for some time, Prince Charles of Gerolstein was
+examining him with increasing attention. This seigneur, a man in the
+full vigor of life, tall of stature, of a strong but open countenance,
+fell a little behind his friends and joined Christian, whom he thus
+addressed after walking a few steps beside him:</p>
+
+<p>"Believe me, monsieur, if, a minute ago, I failed to render just praise,
+as my friends did, to the courageous hospitality you accorded John
+Calvin, I do not, therefore,<a name="page_vol-1-200" id="page_vol-1-200"></a> appreciate any the less the generosity of
+your conduct. It was that your name fell strangely upon my senses. It
+awoke within me numerous recollections&mdash;family remembrances."</p>
+
+<p>"My name, Prince?"</p>
+
+<p>"Spare me that princely title. Christ said: 'All men are equal before
+God.' We are all brothers. Your name is Lebrenn? Is Armorican Brittany
+the cradle of your family?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monsieur. It is."</p>
+
+<p>"Did your family live near the sacred stones of Karnak, before the
+conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar?"</p>
+
+<p>Christian looked at Charles of Gerolstein without attempting to conceal
+his astonishment at meeting a stranger acquainted with incidents that
+ran back so many centuries in his family's history. The Prince pursued
+his interrogatory:</p>
+
+<p>"Towards the middle of the Eighth Century, one of your ancestors, Ewrag
+by name, and son of Vortigern, one of the most intrepid defenders of the
+independence of Brittany, and grandson of Amael, who knew Charlemagne,
+left his native land to take up his home in the lands of the far North."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, after the great Armorican insurrection. During that uprising the
+Bretons appealed for aid to the Northman pirates, who had established
+themselves at the mouth of the Loire. Ewrag afterwards embarked for the
+North with those sea-faring peoples."</p>
+
+<p>"Did he not leave behind two brothers?"<a name="page_vol-1-201" id="page_vol-1-201"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Rosneven and Gomer."</p>
+
+<p>"Ewrag, who first settled down in Denmark, had a grandson named Gaëlo.
+In the year 912 he was one of the pirate chiefs who came down and
+besieged Paris under the command of old Rolf, later Duke of Normandy.
+Gaëlo was recognized as a member of your family by Eidiol, at that time
+dean of the Parisian skippers."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, indeed. Gaëlo was taken wounded into the house of my ancestor
+Eidiol. While dressing the wound of the Northman pirate, the words
+'Brenn&mdash;Karnak' were discovered, traced with indelible letters on his
+arm. It was a custom, often followed in those disastrous days, when ware
+or slavery frequently scattered a family to the four winds. They hoped,
+thanks to the indelible marks, to recognize one another should fresh
+upheavals happen to throw them again in one another's way."</p>
+
+<p>"After wedding the Beautiful Shigne, one of the Buckler Maidens who
+joined the expedition of Rolf, Gaëlo returned to the North. Since then
+there have been no tidings of him."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. For all these past centuries we have remained in ignorance
+concerning that branch of our family. But, monsieur, I cannot understand
+how you, a German Prince, can possess such exact information of my
+humble family, which, besides, is of Gallic race. I wish you would
+explain yourself."</p>
+
+<p>Christian was interrupted by John Calvin, who, turning back, said to
+him:</p>
+
+<p>"Here we are at the top of the hill. Which path are<a name="page_vol-1-202" id="page_vol-1-202"></a> we to follow now
+out of the many in sight? Be so good as to lead us out of this maze."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall walk ahead, and show you the path to follow," answered
+Christian.</p>
+
+<p>As Christian hastened his steps to take the lead of the group, the
+Prince of Gerolstein said to him:</p>
+
+<p>"I can not at this moment carry on the conversation that for a thousand
+reasons I am anxious to hold with you. Where could I meet you again?"</p>
+
+<p>"I live on the Exchange Bridge, facing the right side of the cross as
+you come from the Louvre."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall call upon you to-morrow evening, Monsieur Lebrenn;" and
+extending his hand to the artisan, Prince Charles of Gerolstein added:
+"Give me your hand, Christian Lebrenn, we are of the same blood. The
+cradle of my own stock is old Armorican Gaul. The course of the
+centuries, and the accidents of conquest have raised my house to
+sovereign rank, but it is of plebeian origin."</p>
+
+<p>After cordially clasping the hand of the amazed Christian, the Prince
+rejoined John Calvin and his friends. At that moment, Justin, who had
+been stationed on the lookout at the head of the rocky path that led to
+the quarry, walked rapidly up to his fellow workman, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"I had begun to feel uneasy. All the persons who have been convoked to
+the meeting have arrived long ago. I counted sixty-two. I am here on the
+lookout. Master Robert Estienne requested one of our friends to plant
+himself near the mouth of the excavation leading to the underground
+issue of the cavern. You know that gallery,<a name="page_vol-1-203" id="page_vol-1-203"></a> cut behind the large rock,
+which recently sheltered us from the eyes of Loyola and his disciples. I
+inspected the passage this morning. It is open."</p>
+
+<p>"In case of danger you will run and notify the assembly. I understand."</p>
+
+<p>"From his side also Master Robert Estienne's friend will give the alarm
+in case of need. It is not likely the quarry will be invaded by both
+passages at once. One will always remain free. Our friends can
+deliberate in perfect safety."</p>
+
+<p>"If the gathering is not disturbed by some accident, friend Justin, I
+shall return by this path and we shall reenter Paris together."</p>
+
+<p>"Agreed. Our arrangements are made."</p>
+
+<p>A moment later, Christian, John Calvin and his friends entered the
+quarry. There they found assembled the leading partisans of the
+Reformation in Paris&mdash;lawyers, literary men, rich merchants, seigneurs,
+courtiers and men of arms and of science. Thus, besides Gaspard of
+Coligny, Prince Charles of Gerolstein and the Viscount of Plouernel,
+there were present the following personages of distinction: John
+Dubourg, a Parisian draper of St. Denis Street; Etienne Laforge, a rich
+bourgeois; Anthony Poille, an architect, and brother-in-law of Mary La
+Catelle, who, herself, had been invited as one of the most useful
+promoters of the Reformation; Clement Marot, one of the most renowned
+poets of those days; a young and learned surgeon named Ambroise Paré,
+the hope of his art and science, a charitable man who opened his purse
+even to the<a name="page_vol-1-204" id="page_vol-1-204"></a> sufferers whom he attended; and Bernard Palissy, a potter,
+whose work will be imperishable, and who is as well versed in alchemy as
+he is celebrated in sculpture. A small number of chiefs of guilds were
+also present. The guilds, being plunged in ignorance, were still under
+the influence of the monks, and entertained a blind hatred for the
+Reformation. A few wax candles, brought along by several of the persons
+present, lighted the bowels of the cavern and threw a flickering glamor
+upon those grave and thoughtful faces. When John Calvin entered the
+cavern he was recognized by some of the reformers. His name immediately
+flew from mouth to mouth. Those who had not yet seen him drew nearer to
+contemplate him. The resolute stamp of his character was reflected upon
+his pensive countenance. A profound silence ensued. The reformers ranked
+themselves in a circle around their apostle. He stepped upon a block of
+stone in order to be better heard, and proceeded to address them:</p>
+
+<p>"My dear brothers, I have just traversed the larger portion of France. I
+have conferred with most of our pastors and friends in order to
+determine in concert with them the articles of faith of the Evangelical
+religion, the basis of which was laid by the immortal Luther. If the
+formula of our common belief is adopted by you, such as it has been
+adopted by most of our friends, the unity of the reformed church will be
+an established thing. This is our Credo:<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p>
+
+<p>"'We believe and confess that there is one only God,<a name="page_vol-1-205" id="page_vol-1-205"></a> a sole, spiritual,
+eternal, invisible, infinite, incomprehensible, immutable essence, who
+is all-powerful, all-wise, all-good, all-just and all-merciful.'"</p>
+
+<p>"That we believe; that we confess," answered the reformers.</p>
+
+<p>"'We believe and confess,'" continued Calvin, "'that God manifests
+Himself as such to man by creation, and by the preservation and guidance
+of creation; furthermore, by the revelation of His Word, gathered by
+Moses, and which constitutes what we call Holy Writ, contained in the
+canonical books of the Old and the New Testament.'"</p>
+
+<p>"That is the Book; the only Book; the Code of good and evil; the
+instructor of men and of children alike; the divine source of all
+goodness, all power, all consolation, all hope!" responded the
+reformers.</p>
+
+<p>"Moses was a disciple of the priests of Memphis. I can well see how he
+gave out this or that Egyptian dogma, as emanating from divine
+revelation&mdash;but that remains, however, a hypothesis. I do not accept the
+pretended sacredness of the texts," said Christian Lebrenn, apart; while
+Calvin continued:</p>
+
+<p>"'We believe and confess that the Word contained in the sacred books,
+which proceed from God to man, is the norm of all truth; that it is not
+allowable for man to change the same in aught; that custom, judgments,
+edicts, councils and miracles must in no manner be opposed to Holy Writ,
+but, on the contrary, must be reformed by it.'"</p>
+
+<p>"We want the Word of God pure and simple. We want it disengaged of all
+the Romish impostures, that, for centuries,<a name="page_vol-1-206" id="page_vol-1-206"></a> have falsified and
+perverted it," the reformers replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Here," said Christian, again to himself, "here starts the freedom of
+inquiry. That is the reason for my adherence to the Reformation." Calvin
+resumed:</p>
+
+<p>"'We believe and confess that Holy Writ teaches us that the divine
+essence consists of three persons&mdash;the Father, the Son and the Holy
+Ghost, and that this Trinity is the source of all visible and invisible
+things. That is our belief.'"</p>
+
+<p>"It is an article of faith with us; it is the foundation of our
+religion," chorused the reformers, while Christian Lebrenn added, to
+himself:</p>
+
+<p>"This also belongs to the domain of hypothesis&mdash;and of religious
+absurdities. One more article of faith to be rejected."</p>
+
+<p>"'We believe and confess,'" continued Calvin, "'that man, having been
+born pure and clean in the image of God, is, through his own sin, fallen
+from the grace he had received, and that all the descendants of Adam are
+tainted with original sin, down to the little children in their mothers'
+wombs. That is our belief on these subjects.'"</p>
+
+<p>"We are bound to accept all that is found in the sacred books. The will
+of the Lord is impenetrable&mdash;let it be done in all things. Our reason
+must humble itself before that which seems incomprehensible," was the
+response of the reformers.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, God of Love and Mercy!" exclaimed Christian Lebrenn, apart. "To
+proclaim in Thy name that Thy will<a name="page_vol-1-207" id="page_vol-1-207"></a> smites the unborn child even in its
+mother's womb! Just God! Thou who knowest all things&mdash;past, present and
+to come&mdash;Thou knewest Thy creature, man, who is not but because Thou
+hast said, Be! was bound to fall into sin. Thou knewest it. Generations
+upon generations, all guiltless of the sin of the first man, were to
+undergo the terrible chastisement that it has pleased Thee to inflict
+upon them. Thou knewest it. And yet, Thou art supposed to have said:
+'Man, you will fall into sin. The original stain shall mark your
+children even in their mothers' wombs'! Merciful God! Pardon the
+infirmity of my intellect. I cannot believe a father will devote his own
+children to eternal misery. I cannot believe a father can take pleasure
+in allowing his children's mind to waver between justice and injustice,
+especially when he knows beforehand they are fatedly certain to elect
+iniquity, and when he knows the consequence of their choice will be
+fearful to themselves and to all their posterity. Just God! What is the
+constant aim of the thoughts and efforts of every honorable man, within
+the limits of his faculties? To give his children such an education as
+will keep them from the path of vice; an education that may justify him
+to say: 'My children will be upright men!' And yet, Thou, almighty God,
+Thou art supposed to have said: 'I <i>will</i> that the evil inclinations of
+my children carry the day over the good ones; I <i>will</i> that they become
+criminals, and that they be forever damned!' Never shall I accept such a
+doctrine."</p>
+
+<p>John Calvin continued his Credo:</p>
+
+<p>"'We believe and confess that, as a consequence of orig<a name="page_vol-1-208" id="page_vol-1-208"></a>inal sin, man,
+corrupt of body, blind of mind, and depraved of heart, has lost all
+virtue, and, although he has still preserved some discernment of right
+and wrong, falls into darkness when he aspires to understand God with
+the aid of his own intelligence and human reason. Finally, although he
+should have the will to choose between right and wrong, his will being
+the captive of sin, he is fatedly devoted to wrong, is destined to
+malediction, and is not free to choose the right but by the grace of
+God.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Such," responded the reformers, "is the will of the Lord. We fall into
+darkness if we strive to understand God with the aid of our own reason."</p>
+
+<p>"No! No!" Christian said to himself, "God never said: 'My creatures,
+instead of loving Me and adoring Me in all the splendor of My glory,
+shall adore Me in the darkness of their intelligence, dimmed by My
+will.' No! God has not said: 'Man, you shall be fatedly devoted to
+wrong! You shall be for all time a captive of sin! I enclose you within
+an iron circle from which there is no escape but by My grace!' If God's
+omnipotence made man sinful or good, why punish or reward him? Another
+article of faith to be rejected."</p>
+
+<p>"'We believe and confess,'" Calvin proceeded, "'that Jesus Christ, being
+God's wisdom and His eternal Son, clad himself in our flesh to the end
+of being both God and man in one person. We worship Him so entirely in
+His divinity, that we strip Him of His humanity. We believe and confess
+that God, by sending us His Son, wished to show His ineffable goodness
+toward us, and by deliver<a name="page_vol-1-209" id="page_vol-1-209"></a>ing Him to death and raising Him from the
+dead, wished that justice be done and heavenly life be gained for us.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Glory to God!" cried the reformers. "He has sent us His Son to redeem
+us with His blood! God has been crucified for the salvation of man!"</p>
+
+<p>Communing with himself, Christian Lebrenn only said: "Another absurdity
+laid by Calvin at the door of the Godhead. Can God condemn man for the
+pleasure of afterwards redeeming him? O, Christ! Poor carpenter of
+Nazareth, the friend of the afflicted, the penitent and the
+disinherited, you do not wrap yourself in an impenetrable cloud. I see
+your pale and sweet smile encircled by a bloody aureola, and bearing a
+stamp that is truly human. Your divine words are accessible even to the
+intelligence of children. Your Evangelical morality should and will be
+the code of all humankind. The chains of the slave will be broken, said
+you now more than fifteen hundred years ago; and yet, the Pharisees, who
+call themselves your priests, have, during all these centuries, owned
+slaves, later serfs, and to-day they count their vassals by the
+thousands. Love ye one another, said you; and yet, the Pharisees, who
+call themselves your priests, caused, and to this hour continue to
+cause, torrents of Christian blood to flow. I do not share the belief of
+the reformers, but I remain with them body and soul so long as they
+combat the cruelties, the iniquities and the idolatries of the Roman
+Church! I remain body and soul with them so long as they devote their
+lives to the triumph of your doctrine, O, Christ! in the name of
+equality and human fraternity! In that does<a name="page_vol-1-210" id="page_vol-1-210"></a> the real strength lie, the
+real power of the Reformation. Of what concern to us are those Mosaic
+dogmas concerning original sin, the fatedness of evil, the inherent
+wickedness of man? The Reformation <i>acts</i> valiantly, it <i>acts</i>
+generously, it <i>acts</i> in a Christian spirit in seeking to restore your
+Church, O, Christ! to its simplicity and pristine purity by combating
+the Pope of Rome."</p>
+
+<p>Calvin continued: "'We believe and confess that, thanks to the sacrifice
+our Lord Jesus Christ offered on the cross, we are reconciled to God and
+fit to be held and looked upon as just before Him. Accordingly, we
+believe that we owe to Jesus Christ our full and perfect deliverance. We
+believe and confess that, without disparagement of virtues and deserving
+qualities, we depend upon them for the remission of our sins only
+through our faith, and the law of Jesus Christ.'"</p>
+
+<p>"The law and faith in Jesus Christ is embraced in that" responded the
+reformers. "It is our code. The law and faith in Jesus Christ&mdash;that
+means love towards our fellow men; it means equality; it means
+fraternity; it means revolt against the idolatries, in whose name the
+greatest malefactors are and believe themselves absolved of their crimes
+by the purchase of indulgences! Only through faith and the practice of
+the Evangelical law will our sins be remitted."</p>
+
+<p>"'We believe and confess,'" proceeded Calvin, "'that whereas Jesus
+Christ has been given us as the only intermediary between us and God,
+and since He recommends to us that we withdraw into seclusion in order
+to address, in<a name="page_vol-1-211" id="page_vol-1-211"></a> private and in His name, our prayers to His Father, all
+the inventions of men concerning the intercession of martyred saints is
+but fraud and deception, schemed in order to lead mankind aside from the
+straight and narrow path. Furthermore, we hold purgatory to be an
+illusion of the same nature, likewise monastic vows, pilgrimages, the
+ordinance of celibacy to clergymen, auricular confession, and the
+ceremonial observance of certain days when a meat diet is forbidden.
+Finally we consider illusions the indulgences and other idolatrous
+practices through which grace and salvation are expected, and we regard
+them as human inventions calculated to shackle human conscience.'"</p>
+
+<p>"That is the essence of the Reformation," said Christian Lebrenn, apart.
+"The reform of action, the militant reform. Hence it is that my dignity
+as a man, my mind and my heart are with it. It is a long step towards
+the reign of pure reason, planted upon the freedom of inquiry. The road
+is cleared. Man is in direct communion and communication with God
+through prayer, without the intervention of any church. No more
+Popes&mdash;the incarnation of divine and human autocracy, as Ignatius Loyola
+understands it! No more dissolute and savage pontiffs, claiming to be
+Your vicars, O, God of mercy! No more saints, no more purgatory! Down
+goes the traffic in indulgences! No more monastic vows&mdash;the idle monks
+shall become honest and industrious citizens! No more priestly
+celibacy&mdash;the pastors shall themselves become heads of families! No more
+auricular confession&mdash;a bar to Igna<a name="page_vol-1-212" id="page_vol-1-212"></a>tius Loyola, whose aim is to take
+possession of the conscience of mankind by means of the tribunal of
+penitence; through the conscience of mankind, the soul of man; through
+the soul, the body; and thus to rear the most frightful theocratic
+tyranny! O, sweet carpenter of Nazareth! May the Reformation triumph!
+May your Evangelical law in all its pristine purity become the law of
+the world! The power of the casqued, the mitred or the crowned
+oppressors will then have ceased to be! No more Kings, no more priests,
+no more masters!"</p>
+
+<p>"No more Popes! No more cardinals, or bishops! No more idolatry! No more
+celibacy! No more adoration of images! No more confession! No more
+intermediaries between God and man! Such is our confession, such our
+belief," cried the reformers in answer to Calvin, who continued:</p>
+
+<p>"'We believe and confess those Romish inventions to be pure idolatries.
+We reject them. Sustained by the authority of the sacred books, by the
+words and acts of the apostles&mdash;I Timothy 2; John 16; Matthew 6 and 10;
+Luke 11, 12 and 15; the Epistle to the Romans 14, and other Evangelical
+texts&mdash;we believe and confess that where the word of God is not received
+there is no Church. Therefore we reject the assemblages of the papacy,
+whence divine truth is banished, where the sacraments are corrupted,
+adulterated and falsified, while superstitious and idolatrous practices
+flourish and thrive in their midst.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," answered the assembled reformers, "let us draw away from the
+usurping Roman Church&mdash;that impure<a name="page_vol-1-213" id="page_vol-1-213"></a> Babylon; that sink of all vices;
+that notorious harlot; that poisoned well, whence flow all the ills that
+afflict humanity! No more Popes, bishops, priests or monks!"</p>
+
+<p>"'We believe and confess,'" Calvin continued, "'that all men are true
+pastors wherever they may be, provided they are pure of heart, and that
+they recognize for sole sovereign and universal bishop our Lord Jesus
+Christ. Therefore we repudiate the papacy; we protest that no church,
+even if it call itself "Catholic," can lay claim to any authority or
+dominion over any other church.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Therefore we do repudiate the Church of Rome! Christ is our Pope, our
+bishop! There should be no intermediary between him and us!" responded
+the reformers.</p>
+
+<p>"'We believe and confess,'" Calvin went on, "'that the offices of
+pastors, deans and deacons must proceed from the election of their own
+people, whose confidence they will thus show they have earned. We
+believe that, in order to exercise their functions, they should
+concentrate within them the general rules of the church, without
+attempting to decree, under the shadow of the service of God, any rules
+to bind human conscience.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Freedom of conscience&mdash;that means human emancipation!" Christian
+exclaimed to himself. "All honor to the Reformation for proclaiming that
+great principle! May it remain faithful thereto!"</p>
+
+<p>The reformers meanwhile answered: "Yes, we wish to elect our own
+pastors, as they were elected in the primitive church;" and John Calvin
+continued:</p>
+
+<p>"'We believe and confess that there are but two sacra<a name="page_vol-1-214" id="page_vol-1-214"></a>ments&mdash;baptism,
+that cleanses us of the soilure of original sin; and communion, which
+nourishes us, vivifies us spiritually by the substance of Jesus Christ,
+a celestial mystery accessible only through faith.</p>
+
+<p>"'Finally, we believe and confess that God has willed that the peoples
+on earth be governed; that He has established elective or hereditary
+kingdoms, principalities, republics and other forms of government. We
+therefore hold as unquestionable that their laws and statutes must be
+obeyed, their tributes and imposts paid, and all the duties that belong
+to citizens and subjects must be fulfilled with a frank and good will,
+even if such governments be iniquitous, <i>provided the sovereign empire
+of God remains untouched</i>. Therefore we repudiate those who would reject
+government and authority, and who would throw society into confusion
+through the introduction of community of goods among men, and thereby
+upset the order of justice.'"</p>
+
+<p>"No! No!" was Christian's muttered comment at these words. "Man must not
+submit to an iniquitous authority! No! No! John Calvin himself realizes
+the offensiveness to human dignity of such a resignation, and its
+contradiction to the very spirit of the Reformation. Is not the
+Reformation itself a legitimate revolt against the iniquity of the
+pontifical authority, and, if need be, against whatever temporal power
+might seek to impose the Roman cult upon the reformers? Indeed, after
+having set up the principle, 'The peoples must submit to their
+governments, even if these be iniquitous,' Calvin adds, '<i>provided the
+sov<a name="page_vol-1-215" id="page_vol-1-215"></a>ereign empire of God remains untouched</i>.' No obedience is due an
+authority that would raise its hand against the sacred rights of man, or
+aught that flows therefrom."</p>
+
+<p>"Such, dear brothers," concluded John Calvin, "is our confession of
+faith. Do you accept it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes!" cried the reformers. "We accept it. We shall practice it. We
+shall uphold it, at the risk of our property, our freedom and our life!
+We swear!"</p>
+
+<p>"This, then, is the confession of faith of those 'heretics' whom the
+Catholic clergy represents to ignorant and duped people as monsters
+steeped in all manner of crimes, and vomited upon earth out of hell, as
+inveterate foes of God and man," said Calvin. "What do these 'heretics'
+confess? They confess the fundamental dogmas of the Christian Church, as
+revealed by the Divinity itself. But these 'heretics' reject the
+inventions, the abuses, the idolatries and the scandals of the Church of
+the Popes. In that lies our crime, an unpardonable crime! We attack the
+cupidity, the pride and the despotism of the priesthood!</p>
+
+<p>"Here, on this very spot where we are now gathered in council in order
+to confess the most sacred of rights, the freedom of conscience, seven
+priests have pledged themselves with a terrible oath to secure the
+absolute omnipotence of Rome over the souls of men, and to found the
+reign of theocratic government over the whole earth! The new
+organization is named the Society of Jesus. It is intended to and will
+become a formidable instrument in the hands of our enemies. The
+circumstance is a symptom of<a name="page_vol-1-216" id="page_vol-1-216"></a> the dangers that threaten us. Let us
+prepare to combat that new militia everywhere it may show itself.</p>
+
+<p>"Our Credo, our confession of faith is fixed. This confession will be
+that of all the Evangelical churches of France. And, now, what attitude
+must we assume in the face of the redoubled persecutions that we are
+threatened with? Shall we submit to them with resignation, or shall we
+repel force with force? I request our friend Robert Estienne to express
+his views upon this head."</p>
+
+<p>"It is my opinion," replied Robert Estienne, "that we should address
+fresh petitions to King Francis I, praying that it may please him to
+allow us to exercise our religion in peace, while conforming ourselves
+to the laws of the kingdom. Should our petition be denied, then we
+should draw from the strength of our convictions the necessary fortitude
+to sustain persecution to the extreme limit possible. Beyond that we
+shall have to take council again."</p>
+
+<p>"I share the opinion of Robert Estienne," said John Dubourg. "Let us
+resign ourselves. An upright man should drain the cup of bitterness and
+pain sooner than let loose upon his country the horrors of a fratricidal
+conflict."</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur Coligny, what is your opinion?"</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur," replied the young noble, "I am, I think, the youngest man in
+this assemblage; I shall accept the opinion that may prevail."</p>
+
+<p>"Speak. You are a man of arms. We should know your opinion," returned
+Calvin.</p>
+
+<p>"Since you insist, monsieur," Coligny began, "I should<a name="page_vol-1-217" id="page_vol-1-217"></a> here declare
+that my family owes a good deal to the kindness of the King. It has
+pleased him to entrust me&mdash;me who am barely passed the age of
+youth&mdash;with a company of his army. I am, accordingly, bound to him by
+bonds of gratitude. But there is to me a sentiment superior to that of
+gratitude for royal favors&mdash;that sentiment is the duty that faith
+imposes. While deploring the cruel extremities of civil war, which I
+hold in horror; while deeply regretting ever to have to draw my sword
+against the King, or, rather, against his ill-omened advisers, I should
+feel constrained to resort to that fatal extremity if, persecution
+having reached the limits of endurance, it became necessary to defend
+the lives of our brothers, driven face to face with the alternative,
+'Die, or abjure your faith!' As to pronouncing myself with regard to the
+opportune moment for the conflict, in case, which God forfend, the
+conflict must break out, I leave the decision to more experienced heads
+than my own. At the moment of action, my property, my sword, my
+life&mdash;all shall be at the service of our cause. I shall do my duty&mdash;all
+my duty."</p>
+
+<p>Ambroise Paré, the surgeon, was the next to speak. "Both Christ and my
+professional duties," he said, "command me to bestow my care upon friend
+and enemy alike. I could not, accordingly, brothers, bring hither any
+but words of peace. Let us be inflexible in our belief. But let us force
+our persecutors themselves to acknowledge our moderation. Let us tire
+their acts of violence with our patience and resignation. Let us leave
+the swords sheathed."</p>
+
+<p>"Patience, nevertheless, has bounds!" objected the Vis<a name="page_vol-1-218" id="page_vol-1-218"></a>count of
+Plouernel. "Has not our resignation lasted long enough? Does it not
+embolden the audacity of our enemies? Would you resort yet again to
+humble petitions? Very well. Let us pray, let us implore, once more. But
+if we are answered with a denial of justice, let us, then, resolutely
+stand up against our persecutors. We are the majority, in several
+mercantile cities, and several provinces. Let us, then, repel force with
+force. Our enemies will recoil before our attitude, and will then do
+justice to our legitimate wishes. I hold that to carry our forbearance
+any further would be to expose our party to be decimated day by day.
+Then, when the hour of battle shall have come&mdash;it is fatedly bound to
+come&mdash;we shall find ourselves stripped of our best forces. In short, let
+us make one more peaceful effort to secure the free exercise of our
+religion. Should our appeal be denied&mdash;to arms!"</p>
+
+<p>"Brothers," advised Prince Charles of Gerolstein, "I am a foreigner
+among you. I come from Germany. I there assisted at the struggles and
+the triumph of the Reformation preached by the great Luther. In our old
+Germany we did not appeal and request. We affirmed the right of man to
+worship his Creator according to his own conscience. Workingmen,
+seigneurs, bourgeois&mdash;all proclaimed in chorus: 'We refuse to bend under
+the yoke of Rome; whosoever should seek to impose it upon us by the
+sword will be resisted with the sword.' To-day, the Reformation in
+Germany defies its enemies. Germany is not France; but men are men
+everywhere. Everywhere resolution has the name of resolution, nor are
+its consequences<a name="page_vol-1-219" id="page_vol-1-219"></a> anywhere different. We are bound to uphold our rights
+by our arms."</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur Christian Lebrenn, what is your opinion on the grave subject
+before us?" asked Calvin. The printer replied:</p>
+
+<p>"History teaches us that to request from Popes and Kings a reform of
+superstition and tyranny is absolutely idle. Never will the Church of
+Rome voluntarily renounce the idolatries and abuses that are the sources
+of its wealth and power. Never will a Catholic King&mdash;consecrated by the
+Church and leaning upon it for support, as it leans upon
+him&mdash;voluntarily recognize the Reformation. The Reformation denies the
+authority of the Pope. To attack the Pope is to attack royal authority.
+To overthrow the altar is to shatter the throne. All authority is
+interdependent. What is it that we demand? The peaceful exercise of our
+creed, while conforming to the laws of the kingdom. But the laws of the
+kingdom expressly forbid the exercise of all creeds, except that of the
+Catholic Church. Either we must confess our faith and then expose
+ourselves to the rigors of the law, or escape them by abjuration; or,
+yet, resist them, arms in hand. Are we to obtain edicts of tolerance? We
+should entertain no such hope. But, even granted we obtained them, our
+security would be under no better safeguard. An edict is revocable. The
+end of it all is fatedly one of three conclusions&mdash;abjuration,
+martyrdom, or revolt. The blood of martyrs is fruitful, but the blood of
+soldiers, battling for the most sacred of rights, is also fruitful. We
+neither should, nor<a name="page_vol-1-220" id="page_vol-1-220"></a> can we, I hold, hope for either the authorization,
+or tolerance, of our cult. Sooner or later, driven to extremities by
+persecution, we shall find ourselves compelled to repel violence with
+violence. Let us boldly face the terrible fact. But, suppose, for the
+sake of our peace of conscience, we said: 'It still depends upon the
+Church of Rome and the King of France to put an end to the torture of
+our brothers, and to prevent the evils of a civil and religious war.' To
+that end a decree conceived in these terms will suffice: '<i>Everyone may
+freely and publicly exercise his religion under the obligation to
+respect the religion of others</i>.' Such a decree, so just and simple,
+consecrating, as it does, the most inviolable of rights, is the only
+equitable and peaceful solution of the religious question. Do you
+imagine that such a decree would be vouchsafed to our humble petition?"</p>
+
+<p>"Neither King nor Pope, neither bishops, priests nor monks would accept
+such a decree," was the unanimous answer. Christian continued:</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless, in order to place the right on our side, let us draw up
+one last petition. If it is rejected, let us then run to arms, and
+exterminate our oppressors. It is ever by insurrection that liberty is
+won."</p>
+
+<p>"Will Brother Bernard Palissy let us know his views?" asked Calvin when
+Christian had finished.</p>
+
+<p>With a candor that breathed refinement, the potter replied: "I am but a
+poor fashioner of earthen pots. Seeing the issue is to shatter them
+resolutely&mdash;according to the opinion of our friend the printer&mdash;I shall
+tell you what<a name="page_vol-1-221" id="page_vol-1-221"></a> happened to me the other day. I was wondering how it came
+about that the Evangelical religion&mdash;benign, charitable, peaceful, full
+of resignation, asking for naught but for a modest place in the sun of
+the good God in behalf of its little flock&mdash;should have so many
+inveterate enemies. Being a little versed in alchemy, 'Let's see,' said
+I to myself, 'when, mixing the varnish, colors and enamel with which I
+decorate my pottery, I encounter some refractory substance, what do I
+do? I submit it to the alembic. I decompose it. In that way I ascertain
+the different substances of which it consists. Well now, let me submit
+the enemies of the Reformation to the alembic in order to ascertain what
+there is in their composition to render them so very refractory.' First
+of all, I submit to my philosophic alembic the brains of a canon. I ask
+him: 'Why are you such a violent enemy of the Evangelical faith?' 'Why!'
+the canon makes answer, 'because, your clergymen being men of science as
+well as preachers, our flocks will also want to hear us preach as men of
+knowledge. Now, then, I know nothing about preaching, and still less
+about reading or writing. Since my novitiate I have been accustomed to
+taking my comfort, to ignorance, to idleness. That's the reason I
+sustain the Church of Rome, which sustains my ignorance, my delightful
+comfort and my idleness.' Through with that monk, I experimented with
+the head of an abbot. It resisted the alembic. It shook itself away,
+bit, roared with vindictive choler, resisting strenuously to have that
+which it contained within seen by me. Nevertheless, I succeeded in
+separating its several<a name="page_vol-1-222" id="page_vol-1-222"></a> parts, to wit: the black and vicious choler, on
+one side; ambition and pride, on the other; lastly, the silent thoughts
+of murder that our abbot nourished towards his enemies. That done, I
+discovered that it was his arrogance, his greed and his vindictiveness
+that kept him in a refractory temper toward the humility of the
+Evangelical church. I afterwards experimented upon a counsellor of
+parliament, the finest Gautier one ever laid eyes upon. Having distilled
+my gallant in my alembic I found that his bowels contained large chunks
+of church benefices, which had fattened him so much that he almost burst
+in his hose. Seeing which I said to him: 'Come, now, be candid, is it
+not in order to preserve your large chunks of church benefices that you
+would institute proceedings against the reformers? Isn't it damnable?'
+'What is there damnable in that?' he asked me. 'If it were damnable
+there must be a terrible lot of damned people, seeing that in our
+sovereign court of parliament, and in all the courts of France, there
+are very few counsellors or presidents without some slice of an
+ecclesiastical benefice which helps them to keep up the gilding, the
+trappings, the banquets and the smaller delights of the household, as
+well as the grease in the kitchen. Now, then, you devil's limb of a
+potter' (he was talking to me) 'if the Reformation were to triumph,
+would not all our benefices run to water, and, along with them, all our
+small and large pleasures? That's why we burn you up, you pagans!' At
+hearing which I cried: 'Oh, poor Christians, where are you at? You have
+against you the courts of parliament and the great seigneurs, all of
+whom<a name="page_vol-1-223" id="page_vol-1-223"></a> profit from ecclesiastical benefices. So long as they will be fed
+upon such a soup they will remain your capital enemies.' That is my
+reason, brothers, for believing we shall be persecuted all our lives.
+Let us therefore take refuge with our captain and protector Jesus
+Christ, who one day will wipe out the infliction of the wicked and the
+wrong that will have been done us.<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> Therefore, let us suffer; let us
+be resigned, even unto martyrdom; and, according to the judgment of a
+poor potter, let us not break the pots. Of what use are broken pots?"</p>
+
+<p>"Will our celebrated poet Clement Marot acquaint us with his views?"
+asked Calvin.</p>
+
+<p>"Brothers," said the man thus called upon, "our friend Bernard Palissy,
+one of the great artists of these days&mdash;and of all future days&mdash;spoke to
+you in his capacity of a potter. I, a poet, shall address you on the
+profit that can be drawn from my trade for our cause. Why not make one
+more endeavor to use the methods of persuasion before resorting to the
+frightful extremity of civil war? Why not endeavor to draw the world
+over to our side by the charm of the Evangelical word? Listen, the other
+day a thought flashed through my mind. The women are better than we.
+This acknowledgment is easily made in the presence of our sister, Mary
+La Catelle, whom I see here. She is the living illustration of the truth
+of what I say. None among us, even the foremost, excels her in
+tenderness or pity for the afflicted, in delicate and touching care for
+deserted children. I therefore say the women are better<a name="page_vol-1-224" id="page_vol-1-224"></a> than we, are
+more accessible than we to pure, lofty and celestial sentiments.
+Furthermore, to them life is summed up in one word&mdash;<i>love</i>. From
+terrestrial love to divine love it is but one aspiration higher. Let us
+endeavor to elevate the women to that sublime sphere. The common but
+just saying, Little causes often produce great results, has inspired me
+with the following thought. I asked myself: 'What do the women usually
+sing, whether they be bourgeois or workingmen's wives?' Love songs. The
+impure customs of our times have given these songs generally a coarse,
+if not obscene turn. As a rule, the mind and the heart become the echo
+of what the mouth says, of what the ear hears, of what engages our
+thoughts. Would it not be a useful thing to substitute those licentious
+songs with chaste ones that attract through love? Hence I have
+considered the advisability of putting in verse and to music the sacred
+canticles of the Bible which are so frequently perfumed with an adorable
+poetic flavor. My hope is that little by little, penetrated by the
+ineffable influence of those celestial songs, the women who sing them
+will soon be uttering their sentiments, not with the lips only but from
+the depth of their hearts. Our aspirations will then be realized."</p>
+
+<p>Clement Marot was about to recite some of the charming verses composed
+by himself, when Justin suddenly broke in upon the assemblage crying:</p>
+
+<p>"Danger! Danger! A troop of archers and mounted patrolmen are coming up
+the road to the abbey. I have<a name="page_vol-1-225" id="page_vol-1-225"></a> seen the glitter of their casques. Flee
+by the opposite issue of the quarry!"</p>
+
+<p>A great tumult ensued upon the artisan's words. Justin took up one of
+the candles, ran to the gallery that was masked by the huge boulder, and
+entered the narrow passage, ordering all the others to follow him.</p>
+
+<p>"Brothers!" cried out the Viscount of Plouernel, "let all those of us
+who are men of arms remain here and draw our swords. The patrol will not
+dare to lay hands upon any of us. The court must reckon with our
+families. As to you, Calvin, and the rest of our friends whom no
+privilege shelters from the pursuit of our enemies, let them flee!"</p>
+
+<p>"You can leave the place in all safety," added Gaspard of Coligny; "the
+armed patrol, finding us ready to cross irons with them, will not push
+their search any further."</p>
+
+<p>"Should they push forward so far as to discover this other issue," put
+in Prince Charles of Gerolstein, "we shall charge upon them vigorously,
+and shall force them back far enough to leave the passage free for our
+retreat."</p>
+
+<p>John Calvin, whose life was so precious to the Evangelical church, was
+the first to follow upon the heels of the torch-bearer Justin. The other
+reformers pressed close behind. The gallery, narrow at the entrance,
+widened by degrees, until it opened into an excavation surrounded by
+bluffs, up one of which a narrow path wound itself to the very top of
+the ravine, with the tierred fields and woods stretching beyond on the
+further slope of the hill of Montmartre. Robert Estienne, Clement Marot,
+Bernard Pal<a name="page_vol-1-226" id="page_vol-1-226"></a>issy and Ambroise Paré remained close to Calvin. Christian
+Lebrenn assisted Mary La Catelle to cross the rocky ground. When the
+fugitives were all again assembled in the hollow of the excavation, John
+Calvin addressed them, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Before separating, brothers, I renew to you the express recommendation
+not to attempt a rebellion, which, especially at this season, would only
+subserve the cause of our enemies. Resignation, courage, perseverance,
+hope&mdash;such must be our watchwords for the present. Our hour will come.
+Assured, after this night's council, of the adhesion of the reformers of
+Paris to the Credo of the Evangelical church, I shall continue my
+journey through France to engage our brothers in the provinces to
+imitate the example of Paris by opposing the violence of our enemies
+with patience." And turning to Christian: "Monsieur Lebrenn, you uttered
+a sentiment the profoundness of which has impressed me strongly. A
+simple decree to the effect that all are free to profess publicly their
+own creed while respecting the creed of others, you said, would prevent
+frightful disasters. Let the blood, that may some day flow, fall upon
+those who, by denying justice, will have kindled the flames of civil
+war! Anathema upon them! For the very reason that equity and right are
+on our side we are in duty bound to redouble our moderation."</p>
+
+<p>After touching adieus, exchanged by Calvin and his co-religionists, it
+was agreed to return to Paris in separate groups of threes and fours, to
+the end of not awakening the suspicion of the guards at the Montmartre
+and St.<a name="page_vol-1-227" id="page_vol-1-227"></a> Honoré Gates, who were no doubt apprized of the expedition of
+the patrol against a nocturnal assembly of heretics held on Montmartre.
+Day was about to dawn. John Calvin, Robert Estienne, Clement Marot,
+Ambroise Paré, Bernard Palissy and a few others ascended the path that
+led out of the ravine, and took their way across-fields in the direction
+of the St. Honoré Gate. Other little groups formed themselves, each
+striking in a different direction. Christian, Justin, John Dubourg,
+Laforge, who was another rich bourgeois, Mary La Catelle and her
+brother-in-law the architect Poille, took the road to the Montmartre
+Gate, where they arrived at sunrise. Although their group consisted of
+only six persons, they decided, out of excessive caution, not to enter
+Paris but by twos&mdash;first John Dubourg and Laforge; then Mary La Catelle
+and her brother-in-law; lastly Justin and Christian. Their entrance,
+thought they, would awaken no suspicion, seeing that already the
+peasants, carrying vegetables and fruit for the market, crowded in the
+neighborhood of the gate with their carts. Soon separated from their
+friends in the midst of the medley of market carts, Justin and Christian
+were but a few steps from the arched entrance of the gate when suddenly
+they heard a loud clamor, and these words, repeated by a mob of voices:
+"Lutherans! Lutherans! Death to the heretics!" A pang of apprehension
+shot through the hearts of Christian and his companion. Some of their
+companions who preceded them must have been recognized at the gate. To
+rush to their assistance would have been but to share their fate.<a name="page_vol-1-228" id="page_vol-1-228"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Let us not attempt to enter Paris at this hour," suggested Justin to
+Christian, "we are workmen in the printing shop of Robert Estienne. That
+would be enough to cause us to be suspected of heresy. Gainier, the spy
+of the Criminal Lieutenant, has surely given the mob our description.
+Let us go around the rampart and enter by the Bastille of St. Antoine.
+That gate is so far from Montmartre that it is possible the alarm has
+not been given from that side."</p>
+
+<p>"My wife and children would be in mortal agony not to see me home this
+morning," answered Christian. "I shall make the attempt to go through,
+under shelter of the tumult which, unhappily for our friends, seems to
+be on the increase. Do you hear those ferocious cries?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not care to run the danger. Adieu, Christian. I have neither wife
+nor children. My prolonged absence will cause uneasiness to no one. I
+prefer to go to the Bastille of St. Antoine. We shall meet shortly, I
+hope, at the printing shop. May God guard you!"</p>
+
+<p>The two friends separated. Christian, whose anxiety increased every
+minute, thinking of Mary La Catelle and those with her, decided to enter
+Paris at all risks. Nevertheless, noticing not far from where he stood a
+peasant driving a cart filled with vegetables and overspread with a
+cloth held up by hoops, he said to the rustic, drawing a coin from his
+pocket:</p>
+
+<p>"Friend, I am exhausted with fatigue. I need a little rest. Would you be
+so good as to take me in your cart only as far as the center of the
+city?"<a name="page_vol-1-229" id="page_vol-1-229"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Gladly, climb in and go to sleep, if you can," answered the peasant as
+he pocketed the coin.</p>
+
+<p>Christian climbed in, ensconced himself in a corner of the wagon and
+raised a little fold of the cloth in order to catch a glimpse of what
+was going on outside, seeing the tumult waxed louder and more
+threatening. Alas! Hardly had the wagon passed through the gate and
+entered the city when Christian saw at a little distance Mary La
+Catelle, her brother-in-law Poille, John Dubourg and Laforge&mdash;all four
+manacled. A troop of archers held back with difficulty the furious mob
+that loudly clamored for the lives of the "heretics," those "heathens,"
+those "Lutheran stranglers of little children"! Pale, yet calm, the four
+victims looked serenely upon the surging mass of fanatics. With her eyes
+raised to heaven and her arms crossed over her bosom, Mary La Catelle
+seemed resigned to martyrdom. The imprecations redoubled. Already the
+most infuriate of the populace were picking up stones to stone the
+victims to death. The wagon in which Christian was concealed slowly
+pursued its way and saved the artisan the harrowing spectacle of the
+mob's murderous preparations. Later he learned the details of the arrest
+of his friends. La Catelle and her brother-in-law, who had long ago been
+reported by the spy Gainier as hardened heretics, had been recognized
+and seized by the agents of the Criminal Lieutenant, who had been posted
+since midnight at the Montmartre Gate. John Dubourg and Laforge, who
+came a few steps behind La Catelle, having<a name="page_vol-1-230" id="page_vol-1-230"></a> yielded to a generous
+impulse and run to her assistance, were, in punishment for the very
+nobility of their act, likewise suspected, arrested and manacled.
+Christian also learned later that Lefevre was the informer against the
+meeting of the reformers at Montmartre. The bits of paper Lefevre had
+picked up while directing the search of the sergeant in the garret of
+Christian's house, proved to be bits of Calvin's draft convoking the
+assembly, and on one of these the word Montmartre was to be read. Armed
+with this evidence, Lefevre had hastened to impart his suspicions to the
+Criminal Lieutenant, and caused the patrol to be ordered afield; but
+these, finding themselves confronted with the seigneurs at the entrance
+of the quarry, and seeing these determined to resist them, had not dared
+to effect an arrest.</p>
+
+<p>Christian jumped out of the wagon in the center of Paris and hastened
+his steps towards his house. Hardly had he stepped upon the Exchange
+Bridge when he saw the Franc-Taupin running towards him. Josephin had
+watched all night for the artisan's return. He informed him of the
+arrest of his wife and children, of the danger that awaited him if he
+entered his house, and induced him to take refuge in a place of safety.<a name="page_vol-1-231" id="page_vol-1-231"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_vol-1-XIV" id="CHAPTER_vol-1-XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.<br />
+<br />HENA'S DIARY.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>After being separated from her mother, Hena Lebrenn was taken to the
+Augustinian Convent and locked up. One day during her confinement she
+narrated the incidents of her incarceration in a letter destined for
+Bridget, but which never reached the ill-starred mother, due to a series
+of distressful circumstances. Hena wrote:</p></div>
+
+<p>"December, 1534. At the Convent of the Augustinians.</p>
+
+<p>"Joy of heaven! I am given the assurance, dear mother, that you
+will receive this letter. My thoughts run wild in my head. I wish I
+could tell you, all at once, all that has happened to me since our
+separation until this moment. Alas! I have so many things to
+communicate to you. You all&mdash;yourself and my good father, and my
+uncle Josephin&mdash;will be so astonished, and perhaps so chagrined, to
+know that this very day&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"But I must go back with my narrative, and begin with that unhappy
+day when we were led away, you to the Chatelet prison, I to this
+place. I am ignorant of what may have happened to you and to
+father. All my questions on those topics have ever remained
+unanswered.<a name="page_vol-1-232" id="page_vol-1-232"></a> They assure me you are in good health&mdash;that is all. I
+hope so; I believe it. What interest could they have in deceiving
+me regarding your lives?</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I was brought to this place in the dark of night, and locked
+up in a little cell, without having seen a soul except the
+turning-box attendant. What would it avail to tell you how I wept?
+In the morning the attendant informed me that I would be visited at
+noon by the Madam Superior. I asked leave to write to my family in
+order to inform them of my whereabouts. I was answered that the
+Mother Abbess would have to decide about that. She called upon me
+at noon. At first, I thought I had before me a lady of the court,
+so superbly ornamented she was. There was nothing in her dress to
+recall the religious garb. She is young and handsome. Methought I
+could read kindness on her face. I threw myself at her feet,
+imploring her to have pity upon me, and to have me taken to my
+parents. This was her answer:</p>
+
+<p>"'My dear daughter, you have been brought up in impiety. You are
+here in order to labor at your salvation. When you are sufficiently
+instructed in our holy Roman Catholic and apostolic religion, you
+shall take the eternal vows to enter our Order of the Augustinians.
+You will then be allowed to see your parents again. You are not to
+leave this cell before taking the veil. You will be allowed out
+every day only to take a little walk under the archway of the
+cloister, in the company of one of our sisters. It depends upon
+yourself how promptly you will have gained the religious
+instruction necessary to enter our Order, after<a name="page_vol-1-233" id="page_vol-1-233"></a> which you will be
+allowed to receive your family once a week in the convent parlor.'</p>
+
+<p>"'But, madam,' I answered the Abbess, 'I have not the religious
+vocation. Even if I had, I would not take vows without the sanction
+of my father.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Your father is in heaven; He is our Lord God. Your mother also is
+in heaven; she is the holy Virgin Mary. Your obedience is due to
+those divine parents, not to your carnal and heretical parents.
+These have infected you with a pestilential heresy. The Lord, in
+His mercy, has willed, for the salvation of your soul, that you be
+removed from that school of perdition. The pale of our holy mother
+the Church is open to you. Come back to it. Be docile and you shall
+be happy. Otherwise, greatly to my regret, I shall employ rigor,
+and constrain you to your own welfare. Beginning with to-morrow,
+one of our brothers of the Order of St. Augustine will come to
+impart religious instruction to you. You are to have no intercourse
+with your parents before you have taken the vows. It depends, then,
+upon yourself how soon you will see your parents again. Think it
+over well.'</p>
+
+<p>"Without wishing to hear me any further, the Mother Superior left
+me alone.</p>
+
+<p>"The choice left to me was to embrace the monastic life, or give up
+the hope of ever seeing you again, dear father! dear mother! The
+bare thought made me shudder. I thought of resisting the orders of
+the Abbess. I thought that, if they were made to know my
+determination, they would set me free. Great was my error!<a name="page_vol-1-234" id="page_vol-1-234"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Towards evening one of the sisters came and proposed to take a
+walk with me under the archway of the cloister. I declared to her
+that no human power could compel me to take vows that would forever
+separate me from my beloved parents. The nun, a woman with a sharp
+and wicked face, recommended to me to think before speaking, adding
+that, if I obstinately refused salvation, they would know how to
+lead me to obedience by severe treatment. Our promenade ended, I
+returned to my cell. My supper was brought to me. I went to bed
+steeped in sadness.</p>
+
+<p>"At midnight I was rudely waked up. The old turning-box attendant
+came in, accompanied by four others, large and strong women. One of
+them carried a lanthorn. I was afraid. I sat up on my couch, and
+asked what they wanted of me.</p>
+
+<p>"'Rise and follow us,' answered the old nun. I hesitated to obey.
+She then added: 'No resistance, otherwise these sisters will take
+you by force.'</p>
+
+<p>"I resigned myself. I started to put on my dress, but the nun threw
+upon my couch a sort of horsehair sack which she had brought with
+her.</p>
+
+<p>"'That is the only dress you are henceforth to use!' she said.</p>
+
+<p>"I robed myself in the haircloth, and was about to put on my shoes
+when the nun again put in:</p>
+
+<p>"'You are to walk barefoot. Your rebellious flesh must be
+mortified.'</p>
+
+<p>"The expression on the faces of that woman and of her companions
+looked to me pitiless. I realized the useless<a name="page_vol-1-235" id="page_vol-1-235"></a>ness of resistance or
+of prayer. Barefoot and clad in the haircloth I followed the nuns.
+One of them lighted our way with her lanthorn. We crossed the
+cloister and several long passages. A solitary low window, shaded
+from within by a red curtain through which a bright light shone,
+opened upon one of these passages. While passing the place I heard
+a man's voice singing, accompanying himself on an arch-lute. The
+song was received with peals of laughter that proceeded from
+several men and women, gathered in the apartment. Their words
+reached our ears distinctly. They seemed to me to be such as no
+honorable woman should hear.</p>
+
+<p>"The nun hastened her steps, and we entered a little court. One of
+the turning-box attendants opened a door; by the light of the
+lanthorn I noticed a staircase that descended under ground. Seized
+with fear I drew back, but pushing me forward by the shoulders the
+nun said:</p>
+
+<p>"'Go on! Go on! We are taking you to a place where you will
+meditate at leisure over your obstinacy.'</p>
+
+<p>"I followed the turning-box attendant with the lanthorn. I
+descended the steps of the stone staircase. The moisture froze my
+naked feet. At the bottom of the staircase was a vaulted gallery
+upon which several doors opened. One of them was opened, and I was
+made to step into a vault where I saw a box shaped like a coffin
+and filled with ashes, a wooden prie-dieu surmounted by a cross,
+and near the bed of ashes an earthen pitcher and a piece of bread
+on the floor.</p>
+
+<p>"'This is to be your dwelling place until you shall have<a name="page_vol-1-236" id="page_vol-1-236"></a> recovered
+from your stubbornness,' said the nun to me. 'If solitude and
+mortification do not subdue your rebellious spirit, recourse shall
+be had to other chastisements.'</p>
+
+<p>"I was left alone in the vault without a light. When the door was
+closed and locked upon me, I threw myself upon my couch of ashes. I
+was shivering with cold. The haircloth smarted me insupportably.
+The darkness frightened me. I recalled, poor dear mother, my own
+little chamber near yours, my bed that was so neat and white, and
+the kiss that every evening you came into my room and gave me
+before I fell asleep. I sobbed aloud. Little by little my tears
+ceased to flow. Numb with cold I slumbered till morning, the light
+of day reaching me through the airhole of my dungeon. I admit it,
+dear mother, and you will forgive my weakness, dejected by the
+sufferings of that first night, fearing I would be condemned to
+remain a long time in that dungeon, I resigned myself to agree to
+all that might be demanded of me. I wished above all to quit that
+gloomy place. I awaited impatiently the return of the nun, in order
+to make my submission to her. No one came, neither that day nor for
+about a week. I thought I would lose my senses. Every minute I
+shivered with fear. The very silence of that species of tomb
+inspired me with wild terrors. I moaned and called out to you, dear
+father and mother, as if you could hear me. I then fell down upon
+my couch of ashes, worn out. How sad was my soul!</p>
+
+<p>"By little and little, however, I became accustomed to my prison,
+to my haircloth robe, to my bread, black and<a name="page_vol-1-237" id="page_vol-1-237"></a> hard. Calmness
+returned to me. I said to myself: 'I am the victim of a wicked
+scheme. My parents have taught me it was our duty to sustain
+courageously the trials of life, and never to bow down before
+cowardice or slander. I shall perish in this convent, or leave it
+to return to my family.' I now waited for the nun, no longer in
+order to make my submission to her, but to announce to her my firm
+determination to resist her wishes. Vain expectations! For about
+another week no one came near. Instead of weakening, my
+determination grew more exalted in my solitude. I spent my days
+thinking of you. Often did the tension of my mind become so strong
+that I imagined I saw, I heard you. I then was no longer in that
+subterraneous dungeon; I was by your side, at our house. Every
+morning at awakening, I invoked heaven's blessing upon you. Then I
+would say to myself: 'Good morning, father, good morning, mother.'
+I would tell you all about my affliction and my sufferings; you
+encouraged me not to succumb in my cruel trial. Your wise and
+tender words comforted me. Then also my thoughts would wander to&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I have hesitated to tell you the truth. But you taught me to abhor
+untruth and dissimulation. I shall continue. Only, dear mother, I
+know not whether, when you receive this letter, you will still be a
+prisoner and separated from father. If, on the contrary, you are
+again together, perhaps you should not let him know the passage you
+are about to read. Perhaps, and it is my ardent hope, father is
+ignorant of the circumstance that he whom I called brother&mdash;did&mdash;in
+a fit of insanity&mdash;<a name="page_vol-1-238" id="page_vol-1-238"></a></p>
+
+<p>"My hand trembles at the bore recollection of that incident.</p>
+
+<p>"During that horrible evening, before your unexpected return home,
+before I could understand the meaning of Hervé's words, he had
+himself enlightened me concerning the nature of the feelings that I
+entertained for Brother St. Ernest-Martyr. I have no doubt of it,
+at this hour. It was love I entertained for him. In the depth of my
+prison, during my nights of affliction, I could not prevent myself
+from thinking of you, without my thoughts running to him.</p>
+
+<p>"That is the admission that a minute ago I hesitated to make. If
+that attachment is a guilty one, good mother, forgive me, it is
+involuntary.</p>
+
+<p>"My thoughts wandered in my prison, beloved parents, no less to
+Brother St. Ernest-Martyr than to yourselves, resolved, as I was,
+to die here or rejoin you. Suddenly a cruel thought, that had not
+before occurred to me, flashed through my mind. To live by your
+side would be to live under the same roof with Hervé! I
+attributed&mdash;I still attribute the occurrences of that fatal night
+to a temporary derangement of his reason. You, no doubt, withheld
+the incident from father's knowledge. Hervé, once again returned to
+sanity, must have cursed his temporary aberration. His repentence
+must have moved you. One is indulgent towards crazy people!
+Nevertheless the mere thought of seeing him again caused me to
+shudder. The only hope that had hitherto sustained me, the hope of
+spending my life near you, as of yore, drooped its wings.<a name="page_vol-1-239" id="page_vol-1-239"></a> It
+seemed to me impossible ever after to support the sight of Hervé.
+As I was a prey to these new and painful thoughts, one morning the
+door of my cell was opened and the turning-box attendant entered,
+followed by the other nuns.</p>
+
+<p>"'Are you now more docile?' she asked. 'Do you now consent to
+receive the religious instruction necessary to take the vows of the
+Order of the Augustinians?'</p>
+
+<p>"'No!' I screamed. 'You will gain nothing from me, either by
+persuasion, or force. I shall remain faithful to my belief!'</p>
+
+<p>"At a sign from the nun two of the turning-box attendants fell upon
+me. Despite all my struggles, my tears, and my cries, they stripped
+me of my haircloth robe, the only clothing I had on; they held me
+fast; and their two other companions flagellated me mercilessly.
+Shame and pain&mdash;my shoulders and bosom ran blood under the
+lacerating lashing&mdash;wrung from me a cowardly entreaty. I promised
+absolute submission. My obedience appeased my torturers. I was
+taken back to my nun's cell. For a first proof of my submission I
+was to consent that very day to confess to one of the Augustinian
+monks under whose direction the convent stood, and one of whom was
+to be charged with imparting religious instruction to me. Towards
+noon I was conducted to the chapel. Oh, mother, what a surprise was
+in store for me! At the very first words that the monk, who
+occupied the confessional, addressed to me, I recognized the voice
+of St. Ernest-Martyr. I took myself for saved. I gave him my name;
+I in<a name="page_vol-1-240" id="page_vol-1-240"></a>formed him of our arrest; I conjured him to hunt up my father
+and my dear uncle Josephin, who surely must have remained at large,
+and notify them where you and I were held in confinement. Alas, my
+hopes were but short-lived! Brother St. Ernest-Martyr, himself an
+object of suspicion to the other monks and especially to the Abbot
+of the convent, was not allowed to go out. For several days he had
+been a prisoner in his own cell, which he left only to fulfil his
+ministry in the Augustinian Convent, which he reached through an
+underground passage that joined the two monasteries. I asked him
+whether it would be possible for him to have a letter reach my
+family. He doubted whether I would be allowed to write;
+furthermore, he did not, on his part, see any means by which my
+missive could reach its destination, such was the surveillance
+under which he himself was held. I narrated to him the recent
+ordeals and the trials that I underwent since my entrance in the
+convent. I heard him cry in the dark. I then entreated him to
+counsel me. He answered:</p>
+
+<p>"'Sister, even if you experienced a decided religious vocation, and
+your parents gave their consent, even then I would urge you to
+reflect before pronouncing those eternal vows. But you have not
+that vocation, you are kept here against your will and without your
+parents' knowledge. What is to be done under such trying
+circumstances? To refuse to receive the veil, as you have hitherto
+done, is to expose yourself to fresh ill-treatment and severities,
+under which you would perish; to enter a religious Order, even if
+forced thereto, is to renounce forever all tender family<a name="page_vol-1-241" id="page_vol-1-241"></a> joys.
+Before deciding, sister, endeavor to gain time. I shall help you by
+urging upon our Abbess the necessity of delay in order to complete
+your religious education. Your father and uncle have undoubtedly
+set on foot inquiries concerning your whereabouts. Keep up the hope
+that their efforts will be successful. Your father will move Robert
+Estienne, and he the Princess Marguerite to obtain your liberation.
+Rely upon my ardent wish to be useful to you. It is my duty to
+console you, and to sustain you in your cruel plight. I shall not
+fall short in my duty.'</p>
+
+<p>"This, dear mother, was the advice of Brother St. Ernest-Martyr. I
+followed it. In the meantime it remained impossible for him either
+to leave the convent, or write to you. He dared not trust such a
+secret to any of the other monks. They would in all likelihood have
+betrayed him to the Abbot.</p>
+
+<p>"Alas, dear mother, yet another misfortune was to befall me;
+Brother St. Ernest-Martyr ceased to be my religious instructor. A
+few days after our first conference he was replaced by another
+Augustinian monk.</p>
+
+<p>"So many afflictions threw me upon a sick bed. I became seriously
+ill. By the grief that the absence of St. Ernest-Martyr caused me I
+realized how much I loved him. Of this love he is ignorant; he does
+not even suspect it; he shall never know it. My heart breaks at the
+mere thought of what remains for me to tell you.</p>
+
+<p>"The new Augustinian monk, who was charged to catechise me,
+inspired me with such instinctive repulsion that I could not
+conceal its manifestations. He complained to<a name="page_vol-1-242" id="page_vol-1-242"></a> the Mother Superior
+of my ill will towards him. The Abbess summoned me before her, and
+notified me that, whether instructed or not, I was to take the vow
+the day after the next, adding that I would then be allowed to see
+my family.</p>
+
+<p>"I entreated the Superior to grant me one more day to reflect upon
+so grave a step. My entreaty was granted. I then reasoned as
+follows: To refuse to become a nun is to expose myself to renewed
+acts of violence and flagellations the very recollection of which
+render me purple with shame; it is also to renounce the only hope
+of seeing from time to time my beloved parents. On the other hand I
+feel that my love for Brother St. Ernest-Martyr will end but with
+my life; seeing I can not be his, to renounce him is to renounce
+the world, and all family joys. Why, then, not take the veil?</p>
+
+<p>"I was alone, without an adviser, weakened with suffering, beset by
+nuns who alternately resorted to persuasion and threats. I
+despaired of ever finding the means of informing you of my fate,
+good mother. I resigned myself to take the vow&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"This morning the ceremony was celebrated. I was christened in
+religion with a sad name. I am called St. Frances-in-the-Tomb.
+To-night I am to spend in prayers in the chapel of the Virgin,
+according to the custom for maids who have taken the veil.</p>
+
+<p>"My vows being pronounced, the Abbess caused me to be supplied with
+writing material&mdash;paper, pen and ink&mdash;<a name="page_vol-1-243" id="page_vol-1-243"></a>promising me that this
+letter would be forwarded to my family.</p>
+
+<p>"I am wrong for having taken so grave a step without your consent,
+good mother, and without the consent of father.</p>
+
+<p>"I break off at this place. The convent clock strikes nine. I am to
+be taken to the chapel, where I am to watch all night. May God have
+mercy upon me.</p>
+
+<p>"To-morrow, good mother, I shall finish this letter which I shall
+carry concealed in my corsage. I shall tell you then what were my
+thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>"Until to-morrow, mother. I shall then close my confidences."</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>The sequel of this chronicle will instruct you, sons of Joel, concerning
+the events that led to Christian's coming into possession of the letter
+of the ill-starred Hena, as also of the following fragments of the diary
+written by Ernest Rennepont, in religion St. Ernest-Martyr, during the
+time that he also was held a prisoner under surveillance in the
+Augustinian Convent.<a name="page_vol-1-244" id="page_vol-1-244"></a></p></div>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_vol-1-XV" id="CHAPTER_vol-1-XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.<br />
+<br />DIARY OF ST. ERNEST-MARTYR.</h3>
+
+<p>"Lord God! Have mercy upon me! I have just seen the young girl. I have
+confessed her in the convent of our Augustinian sisters. She is
+imprisoned there. They wish to compel her to take the vows. Poor victim!</p>
+
+<p>"When I recognized her voice; when, in the shadow of the confessional, I
+perceived her angelic face, my heart thrilled with an insensate joy. I
+then trembled, and wept. Oh, Thou who seest to the bottom of the heart
+of man, Thou knowest, my God! my first thought was to leave the tribunal
+of penitence. I did not deem myself worthy of sitting in that place. But
+in her distress, the child had only me for her support. She thanked
+Thee, oh, my God! with such fervor for having sent me across her path,
+that my first impulse weakened, and I remained."</p>
+
+<p class="c">* &nbsp; * &nbsp; *</p>
+
+<p>"To Thee, my divine Master, I make my confession. Yes; the first time I
+saw that young girl at the house of Mary La Catelle, as I was engaged in
+teaching the children at her school, I was struck by the beauty of Hena
+Lebrenn, her modesty, her candor, her grace! Without<a name="page_vol-1-245" id="page_vol-1-245"></a> knowing it, Mary
+La Catelle rendered still more profound the deep impression her friend
+had made upon me, by recounting to me her virtues, her goodness, the
+truthfulness of her character. Yes; I confess it; since that day, and
+despite my reason that said to me: 'Such a love is insane;' despite my
+faith that whispered to me: 'Such a love is guilty;' despite all, the
+mad passion, the criminal passion gained every day a more powerful sway
+over my being. Our meeting to-day, by unveiling to me without reserve
+that ingenuous and charming soul, has forever riveted my chains. I love
+her passionately. I shall carry that love with me to the grave&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p class="c">* &nbsp; * &nbsp; *</p>
+
+<p>"Impossible to leave my convent! I am the object of constant
+surveillance. Suspicion and hatred mount guard around me. How is Hena's
+family to be apprized of the constraint she is placed under? The days
+are passing away. I shudder at the thought of the Mother Superior
+compelling her to pronounce the vows, regardless of the observations I
+made to her that Hena's religious instruction is not yet sufficiently
+advanced. Were I sufficient of a wretch to listen to the voice of an
+execrable selfishness, I would rejoice at the thought that Hena, not
+being granted to me, would be none else's after her ordination as a nun.
+No! Were it in my power, I would restore the unfortunate girl to her
+family. I would open the gates of the convent&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p class="c">* &nbsp; * &nbsp; *</p>
+
+<p>"A family!&mdash;a wife!&mdash;children!&mdash;the tenderest of sentiments,<a name="page_vol-1-246" id="page_vol-1-246"></a> the
+dearest, the most sacred that can elevate the soul to the height of Thy
+providential purposes, O, heavenly Father!&mdash;a family&mdash;that ineffable
+sanctuary of domestic virtues&mdash;is forever barred to me! A curse upon
+those who founded the first convents!</p>
+
+<p>"And who is it that bars me from that sanctuary? Is it Thy will, O, God
+of justice&mdash;Thou who gavest a companion to man? No! No! Neither the Word
+revealed by the prophets, nor the Word of Thy Son, our Redeemer, ever
+said to Thy priests: 'You shall remain without the pale of mankind; you
+are above, or below, the duties imposed by the sacred mission of
+assuring the happiness of a wife, raising children in the love and
+practice of right, and giving them the bread of the soul and the bread
+of the body!'</p>
+
+<p>"The reformers, those heretics, they have remained faithful to Thy
+divine precepts. Their pastors are husbands and fathers."</p>
+
+<p class="c">* &nbsp; * &nbsp; *</p>
+
+<p>"At this moment the noise and the songs of orgy penetrate to the very
+recesses of my cell. Mysteries of corruption and debauchery! The poor,
+ignorant people believe in the celibacy of the monks and the chastity of
+the nuns! Monks and nuns give themselves over to all manner of
+abominations!"</p>
+
+<p class="c">* &nbsp; * &nbsp; *</p>
+
+<p>"Before ever I met Hena at the home of Mary La Catelle, Thou knowest,
+Oh, my God! I was seized with the justice of the reforms that were
+proclaimed in Thy name<a name="page_vol-1-247" id="page_vol-1-247"></a> by the Lutherans. I was in communion with them,
+if not in the communion of lips, at least in that of the soul. The
+adoration of images and saints, the arrogance of the clergy, auricular
+confession which places infamous priests in possession of the secrets of
+the domestic hearth, the redemption of sins and souls for a money price,
+the traffic in indulgences&mdash;so many iniquities, so many outrages against
+morality, rendered me indignant. My soul opened to the light."</p>
+
+<p class="c">* &nbsp; * &nbsp; *</p>
+
+<p>"I have had a strange dream!</p>
+
+<p>"Having become a pastor of the reformed religion, I had married Hena. We
+lived in a village, located in a smiling valley. I gave lessons to the
+lads. Hena gathered the girls around her. God blessed our union. Two
+beautiful children drew closer the bonds of our mutual tenderness. Oh,
+sacred family joys! Hena, my beloved wife!"</p>
+
+<p class="c">* &nbsp; * &nbsp; *</p>
+
+<p>"Fool that I am! Instead of allowing my thoughts to dwell upon that
+dream, could I but tear it out of my memory. Until now I had, at least,
+found some bitter comfort in the word&mdash;<i>Impossible</i>. I am a monk. An
+insurmountable obstacle separates me from Hena. My grief fed upon the
+most mournful of thoughts. Astray in a labyrinth from which there was no
+exit, no ray of hope penetrated to the depth of my despair.</p>
+
+<p>"But now, after that tempting dream, I find myself saying:</p>
+
+<p><a name="page_vol-1-248" id="page_vol-1-248"></a>"'And yet I could be happy. I could embrace the Evangelical religion,
+become one of its pastors, remain guiltless of faithlessness to my vow
+of devoting myself to the service of God, and yet wed Hena. The reform
+ministers are not held to celibacy.'"</p>
+
+<p class="c">* &nbsp; * &nbsp; *</p>
+
+<p>"Mercy, Oh, my God! However intense the hope, it has evaporated. I have
+fallen back into the very depth of despair. In order to wed Hena, she
+must love me! Can her heart ever have beaten for a man clad in a monk's
+frock?"</p>
+
+<p class="c">* &nbsp; * &nbsp; *</p>
+
+<p>"Who made me a monk? Could I, at the age of thirteen, be endowed with
+judgment enough to decide upon my vocation, and understand the
+significance of monastic vows? Was it not in mere obedience to my father
+that I entered as a novice the Order of the Augustinian monks? That was
+my first step in religious life. Subsequently, partly through lassitude,
+partly through habit, partly through submission, I proceeded to
+consecrate myself to this gloomy and sterile life. I bowed before the
+paternal will. Thus goes the world! To my elder brother freedom to
+choose his career and a wife; to him the hereditary patrimony; to him
+family joys; to me the cloister; to me the vows that shackle me to
+celibacy and poverty! Such are the iniquities of the Catholics."</p>
+
+<p class="c">* &nbsp; * &nbsp; *</p>
+
+<p>"A slow fever undermines and consumes me. I am only the shadow of my
+former self.</p>
+
+<p>"The religious education that every day I impart to<a name="page_vol-1-249" id="page_vol-1-249"></a> Hena in the shadow
+of the confessional is torture to me. I have become so nervously
+sensitive that the sweet sound of my penitent's voice makes every fiber
+of my brain to twitch. Her breath, that occasionally reaches my face
+through the grating of the confessional, makes my forehead to be bathed
+in perspiration that burns, and then freezes my temples. I have not the
+courage to endure this torture any longer. I shall go crazy. To see, to
+feel near me the young girl the thought of whom fills my soul, and to be
+forever on guard, in order to restrain myself, to watch every single
+word I utter, its inflection, my hardly repressed sighs, the tears that
+her sorrows and my own draw from my eyes in order to conceal my secret
+from her! I am at the end of my strength. Fever and sleeplessness have
+used up my life. I can hardly drag myself from my cell to the church of
+the Augustinian monks. Call me to Your bosom, O Lord God! Have pity upon
+me. Mercy! Shorten my torments!"</p>
+
+<p class="c">* &nbsp; * &nbsp; *</p>
+
+<p>"There is no longer any doubt. Hena will be forced to take the vows.
+Yesterday I went to the convent of the Augustinian sisters to inform the
+Mother Superior that my weakened health commanded me absolute rest, and
+I could not continue the religious education of the young novice.</p>
+
+<p>"'Is Hena Lebrenn at last in a condition to take the veil?' she asked
+me.</p>
+
+<p>"'Not yet,' I answered.<a name="page_vol-1-250" id="page_vol-1-250"></a></p>
+
+<p>"'In that case,' replied the Mother Superior, 'the Lord will enlighten
+her with His grace when it shall please Him. It is His concern. Obedient
+to the orders I have from my ecclesiastical superiors, the girl must
+take the veil within a week. Some other of our Augustinian brothers will
+take charge of completing the education of the novice, somehow or other.
+It is the reverend Father Lefevre who sent her here. She has a brother
+who also was snatched from perdition. The task was easy with him. So far
+from refusing to take the vows, he requested to be allowed to enter the
+Order of the Cordeliers, and has been taken to their convent and placed
+near Fra Girard. The father and mother are devil-possessed heretics. A
+curse upon them.'</p>
+
+<p>"And thus, in violation of all law and equity the two children have been
+wrested from their family, and will evermore be separated from it. I
+would give my life to inform Christian Lebrenn and his wife of the fate
+that is reserved for his daughter. Alas, there is no means of seeing
+them."</p>
+
+<p class="c">* &nbsp; * &nbsp; *</p>
+
+<p>"To-morrow Hena takes the vows at the convent of the Augustinian
+sisters. I was informed of it by the monk who replaced me as her
+catechiser. My God! The poor girl is lost forever to her family.</p>
+
+<p>"And yet a glimmer of hope remains. The surveillance at first exercised
+over me becomes less rigorous, now that my life is ebbing away, and I
+hardly leave my couch. If this evening, to-night, I can leave the
+convent, I shall<a name="page_vol-1-251" id="page_vol-1-251"></a> notify Monsieur Lebrenn of the imminent danger that
+threatens his daughter. Perchance, thanks to the influence of Robert
+Estienne, the Princess Marguerite may yet be able to obtain the freedom
+of Hena before she has taken the veil.</p>
+
+<p>"My God! Vouchsafe my prayer and deliver me speedily of life. I shall
+ask to be buried in my frock, where I keep hidden these leaves, the only
+confidants of my love."<a name="page_vol-1-252" id="page_vol-1-252"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_vol-1-XVI" id="CHAPTER_vol-1-XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.<br />
+<br />THE TAVERN OF THE BLACK GRAPE.</h3>
+
+<p>"The Black Grape" was the device roughly painted on the escutcheon of a
+tavern that served for rendezvous to all sorts of bandits, who at that
+season infested the city of Paris. Even the archers of the patrol held
+in awe the semi-underground cut-throats' resort. They never ventured
+into the tortuous and dark alley at about the middle of which the old
+sign of the Black Grape, well known by all the thieves, creaked and
+swung to the wind. Three men, seated at a table in one of the nooks of
+that haunt, were discussing some important project, judging from the
+mystery in which they wrapped their conversation. Pichrocholle, the
+Mauvais-Garçon, and his pal Grippe-Minaud, the Tire-Laine, who, several
+months before, had attended the sale of indulgences in St. Dominic's
+Church, were two of the interlocutors in the consultation they were for
+some time holding with Josephin, the Franc-Taupin. Strange
+transformation! The adventurer, once a man of imperturbable good nature,
+was unrecognizable. His now somber and even savage physiognomy revealed
+a rooted grief. He left his pot of wine untouched. What stronger
+evidence of his grief!<a name="page_vol-1-253" id="page_vol-1-253"></a></p>
+
+<p>"St. Cadouin!" said Pichrocholle with a tone and gesture of devout
+invocation. "We are here alone. You can now tell us what you want of us,
+Josephin."</p>
+
+<p>"Pichrocholle, I met you in the war&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I was an arquebusier in the company of Monsieur Monluc. I got
+tired of killing in battle, and without profit to myself, Italians,
+Spaniards, Swiss and Flemings, whom I did not know, and decided to kill
+for cash Frenchmen whom I did know. I became a Mauvais-Garçon. I now
+place my dagger and my sword at the service of whoever pays me. Tit for
+tat."</p>
+
+<p>"&#8217;Tis but to be a soldier, only in another manner," explained
+Grippe-Minaud. "But this trade requires a certain courage that I do not
+possess. I prefer to tackle honest bourgeois on their way home at night
+without any other weapon than&mdash;their lanthorns."</p>
+
+<p>"Pichrocholle," proceeded the Franc-Taupin, "I saved your life at the
+battle of Marignan. I extricated you from two lansquenets, who, but for
+my help, would have put you through a disagreeable quarter of an hour. I
+believe I bore myself as a true comrade."</p>
+
+<p>"St. Cadouin! Do you take me for an ingrate? If you have any service to
+ask of me, speak freely without fear of a refusal."</p>
+
+<p>"When I ran across you a few minutes ago, it occurred to me you were the
+man I needed&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Is it some enemy you wish to rid yourself of? All you have to do is to
+place me before him."</p>
+
+<p>Josephin shook his head negatively, and pointed with his<a name="page_vol-1-254" id="page_vol-1-254"></a> finger at his
+own long sword, that lay across the table before him. It would have been
+quite enough for such a contingency.</p>
+
+<p>"You are yourself able to rid yourself of an enemy," replied the
+Mauvais-Garçon. "I know it. What, then, is the job?"</p>
+
+<p>The Franc-Taupin proceeded with a tremulous voice while a tear rolled
+down from his eye:</p>
+
+<p>"Pichrocholle, I had a sister&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"How your voice trembles! You could not look any sadder. Pichrocholle,
+the pots are empty, and no money to fill them with!" said Grippe-Minaud.</p>
+
+<p>"'Sdeath, my sister!" cried the Franc-Taupin in despair. "There is a
+void in my heart that nothing can fill!" and he hid his face in his
+hands.</p>
+
+<p>"A void is useful when it is made in the purse of a bourgeois,"
+commented Grippe-Minaud, while his companion remarked:</p>
+
+<p>"Come, now, Josephin, you had a sister. Is it that you have lost her?
+Proceed with your story."</p>
+
+<p>"She is dead!" murmured the Franc-Taupin, gulping down a sob; but
+recovering, he added: "I still have a niece&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"A niece?" asked the Mauvais-Garçon. "Is it she we must help? Is she
+young and handsome&mdash;?"</p>
+
+<p>The bandit stopped short at the fierce look that the Franc-Taupin shot
+at him. Presently he resumed:</p>
+
+<p>"I knew you one time for a jollier fellow."</p>
+
+<p>"I laugh no more," rejoined the Franc-Taupin with a<a name="page_vol-1-255" id="page_vol-1-255"></a> sinister smile. "My
+cheerfulness is gone! But let us come to the point. My sister died in
+prison. I succeeded at least in being allowed to see her before she
+closed her eyes, and to receive her last wishes. She leaves behind three
+children&mdash;a girl and two boys, but the elder does not count."</p>
+
+<p>"How's that? Explain the mystery."</p>
+
+<p>"I am coming to that. My sister's daughter was seized and taken to the
+convent of the Augustinian sisters, where she is now detained."</p>
+
+<p>"St. Cadouin! What is there to complain about? To have a niece in a
+convent, is almost like having an angel on your side in paradise!"
+Saying which the Mauvais-Garçon crossed himself devoutly by carrying his
+thumb from his nose to his chin, and then across from one corner to the
+other of his mouth.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" exclaimed Grippe-Minaud, "And I have neither sister, daughter nor
+niece in a convent! They would pray for the remission of my sins. I
+could then be unconcerned for the hereafter, like a fish in the water!"</p>
+
+<p>"And their prayers would not cost you a denier!" added Pichrocholle with
+a sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, if only my daughter Mariotte had not run away at the age of
+fourteen with a jail-bird, she would now be in a convent, praying for
+her good father, the Tire-Laine! By the confession! That was the dream
+of my life," whereupon the thief crossed himself as the Mauvais-Garçon
+had done.</p>
+
+<p>The words of the two bandits suited the Franc-Taupin.<a name="page_vol-1-256" id="page_vol-1-256"></a> They were fresh
+proofs of the mixture of superstition and crime that marked the bandits'
+lives. Their fanaticism squared with his own projects. He proceeded with
+his story, to which his two comrades listened attentively:</p>
+
+<p>"My niece has no religious vocation. She was taken to the convent, and
+is held there by force. She must come out. Will you help me to carry her
+off?'</p>
+
+<p>"St. Cadouin!" cried the Mauvais-Garçon, terror stricken, and crossing
+himself anew. "That would be sacrilege!"</p>
+
+<p>"To violate a holy place!" came from Grippe-Minaud, who grew pale and
+crossed himself like Pichrocholle. "By the confession! My hair stands on
+end at the bare thought of such a thing!"</p>
+
+<p>Dumb and stupefied, the two brigands looked at each other with dilated
+eyes. The Franc-Taupin seemed in no wise disconcerted by their scruples.
+After a moment of silence he proceeded:</p>
+
+<p>"Mauvais-Garçons and Tire-Laines are good Catholics, I know. Therefore,
+be easy, my devout friends, I have the power to absolve you."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you going to make us believe you are an Apostolic Commissioner?"</p>
+
+<p>"What does it matter, provided I guarantee to you a plenary indulgence?
+Eh, comrades!"</p>
+
+<p>"You&mdash;you&mdash;Josephin? You are mocking us! And yet you claim you have lost
+your taste for mirth!"</p>
+
+<p>Separated from the two thieves by the full length of the table, the
+Franc-Taupin placed his sword between his legs,<a name="page_vol-1-257" id="page_vol-1-257"></a> planted his bare dagger
+close before him, and then drew a parchment out of the pocket of his
+spacious hose. It was Hervé's letter of absolution, which the
+Franc-Taupin had picked up from the threshold of his sister's house when
+the Lebrenn family was arrested. He unfolded the apostolic schedule; and
+holding it open in plain view of both the brigands, he said to them:</p>
+
+<p>"Look and read&mdash;you can read."</p>
+
+<p>"A letter of absolution!" exclaimed the Mauvais-Garçon and the
+Tire-Laine, with eyes that glistened with greed as they carefully ran
+over the parchment. "It bears the seals, the signatures&mdash;there is
+nothing lacking!"</p>
+
+<p>"I saw day before yesterday a schedule like that in the hands of the
+Count of St. Mexin, who paid me two ducats to dispatch a certain fat
+advocate, a husband who stands in the way of the love affairs of the
+advocatess with the young seigneur," said the Mauvais-Garçon.</p>
+
+<p>"By the confession!" cried Grippe-Minaud, re-crossing himself. "The
+letter is complete! It gives remission even for <i>reserved cases</i>. Thanks
+to this absolution, one can do anything! Anything, without danger to his
+soul!"</p>
+
+<p>After reading and contemplating with ecstasies the apostolic schedule,
+the two bandits exchanged a rapid and meaning look, which, however, did
+not escape the Franc-Taupin, thoroughly on his guard as he was. He drew
+back quickly, rose from his seat, dashed the precious parchment back
+into his pocket, took a few steps away from the table, and standing
+erect, his right foot forward, his sword<a name="page_vol-1-258" id="page_vol-1-258"></a> in one hand, his dagger in the
+other, thus addressed the two desperadoes:</p>
+
+<p>"By the bowels of St. Quenet, my lads! I knew you for too good a brace
+of Catholics not to wish to stab me to death in order to get possession
+of this absolving schedule, which remits all past, present and future
+crimes. Come on, my dare-devils, I have only one eye left, but it is a
+good one!"</p>
+
+<p>"You are crazy! It is not right to mistrust an old friend that way,"
+expostulated Pichrocholle. "You misunderstood our intentions."</p>
+
+<p>"We only wanted to examine more closely that blessed and priceless
+letter," added the Tire-Laine. "By the confession! Happy man that you
+are to possess such a treasure!" and he crossed himself. "Saints of
+paradise, but grant me such a windfall, and I shall burn twenty wax
+candles come Candlemas!"</p>
+
+<p>"It depends upon you whether you shall own this treasure or not,"
+proceeded the adventurer. "I shall give you this letter of absolution,
+if you help me, to-night, to carry off my niece from the convent of the
+Augustinian sisters. By virtue of this apostolic schedule, you will be
+absolved of all your sins&mdash;past, present and future, and of this night's
+sacrilege for good measure. Thenceforth, you will be privileged fairly
+to swim in crime, without concern for your souls, as Pichrocholle just
+said. Paradise will then be guaranteed to you!"</p>
+
+<p>"But," remarked the Mauvais-Garçon, shaking his head, "this letter
+absolves only one Christian&mdash;we are two."<a name="page_vol-1-259" id="page_vol-1-259"></a></p>
+
+<p>"The job being done, you will cast dice for the schedule," Josephin
+answered readily. "There will be one to lose and one to gain. The
+chances are equal for you both."</p>
+
+<p>The two bandits consulted each other with their eyes. Pichrocholle spoke
+up:</p>
+
+<p>"But how do you come into possession of that letter? Those absolutions
+are the most expensive. St. Cadouin! The least that they cost, I hear,
+is twenty-five gold crowns."</p>
+
+<p>"It is none of your business from whom I hold the schedule. 'Sdeath, my
+sister! All the gold in the world will not pay for the tears that piece
+of parchment has caused to flow!" answered the Franc-Taupin, whose
+visage expressed a profound grief as he thought of the revelations
+Bridget made to him about Hervé.</p>
+
+<p>Recovering his composure the adventurer added:</p>
+
+<p>"Will you, yes or no, both of you, lend me a strong hand to-night, in
+order to carry off my niece from the convent of the Augustinian sisters,
+and for another expedition? It is a double game we have to play."</p>
+
+<p>"St. Cadouin! We are to make two strokes. You never told us about
+that&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"The second expedition is but child's play. To seize a little casket."</p>
+
+<p>"What does the casket contain?" queried the Tire-Laine, all interest.</p>
+
+<p>"Only papers," answered the Franc-Taupin, "besides a few trinkets of no
+value. Moreover, seeing you are scrupulous Catholics, I shall add, for
+the sake of the peace of your souls, that the casket which I wish to
+recover, was<a name="page_vol-1-260" id="page_vol-1-260"></a> stolen from my brother-in-law. You will be aiding a
+restitution."</p>
+
+<p>"Josephin, you are trying to deceive us!" remarked the Mauvais-Garçon.
+"People do not attach so much importance to a bunch of papers and
+worthless trinkets."</p>
+
+<p>"When the casket is in our possession you may open it&mdash;if there be any
+valuables in it, they shall be yours."</p>
+
+<p>"There is nothing to say to that," rejoined Pichrocholle, looking at the
+Tire-Laine. "That's fair, eh? We shall accept the proposition."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite fair," returned the latter. "But let us proceed in order. The
+abduction of the nun&mdash;by the navel of the Pope! I shiver at the bare
+thought. Should the cast of the dice not give me the letter of
+absolution, I remain guilty of a sacrilege!"</p>
+
+<p>"That is your risk," answered the Franc-Taupin; "but if you gain the
+indulgence&mdash;there you are, my Catholic brother, safe for all eternity,
+whatever crimes you may commit."</p>
+
+<p>"By the limbs of Satan! I know that well enough! It is that very thing
+that lures me."</p>
+
+<p>"And me too," put in the other brigand. "But how are we to manage things
+in order to enter the convent?"</p>
+
+<p>"I shall explain my plan to you. My brother-in-law is in hiding for fear
+of being arrested. My niece, who was taken to the Augustinian Convent,
+was compelled to take the vows to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I had gone, as latterly I often get into the humor of<a name="page_vol-1-261" id="page_vol-1-261"></a> doing, and
+planted myself before my sister's house&mdash;and dreamed."</p>
+
+<p>"To what end?"</p>
+
+<p>"In order to contemplate that poor house, deserted to-day, and where,
+every time I returned from the country, Bridget, her husband and her
+children gave me a pleasant reception. You devout fellows talk of
+paradise. That house was a paradise to me. So that, even to-day, I
+roamed into the neighborhood as an erring soul, my eyes fastened upon
+that closed window where I had so often seen the dear faces of my sister
+and her daughter smiling upon me when I knocked at their door&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The expression on the face, the tone of the voice of the Franc-Taupin,
+touched even the two bandits, hardened men though they were. Josephin
+smothered a sob and proceeded:</p>
+
+<p>"As I was saying a short while ago, I was roaming around the house when
+I saw a monk approaching me. Oh, a good monk! So pale, so worn that I
+had trouble to recognize him. But he, although he had met me only once,
+recognized me by my port and by the plaster on my eye. He asked me
+whether he could have a speedy word with my sister, or my
+brother-in-law. 'My sister is dead, and my brother-in-law is in hiding,'
+I answered the monk. He thereupon informed me that my niece was locked
+up in the convent of the Augustinian sisters, where he, an Augustinian
+monk, was her confessor; that, himself subjected several months to a
+rigorous sequestration, he had only just succeeded in coming out, seeing
+that the surveillance<a name="page_vol-1-262" id="page_vol-1-262"></a> under which he was held had somewhat begun to
+relax. Poor monk, he looked so wan, so emaciated, so feeble that he
+could hardly keep himself on his feet. Uninformed concerning the
+misfortunes of our family, his errand was to impart to the parents of my
+niece what he knew about her. He ran the risk, in the event of his
+outing being discovered, of being pursued and punished. I took him to
+the place where my brother-in-law has found a safe retreat. On the way
+thither I learned the following from the monk: My niece took the veil
+to-day. According to the custom in such cases, she is to pass the night
+alone in prayer in the oratory of the Virgin, which is separated from
+the church of the convent by an enclosure of the cloister. Now,
+attention, my lads, to the directions that the monk gave me. The walls
+of the court-yard of the chapel run along St. Benoit's Alley. Just
+before sunset, I went over the place and examined the walls. They are
+not very high. We can easily scale them, while one of us will keep watch
+on the outside."</p>
+
+<p>"That shall be I!" broke in Grippe-Minaud nervously. "That post for me!
+I have the eye of a lynx and the ear of a mole!"</p>
+
+<p>"You shall be the watcher. Pichrocholle and I shall scale the wall. The
+monk will be waiting for me near the chapel, ready to aid us should
+anyone attempt to oppose my niece's abduction. I shall find her in the
+oratory; she will follow me; we shall force open one of the garden
+gates; and before dawn I shall have the daughter with her father, who is
+in perfect safety. Immediately after, it<a name="page_vol-1-263" id="page_vol-1-263"></a> will then be just early dawn,
+we shall undertake the second expedition."</p>
+
+<p>"The casket that we are to take?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing easier. We shall go, all three, to Montaigu College, and shall
+ask the porter for the number of Abbot Lefevre's chamber. He is the
+thief of the casket."</p>
+
+<p>"Horns of Moses!" cried Grippe-Minaud crossing himself. "An Abbot! To
+raise our hands against another anointed of the Lord!"</p>
+
+<p>"Two sacrileges in one day!" added the Mauvais-Garçon shaking his head
+thoughtfully. "That weighs heavy on one's conscience."</p>
+
+<p>"What about the letter of absolution!" interjected the Franc-Taupin
+impatiently. "By the devil, whose frying pan you are afraid of, my
+precious Catholics! Have you faith&mdash;yes or no?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's so," responded Pichrocholle, "there is the schedule of
+absolution. It covers us! Thanks to its beneficent virtue, one of us
+shall be white as the inside of a snowball."</p>
+
+<p>"Accordingly," the Franc-Taupin proceeded, "we shall ask for Abbot
+Lefevre, under the pretext of some urgent matter that we must
+communicate to him; we go up to his room; we knock at the door. Our man
+will still be in bed. We throw ourselves upon him. You two bind and gag
+him. I shall look for the casket in question&mdash;and shall find it. I am
+certain of that. We then tie our Abbot to the bed, keeping him gagged
+all the while, lest he scream and give<a name="page_vol-1-264" id="page_vol-1-264"></a> the alarm. We close the door
+after us&mdash;and we make tracks for the nearest place of safety."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that would be the merest child's play, provided no priest were
+concerned," broke in the Tire-Laine; "besides the abduction of your
+niece, the violation of a sanctuary!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yesterday I despatched my seventh man," put in the Mauvais-Garçon.
+"Accordingly, my conscience is not very well at ease, because, to obtain
+absolution for a murder, I would have to pay more than the murder
+fetches me. But a lay murder is but a peccadillo beside a
+sacrilege!&mdash;And then, if after the expedition that you propose to us,
+the dice should fail to give me the apostolic schedule? What then! St.
+Cadouin! I would dream only of the eternal flames ever after."</p>
+
+<p>"That is your risk," again replied Josephin imperturbably. "The hour
+approaches. Have you decided? Is it yes? Is it no? Must I look for
+assistance elsewhere?"</p>
+
+<p>"When will you deliver the letter to us?"</p>
+
+<p>"Just as soon as my niece is safely with her father, and the casket is
+in my hands. Agreed?"</p>
+
+<p>"And if you deceive us? If after the expeditions have been successfully
+carried out, you refuse to deliver the letter to us?"</p>
+
+<p>"By the bowels of St. Quenet! And if, taking advantage of a moment when
+I may not be on my guard, you should stab me to-night, that you may
+seize the letter before rendering me the services which I expect of you?
+The risks are equal, and compensate each other. Enough of words!"<a name="page_vol-1-265" id="page_vol-1-265"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Josephin, such a suspicion against me&mdash;me your old comrade in
+arms!"</p>
+
+<p>"By the confession! To take us&mdash;us who have drunk out of the same pot,
+for capable of so unworthy an action!"</p>
+
+<p>"God's blood! Night draws near. We shall need some time to prepare for
+the escalade," ejaculated the Franc-Taupin. "For the last time&mdash;yes or
+no?"</p>
+
+<p>The two bandits consulted each other for a moment with their eyes. At
+the end of the consultation Pichrocholle reached out his hand to the
+Franc-Taupin, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Upon the word of a Mauvais-Garçon, and by the salvation of my
+soul&mdash;'tis done! You can count with me to the death."</p>
+
+<p>"Upon the word of a Tire-Laine, and by the salvation of my soul&mdash;'tis
+done! You may dispose of me."</p>
+
+<p>"To work!" ordered the Franc-Taupin.</p>
+
+<p>Josephin left the tavern of the Black Grape accompanied by the two
+bandits.<a name="page_vol-1-266" id="page_vol-1-266"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_vol-1-XVII" id="CHAPTER_vol-1-XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.<br />
+<br />THE COTTAGE OF ROBERT ESTIENNE.</h3>
+
+<p>The cottage or country-house, that Robert Estienne owned near St. Ouen,
+on the St. Denis road, was located in a secluded spot, and at a
+considerable distance from the village. The byroad which led to the
+entrance of the residence ran upon a gate of grated iron near a little
+lodge occupied by the gardener and his wife. The principal dwelling rose
+in the center of a garden enclosed by a wall. The day after that on
+which the Franc-Taupin, the Mauvais-Garçon and the Tire-Laine held their
+conference at the tavern of the Black Grape, Michael, Robert Estienne's
+gardener, having returned from the field late in the afternoon, and
+being not a little out of sorts at not finding his wife Alison at their
+home, the key of which she had carried away with her, was grumbling,
+storming and blowing upon his fingers numb with the December chill.
+Finally his wife, no doubt returning from the village, hove in sight,
+and wended her way towards the gate.</p>
+
+<p>"Where the devil did you go to?" Michael called out to Alison as he saw
+her from a distance. "Could you not at least have left the key in the
+door? The devil take those forgetful women!"<a name="page_vol-1-267" id="page_vol-1-267"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I went&mdash;to confession," answered the gardener's wife avoiding her
+husband's eyes, and pushing open the gate. "I took the key with me
+because you were afield."</p>
+
+<p>"To confession!&mdash;To confession!" replied Michael with a growl. "And I
+was freezing to death."</p>
+
+<p>"All the same I must see to my salvation. You sent me this morning with
+a letter to our master. The curate was good enough to wait for me at the
+confessional after dinner. I availed myself of his kindness."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well. But, may the devil take it! I wish you would try to gain
+paradise without exposing me to be frozen to death."</p>
+
+<p>The couple had barely stepped into the lodge when Michael stopped to
+listen in the direction of the gate and said, surprisedly:</p>
+
+<p>"I hear the gallop of a horse!"</p>
+
+<p>The brave Michael stepped out again, looked through the grating of the
+gate, recognized Robert Estienne, and called out:</p>
+
+<p>"Alison, come quick; it is our master!"</p>
+
+<p>Saying this the gardener threw open the gate to Robert Estienne. The
+latter alighted from his horse, and giving the reins to his servant
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"Good evening, Michael. Any news?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, monsieur, many things&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Does my guest run any danger? Has any indiscretion been committed?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, thanks to God, monsieur. You may be easy on that score. You can
+rely upon my wife as upon myself.<a name="page_vol-1-268" id="page_vol-1-268"></a> No one suspects at the village that
+there is anyone hiding at the house."</p>
+
+<p>"What, then, has happened, since my last call? Alison brought me this
+morning a note from the friend to whom I am giving asylum. But although
+the note urged my coming here, it indicated nothing serious."</p>
+
+<p>"No doubt the person who is here, monsieur, reserves for his own telling
+the news that he is no longer alone at the house."</p>
+
+<p>"How is that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Day before yesterday, the tall one-eyed fellow who comes here from time
+to time, and always at night, called in broad daylight, mounted upon a
+little cart, drawn by a donkey and filled with straw. He told me to
+watch the cart, and he went in search of your guest. The two came out
+together, and out of the straw in the cart they pulled&mdash;a monk!"</p>
+
+<p>"A monk, say you!&mdash;A monk!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monsieur, a young monk of the Order of Saint Augustine, who looked
+as if he had not another hour to live, so pale and weak was he."</p>
+
+<p>"And what has become of him?"</p>
+
+<p>"He remained here, and your guest said to me: 'Michael, I beg you to
+keep the arrival of the monk an absolute secret. I shall inform Monsieur
+Estienne of the occurrence. Your master will approve the measures I have
+taken.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Did you follow his recommendation?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monsieur, but that is not all. Last night the big one-eyed fellow
+came back just before dawn. He was on<a name="page_vol-1-269" id="page_vol-1-269"></a> horseback, and behind him,
+wrapped in a cloak on the crupper of his mount, he brought&mdash;a nun! I
+went immediately to notify your guest. He came out running, and almost
+fainted away at the sight of the nun. Bathed in tears he returned with
+her into the house, while the big one-eyed man rode off at a gallop. It
+was daylight by that time. Finally, towards noon to-day, the big
+one-eyed man returned once more, but this time clad in a peasant's
+blouse and cap. He brought a little casket to your guest, and then went
+off&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Astounded at what the gardener was telling him, Robert Estienne walked
+up to the house, where he rapped in the nature of a signal&mdash;two short
+raps and then, after a short pause, a third. Instantly Christian opened
+the door.</p>
+
+<p>"My friend, what is the matter? What has happened?" cried Robert
+Estienne, struck by the profound change in the appearance of the
+artisan, who threw himself into the arms of his patron, murmuring
+between half-smothered sobs:</p>
+
+<p>"My daughter!&mdash;My daughter!"</p>
+
+<p>Robert Estienne returned Christian's convulsive embrace, and under the
+impression that some irreparable misfortune had happened, he said in
+sympathetic accents:</p>
+
+<p>"Courage, my friend! Courage!"</p>
+
+<p>"She has been found!" cried Christian. The light of unspeakable joy
+shone in his eyes. "My child has been restored to me! She is here! She
+is with me!"</p>
+
+<p>"True?" asked Robert Estienne, and recalling the gardener's words he
+added: "Was she the nun?"<a name="page_vol-1-270" id="page_vol-1-270"></a></p>
+
+<p>"It is Hena herself! But come, come, monsieur; my heart overflows with
+joy. My head swims. Oh, never have I needed your wise counsel as much as
+now! What am I now to do?"</p>
+
+<p>Christian and his patron had all this while remained at the entrance of
+the vestibule. They walked into a contiguous apartment.</p>
+
+<p>"For heaven's sake, my dear Christian, be calm," remarked Robert
+Estienne. "Let me know what has happened. Needless to add that my advice
+and friendship are at your service."</p>
+
+<p>Recovering his composure, and wiping with the back of his hand the tears
+that inundated his face, the artisan proceeded to explain:</p>
+
+<p>"You are aware of the arrest of my wife, my daughter and my eldest son
+at our house. I would also have been arrested had I been found at home.
+My brother-in-law, who lingered in the neighborhood of my house,
+notified me of the danger I ran, and made me retrace my steps. Thanks to
+Josephin and yourself I found a safe refuge, first in Paris itself, and
+then here, in this retreat which seemed to you to offer greater
+security."</p>
+
+<p>"Did I not by all that but repay a debt of gratitude? Your hospitality
+to John Calvin is probably the principal cause of the persecution that
+you and your family have been the victims of. Despite my pressing
+solicitations, Princess Marguerite, whose influence alone has hitherto
+protected me against my enemies, declined to attempt aught in your
+behalf. Cardinal Duprat said to her:<a name="page_vol-1-271" id="page_vol-1-271"></a> 'Madam, the man in whom you are
+interesting yourself is one of the bitterest enemies of the King and the
+Church. If we succeed in laying hands upon that Christian Lebrenn he
+shall not escape the gallows, which he has long deserved!' Such set
+animosity towards you, a workingman and obscure artisan, passes my
+comprehension."</p>
+
+<p>"I now know the cause of that bitter animosity, Monsieur Estienne.
+Before proceeding with my narrative, the revelation is due to you. It
+may have its bearings upon the advice that I expect from you."</p>
+
+<p>Christian opened the casket that contained the chronicles of his family,
+brought to him that very noon by the Franc-Taupin. He took from the
+casket a scroll of paper and placed it in Robert Estienne's hand,
+saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Kindly read this, monsieur. The manuscripts to which this note refers
+are the family chronicles that I have occasionally spoken of to you."</p>
+
+<p>Robert Estienne took the note and read:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p class="c">"I<small>GNATIUS</small> L<small>OYOLA</small>, G<small>ENERAL OF THE</small> S<small>OCIETY OF</small> J<small>ESUS</small>
+<br />
+"A. M. D. G.<br />
+"(<i>Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam</i>)</p>
+
+<p>"Despite the incorrectness of their style and other defects of
+form, the within manuscripts may, especially since the invention of
+the printing press, become a weapon of great mischief.</p>
+
+<p>"This narrative, transmitted from century to century at the
+domestic hearth to obscure generations of common people could not,
+before the invention of the printing press, have any evil effect
+further than to perpetuate execrable traditions within a single
+family. It is so no longer. These rhapsodies are stamped with the
+race hatred borne by the Gauls towards the Franks,<a name="page_vol-1-272" id="page_vol-1-272"></a> the conquered
+towards the conquerors, the serf towards the seigneur, the subject
+towards the Crown and the Church. To-day these rhapsodies could be
+multiplied indefinitely through the printing press, and thus
+diffused among the evil-minded people, ever but too prone to
+rebellion against the pontifical and royal authorities. Enlightened
+by these narratives upon historical events that should forever be a
+<i>closed book</i> to them, if they are to entertain a feeling of blind
+submission, a sense of respect, and a wholesome dread for the
+throne and the altar, the evil-minded common people would in the
+future engage with ever greater audacity in those revolts that not
+a single century has hitherto been wholly free from,&mdash;a state of
+things that the Society of Jesus, with the aid of God, will reduce
+to order.</p>
+
+<p>"Therefore, it is urgent that these manuscripts be destroyed
+without delay, as proposed by our beloved son Lefevre, and that the
+traditions of the <i>Lebrenn</i> family be shattered by the following
+means:</p>
+
+<p>"To cause the father and mother to be sentenced as heretics. The
+proofs of their heresy are plentiful. The torture and the pyre for
+the infamous wretches.</p>
+
+<p>"To lock up in a convent the son and the daughter (Hena and Hervé)
+now in Paris, and compel them to take the vows.</p>
+
+<p>"As to the youngest son, Odelin, fifteen years of age, and at
+present traveling in Italy with Master Raimbaud, an armorer, who is
+also reported to be a heretic, the return of the lad to Paris must
+be awaited, and then the identical course pursued towards
+him&mdash;capture him, lock him up in a convent, and compel him to take
+the vows. He is fifteen years old. Despite the taint of his early
+bringing-up, it will be easy to operate upon a child of that age.
+If, contrary to all likelihood, he can not be reduced to reason, he
+shall be kept in the convent until eighteen. Then he shall be
+pronounced guilty of heresy, and burned alive.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I insist</i>&mdash;it is important, not only to destroy the said
+manuscripts, but also to shatter the traditions of the Lebrenn
+family, and extinguish the same, either by delivering it to the
+secular arm on crimes of heresy, or by burying its last scions
+forever in the shadow of the cloister.<a name="page_vol-1-273" id="page_vol-1-273"></a></p>
+
+<p>"The fact must be kept well in mind&mdash;there is no such thing as
+small enemies. The slightest of causes often produces great
+effects. At a given moment, on the occasion of a rebellion, one
+resolute man may be enough to carry the populace with him. Due to
+its secular traditions, the Lebrenn family might produce such a
+man. Such an eventuality must be prevented; the family must be
+uprooted.</p>
+
+<p>"If, supposing the impossible, the measures herein indicated should
+fail of success, if this dangerous stock should perpetuate itself,
+then, it is necessary that our ORDER, equally perpetual, always
+keep its eye upon these <i>Lebrenns</i>, who are certain to generate
+infamous scoundrels.</p>
+
+<p>"The instance of this family is one instance among the thousand
+that go to prove the necessity of the register I have often
+mentioned. I <span class="smcap">order</span> that one be kept in each division by the
+provincial of our Society. I <span class="smcap">order</span> that the names of the families
+upon whom the attention of our Society should be particularly
+directed, be inscribed in these registers. These records, preserved
+and transmitted from century to century, will furnish our Society
+the means of surveillance and of action upon future generations.
+Such is my will.</p>
+
+<p>"Our beloved son Lefevre will therefore start the register for the
+<i>province of France</i> by entering in it the name of the <i>Lebrenn</i>
+family. There shall also be entered the names of <i>Robert Estienne</i>,
+of <i>Gaspard of Coligny</i>, of the <i>Prince of Gerolstein</i>, of
+<i>Ambroise Paré</i>, of <i>Clement Marot</i>, of <i>Bernard Palissy</i>, of the
+<i>Viscount of Plouernel</i> and of others, too numerous to recite at
+this place, but who will be found on the heretics' lists furnished
+by Gainier to the Criminal Lieutenant, who shall furnish the said
+documents without delay to our beloved son Lefevre, whom may God
+guard.</p>
+
+<p class="r">"I. L."</p></div>
+
+<p>"Ignatius Loyola!" explained Christian translating the initials I and L
+pronounced by Robert Estienne, who gazed upon the artisan dumbfounded.
+The latter pro<a name="page_vol-1-274" id="page_vol-1-274"></a>ceeded with a mournful and bitter tone: "The orders of
+Ignatius Loyola were followed. My wife&mdash;" and he choked a sob, "my wife
+was arrested and imprisoned for a heretic. Blessed be Thou, Oh, God! she
+died in prison. Her death saved her, no doubt, from the stake! My
+daughter was taken to the convent of the Augustinian sisters, where the
+poor child was yesterday compelled to pronounce eternal vows. My son
+Hervé&mdash;Oh, the monster no longer deserves to be called a son&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"What is there against him?"</p>
+
+<p>"A letter of my daughter, written to her mother, whose death she was not
+aware of, put me on the scent of a horrible secret. This morning I
+questioned my brother-in-law, who, happier than I, had the opportunity
+of seeing Bridget in her prison. He unveiled to me a distressful
+mystery&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Proceed with your tale, my friend."</p>
+
+<p>Wiping away the cold perspiration that bathed his forehead, the artisan
+went on to say: "Hervé entered the Convent of the Cordeliers, not
+against his will, but joyfully! He will not part from Fra Girard, the
+demon who led him astray. They are now waiting for my son Odelin to
+return from Italy. Alas, the boy is on his way to Paris and I have not
+been able to notify Master Raimbaud of what has happened, not knowing
+where to address a letter to him. They will fall into the hands of our
+enemies."</p>
+
+<p>"Just heavens!" exclaimed Robert Estienne, struck by a sudden thought
+and breaking in upon Christian. "There can be no doubt about it. A
+minute ago, as I listened to<a name="page_vol-1-275" id="page_vol-1-275"></a> your account of how the orders of Ignatius
+Loyola were followed, I wondered how&mdash;even in these sad days when the
+freedom and lives of our citizens are at the mercy of the good or ill
+will of Cardinal Duprat and his agent, the Criminal Lieutenant, John
+Morin&mdash;I wondered how the plot concocted against your whole family could
+be executed with such rapidity. I now wonder no longer. Ignatius Loyola
+exercises a powerful influence over the Cardinal, who has joined the
+Society of Jesus."</p>
+
+<p>"Is, then, the Society of Jesus already so highly connected?"</p>
+
+<p>"No doubt about it! When I went to entreat the intercession of Princess
+Marguerite in behalf of Mary La Catelle, John Dubourg, Laforge and
+others of our friends, my protectress inquired from me whether I knew a
+certain nobleman, still young of years and lame of foot, who almost
+every day held protracted conferences with the Cardinal, over whom he
+wielded an absolute sway. Thanks to the information I had from you, I
+was able to enlighten the Princess concerning the chief of the new Order
+of Jesuits. It is evident that it was with the connivance of the
+Cardinal that Ignatius Loyola was enabled to smite your family. But what
+I could not yet understand was the reason that drove that man to pursue
+you with such inveteracy and to aim at your very life."</p>
+
+<p>"Ignatius Loyola undoubtedly does not pardon my having surprised the
+secret of his Order. Lefevre, one of his disciples and a former friend
+of mine, saw me on the occasion of that fatal night concealed behind a
+big boulder<a name="page_vol-1-276" id="page_vol-1-276"></a> at the bottom of the quarry. He affected not to notice me,
+in order not to awaken my suspicions, and the very next day he led the
+archers of the patrol to my house, seized my family papers, with which I
+had made him acquainted, and climbed to the garret, where, finding some
+scraps of letters left behind him by John Calvin, he must by those means
+have been put upon the track of the council of the reformers held at
+Montmartre. Only an hour or two after the arrival of our co-religionists
+the quarry was invaded by the archers."</p>
+
+<p>"But how did your family chronicles and the note about them fall back
+into your hands?"</p>
+
+<p>"Also through the efforts of my wife's brother, the soldier of adventure
+I have often spoken of to you. Josephin, that is my brother-in-law's
+name, was going to our house when Bridget and my children were arrested.
+He saw them taken away. He also saw a man, clad in a black frock, with
+the cowl over his head, carry off the casket that contained our legends.
+That man was my friend Lefevre. Once out of my house, and no longer
+deeming it necessary to conceal his face, he raised his cowl and
+Josephin recognized him. The discovery was a revelation to me. That
+night my brother-in-law could not attempt to free my wife and children
+from the hands of the archers. He remained in the neighborhood on the
+watch for me. It was by him I was apprized of the arrest of my family.
+At length, yesterday, having encountered near my house an Augustinian
+monk, who left the convent surreptitiously, he learned from him that my
+daughter had been<a name="page_vol-1-277" id="page_vol-1-277"></a> made to take the veil. Once posted upon where Hena
+was to be found, the Franc-Taupin decided to abduct her from the
+cloister, helped therein by two other resolute fellows. He succeeded in
+the perilous undertaking. Finally, having no doubt that the casket
+containing my family chronicles was in Lefevre's possession, he repaired
+early in the morning to Montaigu College with his two trusty companions,
+and took away from the Jesuit the casket in which, jointly with our
+family chronicles, was the note of Ignatius Loyola. These he brought to
+me at noon to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"What devotion! Thanks to the brave adventurer, your daughter is
+restored to you! The monk to whom you have extended hospitality is, I
+suppose, the same who escaped from the convent, and placed the
+Franc-Taupin in position to deliver your daughter. The situation begins
+to look less dangerous."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Monsieur Estienne. And now I implore you, lighten my path with
+your advice. My head swims. I am a prey to cruel perplexities."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you afraid your daughter may be traced to this house?"</p>
+
+<p>"That fear is terrible enough, but is not what troubles me most."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it that troubles you?"</p>
+
+<p>Christian sobbed aloud: "You do not yet know all. The monk is Brother
+St. Ernest-Martyr."</p>
+
+<p>"He is a true disciple of Christ! Often did Mary La Catelle tell me he
+inclined towards the Reformation."</p>
+
+<p>"Listen, Monsieur Estienne. The monk was hardly in<a name="page_vol-1-278" id="page_vol-1-278"></a> the house, where he
+arrived worn to a skeleton by a slow fever, when he lost consciousness.
+I gave him all the care I could. I divested him of his frock, laid him
+in my bed, and watched over him. A few leaves of paper dropped out of
+his clothes. I picked them up. As I ran my eyes over them I read the
+name of my daughter. I admit that I yielded to an impulse of curiosity,
+blameworthy, perhaps, but irresistible. I opened the leaves. What a
+discovery!"</p>
+
+<p>"The leaves of paper&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Contained fragments of a sort of diary, to which the thoughts of the
+young monk were confided. From them I learned that he was chosen for the
+confessor and instructor of my daughter at the convent of the
+Augustinian sisters&mdash;and he became enamored of her. He loves Hena to
+distraction!"</p>
+
+<p>"Does he know you to be aware of his secret?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. When he recovered consciousness he saw the fragments of his
+journal in my hands. He uttered a cry of fear. 'Be calm,' I said to him;
+'it is the soul of an honest man that stands reflected in these
+revelations. I can only pity you.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Is your daughter here in the house with him?"</p>
+
+<p>"My daughter," answered Christian, turning to Robert Estienne a face
+bathed in tears, "my daughter is not aware of the young monk's
+passion&mdash;and, in her turn, she loves him."</p>
+
+<p>"Unhappy child!"</p>
+
+<p>"Her love is killing her. It was one of the reasons that<a name="page_vol-1-279" id="page_vol-1-279"></a> decided her to
+take the veil. She has told me all, with her natural candor."</p>
+
+<p>"Have Hena and the young monk met since they are here?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. The poor young man&mdash;his name was Ernest Rennepont before he took
+orders&mdash;the moment he learned from me of my daughter's presence in the
+house, wanted to deliver himself forthwith to the Superior of his Order,
+lest we be all taken for accomplices in his flight. I firmly objected to
+his determination, seeing it meant the loss of his life."</p>
+
+<p>"Then these young folks are unaware that their love is reciprocated?"</p>
+
+<p>"It will be her death, Monsieur Estienne, it will be her death! I lose
+my head endeavoring to find a way out of this tangle of ills. What am I
+to do? What shall I decide? I asked you to come to me without saying
+why, because I rely upon your great wisdom. You may, perhaps, be able to
+light the chaos of these afflictions which cause me to stagger with
+despair. I see only pitfalls and perils around us."</p>
+
+<p>Christian paused.</p>
+
+<p>Robert Estienne remained a few minutes steeped in silent reflection.</p>
+
+<p>"My friend," said the latter, "you know the life of Luther as well as I.
+That great reformer, a monk like Ernest Rennepont, and, like him, one
+time full of faith in the Roman Church, withdrew from her fold on
+account<a name="page_vol-1-280" id="page_vol-1-280"></a> of the scandals that he witnessed. Do you think Ernest
+Rennepont is ready to embrace the Reformation?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know his intentions in that regard. But when he saw I was
+informed of his love for Hena, he exclaimed: 'Miserable monk that I am,
+by loving Hena I have committed a crime in the eyes of the Church. And
+yet, God is my witness, the purity of my love would do honor to any
+upright man, not condemned to celibacy.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Let us return to Luther. That reformer always took the stand with
+irresistible logic against the celibacy of clergymen&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Great God!" cried Christian breaking in upon Robert Estienne. "What
+recollections your words awaken in my memory! The fragments of the diary
+written by the unfortunate monk mention a dream in which he saw himself
+a pastor of the Evangelical religion, and husband of Hena, giving, like
+herself, instruction to little children."</p>
+
+<p>"Why should not Ernest Rennepont conform his conduct with the precepts
+of Luther?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, monsieur!" murmured Christian, carrying both his hands to his
+burning temples. "Hope and doubt disturb my reason. I dare not give
+myself over to such a thought, out of fear that I be miserably
+disillusioned. And yet, your words bear the stamp of wisdom and good
+will."</p>
+
+<p>"My friend, let us reason calmly. Control your anxiety for a moment. The
+young monk is a man of heart; we may not doubt that. Has not his conduct
+during these recent circumstances increased your affection for him?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is true. I esteem him greatly."<a name="page_vol-1-281" id="page_vol-1-281"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Does not, as he expressed it, his pure and noble love for Hena do honor
+to any upright man?"</p>
+
+<p>"I firmly believe so after reading the pages which Ernest Rennepont
+believed he wrote for none but his own eyes."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, my friend, let us suppose he embraces the reformed religion. His
+knowledge, his good habits and his liking for teaching little
+children&mdash;all that would render him worthy of being a minister of the
+new church. I feel almost certain our friend would present his name with
+joy to our brothers for election, and these will acclaim him their
+pastor. Never could the Evangelical word have a worthier interpreter."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Monsieur Estienne, have mercy! Do not cheer my heart with such
+supreme hopes, destined, perhaps, to be dashed."</p>
+
+<p>"Alas, you have suffered so much, that I can well understand your
+hesitation to foster a consoling hope. But reflect an instant, and you
+will admit that the hope is in no wise an exaggerated one. Let us sum
+up&mdash;Ernest Rennepont renounces his Order, embraces the Reformation, is
+chosen a pastor, and he can then contract marriage. Granting all this,
+do you not believe your daughter will consent to the union, if you
+approve of it?"</p>
+
+<p>"She is dying of that fatal love, believing herself separated from
+Ernest Rennepont by an unbridgeable chasm of impossibilities. She surely
+would not refuse to wed the man she loves."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, my friend, what other obstacles do you see? Do not these
+expectations, so far from being deceptive, be<a name="page_vol-1-282" id="page_vol-1-282"></a>come certainties? Does not
+the grief of the unfortunate couple change into ineffable bliss? You
+remain worried, dejected."</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur Estienne, the project is too beautiful!"</p>
+
+<p>"Christian! How can you, a man of sense and firmness, succumb to such
+weakness of spirit!"</p>
+
+<p>"The death of my wife, the lamentable position in which my beloved
+daughter finds herself, the crime of the wretch whom I can no longer
+call my son&mdash;so many sorrows, heaped one upon the other, have cracked
+the springs of my soul. I feel myself overwhelmed and nerveless."</p>
+
+<p>"And yet, at no time have you been in greater need of energy. You say,
+my friend, that the plan is too beautiful? But, should it be realized,
+do you not still run grave dangers? Do you forget that your freedom and
+life are both threatened? Do you forget that, at this very hour, they
+are seeking to track Ernest Rennepont and your daughter? Regain courage
+with the hope of triumphing over your enemies. We must carry on the
+struggle without truce or let."</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks, Monsieur Estienne; thanks! Your words comfort me. Yes;
+nevertheless, the plan you propose and which would snatch my daughter
+from the despair that is killing her&mdash;that plan is yet far from being
+accomplished."</p>
+
+<p>"This is what I shall do. Should the errand embarrass you, I shall
+myself see Ernest Rennepont, shall propose to him to embrace the
+Reformation and become a pastor of the new church in order to verify his
+dream&mdash;provided Hena accepts the union. When we shall have made sure<a name="page_vol-1-283" id="page_vol-1-283"></a> of
+Ernest Rennepont's consent, you shall see your daughter. I do not
+believe there is any doubt about her answer. The marriage being agreed
+upon, we must make haste. The disappearance of Hena and the forceful
+restitution of your family archives will redouble the zeal of your
+persecutors. Neither you, your daughter, nor her husband would any
+longer be safe in the neighborhood of Paris. I have already considered
+the emergency when this retreat would cease to offer security to you. I
+have a friend who is a printer in La Rochelle, a fortified town, rich,
+industrious, well armed, wholly devoted to the Reformation, and so full
+of reliance on the power of her municipal franchise, her ramparts and
+the bravery of her numerous inhabitants, as confidently to defy our
+enemies. You and yours will be there in perfect safety. You can live
+there on the fruit of your labor. Better than anyone else, I know how
+skilled a mechanic you are. Finally, if you should have to leave Paris
+before the return of Odelin&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Monsieur Estienne, I tremble at the thought of that Lefevre on the
+watch for the lad's return in order to kidnap him! What a blow that
+would be to me! What a fate have our enemies in store for my poor
+Odelin!"</p>
+
+<p>"I shall take charge of that. To-morrow I shall see Madam Raimbaud. Her
+husband has probably notified her when she may expect him home from
+Italy. If so, and even otherwise, your brother-in-law, the Franc-Taupin,
+who already has given you so many proofs of his devotion, will be able
+to aid us in preventing your son from<a name="page_vol-1-284" id="page_vol-1-284"></a> being kidnapped. I greatly rely
+upon his assistance."</p>
+
+<p>"May heaven hear you!"</p>
+
+<p>"Travelers from Italy usually enter Paris by the Bastille Gate."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Besides, seeing that Master Raimbaud, like most all armorers,
+resides in the neighborhood of that fortress, it is almost certain he
+will come by the suburb of St. Antoine. That point is settled."</p>
+
+<p>"If Madam Raimbaud is informed upon the date of her husband's arrival,
+the Franc-Taupin must be placed on watch along the road from Italy, or
+near the Bastille. He will then warn your son not to enter the city, and
+deliver to him a letter from you directing him to meet you in La
+Rochelle. I shall take charge of supplying Odelin with the necessary
+funds for the journey. When in La Rochelle, near you, he will continue
+his armorer's trade. And now, Christian, I share your prevision. The
+times are approaching when, more than ever, there will be work for those
+whose occupation is the forging of implements of war. Come, courage! Let
+us reserve ourselves for the struggle."</p>
+
+<p>"How can I express my gratitude to you. You think of everything."</p>
+
+<p>"My friend, for the space of two generations your family and mine have
+mutually rendered each other so many services that it is impossible to
+say on which side the debt lies heavier. Let us not lose an instant's
+time. Take me to Ernest Rennepont. So soon as I shall know his mind, I
+shall inform you. You will then propose the marriage to your daughter
+with the caution that the occasion requires.<a name="page_vol-1-285" id="page_vol-1-285"></a> In her present delicate
+condition, after all the sufferings she has undergone, care must be
+taken not to shock her even with joy. Joy may kill, as well as despair."</p>
+
+<p>Christian led Robert Estienne to the apartment of the young monk, and
+leaving the two alone, impatiently awaited the issue of their interview,
+whereupon he was to see Hena.<a name="page_vol-1-286" id="page_vol-1-286"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_vol-1-XVIII" id="CHAPTER_vol-1-XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.<br />
+<br />FOR BETTER AND FOR WORSE.</h3>
+
+<p>Sister St. Frances-in-the-Tomb, as Hena Lebrenn was christened in
+religion, occupied in the cottage a chamber contiguous to that of her
+father. The young girl still wore the nun's garb. The pallor of her
+visage, framed in the folds of her coif and her long white veil, was
+hardly distinguishable from the dull whiteness of the linen. Pain and
+resignation were traced on her features, that emaciation rendered almost
+transparent. Seated near a window, her hands clasped over her knees, and
+her large blue eyes raised to heaven, she seemed to contemplate without
+seeing them the somber clouds which the north wind drove before it with
+weird moanings. Hena's thoughts turned upon the events of the last three
+days. Despite her decision to devote herself to a nun's life, as the
+only means of again seeing her family, to live never again under the
+same roof with her brother whose passion for her inspired the maid with
+invincible horror, and to bury forever in the chilly shadows of the
+cloister her fatal love for St. Ernest-Martyr&mdash;despite these sentiments,
+on the night that, her vows being pronounced, she was praying in the
+solitude of the Virgin's chapel, she welcomed her uncle Josephin as a
+liberator,<a name="page_vol-1-287" id="page_vol-1-287"></a> and never hesitated an instant to flee with him from the
+convent of the Augustinian sisters. She was ignorant of her mother's
+fate. The hope of soon, after so cruel a separation, being again in the
+embrace of the parents she loved so dearly, occupied all her thoughts.
+When, upon seeing Christian again, the young girl learned of her
+mother's death, the persecutions that he himself was the object of, and
+the presence of Brother St. Ernest-Martyr in the same retreat, her head
+reeled. Weakened by suffering and bewildered by so many unexpected
+events, the girl's mind threatened for a moment to go astray. Her native
+vigor carried, however, the day. She said to herself:</p>
+
+<p>"My duty is clear. I shall stay near my father. I shall endeavor with my
+tenderness to soften his sorrow for the loss of my mother. He must flee
+this place. I shall accompany him in his exile. I shall also take my
+mother's place to my brother Odelin. I shall not endeavor to forget
+Brother St. Ernest-Martyr. But, while preserving this love sacred in the
+recesses of my heart, to you, O, my God, I pray&mdash;grant through Your
+infinite mercy that this love do not kill me&mdash;grant to preserve my life
+for the sake of my father, who stands in need of my care and my
+affection!"</p>
+
+<p>Such were the reflections of the young girl, when, some hours after his
+interview with Robert Estienne, she saw Christian enter her chamber. The
+printer's face reflected suppressed happiness. Tears, sweet tears they
+now were, flowed from his eyes. Despite his desire not to betray his joy
+before his daughter, lest he cause her too deep an emotion,<a name="page_vol-1-288" id="page_vol-1-288"></a> he could
+not withhold pressing her repeatedly to his heart, and covering her face
+with kisses. Touched by such tender effusion, and struck by the change
+in her father's appearance, Hena cried:</p>
+
+<p>"God be praised, father, you bring me good news! Are you no longer
+pursued? You will no longer have to keep in hiding?"</p>
+
+<p>Christian shook his head, and still holding his daughter in his arms,
+contemplated her, enraptured. He sat down; placed her on his knees, as a
+little child is placed; and in a voice that trembled with emotion, said:</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, my dear Hena; yes, my beloved child, I have good news for you&mdash;but
+not what you thought. We are soon to leave this retreat, where our
+persecutors might discover us, and we shall go far away from here, in
+order to escape all pursuit."</p>
+
+<p>"And yet, father, your voice trembles with joy. I read happiness on your
+face."</p>
+
+<p>"The good, the unexpected tidings that I bring&mdash;concern you&mdash;you
+alone&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Me alone, father?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; not you alone&mdash;what is good to you, is it not good to me also?"</p>
+
+<p>Hena looked at her father, surprised. The latter hesitated to say more,
+fearing the consequences of too sudden a revelation. He paused for a
+moment and proceeded:</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know, my child, what the pastor of the reformed religion is?"</p>
+
+<p>"I believe he is a minister of the Evangelium; is it not?"<a name="page_vol-1-289" id="page_vol-1-289"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, the pastors spread the Evangelical word. But, contrary to the
+Catholic priests, who are condemned to celibacy by the Church, the
+ministers of the reformed cult are free to contract matrimony, and to
+fulfil its obligations."</p>
+
+<p>A smile of sadness flitted over Hena's lips. Her father followed her
+closely with his eyes. He fathomed her secret thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>"The right of its ministers to be husbands and fathers, recognized by
+the Evangelical church, has induced several Catholic priests to break
+with Rome and embrace the Reformation."</p>
+
+<p>Dropping her head upon her father's shoulder, Hena wept. Christian drew
+himself slightly back in order to raise the tear-bedewed visage of his
+daughter, whom he still kept upon his knees, his arms around her, and
+his heart beating with hope.</p>
+
+<p>"Hena, no doubt you have been thinking to yourself: 'Alas, Brother St.
+Ernest-Martyr is a Catholic priest!'"</p>
+
+<p>"You have guessed my thoughts, dear father. I thought to myself there
+was nothing for me but to bow before so fatal a state of things. But let
+us talk about that good news which you seem so anxious to impart to me."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, dear child&mdash;but in order not to have to return again to a
+matter painful to you, I shall begin by saying that Brother St.
+Ernest-Martyr, or rather Ernest Rennepont, which is his real name,
+withdraws himself from the Catholic Church and embraces the
+Reformation."</p>
+
+<p>Christian felt Hena trembling convulsively upon his<a name="page_vol-1-290" id="page_vol-1-290"></a> knees. The poor
+child carried both her hands to her face, whence fresh drops of tears
+flowed down upon her robe.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear child," resumed the artisan, hardly able to repress his
+gladness, "there is still another confession which I expect from your
+frankness. You are saying to yourself, are you not: 'Ernest Rennepont
+abjured his vows&mdash;he is free&mdash;he can now choose a wife&mdash;if he would only
+love me!'"</p>
+
+<p>"Father, good father, let us drop such thoughts!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my beloved child!" cried the artisan radiant with joy. "Oh, my only
+support, my only consolation! Courage! Courage! Not now any more in
+order to resist sorrow&mdash;but to defend you&mdash;from the transports that an
+unexpected happiness often causes us&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"An unexpected happiness, father?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, the gladsome tidings that I bring to you are&mdash;first, Ernest
+Rennepont's resolution to become a pastor of the Evangelical church.
+Thus he is free to marry, without discontinuing his services to God.
+Yes, and do you know, Hena, that if the most cherished wish of his heart
+is verified, do you know, Hena, who would be the wife of his choice? It
+would be&mdash;it would be you&mdash;you, my treasure! Ernest Rennepont loves you
+to distraction since the day he first saw you at Mary La Catelle's."</p>
+
+<p>Despite the precautions taken by her father, Hena could not resist the
+shock of the revelation. Still holding his daughter upon his knees,
+Christian saw her lose color, her head dropped upon his shoulder, she
+lost consciousness. He rose, carried the girl to her bed, at the head of
+which<a name="page_vol-1-291" id="page_vol-1-291"></a> he knelt down, and awaited the end of the crisis that the excess
+of joy had brought on. A moment later he heard a rap at the door. He
+asked:</p>
+
+<p>"Is it you, Monsieur Estienne?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes&mdash;and I am not alone."</p>
+
+<p>"Do not come in now," answered Christian. "Hena is in a swoon. I fear
+that in recovering consciousness the sight of her betrothed might cause
+an immediate relapse."</p>
+
+<p>Certain motions of Hena, and the light flush that by degrees returned to
+her cheeks, announced the girl's gradual recovery. Her eyes remained
+half shut. She turned her haggard face towards her father. Presently,
+fixing upon him her still partly veiled eyes, she seemed to interrogate
+her confused recollections.</p>
+
+<p>"No, my dear child," said the artisan; "it is not a dream. You are not
+the sport of an illusion. Ernest Rennepont renounces the monastic life;
+he embraces the Evangelical creed, of which he will be a pastor. He has
+long loved you with the purest and noblest love. I surprised the secret
+of his soul. Never did father wish for his daughter a husband more
+worthy of esteem and affection." And pointing with his finger to the
+door: "He is there, accompanied by our friend, Monsieur Estienne. Do you
+feel yourself strong enough to receive them, my poor, dear child? Would
+you like to have them come in?"</p>
+
+<p>"He loves me!" cried Hena, taking her father's hands and kissing them.
+"He loves me, also! Since when?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes&mdash;he will tell you all that himself," answered Christian with a
+smile of ineffable happiness. "He is there.<a name="page_vol-1-292" id="page_vol-1-292"></a> He awaits but your consent
+to come to you, my dear child."</p>
+
+<p>Hena sat up on her couch, placed one of her hands on her heart to
+restrain its throbs and still too much moved to speak, made to her
+father an affirmative sign. The artisan thereupon introduced Robert
+Estienne, supporting on his arm Ernest Rennepont. At that moment the
+sound of a horse's hoofs was heard from the yard. Yielding to an
+involuntary sense of uneasiness, Christian ran to the window, and was at
+once put at ease at seeing his brother-in-law the Franc-Taupin alighting
+from his mount. Hena and Ernest Rennepont, strangers to what went on
+around them, saw but each other. When the young man was near enough to
+the couch on which Hena was seated, he dropped on his knees before her,
+clasped his hands, and raised up to her his pale visage, now radiant
+with celestial bliss. Unable to utter a word, the two contemplated each
+other, absorbed. Robert Estienne could not hold back the tears that
+gathered in his eyes. The artisan stepped towards the two lovers, took
+Hena's hand, placed it in Ernest Rennepont's, who had remained on his
+knees, and said in a voice broken with emotion:</p>
+
+<p>"Be betrothed&mdash;never have nobler hearts been worthier of each other."</p>
+
+<p>Christian was pronouncing these solemn words when the Franc-Taupin
+entered. Already informed by his brother-in-law of the mutual love of
+the two young folks, the soldier of adventure thrilled with joy at
+seeing them united.</p>
+
+<p>"Know the rest, my friend," said the artisan to Josephin. "My daughter
+and he who from this day is my<a name="page_vol-1-293" id="page_vol-1-293"></a> son owe their liberty to you. You are
+entitled to know all that concerns them. Ernest Rennepont renounces his
+monastic vows; he abjures Catholicism and embraces the Reformation, of
+which he is to be a pastor. As you know, the Evangelical pastors can
+marry."</p>
+
+<p>"It is my advice that the marriage be promptly concluded," answered the
+Franc-Taupin in a low voice as he led Christian and Robert Estienne to
+the window, while the betrothed couple remained under the spell of a
+profound ecstasy, hearing nothing, seeing nothing of what happened
+around them. The Franc-Taupin proceeded in a low voice: "I have come
+from Paris in a hurry. I heard an announcement made to the sound of
+trumps, to the effect that Sister St. Frances-in-the-Tomb and Brother
+St. Ernest-Martyr are adjudged relapsed, and subject to the punishment
+visited upon such a sin&mdash;the stake!"</p>
+
+<p>"The stake!" muttered Robert Estienne, shivering with horror, while
+making an instant sign intended to check an exclamation of terror that
+Christian was on the point of giving vent to.</p>
+
+<p>"Time presses," proceeded the Franc-Taupin. "My brother-in-law, his
+daughter and the young monk must leave this house this very night. It
+will not be safe to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"I am of your opinion," answered Robert Estienne. "This is the way we
+shall proceed: You, Josephin, will return to Paris on the spot with a
+letter from me to one of our pastors, urging him to come here this very
+evening in order to take the abjuration of Ernest Rennepont, and give<a name="page_vol-1-294" id="page_vol-1-294"></a>
+his nuptial benediction to the betrothed couple. Immediately after, Hena
+and her husband will set out, with you, and Christian, who will take my
+horse. His daughter will ride on the crupper."</p>
+
+<p>"The young monk shall ride behind me on my nag," said the Franc-Taupin.
+"I shall escort the fugitives to a distance of five or six leagues from
+Paris."</p>
+
+<p>"When you come back here bring with you lay clothes for the young
+couple," said Robert Estienne, handing his purse to the Franc-Taupin.
+"You will also pay the price of your nag to the stableman from whom you
+have the animal. Ernest Rennepont shall keep it, and ride on it with
+Christian and his daughter to La Rochelle. Only there will they all
+three be safe. There is not an instant to lose. Quick, to horse,
+Josephin, to horse! The lives of us all are at stake."</p>
+
+<p>The Franc-Taupin left hurriedly, casting a tender look upon Hena and
+Ernest Rennepont. The two, their hearts in heaven, remained ignorant of
+the new dangers that threatened them. The eyes of the Society of Jesus
+were open.</p>
+
+<p>
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Midnight soon arrived. Robert Estienne, Christian, his daughter, Ernest
+Rennepont and the Franc-Taupin assembled in the parlor of the country
+house, the unsafe refuge that they were soon to quit. An old man, with
+long white hair, the pastor of the Evangelical church, responded to the
+call of Robert Estienne, in order to receive the abjuration of the
+betrothed couple and bestow upon them his<a name="page_vol-1-295" id="page_vol-1-295"></a> nuptial benediction. A table
+with a few wax candles stood at the rear of the apartment. On the table
+were also an ink-horn, pens, paper, and a little pocket Bible with
+silver clasps. Hena and Ernest Rennepont were in front of the table.
+Behind it stood the pastor. Robert Estienne, Christian and the
+Franc-Taupin assisted the betrothed couple. The agitation caused by so
+many unexpected events, and the intoxication of repressed happiness
+animated the recently pallid countenances of the bride and bridegroom.
+Wrapped in meditation, and their thoughts turning to the past, they
+raised their souls to God in a transport of speechless gratitude. They
+implored the mercy of their Creator. There was nothing terrestrial in
+their love. They saw in the consecration of their marriage only the
+right to devote themselves to each other, to vie in mutual sacrifices
+and abnegation, and to serve the holy cause of progress. They knew the
+perils that the apostles of the new doctrine must confront.</p>
+
+<p>Taking from the table a sheet of paper, the pastor read in a solemn
+voice the following act of abjuration:</p>
+
+<p>"'On this 19th day of December, 1534, appeared before us Ernest
+Rennepont, called in his religion Brother St. Ernest-Martyr, and Louise
+Hena Lebrenn, called in her religion Sister St. Frances-in-the-Tomb, who
+declare they desire to renounce the Roman idolatry, and swear to confess
+the Evangelical religion, to live and die in the faith, and to
+participate in the holy sacrament of communion. Upon these conditions
+Louise Hena Lebrenn and Ernest Rennepont have been informed that they
+will be admitted<a name="page_vol-1-296" id="page_vol-1-296"></a> to the Evangelical church'<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a>&mdash;Be pleased to sign the
+act of abjuration."</p>
+
+<p>Hena and Ernest signed the act with steady hands. Thereupon they knelt
+down upon two seats brought in by Christian and the Franc-Taupin. The
+pastor resumed, and addressed the couple with a moved voice:</p>
+
+<p>"You, Hena Lebrenn, and you, Ernest Rennepont, will you live together in
+the marriage state that God himself has instituted, and which St. Paul
+represents as among the most honorable of conditions? If that is your
+intention, Hena Lebrenn and Ernest Rennepont, make your will known. Are
+you willing to be united to each other?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," answered Ernest, raising his eyes as if to take heaven for his
+witness.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," answered Hena in her turn.</p>
+
+<p>"Then," resumed the pastor, "may the Lord deign to bless your wishes.
+You, Ernest Rennepont, do you declare, here before God, that you have
+taken and do hereby take Hena Lebrenn, here present, for your wife? Do
+you promise to live holily with her, to be true to her, as is the duty
+of a good and faithful husband, and God commands you by His word?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes!" answered Ernest Rennepont.</p>
+
+<p>"And you, Hena Lebrenn, do you declare here before God, that you have
+taken and do hereby take Ernest Rennepont, here present, for your
+husband? Do you promise to love him, to live holily with him, and to
+keep your troth to<a name="page_vol-1-297" id="page_vol-1-297"></a> him as is the duty of a faithful wife, and as God
+commands you by His word?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," answered Hena, with her eyes modestly cast down.</p>
+
+<p>"Keep your promises to each other," said the pastor in conclusion.
+"Seeing God has united you in the sacred bonds of matrimony, live
+together in peace, in unity, in purity, helpful to each other, and
+faithful to your pledge, obedient to the divine command. Oh, Lord God!
+Lord of wisdom and of goodness!" added the Evangelical pastor, joining
+his venerable hands in prayer, "since it has pleased Thee to call this
+man and this woman to the holy state of matrimony&mdash;should it be Thy will
+that children be born to them, cause them, as worthy husband and wife,
+to raise their offspring in piety and to train them to virtue."<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p>
+
+<p>The touching solemnity of the ceremony was suddenly interrupted by the
+precipitate entrance of Michael, the gardener. Pale and distracted he
+rushed to the house and threw the door open, crying:</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur Estienne&mdash;malediction upon me! You are betrayed!"</p>
+
+<p>A moment of silent stupor ensued upon these words. Hena threw herself
+instinctively into her father's arms. Ernest Rennepont approached her.
+The Franc-Taupin dashed to the window and listened in the direction of
+the yard, while the pastor raised his eyes heavenward, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Lord, if Thou reservest me for martyrdom, the victim is ready, may
+Thy will be done!"<a name="page_vol-1-298" id="page_vol-1-298"></a></p>
+
+<p>"We are betrayed, Michael?" cried Robert Estienne. "Who could have
+betrayed us?"</p>
+
+<p>"My wife&mdash;Oh, that accursed confession! Alison revealed to our curate
+that a monk and a nun were here in hiding. My wife has just admitted it
+to me amid tears. The curate departed post haste to Paris, immediately
+after confessing and extracting the secret from her. Death and a curse
+upon the infamous wretch!"</p>
+
+<p>And throwing himself at the feet of Robert Estienne, Michael cried with
+clasped hands:</p>
+
+<p>"My good and worthy master! Do not take me for a wicked or dishonorable
+man. I am not guilty of the treason!"</p>
+
+<p>"To horse!" bellowed the Franc-Taupin. "We must depart at once! The
+curate will have notified his bishop, the bishop will have notified
+Cardinal Duprat, and he will have issued orders to the Criminal
+Lieutenant. By this time the archers must be on the road to St. Ouen.
+Let us lose not an instant&mdash;to horse! Mine is saddled&mdash;have yours
+saddled, Monsieur Estienne. Christian will take his daughter on the
+crupper of his horse. I shall take Ernest Rennepont on my nag&mdash;and, away
+at a gallop! We shall soon be out of reach."</p>
+
+<p>Putting the word to the deed, the Franc-Taupin dashed out of the parlor,
+dragging Ernest Rennepont with him almost against his will. Realizing
+the wisdom of the Franc-Taupin's orders, Christian put one arm around
+Hena, sustained and led her in the steps of the Franc-Taupin. Rob<a name="page_vol-1-299" id="page_vol-1-299"></a>ert
+Estienne and the pastor hastened to follow them, while the despairing
+gardener lamented his fate, repeating:</p>
+
+<p>"That accursed confession! The infamous curate!"</p>
+
+<p>The Franc-Taupin was hurrying his horse out of the stable and Robert
+Estienne was precipitately saddling his own with the help of Michael,
+when Alison, running in all in a flurry from the bypath that led to the
+outer gate of the cottage, cried:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my poor man, all is lost! The mounted archers are here! I heard the
+tramp of their horses down the avenue. I saw their muskets glistening
+through the hedges along the road."</p>
+
+<p>"Is the iron gate locked?" asked the Franc-Taupin, the only one to
+preserve coolness in the presence of the imminent danger. "Is the gate
+strong?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is strong and locked&mdash;double locked," answered the gardener. "The
+key is in my house."</p>
+
+<p>"It will take them some time to force the gate," observed the
+Franc-Taupin; and addressing Robert Estienne: "Is there any issue,
+besides the gate, to leave the place?"</p>
+
+<p>"None other&mdash;the garden is enclosed by a wall."</p>
+
+<p>"Is the wall high?"</p>
+
+<p>"About ten feet."</p>
+
+<p>"Then," replied the Franc-Taupin, "we need not despair."</p>
+
+<p>At that moment the clank of sabres and muskets was heard down the
+principal avenue, and a voice called out:</p>
+
+<p>"Open! In the name of the King, open!"<a name="page_vol-1-300" id="page_vol-1-300"></a></p>
+
+<p>"There are the archers!" cried Hena stricken with terror. "It is done
+for us!"</p>
+
+<p>"I shall deliver myself up!" cried Ernest Rennepont, rushing out towards
+the alley. "The archers may thereby be induced not to push their search
+any further. May the all-powerful God protect you!"</p>
+
+<p>The Franc-Taupin seized Hena's bridegroom by the sleeve of his coat, and
+prevented him from taking another step. Turning to the gardener, he
+asked:</p>
+
+<p>"Have you a ladder?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Fetch it quick."</p>
+
+<p>Michael obeyed, while the archers redoubled their clamor and threatened
+to force the gate if it was not opened.</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur Estienne," said the Franc-Taupin, "go forward quickly and
+speak with the archers. Ask them what brings them here, at this hour.
+Engage them in conversation all you can. Keep them outside. Gain time. I
+take charge of the rest. If you can succeed in keeping the soldiers off
+for about ten minutes, we shall have won. They will find no one else at
+the house."</p>
+
+<p>Robert Estienne turned to Christian, who still held Hena in his arms:</p>
+
+<p>"Come, Christian! Courage! Coolness! The situation is hedged in with
+dangers; but it is not forlorn." Saying this he walked to the iron gate,
+at the moment when the gardener reappeared carrying a long ladder on his
+shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"What is there outside of the garden," asked the Franc-Taupin, "a
+highroad or fields?"<a name="page_vol-1-301" id="page_vol-1-301"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Fields, sir; they are separated from the walls by a path and hedges.
+Beyond are meadows, as far as the eye extends."</p>
+
+<p>Josephin listened a moment, and noticing that the clamor of the archers
+at the gate had subsided, he said:</p>
+
+<p>"Courage! All's well! Monsieur Estienne is parleying with the soldiers.
+We shall have time to flee." And addressing the gardener: "Lead us
+quickly to the furthest end of the garden."</p>
+
+<p>Michael led the fugitives along a narrow path. After having walked about
+three hundred paces, he stepped before a wall, against which he placed
+the ladder.</p>
+
+<p>"Quick!" ordered the Franc-Taupin, again stopping to listen. "The
+archers are becoming impatient. They are about to force the gate."</p>
+
+<p>Christian was the first to ascend the ladder; he climbed to the top of
+the wall, straddled it, and, stooping down, reached his hand out to
+Hena. He took firm hold of her, raised her, and seated her, still
+holding her in his arms, in front of him on the top of the wall, where
+he was successively joined by Ernest Rennepont and the Franc-Taupin. The
+latter drew the ladder up, with the help of the gardener, tipped it over
+to the other side, and quickly planted it outside the wall. One by one
+the fugitives descended and alighted upon a path bordered by thick and
+high hedges.</p>
+
+<p>"We are saved!" cried Christian, passionately clasping Hena to his
+heart. "We are saved, my dear child!"</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet!" came thundering upon their ears.</p>
+
+<p>An archer rose from behind the hedge where he had been<a name="page_vol-1-302" id="page_vol-1-302"></a> lying in ambush.
+Immediately he sounded the alarm at the top of his voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Here, comrades! Here! This way!"</p>
+
+<p>To leap over the hedge at a bound; to seize the archer by the throat
+with one hand, while with the other he drew his sword&mdash;these were the
+rapid moves of the Franc-Taupin. It was too late. The alarm given by the
+soldier was heard. Several other foot soldiers, who came on the cruppers
+of the mounted archers, and were posted around the walls, hurried to the
+spot, preceded by a sergeant, and all cried in chorus:</p>
+
+<p>"Kill all who resist! Keep only the monk and the nun alive!"</p>
+
+<p>A melee ensued in the semi-darkness of the night. After superhuman
+efforts to tear his daughter from the soldiers, Christian was hewed down
+with a sword. Ernest Rennepont and Hena remained in the hands of the
+armed men. After almost strangling the soldier who had given the alarm,
+the Franc-Taupin profited by the darkness to creep on hands and feet to
+a hedge under which he blotted himself from sight. From his hiding place
+he heard Christian drop to the ground and call out in a fainting voice:
+"I am killed&mdash;help! help!"</p>
+
+<p>The artisan was left for dead by the archers. Obedient to the orders
+from their chief, their main object was the capture of the monk and the
+nun, whom they now carried safely away. Little by little silence
+returned to the sequestered region. Soon the sound of a retreating troop
+of horsemen announced the departure of the archers for Paris.<a name="page_vol-1-303" id="page_vol-1-303"></a> The
+Franc-Taupin emerged from his place of concealment, ran to Christian,
+knelt beside him, opened his coat and shirt soaked in blood, and placed
+his hand upon his heart. He felt it beat.</p>
+
+<p>"There is but one chance of safety for Christian," said the Franc-Taupin
+to himself. "If the gardener has not been arrested, he will consent to
+grant asylum to the wounded man. Let me endeavor to snatch my
+brother-in-law from death&mdash;after that, I swear, you shall be avenged,
+Oh, my sister! Avenged shall be also your daughter, whose horrid fate I
+well foresee!"</p>
+
+<p>Michael and his wife consented to take in the wounded man, and nurse him
+in Robert Estienne's house. The latter and the pastor were taken
+prisoners to Paris by the archers.<a name="page_vol-1-304" id="page_vol-1-304"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_vol-1-XIX" id="CHAPTER_vol-1-XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.<br />
+<br />ON THE ROAD TO PARIS.</h3>
+
+<p>On the 21st of January, 1535, a few weeks after the seizure of Hena
+Lebrenn and Ernest Rennepont at the cottage of Master Robert Estienne,
+two riders crossed the Charenton bridge on their way to Paris. Master
+Raimbaud, the armorer, one of the riders, was a man in robust middle
+age, and of an open and resolute countenance. His headgear consisted of
+a broad-brimmed felt hat; he wore a coat of mail over his jacket, and
+large traveling boots on his sturdy legs. A cutlass hung from his side,
+his holsters were furnished with pistols, and his wide brown coat flowed
+down over the crupper of his horse. The other rider, Odelin Lebrenn, was
+then just fifteen. His candid and pleasant features, slightly browned by
+the sun of Italy, recalled those of his sister Hena. A black bonnet,
+ornamented with a little red feather and placed slightly aslant over the
+lad's blonde hair, left wholly exposed the smiling face that radiated
+with increasing joy in the measure that he approached the end of his
+journey. The apprentice and his master were at that moment ascending a
+steep hill, at a steady pace. Despite the steepness of the hill,
+however, Odelin's mount frequently broke out into a trot,
+surrepti<a name="page_vol-1-305" id="page_vol-1-305"></a>tiously urged thereto by the spurs of the boy. Master Raimbaud
+smiled under his brown beard, as he guessed the cause of Odelin's
+impatience, while he himself kept his own horse well in hand. He had
+just once more baffled the innocent manoeuvre of his apprentice, who had
+run ahead:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Odelin," he called after him, "there is your horse again breaking
+out into a trot. One would think he'd got the devil at his heels."</p>
+
+<p>"Master Raimbaud, it is not my fault," answered the youngster, somewhat
+abashed, and reining in, to his regret. "My horse forces my hand. It
+must be the flies that torment him. That's why he runs ahead."</p>
+
+<p>"God's head! Flies in the month of January, my boy!" replied the armorer
+jovially, as he came abreast of his apprentice. "You must be thinking
+yourself still in summer on the roads of Milan."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I shall not insist on my fib, Master Raimbaud. I must admit to
+you that the nearer we approach Paris, where my mother, and father, and
+sister, and brother, and my good uncle Josephin are expecting me, I feel
+such a thrill of joy, that without my knowledge my spurs approach the
+flanks of my horse&mdash;and then the beast starts trotting."</p>
+
+<p>"I can understand your impatience, my lad. It does credit to your heart.
+But endeavor to control yourself a little. We have ridden a long stretch
+to-day. We should not wind our horses. Certain of the joy in wait for
+you, what is the use of running after it?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's true, Master Raimbaud," replied Odelin, red<a name="page_vol-1-306" id="page_vol-1-306"></a> with emotion and
+his eyes dimmed with moisture. "Within two hours I shall see again all
+those whom I love; I shall embrace them&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And I shall add to their happiness at seeing you back again, by telling
+them how well pleased I have been with you during our trip."</p>
+
+<p>"How could I otherwise than endeavor to please you, Master Raimbaud? If
+I were your own son you could not treat me with greater tenderness, or
+more attention."</p>
+
+<p>"For the simple reason that a worthy son would not behave differently
+toward me than yourself, my little Odelin. Such are the fruits of the
+bringing up you have received from your worthy father and your excellent
+mother."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Master Raimbaud, when I think of the caresses that await me!"</p>
+
+<p>"Look to your spurs, my lad! Look to your spurs. We shall now soon be at
+the top of the hill. Stop your horse a moment. One of the straps of your
+valise is loose. Fasten it."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, heaven! If I had lost my valise!" cried the apprentice, reddening
+at the thought. Stopping his horse, he turned in his saddle, and
+hastened to fasten the strap, enumerating with childish glee as he did
+so the treasures contained in the bag: "Had I lost you, my dear valise,
+it would then have been adieu to my little presents&mdash;the brooch of
+chiseled silver for my mother, the Quintus Curtius printed in Bologna
+for my good and learned father, a vermillion pin for my handsome sister
+Hena, a bronze<a name="page_vol-1-307" id="page_vol-1-307"></a> writing case, with all its accessories, for the studious
+Hervé&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And that famous flask of Imola wine for your uncle, the Franc-Taupin,
+who will be delighted to taste the Italian nectar."</p>
+
+<p>"That's not all, Master Raimbaud; I also have for my uncle a fine steel
+Milanese dagger, which I forged myself at the workshop of Master Gaspard
+during my idle moments. Oh, dear uncle, I would fear to offend him if I
+brought him a wine flask only."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, the strap is now fast. Let us resume our way. Once we reach the
+top of the hill we shall start on a trot, my impatient fellow. I said a
+trot, did you understand? No galloping! We must husband the strength of
+our mounts."</p>
+
+<p>Master Raimbaud and his apprentice resumed their route at a rapid pace.
+Already they descried in the distant horizon the numerous spires and
+belfries of the churches of Paris. As they were passing before an
+isolated house on the road, the battered sign of which announced it as a
+roadside tavern, they heard someone loudly call out to them:</p>
+
+<p>"Master Raimbaud! Odelin! Halloa! Halloa, there!"</p>
+
+<p>"It is my uncle!" cried the lad, startled, and quickly making his horse
+rear on its haunches. "I recognize my uncle's voice!"</p>
+
+<p>"He must have come out to meet us, apprized by my wife of the day of our
+arrival," explained the armorer, also reining in. But looking to the
+right, and to the left, and all around him, he added, not a little
+surprised:<a name="page_vol-1-308" id="page_vol-1-308"></a> "Where the devil may the Franc-Taupin be niched? He is not
+in heaven, I suppose, although the voice seemed to come from above."</p>
+
+<p>No less astonished than his patron, Odelin also looked in all
+directions, when he saw, emerging from the tavern which they had ridden
+by, a tall Capuchin friar with his face almost wholly concealed in the
+cowl of his frock, and a chaplet of large beads girdling his waist. The
+monk moved with long strides towards the travelers.</p>
+
+<p>"Good God!" cried Odelin as the cowl of the monk who ran towards them
+was blown back by the wind. "My uncle Josephin has become a Capuchin
+friar!"</p>
+
+<p>"God's head!" exclaimed the armorer, sharing the astonishment of his
+apprentice. "May the fire of my forge consume me if I ever expected to
+see such a metamorphosis! The Franc-Taupin a Capuchin friar!"</p>
+
+<p>Seeing that his nephew, upon whom he kept his eyes fixed, was about to
+jump down to the ground, the soldier of fortune checked him with a wave
+of his hand, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Remain on horseback, my boy!"</p>
+
+<p>And addressing the armorer:</p>
+
+<p>"Master Raimbaud, let us go into the tavern. It is a safe place, and
+there is a stable for your horses. We have matters to talk over."</p>
+
+<p>"Halt here? No, indeed! I am in too great a hurry to embrace my wife. A
+few hours later, if you should feel so disposed, we may empty a pot of
+wine at my own house, my gay friend!" answered the armorer,
+misunderstanding the Franc-Taupin's invitation. "Everything in its
+season.<a name="page_vol-1-309" id="page_vol-1-309"></a> Business before pleasure. I wish to be back in Paris before
+night. So, then, good-bye!"</p>
+
+<p>"Master Raimbaud, you can not enter Paris before dark and without great
+precautions," said the Franc-Taupin in a low voice. "Follow me into the
+tavern. You can stable your horses there, and I shall impart to you
+grave tidings, the saddest that you can imagine&mdash;but not a word of that
+to Odelin."</p>
+
+<p>"Be it so! Let us go in," answered Master Raimbaud, turning his horse's
+head, while evil presentiments assailed him. Ignorant of the secret
+information whispered by his uncle to the armorer, the apprentice
+followed the two into the tavern, asking himself with increasing
+wonderment how the Franc-Taupin could have become a friar.</p>
+
+<p>Josephin pulled down over his face the cowl of his frock and led the two
+travelers to the yard of the tavern, from which access was had to the
+stable.</p>
+
+<p>"Unsaddle the horses, my friend," said Master Raimbaud to Odelin, "and
+give them feed. Join us in the tavern when that is attended to."</p>
+
+<p>"What, Master Raimbaud, are we to stay here when we are barely two hours
+from Paris!"</p>
+
+<p>"Mind the horses, my boy. I shall tell you afterwards why we must stop
+here."</p>
+
+<p>Obedient to his master's orders, Odelin unwillingly alighted and threw
+himself upon his uncle's neck, saying with a voice broken with
+affectionate remembrances: "My dear uncle! How are mother, father,
+sister and brother? All well at home?"<a name="page_vol-1-310" id="page_vol-1-310"></a></p>
+
+<p>Without answering his nephew, Josephin held him in a close embrace. The
+boy felt upon his cheeks the tears that flowed from his uncle's eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle, you weep!"</p>
+
+<p>"With joy, my boy!" answered Josephin in a broken voice. "It is out of
+joy to see you after such a long absence." And disengaging himself from
+his nephew's arms, he proceeded: "You will join us presently. Ask the
+tavern-keeper the way to the room in the attic facing the road." Then
+turning to the armorer: "Come, Master Raimbaud, come!"</p>
+
+<p>Overjoyed at having met his uncle, and consoling himself with the
+thought that, after all, the hour of seeing his family, so impatiently
+awaited, might not be greatly delayed, Odelin busied himself with
+unsaddling the horses and furnishing them with provender. The
+goodhearted boy, thereupon, in his hurry to offer the Franc-Taupin the
+little presents he brought him from Italy, rummaged in his valise for
+the flask of Imola wine and the dagger that he himself forged for him.
+The boy was anxious to show his affection to Josephin even before he was
+back home in Paris.</p>
+
+<p>The Franc-Taupin led Master Raimbaud to a room on the top floor of the
+tavern, facing the highroad. There he informed the armorer of the death
+of Bridget and of the capture of Hena and Ernest Rennepont, who were
+since held imprisoned as relapsed sinners; and, finally, of Christian's
+departure for La Rochelle. The Franc-Taupin's hopes had been verified.
+The presence of his brother-in-law<a name="page_vol-1-311" id="page_vol-1-311"></a> at Robert Estienne's country house
+was not suspected. The last ineffectual searches, undertaken by the
+archers at the house, sheltered him against any further visitations. The
+influence of Princess Marguerite, and the luster shed upon the reign of
+Francis I by the marvelous productions of Robert Estienne's printing
+establishment, combined to save the printing master once more&mdash;alas, it
+was to be the last time!&mdash;from the hatred of his enemies. Although a
+relapsed monk and nun were found on his premises, he was set free and
+left unmolested. Accordingly, Christian awaited in safety the time when,
+healed of his wound by the skill of the surgeon Ambroise Paré, who
+visited him secretly, he could take his departure for La Rochelle. The
+casket containing the narratives of the Lebrenn family had been
+concealed by the Franc-Taupin with admirable foresight among the brush
+of the garden, on the very night after the archers seized Hena. As soon
+as Christian was able to undertake the journey, he assumed the disguise
+of a traveling seller of chaplets and relics. The religious traffic was
+essential to his safety along the road. Carrying on his back his pack of
+religious trumpery, among which his family legends were secreted, he
+tramped to La Rochelle, where he arrived safe and sound.</p>
+
+<p>Dumbfounded by these revelations, seeing the deep interest he harbored
+for Christian and his family, Master Raimbaud exclaimed in distraction:</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Odelin! What an unexpected blow for the unhappy boy! Only a short
+time ago the mere thought of<a name="page_vol-1-312" id="page_vol-1-312"></a> seeing his family threw him into
+transports of joy&mdash;and now he is to learn&mdash;Oh, it is horrible!"</p>
+
+<p>"Horrible!" echoed the Franc-Taupin in sinister accents. "But blood
+calls for blood! A soldier of adventure since my fifteenth year, already
+I had become a wolf&mdash;now I shall be a tiger! The reformers will draw the
+sword to avenge their martyrs&mdash;no quarter for the assassin priests! By
+my sister's death!" proceeded the Franc-Taupin, livid with rage and
+raising his clenched fist heavenward, "call me a wooden-bowled cripple
+and a lame poltroon if I do not tear up the papists with my very teeth!
+But," restraining himself, he resumed: "Let us consider what now most
+presses. Master Raimbaud, here is a letter from your wife. I know its
+contents. She conjures you not to go back to your establishment, and to
+take shelter in the place of safety that she mentions. She will join you
+there in order to consider with you what is to be done. She is a
+cautious and resolute woman."</p>
+
+<p>"My good Martha alarms herself unnecessarily," observed the armorer
+after reading his wife's letter. "However violent the persecution of the
+reformers may be, and although a heretic myself, I have nothing to fear.
+I work for several seigneurs of the court; I have fashioned their finest
+arms; they will not refuse me their protection."</p>
+
+<p>"Master Raimbaud, do the papist court jays, with the feathers of
+peacocks and the talons of vultures, owe you any money?"</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, they owe me large sums."<a name="page_vol-1-313" id="page_vol-1-313"></a></p>
+
+<p>"They will burn you to cancel their debts. Make no doubt of that."</p>
+
+<p>"God's head! You may be telling the truth, Josephin! I must consider
+that."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, return secretly to Paris; remain in hiding a few days,
+gather all your valuables&mdash;and flee to La Rochelle. Place yourself
+beyond the reach of the tigers' claws. It is the best thing you can do."</p>
+
+<p>"But what of the poor lad&mdash;Odelin?"</p>
+
+<p>"My nephew and myself will accompany you to La Rochelle. I scent battle
+and carnage in that quarter. When I say 'battle' I see things red. Here
+is to the red! I love wine&mdash;I shall drink blood! Oh, blood! You shall
+flow streaming and warm from the breast of the papists, like wine from
+the bung-hole of a cask. By my sister's death! Oh, for the day when I
+shall avenge Bridget&mdash;Hena&mdash;my two poor martyrs!"</p>
+
+<p>After a moment's silent reflection the armorer blurted out: "My head
+reels under so many afflictions. I forgot to ask you where is
+Christian's daughter, Hena?"</p>
+
+<p>"She is a prisoner at the Chatelet. Her trial is on," and burying his
+face in his hands the soldier of adventure added in heartrending tones:
+"She will be pronounced guilty, sentenced, and brought to the
+stake&mdash;burned alive as a relapsed nun."</p>
+
+<p>"Great God, is such barbarity possible?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hena!" Josephin proceeded without answering Master Raimbaud, "you sweet
+and dear creature! Image of my<a name="page_vol-1-314" id="page_vol-1-314"></a> sister! Poor child whom, when a baby, I
+rocked upon my knees&mdash;you shall be avenged&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The Franc-Taupin could not utter another word; he broke down into sobs.</p>
+
+<p>"Unhappy Christian!" exclaimed Master Raimbaud pitifully. "What must not
+have been his agony!"</p>
+
+<p>"We had to fabricate a tale before we could induce him to depart,"
+answered the Franc-Taupin, wiping his burning eye with the back of his
+hand. "Monsieur Estienne assured Christian that the Princess had
+obtained grace for Hena's life, but under the condition that she was to
+spend her existence in some convent far away from Paris. Christian then
+decided to flee and preserve himself for his only remaining child,
+Odelin. He is now safe at La Rochelle."</p>
+
+<p>"And Hervé? You have not mentioned him."</p>
+
+<p>"By my sister's death! Do not mention the name of that monster. I could
+strangle him with my own hands, child of Bridget's though he be. He has
+joined the Cordelier monks. He has already preached in their church upon
+the necessity of exterminating the heretics. The Queen was present on
+the occasion. They extol the eloquence of the young monk. Death and
+damnation!" Shivering with horror and disgust, the Franc-Taupin
+proceeded after a pause: "Never again mention the monster's name in my
+hearing! May hell swallow him up!"</p>
+
+<p>Uninformed upon the events that led to Hervé's taking orders, the
+armorer was no less stupefied at the news of the young man's having
+become a monk than at hearing Josephin give vent to his execration of
+his sister's son.<a name="page_vol-1-315" id="page_vol-1-315"></a> Nevertheless, unwilling to aggravate the sorrow of
+the Franc-Taupin, he refrained from dwelling upon a subject that so
+greatly inflamed him.</p>
+
+<p>"The tidings you have brought me have so upset me that it did not yet
+occur to me to ask you the reason for your assuming the garb you wear&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"The reason is quite simple," Josephin broke in; "I was described to the
+spies of the Criminal Lieutenant; and probably informed against by the
+two bandits who helped me in the abduction of my niece from the convent.
+My size and the plaster over my eye make me an easy mark for capture. I
+took the robe of a Capuchin mendicant because it best enables me to
+conceal my face. These friars have no convent of their own in the city.
+A few of them straggle into Paris from time to time from their hives at
+Chartres or Bourges, to pick up crumbs. If any one of them, coming from
+Chartres, addresses me, I would say: 'I am from Bourges.' To those from
+Bourges I shall say: 'I am from Chartres.' I have been established in
+this tavern for the last three days. I told the inn-keeper that I
+expected a stranger upon business of my Order. I pay for my lodging
+regularly every morning. The inn-keeper has not manifested any curiosity
+about me. Thus, in short, runs the explanation of my disguise. For your
+own guidance, Master Raimbaud, I shall add that the exasperation of the
+Catholics against the reformers is just now at white heat. They even
+talk of slaughtering the Huguenots in mass."<a name="page_vol-1-316" id="page_vol-1-316"></a></p>
+
+<p>"What are these threats, this increased hatred, attributed to?"</p>
+
+<p>"To certain printed placards clandestinely posted on the walls of Paris
+by the activity of Christian's friend Justin. The placards scourge the
+priests, the monks and all other papists. A large number of heretics
+have already been arrested and sentenced to the stake; others have been
+massacred by the brutified populace&mdash;that <i>huge she-greyhound, with
+bloody craw</i>, as the monks say when they refer to the poor and ignorant
+masses. You may judge from that what dangers you would run in Paris,
+were you to attempt to enter the city openly, you who are pointed at as
+a heretic. My nephew Odelin runs the same danger. They are ready to
+seize him the moment he steps into your house."</p>
+
+<p>"What! They want to arrest a child?"</p>
+
+<p>"Children become men with time&mdash;and they fear men. I should have stabbed
+you to death, Ignatius Loyola, when I was your page! It is you who order
+the father and mother to be burned as heretics, and the three children
+to be clapped into cloisters to the end of uprooting a stock that you
+pronounce accursed! But the father has escaped death, and I shall know
+how to thwart your search after his last child! After that&mdash;battle and
+carnage! By my sister's death&mdash;I shall cause the blood of papists to run
+like water. Time presses&mdash;let us make haste. You can not return home,
+Master Raimbaud, any more than my nephew could safely step into your
+house. This is the plan I submitted to Monsieur Robert Estienne, and
+which he approves: I have provided myself with a second Capuchin<a name="page_vol-1-317" id="page_vol-1-317"></a> frock
+for Odelin. He and I will go to Paris, our bags on our backs, without
+awakening suspicion. We shall turn in at a friend's on St. Honoré
+Street, where Monsieur Estienne will call to see us. It is a safe place.
+Monsieur Estienne has taken upon himself the painful task of informing
+Odelin concerning the misfortunes that have smitten his family.
+To-morrow evening we leave Paris again in our disguise, and I shall take
+my nephew to his father at La Rochelle. Should you also decide to change
+your residence, and to move to La Rochelle with your wife, we may agree
+upon some town near Paris in which Odelin and myself could join you.
+This is for you to consider and decide."</p>
+
+<p>"Your plan seems wise to me, Josephin; I shall probably decide to follow
+it. From what is happening in Paris, I perceive I would not be safe
+there."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, Master Raimbaud, leave the horses behind in the tavern. One
+of your employees may come to-morrow for them. Do not enter Paris until
+after dark and keep your head well hooded. Proceed straight to the house
+that your wife mentions to you&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The Franc-Taupin was interrupted in the directions he was issuing by the
+entrance of his nephew, holding in one hand a flask wrapped in fine
+paper, and in the other a steel dagger. He held out the two objects with
+a radiant face to Josephin, saying with exquisite kindness:</p>
+
+<p>"Dear uncle, I forged this dagger for you out of the best steel there
+was in Milan; I bring you this flask of old Imola wine for you to
+celebrate this happy day and to drink to the speedy reunion of our
+family."<a name="page_vol-1-318" id="page_vol-1-318"></a></p>
+
+<p>So poignant was the contrast between the lad's words and the sad reality
+of which he still remained in ignorance, that Master Raimbaud and the
+Franc-Taupin exchanged sad glances and remained silent. Josephin's cowl,
+now resting wholly upon his shoulders, left his face entirely exposed.
+So visible were the traces of sorrow and mental suffering that face
+revealed, that Odelin, now seeing his uncle for the first time wholly
+uncovered, drew back a step. Immediately he also noticed the profound
+sadness of Master Raimbaud. Alarmed at the silence of the two, Odelin
+felt oppressed. He felt a vague presentiment of some great misfortune.
+Touched by the token of his nephew's affection, the Franc-Taupin took
+the flask and the dagger, examined the weapon, placed it in his belt
+under his frock, and muttered to himself:</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, a good blade. You are given to me by the son&mdash;you shall wreak
+vengeance for the mother, the father&mdash;and their daughter!" He then
+placed the flask down beside him, and embracing Odelin, added aloud:
+"Thank you, my dear boy. The dagger will be useful to me. As to the
+flask&mdash;tastes change&mdash;I drink wine no more. Now to business. I have a
+note for you from your father. Post yourself upon its contents."</p>
+
+<p>"But am I not to see father shortly, at home?"</p>
+
+<p>Not a little astonished, Odelin read:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>My dearly beloved Odelin.&mdash;Do everything your uncle Josephin may
+tell you, without asking any questions. Do not feel alarmed. I
+shall soon embrace you. I love you as ever, from the bottom of my
+heart.</p>
+
+<p class="r"><span style="margin-right: 2em;">Your father,</span><br />
+C<small>HRISTIAN</small>.</p></div>
+
+<p>Despite his vague and increasing uneasiness, Odelin felt quieted by
+those words of his father's: "I shall soon embrace you." He said to the
+Franc-Taupin:</p>
+
+<p>"What must I do, uncle?"</p>
+
+<p>The soldier of fortune took a bundle from his bed, drew out of it a
+Capuchin's robe, and said to his nephew:</p>
+
+<p>"The first thing to do, my boy, is to put this robe over your clothes,
+and when we are out of doors you will take care to keep the cowl over
+your face, as I am doing now."</p>
+
+<p>"I?" asked Odelin, startled. "Am I to put on such a costume?" But
+recalling the instructions of his father, he added: "I forgot that
+father wrote me to obey you, uncle, without asking any reasons for your
+orders. I shall put on the robe, immediately."</p>
+
+<p>"Fine," said Master Raimbaud, forcing a smile on his lips in order to
+quiet Odelin. "There you are, from an armorer's apprentice transformed
+into a Capuchin's apprentice! The change does not seem to be to your
+taste, my little friend."</p>
+
+<p>"It is my father's will, Master Raimbaud. I but obey. Truth to say,
+however, I do not fancy a monk's garb."</p>
+
+<p>"I am a better papist than yourself, little Odelin," put in the
+Franc-Taupin ironically, as he helped his nephew to don his disguise; "I
+love the monks so well that I hope soon to start bestowing upon every
+one of them whom I may meet&mdash;the red skullcap of a Cardinal! Now,
+shoulder that wallet and bend your back; and then with a dragging leg,
+and neck stuck out, we shall imitate as well as we can the gait of that
+Roman Catholic and Apostolic vermin."<a name="page_vol-1-320" id="page_vol-1-320"></a></p>
+
+<p>"How comical I shall look to mother and to my sister Hena when they see
+me arrive thus accoutred!" observed Odelin with a smile. "Dear uncle, if
+father is the only one informed of my disguise, I shall knock at the
+door of our house, and beg for an alms with a nasal twang. Just think of
+their surprise when I throw up my cowl! <i>Corpo di Bacco!</i> as the
+Italians say, we shall laugh till the tears run down our cheeks."</p>
+
+<p>"Your idea is not bad," answered the Franc-Taupin, embarrassed. "But it
+is getting late. Bid Master Raimbaud good-bye, and let us depart."</p>
+
+<p>"Is Master Raimbaud to stay here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, my boy&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Who is to see to the horses?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do not trouble yourself about that; they will have their provender."</p>
+
+<p>The armorer embraced his apprentice, whom he loved almost as an own son
+and bade him be of good cheer.</p>
+
+<p>"Your adieu sounds sad, Master Raimbaud, and as if our separation were
+to be a long one," observed Odelin with moistening eyes. "Uncle! Oh,
+uncle! My alarm returns, it grows upon me. I can not account for the
+sadness of Master Raimbaud, and I do not understand the mystery of this
+disguise to enter Paris&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"My dear boy, remember your father's instructions," said Josephin. "Put
+me no questions to which I can not now make an answer."</p>
+
+<p>The boy resigned himself with a sigh. Shouldering his wallet, he
+descended after his uncle. As the latter heard<a name="page_vol-1-321" id="page_vol-1-321"></a> the clink of Odelin's
+spurs on the stairs, he turned to him:</p>
+
+<p>"I forgot to make you take off your spurs. Remove them while I go and
+pay the inn-keeper. Wait for me outside at the cross road."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle, may I put into my wallet a few little presents that I bring from
+Italy for the family?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do about that as you please," answered the Franc-Taupin.</p>
+
+<p>While Odelin walked into the stable to remove his spurs and take out of
+his valise the articles which he wished to take with him, Josephin went
+to settle his score with the inn-keeper. The latter, who hugged his
+taproom, did not see young Odelin come down in his Capuchin vestments.
+To the Franc-Taupin he said: "You leave us early, my reverend. I hoped
+you would pay us a longer visit. But I can understand that you are in a
+hurry to reach Paris to witness the great ceremony."</p>
+
+<p>"What ceremony have you in mind, my good man?"</p>
+
+<p>"A traveler informed us that the bells and the chimes have been ringing
+in Paris with might and main since morning. All the houses along the
+road that the superb procession is to traverse were decorated with
+tapestry by orders of the Criminal Lieutenant, who also ordered that a
+lighted wax candle be held at every window. He also told us that the
+King, the Queen and all the Princes, as well as a crowd of great
+seigneurs and high dignitaries were to assist at the ceremony&mdash;the most
+magnificent that will yet have been seen&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Good evening, my host," said Josephin, anxious to put<a name="page_vol-1-322" id="page_vol-1-322"></a> an end to the
+conversation and join his nephew who waited for him outside. To himself
+he was saying:</p>
+
+<p>"What can the ceremony be that the inn-keeper has been informed about?
+After all, the event can only be favorable to us. The crowds that the
+streets will be filled with will facilitate our passage, and help us to
+reach unperceived the retreat designated by Monsieur Estienne."</p>
+
+<p>The Franc-Taupin and his nephew walked rapidly towards Paris where they
+arrived as the sun was dipping the western horizon.<a name="page_vol-1-323" id="page_vol-1-323"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_vol-1-XX" id="CHAPTER_vol-1-XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.<br />
+<br />JANUARY 21, 1535.</h3>
+
+<p>January 21, 1535! Alas, that date must remain inscribed in characters of
+blood in our plebeian annals, O, sons of Joel! If there is justice on
+earth or in heaven&mdash;and I, Christian Lebrenn, who trace these lines,
+believe in an avenging, an expiatory justice&mdash;some day, on that distant
+day predicted by Victoria the Great, the 21st of January may be also a
+day fatal to the race of crowned executioners, the princes, the nobles,
+and the infamous Romish priests.</p>
+
+<p>You are about to contemplate, O, sons of Joel&mdash;you are about to
+contemplate the pious work of that King Francis I, that chivalrous King,
+that Very Christian King, as the court popinjays love to style him. A
+chivalrous King&mdash;he is false to his troth! A knightly King&mdash;he sells
+under the auctioneer's hammer the seats on the courts of justice and in
+the tribunals of religion! A very Christian King&mdash;he wallows in the
+filthiest of debauches! In order to impart a flavor of incest to
+adultery, he shares with one of his own sons, the husband of Catherine
+De Medici, the bed of the Duchess of Etampes. Finally, he expires
+tainted with a loathsome disease after ten years of frightful<a name="page_vol-1-324" id="page_vol-1-324"></a>
+sufferings! At this season, however, the miscreant is still in full
+health, and is engaged in honoring God, his saints and his Church with a
+human holocaust. Hypocrisy and ferocity!</p>
+
+<p>A magnificent solemnity was that day to be the object of edification to
+all the good Catholics of Paris, as the inn-keeper announced to the
+Franc-Taupin. Read, O sons of Joel, the ordinance posted in Paris by
+order of the Very Christian King Francis I:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>On Thursday the 21st day of January, 1535, a solemn procession will
+take place in the honor of God our Creater, of the glorious Virgin
+Mary, and of all the blessed Saints in Paradise. Our Seigneur, King
+Francis I, has been informed of the errors that are rife in these
+days, and of the placards and heretical books that are posted or
+scattered around the streets and thoroughfares of Paris by the
+vicious sectarians of Luther, and other blasphemers of the sacred
+Sacrament of the altar, the which accursed scum of society aims at
+the destruction of our Catholic faith and of the constitutions of
+our mother, the Holy Church of God.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore, our said Seigneur Francis I has held a Council, and, in
+order to repair the injury done to God, has decided to order a
+general procession, the same to close with the torture and
+execution of several heretics. At the head of the procession shall
+be carried the sacred Eucharist and the most precious relics of the
+city of Paris.</p>
+
+<p>First, on the 17th day of the said month of January, proclamation
+shall be made to the sound of trumpets, throughout the
+thoroughfares of Paris, ordering that the streets through which the
+said procession is to pass shall be swept clean, and all the houses
+ornamented with beautiful tapestry. The owners of the said houses
+shall stand before their doors, bare-headed and holding a lighted
+taper in their hands.&mdash;<i>Item</i>, on the Wednesday following, the 20th
+of the said month, the principals of all the Uni<a name="page_vol-1-325" id="page_vol-1-325"></a>versities of Paris
+shall meet and orders shall be issued to them to cause the students
+of the said Colleges to be locked up, with the express injunction
+that the same shall not be allowed outside until the procession
+shall have passed, in order to obviate confusion and tumult.
+Furthermore the students shall fast on the eve and the day of the
+procession.&mdash;<i>Item</i>, provosts of the merchant guilds and the
+aldermen of the city of Paris shall cause barriers to be raised at
+the crossing of the streets through which the said procession is to
+pass, in order to prevent the people from crossing the lines of the
+marchers. Two soldiers and two archers shall be placed in charge of
+each one of the said barriers.&mdash;<i>Item.</i> halting places shall be
+erected in the middle of St. Denis and St. Honoré Streets, at the
+Cross-of-Trahoir, and at the further end of the Notre Dame Bridge,
+the latter of which shall be decorated with a gilded lanthorn,
+historical paintings of the holy Sacrament, and a dais of evergreen
+from which shall hang a number of crowns, and bannerets bearing the
+following sacred device: <span class="smcap">Ipsi peribunt, tu autem permanebis</span> (<i>They
+shall perish, but you, Holy Mother Church, shall remain forever</i>).</p>
+
+<p>The same device shall be inscribed on the cards attached to the
+swarm of little birds that are to be set free along the passage of
+the said procession.<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p></div>
+
+<p>The program of the ceremony was followed out point by point. The
+Franc-Taupin and Odelin entered Paris by the Gate of the Bastille of St.
+Antoine. They were wrapped in their Capuchin hoods, and took the route
+of St. Honoré Street. That thoroughfare was lighted by the tapers which,
+obedient to the royal decree, the householders held at the doors of
+their dwellings. Lavish tapestries, hangings and rich cloths ornamented
+with greens carpeted the walls of the houses from top to bottom. Men,<a name="page_vol-1-326" id="page_vol-1-326"></a>
+women and children crowded the windows. A lively stream of people moved
+about gaily, loudly admiring the splendors of the feast. Arrived near
+the Arcade of Eschappes, which ran into St. Honoré Street, the
+Franc-Taupin and Odelin were forced to halt until the procession had
+passed before they could cross the street. All the crossings were closed
+with barriers and guarded by soldiers and archers.</p>
+
+<p>Thanks to the respect that their monastic garb inspired, Josephin and
+his nephew were allowed to clear the barrier which separated them from
+the first ranks of the procession, and finally to fall in line with the
+same.</p>
+
+<p>Romish idolatry and royal pride exhibited themselves in the midst of the
+pomp and circumstance of the occasion. King, Queen, Princes, Princesses,
+Cardinals, Archbishops, Marshals, courtiers, ladies in waiting, high
+dignitaries of the courts of justice, magistrates, consuls, bourgeois,
+guilds of artisans&mdash;all were about to batten upon the torture and death
+of the heretics, whose only crime consisted in the practice of the
+Evangelical doctrine in its pristine purity.</p>
+
+<p>Read, O, sons of Joel, the narrative of this execrable ceremony,
+transmitted by a spectator, an ardent Catholic and fervent royalist, Dom
+Felibien. Preserve the pages in our family annals, they are the
+irrefutable witnesses of the religious fanaticism of those days of
+ignorance, under clerical domination and monarchic despotism. Dom
+Felibien says:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"At the head of the procession marched the Swiss of<a name="page_vol-1-327" id="page_vol-1-327"></a> the King's
+guard. They preceded the Queen, who was richly attired in a robe of
+black velvet lined with lynx skin. She rode a white palfrey with
+housings of frizzled gold cloth, and was accompanied by mesdames
+the King's daughters, likewise richly accoutred in robes of crimson
+satin embroidered with gold thread, and riding beautiful and
+splendidly caparisoned palfreys. Many other dames and princesses,
+besides a troop of knights, seneschals and palace dignitaries on
+horseback, pages, lackeys and Swiss Guards on foot marched beside
+the Queen.</p>
+
+<p>"After her came the Cordelier monks in large numbers, carrying many
+relics, each holding a little lighted taper with profound devotion.</p>
+
+<p>"After these came the preaching Jacobin friars, also carrying many
+relics. Each bore a chaplet of Notre Dame, and all were devoutly
+engaged in prayer to God.</p>
+
+<p>"After these, the Augustinian monks, marching in similar order, and
+also carrying many relics.</p>
+
+<p>"After these, the Carmelites, in the same order, and, in their wake
+all the parish priests of the city of Paris, each with his cross,
+robed in their capes, and carrying relics surrounded with numerous
+tapers.</p>
+
+<p>"After these, the collegiates of the churches, carrying many relics
+and holy bodies, the latter surrounded by many tapers.</p>
+
+<p>"After these, the Mathurins, dressed all in white. They marched
+devoutly wrapped in prayer and holding tapers.</p>
+
+<p>"After these, the friars of St. Magloire carrying the shrine of
+Monsieur St. Magloire.<a name="page_vol-1-328" id="page_vol-1-328"></a></p>
+
+<p>"After these, the friars of St. Germain-des-Prez, carrying the
+shrine of Monsieur St. Germain-le-Vieil, who, as far back as man's
+memory went, had never before been known to leave the precincts of
+St. Germain. To the right of the holy body, the said friars, each
+with a lighted white wax candle; to the left, the friars of St.
+Martin-of-the-Fields, carrying the shrine of St. Paxant, a martyr.
+The two shrines abreast and beside each other.</p>
+
+<p>"After these the relics of Monsieur St. Eloi in the shrine of the
+said Saint, carried by locksmiths, each wearing a hat of flowers.</p>
+
+<p>"After these, Monsieur St. Benoit, with other shrines containing
+the bodies of Saints belonging to the said city.</p>
+
+<p>"After that, a huge relic of solid gold and inestimable value,
+studded with precious stones and enclosing the bones of several
+Saints, the whole carried on the shoulders of sixteen bourgeois of
+the city of Paris. Beside this relic was to be seen that of the
+great St. Philip, an exquisite coffer from Notre Dame of Paris.</p>
+
+<p>"After these, came in beautiful order the shrines of Madam St.
+Genevieve, carried by eighteen men, naked (except for their
+shirts), with hats of flowers on their heads, and by four monks,
+also in their shirts, with bare legs and feet. Then the shrine of
+Monsieur St. Martel, reverently carried by the goldsmiths, dressed
+in dress of state. That shrine also had not in the memory of man
+been carried beyond the bridge of Notre Dame. In order to secure
+the safe and orderly carriage of these shrines through the large
+concourse of people, all of whom were<a name="page_vol-1-329" id="page_vol-1-329"></a> curious to see and draw near
+them, a number of archers and other officers were detailed to
+escort the same.</p>
+
+<p>"After these, the monks of St. Genevieve and St. Victor,
+barefooted, each holding a lighted taper and praying to God with
+great devotion.</p>
+
+<p>"After these, the canons and priests of St. Germain-of-Auxerre,
+chanting canticles of praise put to music.</p>
+
+<p>"After these, the secular doctors and regulars of the four
+faculties of the University of Paris. The rector and his beadles,
+the latter carrying before him their maces of gold and silver.</p>
+
+<p>"After these, the doctors of theology and medicine in large numbers
+dressed in their sacerdotal and other garbs, each holding a lighted
+wax candle.</p>
+
+<p>"After these came, marching in beautiful order on both sides of the
+street, the Swiss Guards of the King, dressed in the velvet of his
+livery, each armed with his halberd. The fifers and war drummers
+marched two by two at the head of the said Swiss Guards, beating
+upon their drums and blowing their fifes in funeral notes.</p>
+
+<p>"After these, the hautboys, trumpets, cornet and clarion players,
+all in the King's livery, and melodiously intoning the beautiful
+hymn <i>Pange, lingua, gloriosi corporis mysterium</i>, etc., which is
+the hymn of the holy Sacrament, and which moved all the bystanders
+to tears, such was its power.</p>
+
+<p>"After these, Monsieur Savigny, one of the captains of the King's
+guards, establishing order and preventing tumult during the
+procession.<a name="page_vol-1-330" id="page_vol-1-330"></a></p>
+
+<p>"After him, came the King's heralds-at-arms, clad in their jackets
+of silver cloth.</p>
+
+<p>"After them, the choristers of the same Seigneur, those attached to
+the domestic service as well as those attached to the holy chapel
+of the palace. They marched together, singing: <i>O salutaris
+Hostia</i>, and other beautiful anthems.</p>
+
+<p>"After these, ten priests robed in chasubles, their heads bare, and
+carrying the relic of Monsieur St. Louis, once King of France,
+encased and studded with quantities of precious stones of
+inestimable value.</p>
+
+<p>"After these, the holy and precious relic of the holy <span class="smcap">CROWN OF
+THORNS</span> of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, an inestimable relic
+which, as far back as the memory of man runs, was never before
+carried in any procession whatever, and caused the hair to stand on
+end of all those who saw it, and rendered them charmed with God, as
+they considered His blessed passion.</p>
+
+<p>"After this, the <span class="smcap">true cross</span> on which our Lord Jesus Christ was
+crucified. It was taken from the Holy Chapel, besides another piece
+of the said <span class="smcap">true cross</span> from Notre Dame of Paris.</p>
+
+<p>"After that the <span class="smcap">rod of Aaron</span>, an old relic; the holy <span class="smcap">iron</span> of the
+lance wherewith Longus pierced the precious side of our Savior
+Jesus Christ; one of the H<small>OLY</small> N<small>AILS</small> with which He was nailed to the
+cross; the S<small>PONGE</small>, the C<small>ARCAN</small>, the C<small>HAIN</small> with which our Lord was
+fastened to the pillar; His I<small>MMACULATE</small> R<small>OBE</small>; the S<small>HEET</small> in which He
+was wrapped in the tomb as in a winding-cloth; the N<small>APKINS</small> of His
+babyhood; the R<small>EED</small> stuck into His hand<a name="page_vol-1-331" id="page_vol-1-331"></a> when He was crowned with
+thorns; the T<small>ABLE</small> O<small>F</small> S<small>TONE</small> which the children of Israel hewed in
+the desert; a <span class="smcap">DROP OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD</span> of our Lord Jesus; finally
+a D<small>ROP</small> O<small>F</small> M<small>ILK</small> of the glorious Virgin Mary, Mother of God. The
+which beautiful relics, all taken from the treasury of the Holy
+Chapel, were accompanied and carried by ten archbishops and bishops
+dressed in their pontifical vestments, and marching two by two.</p>
+
+<p>"After these, the ambassadors from the Emperor, from the King of
+England, from Venice, and other potentates and seigneurs.</p>
+
+<p>"After these, and marching abreast, the Cardinals of Tournon,
+Veneur and Givry; the Bishop of Soissons; and Monsieur Gabriel of
+Saluces, carrying a beautiful relic of a cross studded with several
+precious stones.</p>
+
+<p>"After these, Knights with their battle-axes escorting the precious
+and sacred body of our Lord Jesus Christ at the sacrament of the
+altar, which was carried by Monsieur the Bishop of Paris on a cross
+under a canopy of crimson velvet spangled with gold fleur-de-lis,
+the canopy being borne aloft by our Seigneurs, the King's sons, to
+wit, Monsieur the Dauphin, Monsieur of Orleans, Monsieur of
+Angoulème, and Monsieur of Vendosme, all the said Princes
+bareheaded, and clad in robes of black velvet with heavy gold
+borders and lined with white satin, and near them several counts
+and barons to relieve them.</p>
+
+<p>"After these, came the <span class="smcap">King our Sire</span>, bareheaded, in great
+reverence. He was clad in a robe of black velvet lined with black
+silk, girded with a girdle of taffeta, and<a name="page_vol-1-332" id="page_vol-1-332"></a> in his hand a large
+white wax candle furnished with a holder of crimson velvet. Beside
+him, the Cardinal of Lorraine, to whom, every time the holy
+sacrament rested at the halting places, the said Seigneur our King
+passed the wax candle, while he himself made his prayers with his
+hands joined. Seeing the which, there was none among the
+spectators, whether grown or little, who did not weep warm tears,
+and who did not pray to God for the King whom the said people saw
+in such great devotion, and performing so devout an act and so
+worthy of remembrance for all time. And it may well be presumed
+that neither Jew nor infidel present, seeing the example of the
+King and his good people, failed of being converted to the Catholic
+faith.</p>
+
+<p>"After these, the parliaments, with the ushers walking before, each
+with a staff in his hands; the four notaries; the clerks of the
+criminal courts, dressed in scarlet gowns and wearing their furred
+hats; messieurs the presidents with their mantles over their
+shoulders and their mortars on their heads; the chiefs of
+departments, and the counsellors, in red robes.</p>
+
+<p>"After these, the Chief Justices, and heads of the treasury and the
+mint; the comptrollers of the city of Paris, each with a lighted
+white wax candle in his hand, and clad in their parti-colored robes
+of red and blue, the city colors.</p>
+
+<p>"Finally, the archers, the cross-bowmen, and the arque<a name="page_vol-1-333" id="page_vol-1-333"></a>busiers of
+Paris, dressed in their uniforms, and each holding a wax
+candle."<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p></div>
+
+<p>Such was that great Catholic procession!</p>
+
+<p>The procession wound its way through St. Honoré, St. Denis and St.
+James-of-the-Slaughterhouse Streets, and then crossed the Notre Dame
+Bridge.</p>
+
+<p>Cages full of birds were opened, and the little feathered brood flew
+from their prisons with open wings. The procession deployed on the
+square before the parvise of the Cathedral of Notre Dame. All the
+surrounding houses, tapestried from top to bottom, were lined with
+spectators at the windows, on the cornices, the shafts of pillars and
+the roofs. As they stood waiting for the procession to go by near the
+Arcade of Eschappes, the Franc-Taupin and his nephew caught sight of
+Hervé among the Cordelier monks, whose garb he wore.</p>
+
+<p>"My brother!" cried Odelin, making to rush forward towards Hervé and
+embrace him. "There is my brother!"</p>
+
+<p>But Josephin seized his nephew by the arm, and whispered to him:</p>
+
+<p>"My boy, if a single move made by you draws attention upon us, we shall
+be discovered and arrested."</p>
+
+<p>Odelin's exclamation, being drowned by the psalmody of the Cordeliers,
+did not reach the ears of Hervé. The latter did not even notice his
+brother, whose face was partially covered by his cowl. The Cordeliers
+passed by, then<a name="page_vol-1-334" id="page_vol-1-334"></a> the Augustinians, the Carmelites, the Dominicans, the
+Genevievians, the Jacobins, and many other monks of differently shaped
+and colored garbs. Josephin sought to place the greatest distance
+possible between himself and Hervé. He fell in line with the Mathurins,
+who brought up the rear of the division of monks.</p>
+
+<p>Odelin began to feel disturbed in mind. The events in which he had
+already that day participated, his apprehensions regarding his family,
+the sight of his brother in the habits of a Cordelier monk, the
+preparations for the torture and death of the heretics, a spectacle that
+he now saw himself forced to witness&mdash;everything combined to harass his
+mind with perplexities. At times Odelin imagined himself under the
+obsession of a nightmare. His uncertain and almost stumbling step was
+noticed by the Superior of the Mathurins, who expressed his surprise
+thereat to Josephin. The Franc-Taupin merely answered that this was the
+first time the novice attended an execution of heretics.</p>
+
+<p>The procession having arrived before the parvise of Notre Dame, each
+division of which it was composed took the place assigned to it. A
+stage, covered with rich tent-cloth was prepared for King Francis I, the
+Queen, the Princes and Princesses of the royal family, the court ladies,
+the Cardinals, the Archbishops, the Marshals, the presidents of the
+parliaments, and the principal courtiers. The pyre faced the royal
+platform at a convenient distance, in order that the noble assemblage be
+annoyed neither by the heat nor smoke of the fire, and yet could follow<a name="page_vol-1-335" id="page_vol-1-335"></a>
+closely the cruel details of the tragedy. The pyre consisted of a heap
+of fagots from fifteen to twenty feet long, and about six or seven feet
+high. Close to the pyre rose six machines. Each consisted of a
+perpendicular beam, the bottom driven into the earth and the top
+furnished with an iron clamp in the socket of which a cross-beam was
+attached. This beam could be made to tip forward over the fagots. At the
+forward extremity of the cross-beam, and hanging from chains, was an
+iron chair provided with a back and foot-board after the fashion of a
+swing. To the rear extremity of the cross-beam ropes and pulleys were
+attached, holding it down to the ground.</p>
+
+<p>The Franc-Taupin contemplated with horror those implements of torture,
+while he gave his support to poor Odelin, who shook convulsively. The
+Superior of the Mathurins, who happened to stand near Josephin,
+addressed him with a smile:</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you do not understand the value of those machines which we
+shall shortly see put into operation?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, dear brother, you are right. I have no idea of what those machines
+are for in this affair."</p>
+
+<p>"They are an invention due to the genius of our Sire the King, to whom
+the men put to the torture for coining false money already owe the rack
+on which they are executed.<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> To-day the application of these new
+machines, which you are contemplating with so much interest, is
+inaugurated in our good city of Paris. The process is very simple,
+besides ingenious. When the pyre is well aflame,<a name="page_vol-1-336" id="page_vol-1-336"></a> the patient is chained
+fast to the chair which you see there, dangling from the end of that
+cross-beam; then, the beam acting as a lever, he is, by slacking and
+pulling in the ropes at the other end, alternately sunk down into the
+flames and pulled out again, to be re-plunged, and so on, until, after
+being plunged and re-plunged, death ensues. Do you now understand the
+process?"</p>
+
+<p>"Clearly, my reverend. Death by fire, as formerly practiced, put too
+speedy an end to the patient's torture."</p>
+
+<p>"Altogether too speedy. A few minutes of torture and all was over, and
+the heretic breathed his last breath&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And now," broke in the Franc-Taupin, "thanks to this royal invention by
+our Sire Francis I, whom may God guard, the patient is afforded leisure
+to burn slowly&mdash;he can relish the fagot and inhale the flame! How superb
+and meritorious an invention!"</p>
+
+<p>"It is that, my dear brother! Your expressions are correct&mdash;quite
+so&mdash;<i>relish</i> the fagot&mdash;<i>inhale</i> the flame. It is calculated that the
+agony of the patients will now last from twenty to thirty minutes.</p>
+
+<p>"There are to-night three such pyres raised in Paris," the Superior of
+the Mathurins proceeded to explain. "The one before us, a second at the
+market place, and the third at the Cross-of-Trahoir. After our good Sire
+shall have assisted at the executions in this place, he will be able to
+visit the two others on his way back to the Louvre."<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a><a name="page_vol-1-337" id="page_vol-1-337"></a></p>
+
+<p>The colloquy with the monk was interrupted by a great noise. From mouth
+to mouth ran the word: "Silence! Silence! The King wishes to speak!"</p>
+
+<p>During the Franc-Taupin's conversation with the Mathurin, the King, his
+family, the court, the high dignitaries of the Church and of the kingdom
+had taken their seats on the platform. Anne of Pisseleu, Duchess of
+Etampes, who shared her favors between Francis I and his eldest son,
+drew the eyes of the multitude upon herself with the costliness of her
+apparel, which was as dazzling as her beauty, then at its prime. The
+royal courtesan cast from time to time a look of superb triumph upon her
+two rivals&mdash;the Queen of France, and Catherine De Medici, the wife of
+Henry, the King's son. The young Princess, at that season barely sixteen
+years of age, born in Florence, the daughter of Laurent De Medici and
+niece of Pope Clement VII, presented a perfect type of Italian beauty.
+Pale with chestnut hair, and white of skin, her black, passionate and
+crafty eyes frequently lingered surreptitiously with an expression of
+suppressed hatred upon<a name="page_vol-1-338" id="page_vol-1-338"></a> the Duchess of Etampes. Whenever their eyes met
+accidentally, Catherine De Medici had for her a charming smile.
+Conspicuous among the great seigneurs seated on the platform were the
+Constable of Montmorency, Duke Claude of Guise and his brother Cardinal
+John of Lorraine, the crapulous, dissolute Prince immortalized by
+Rabelais under the name of "Panurge." These Guises&mdash;Princes of Lorraine,
+ambitious, greedy, haughty and turbulent&mdash;whom Francis I at once
+flattered and curbed, inspired him with so much apprehension that he was
+wont to allude to them in his conversations with the Dauphin in these
+words: "Be on your guard; I shall leave you clothed in a coat, they will
+leave you in your shirt." In close proximity to the Guises stood John
+Lefevre, the disciple of Ignatius Loyola, chatting with great
+familiarity with Cardinal Duprat. Already the Jesuits had gained a
+footing at the court of Francis I; they dominated the Chancellor, the
+evil genius of that King. And what was that sovereign, physically and
+morally? Here is his picture, as left by the writers of his time: "Six
+feet high; broad-shouldered, wide of girth, round faced, fat, ruddy of
+complexion, with short cropped hair, long beard, and a prominent
+nose"&mdash;features that betray sensual appetites. The Sire walked towards
+his throne, swaying to right and left. The heavy colossus affected the
+gait and postures of a gladiator. He sat down, or rather dropped into
+his seat. All present on the platform rose to their feet with heads
+uncovered, the women excepted. He addressed himself to the Princes,<a name="page_vol-1-339" id="page_vol-1-339"></a> the
+Princesses of his family, and the dignitaries of the Church and the
+kingdom:</p>
+
+<p>"It will not seem strange to you, messieurs, if you do not find in me
+the mien, the countenance and the words, which I have been in the habit
+of being seen in and of using on previous occasions when I called you
+together. To-day, I do not address you as a King and Master addresses
+his subjects and servitors. I speak as being myself the subject and
+servitor of the King of Kings, of the Master of Masters&mdash;the
+All-powerful God.</p>
+
+<p>"Some wicked blasphemers, people of little note and of less doctrine,
+have, contrary to the honor of the holy Sacrament, machinated, said,
+proffered and written many great blasphemies. On account thereof I have
+willed that this solemn procession be held, in order to invoke the grace
+of our Redeemer. I order that rigorous punishment be inflicted upon the
+heretics, as a warning to all others not to fall into the said damnable
+opinions, while admonishing the faithful to persevere in their
+doctrines, the wavering to become firm, and those who have strayed away
+to return to the path of the holy Catholic faith, in which they see me
+persevere, together with the spiritual prelates.</p>
+
+<p>"Therefore, messieurs, I entreat and admonish you&mdash;let all my subjects
+keep watch and guard, not only over themselves, but also over their
+families, and especially over their children, and cause these to be so
+properly instructed that they may not fall into evil doctrines. I also
+order that each and all shall denounce whomsoever they may happen to
+know, or to suspect, of being adherents to the heresy, with<a name="page_vol-1-340" id="page_vol-1-340"></a>out regard
+to any bonds, whether of family or of friendship. As to myself," added
+Francis I in a thundering voice, "on the same principle that, had I an
+arm infected with putrefaction, I would cause it to be separated from my
+body, so if ever, should it unhappily so befall, any child of mine
+relapse into the said damnable heresies, I shall be ready to immolate,
+and to deliver him as a sacrifice to God."<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></p>
+
+<p>The discourse of Francis I was listened to amid religious silence, and
+applauded enthusiastically.</p>
+
+<p>The prostituted pack of clergymen, courtiers and warriors who surrounded
+the Very Christian King knew the trick how to inherit the property of
+heretics. To burn or massacre the reformers was to coin money for the
+royal pack, the sovereign having the right to transmit to the good
+Catholics the wealth confiscated from condemned heretics. But, to kill
+the heretics, to torture them, to burn them alive, that did not satisfy
+the pious monarch. Human thought was to be shackled. The sovereign
+proceeded with his allocution:</p>
+
+<p>"It is notorious that the pestilence of heresy spreads in all directions
+with the aid of the printing press. My Chancellor shall now read a
+decree issued by me abolishing the printing press in my estates under
+pain of death."</p>
+
+<p>The Chancellor, Cardinal Duprat, read in a loud voice the decree of that
+<i>Father of Letters</i>, as the court popinjays styled Francis I with
+egregious adulation:<a name="page_vol-1-341" id="page_vol-1-341"></a></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"We, Francis I, by the grace of God, King of France.&mdash;It is our
+will, and we so order, and it pleases us to prohibit and forbid all
+printers in general, and of whatever rank and condition they may
+be, <span class="smcap">TO PRINT ANYTHING, UNDER PAIN OF HANGING</span>.</p>
+
+<p>"Such is our good pleasure.</p>
+
+<p class="r">F<small>RANCIS.</small>"<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a><br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>Come! One more effort; listen to the end of this tale, O, sons of Joel.
+My hand trembles as I trace these lines, my eyes are veiled in tears, my
+heart bleeds. But I must proceed with my story.</p>
+
+<p>After the reading of the edict which prohibited the printing press in
+France under pain of death, the Criminal Lieutenant stepped forward to
+receive the orders of the Chancellor. He turned to the King, and the
+King commanded that the heretics be put to the torture and death without
+further delay. The gallant chat among the courtiers was hushed, and the
+eyes of the royal assembly turned towards the pyre.</p>
+
+<p>The Franc-Taupin and Odelin stood in the midst of the Mathurins, close
+to the spot of execution. Not far from them were ranked the Cordeliers.
+Standing between Fra Girard and the Superior General of his Order, Hervé
+seemed to be the object of the dignitary's special solicitude. Both the
+sons of Christian Lebrenn were about to witness the execution. Their
+sister Hena, sentenced together with Ernest Rennepont to the flames as a
+relapsed and sacrilegious heretic, was to figure, along with her
+bridegroom,<a name="page_vol-1-342" id="page_vol-1-342"></a> among the victims. The frightful spectacle passed before
+the eyes of Odelin like a vision of death. Without making a single
+motion, without experiencing a shiver, without dropping a tear,
+petrified with terror, the lad gazed&mdash;like him, who, a prey to some
+stupefying dream, remains motionless, stretched upon his bed. It was a
+horrible nightmare!</p>
+
+<p>The order to proceed having gone from Francis I and been transmitted to
+the Mathurin monks, several of these proceeded to the portico of the
+Basilica of Notre Dame, whither the culprits had first been taken to
+make the <i>amende honorable</i> on their knees before the church. One of the
+patients had his tongue cut out for preferring charges against the
+Catholic clergy on his way from prison to the parvise.<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> The Mathurins
+led the victims in procession to the pyre. As they approached, all the
+religious Orders intoned in a sonorous voice the funeral psalmody&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="c"><i>De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine!</i></p>
+
+<p>The heretics, to the number of six, marched two by two, bareheaded and
+barefooted, holding lighted tapers in their hands. John Dubourg and his
+friend Etienne Laforge led; behind them came St. Ernest-Martyr
+supporting the architect Poille. The wretched man had his tongue cut
+out. Blood streamed from his mouth, and dyed his long white shirt red.
+Mary La Catelle and Hena, called in religion Sister St.
+Frances-in-the-Tomb, came next. Their feet were bare, their hair hung
+down loose upon their shoulders.<a name="page_vol-1-343" id="page_vol-1-343"></a> They were clad in long white shifts
+held at the waist with a cord. Hena pressed against her heart a little
+pocket Bible which Christian had printed in the establishment of Robert
+Estienne, and which she was allowed to keep. It was a cherished volume
+from which the Lebrenn family often read together of an evening, and
+which recalled to Hena a whole world of sweet remembrances.</p>
+
+<p>Hervé recognized his sister among the condemned heretics. A thrill ran
+through his frame, a deadly pallor overcast his countenance, and,
+turning his face away, he leaned for support on the arm of Fra Girard.
+The executioners had set fire to the fagots, which soon presented the
+sight of a sheet of roaring flames. As the prisoners arrived at the
+place of their torture and death, and caught sight of the seats swaying
+over the lambent flames, they readily surmised the cruel torments to
+which they were destined. In her terror, poor Hena began to emit
+heartrending cries, and she clung to the arm of Mary La Catelle. The
+taper and the little pocket Bible which she held rolled to the ground.
+The holy book fell upon a burning ember and began to blaze. One of the
+executioners stamped out the fire with his heels and threw the book
+aside. It fell near the Franc-Taupin. Josephin stooped down quickly,
+picked up the precious token and dropped it into the pocket of his wide
+frock. Petrified with terror, Odelin only gazed into space. The
+frightful cries of his sister were hardly heard by him, drowned as they
+were by the buzz and throb of the arteries in his own temples. The
+executioners were at work. Hena and the other five martyrs were seized,<a name="page_vol-1-344" id="page_vol-1-344"></a>
+placed in their respective seats, and chained fast. All the six levers
+were then set in motion at once, and dipped over the fire. It was a
+spectacle, an atrocious spectacle&mdash;well worthy of a King! The victims
+were plunged into the furnace, then raised up high in the air with
+clothes and hair ablaze, to be again swallowed up in the flaming abyss,
+again to be raised out of it, in order once more to be precipitated into
+its fiery embrace!<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p>
+
+<p>Odelin still gazed, motionless, his arms crossed over his breast, and
+rigid as if in a state of catalepsy. The Franc-Taupin looked at his
+unhappy niece Hena every time the lever raised her in the air, and also
+every time it hurled her down into the abyss of flames. He counted the
+<i>plungings</i>, as the Superior of the Mathurins humorously called them. He
+counted twenty-five of them. At the first few descents poor Hena twisted
+and writhed in her seat while emitting piercing cries; in the course of
+a few subsequent descents the cries subsided into moans; when she
+disappeared in the burning crater for the sixteenth time she was heard
+to moan no more. She was either expiring or dead. The machine continued
+to dip twenty-five times&mdash;it was only a blackened, half naked corpse,
+the head of which hung loose and beat against the back of the seat. The
+Franc-Taupin followed also with his eyes Ernest Rennepont, who was
+placed face to face with Hena. The un<a name="page_vol-1-345" id="page_vol-1-345"></a>happy youth did not emit a single
+cry during his torment, he did not even utter a wail. His eyes remained
+fixed upon his bride. Etienne Laforge, John Dubourg and Mary La Catelle
+gave proof of the sublimest courage. They were heard singing psalms
+amidst the flames that devoured them. Of these latter, only Anthony
+Poille, whose tongue had been cut out, was silent. The death rattle
+finally silenced the voice of the heretics. It was but charred corpses
+that the executioners were raising and dropping.</p>
+
+<p>When the frightful vision ceased, Odelin dropped to the ground, a prey
+to violent convulsions. Two monks helped the Franc-Taupin carry the
+young novice into a neighboring house. But before leaving the spot of
+Hena's torture and death, Josephin stopped an instant before the brazier
+which was finishing the work of consuming the corpses. There the
+Franc-Taupin pronounced the following silent imprecation:</p>
+
+<p>"Hate and execration for the papist executioners, Kings, priests and
+monks! War, implacable war upon this infamous religion that tortures and
+burns to death those who are refractory to its creed! Reprisals and
+vengeance! By my sister's death; by the agony of her daughter, plunged
+twenty-five times into the fiery furnace&mdash;I swear to put twenty-five
+papist priests to death!"</p>
+
+<p>After Odelin recovered consciousness, uncle and nephew resumed their way
+to the place of refuge on St. Honoré Street, where Robert Estienne was
+found waiting for them. The generous friend was proscribed. The next day
+he<a name="page_vol-1-346" id="page_vol-1-346"></a> was to wander into exile to Geneva. It was with great difficulty
+that Princess Marguerite had obtained grace for his life. He informed
+Odelin of his father's flight to La Rochelle and of Bridget's death. He
+pressed upon Josephin the necessity of leaving Paris with Odelin and
+proceeding on the spot to La Rochelle, lest he fall into the clutches of
+the police spies who were on the search for them. At the same time he
+placed in Josephin's hands the necessary funds for the journey, and took
+charge of notifying Master Raimbaud should he also be willing to take
+refuge in La Rochelle.</p>
+
+<p>It was agreed between the three that the Franc-Taupin and his nephew
+would wait two days for Master Raimbaud at Etampes. The directions of
+Robert Estienne were instantly put into execution. That same night
+Odelin and Josephin left Paris, and reached Etampes without difficulty,
+thanks to the monastic garb which cleared the way for them. At Etampes
+Master Raimbaud and his wife joined them before the expiration of the
+second day, and the four immediately took the road to La Rochelle, where
+they arrived on February 17, 1535. The four fugitives inquired for the
+dwelling of Christian Lebrenn. His family, alas! was now reduced to
+three members&mdash;father, son and the brave Josephin. The Franc-Taupin
+delivered to his brother-in-law the pocket Bible which he picked up near
+the pyre, the tomb of Hena&mdash;that Bible is now added to the relics of the
+Lebrenn family.</p>
+
+<p>
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="c">END OF VOLUME ONE.</p>
+
+<h2><a name="PART_II" id="PART_II"></a>PART II.<br />
+<br />THE HUGUENOTS.</h2>
+
+<p><a name="page_vol-2-001" id="page_vol-2-001"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="INTRODUCTION-vol-2" id="INTRODUCTION-vol-2"></a>INTRODUCTION.</h3>
+
+<p>Thirty-four years have elapsed since the martyrdom of Hena Lebrenn,
+Ernest Rennepont and the other heretics who were burned alive before the
+parvise of Notre Dame, in the presence of King Francis I and his court
+on January 21, 1535. To-day, I, Antonicq Lebrenn, son of Odelin and
+grandson of Christian the printer, proceed with the narrative broken off
+above.</p>
+
+<p>Safely established at La Rochelle, Christian was joined in that city by
+his son Odelin and Josephin, the Franc-Taupin. Already shattered in body
+on account of the profound sorrow caused by the death of his wife
+Bridget and the revelation concerning the incestuous attempt made by his
+son Hervé, the news of the frightful death of his daughter Hena
+overwhelmed my grandfather. He did not long survive that last blow. He
+languished about a year longer, wrote the narrative of which the
+following one is the sequel, and died on December 17 of the same year at
+La Rochelle, where he exercised his printer's trade at the establishment
+of Master Auger, a friend of Robert Estienne. The latter himself ended
+his days in exile at Geneva.</p>
+
+<p>Odelin Lebrenn, my father, devoted himself, as in his youth, to the
+armorer's trade. He worked in the establishment of Master Raimbaud, who
+also settled down in<a name="page_vol-2-002" id="page_vol-2-002"></a> La Rochelle in 1535. The old armorer drove a
+lucrative trade in his beautiful arms, with England. Thanks to their
+energy and their municipal franchises, the Rochelois, partisans of the
+Reformation by an overwhelming majority, and protected by the well-nigh
+impregnable position of their city, experienced but slightly the
+persecutions that dyed red the other provinces of Gaul until the day
+when the Protestants took up arms against their oppressors. The hour of
+revolt having sounded, the Rochelois were bound to be the first to take
+the field. Having married in 1545 Marcienne, the sister of Captain
+Mirant, one of the ablest and most daring sailors of La Rochelle, my
+father had three children from this marriage&mdash;Theresa, born in 1546; me,
+Antonicq, born in 1549; and Marguerite, born in 1551. I embraced the
+profession of my father, who, upon the death of Master Raimbaud,
+deceased without heirs, succeeded to the latter's business.</p>
+
+<p>About four years ago, the hardship of the times brought to La Rochelle,
+where, together with other Protestants he sought refuge, Louis
+Rennepont, a nephew of Brother St. Ernest-Martyr, the bridegroom of
+Hena, who was burned together with her. Informed by his father of the
+tragic death of the Augustinian monk, Louis Rennepont conceived a horror
+for the creed of Rome, in whose name such atrocities were committed, and
+after his father's death he entered the Evangelical church. An advocate
+in the parliament of Paris, and indicted for heresy, he escaped the
+stake by his flight to La Rochelle. One day, as he strolled along the
+quay before our house, my father's sign&mdash;<i>Odelin Lebrenn,
+Armorer</i>&mdash;caught his eye. He<a name="page_vol-2-003" id="page_vol-2-003"></a> stepped in to inquire into our
+relationship with Hena Lebrenn. From us he gathered the information that
+Hena was his uncle's wife, married to him by a Reformed pastor. Louis
+Rennepont, from that time almost a relative of ours, continued to visit
+the house. He soon seemed smitten with the grace and virtues of my
+sister Theresa. His love was reciprocated. He was a young man of noble
+heart, and of a modest and industrious disposition. Stripped of his
+patrimony by the sentence of heresy, he earned his living at La Rochelle
+with his profession of advocate. My father appreciated the merits of
+Louis Rennepont, and granted him my sister Theresa. They were married in
+1568. Their happiness justifies my father's hopes.</p>
+
+<p>My youngest sister Marguerite disappeared from the paternal home at the
+age of eight, under rather mysterious circumstances which I shall here
+state.</p>
+
+<p>Since his establishment at La Rochelle, my father was animated by a
+lively desire to take us all&mdash;mother, sisters and myself&mdash;to Brittany,
+on a kind of pious pilgrimage to the scene of our family's origin, near
+the sacred stones of Karnak. The journey by land was short, but the
+religious war included in those days Brittany also in its ravages. My
+father feared to risk himself and family among the warring factions. His
+brother-in-law Mirant, the sailor, having to cross from La Rochelle to
+Dover, proposed that my father take ship with him on his brigantine. The
+vessel was to touch at Vannes, the port nearest Karnak. Our pilgrimage
+accomplished, we were to set sail for Dover, whither my father
+frequently consigned<a name="page_vol-2-004" id="page_vol-2-004"></a> arms, and where he would have the opportunity of a
+personal interview with his correspondent in that place. After that, my
+uncle Mirant was to return to France with a cargo of merchandise. Our
+absence would not exceed three weeks. My father accepted the proposition
+with joy. Shortly before the day of our departure my sister Marguerite
+was taken sick. The distemper was not dangerous, but it prevented her
+from joining in the trip, the day for which was set and could not be
+postponed. My parents left her behind in the charge of her god-mother,
+an excellent woman, the wife of John Barbot, a master copper-smith. We
+departed for Vannes on board the brigantine of Captain Mirant. My sister
+Marguerite recovered soon after. Her god-mother frequently took her out
+for a walk beyond the ramparts. One day the child was playing with other
+little girls near a clump of trees, and strayed away from Dame Barbot.
+When her god-mother looked for her to take her home, the child was
+nowhere to be found. The most diligent searches, instituted for weeks
+and months after the occurrence, were all in vain. The child had been
+abducted; the kidnappers remained undiscovered. Marguerite was wept and
+her loss grieved over by us all.</p>
+
+<p>Our pilgrimage to Karnak, the cradle of the family of Joel, left a
+profound, an indelible impression upon me. I shall later return to some
+of the consequences of that trip. Captain Mirant, my mother's brother, a
+widower after only a few years' marriage, had a daughter named Cornelia.
+I loved her from early infancy as a sister. As we grew up our affection
+for each other waxed warmer. Our parents<a name="page_vol-2-005" id="page_vol-2-005"></a> expected to see us man and
+wife. Cornelia gave promise by her virtue and bravery of resembling one
+of those women belonging to the heroic age of Gaul, and of approving
+herself worthy of her ancestry. Having lost her mother when still a
+child, my cousin occasionally accompanied her father on his rough sea
+voyages. The character of the young girl, like her beauty, presented a
+mixture of virility, grace and strength. At the time when this narrative
+commences, Cornelia was sixteen years of age, myself twenty. We were
+betrothed, and our families had decided that we were to be united in
+wedlock three or four years later.</p>
+
+<p>My grand-uncle the Franc-Taupin yielded, shortly after his arrival at La
+Rochelle, to the solicitations of my grandfather Christian, who, feeling
+his approaching dissolution, entreated the brave soldier of adventure
+not to separate himself from his nephew, soon surely to be an orphan.
+The Franc-Taupin adjourned the execution of his resolution to avenge the
+death of Bridget and Hena. He remained near my father Odelin and
+enrolled himself with the archers of the city. As a consequence of our
+family sorrows, he gave up his former disorderly life. The guardianship
+of his nephew, then still a lad, brought him new duties. He earned by
+his merit the post of sergeant of the city militia. But when the
+massacre of Vassy caused the Protestants to rise from one end of Gaul to
+the other, and these finally ran to arms, the Franc-Taupin departed to
+join the insurgents. He was elected the chief of his band, and proved
+himself pitiless in his acts of reprisal. He had sworn to revenge the
+papist atrocities committed upon his<a name="page_vol-2-006" id="page_vol-2-006"></a> sister and niece. The provinces of
+Anjou and Saintonge took a large part in the religious ware that broke
+out. My father, although married several years before, left his
+establishment to enlist himself among the volunteers of the Protestant
+army, and deported himself bravely under the orders of Coligny, Condé,
+Lanoüe and Dandelot. He was twice wounded. I accompanied him in the
+second armed uprising of 1568, when, alas! I had the misfortune of
+losing him. I took the field at his side as a volunteer, leaving in La
+Rochelle my mother, my sister Theresa, then the wife of Louis Rennepont,
+and my cousin Cornelia, who desired to join her father, Captain Mirant,
+on a cruise against the royal ships, while I was to combat on land in
+the army of Coligny.<a name="page_vol-2-007" id="page_vol-2-007"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_vol-2-I" id="CHAPTER_vol-2-I"></a>CHAPTER I.<br />
+<br />THE QUEEN'S "FLYING SQUADRON."</h3>
+
+<p>The Abbey of St. Severin, situated on the Limoges road not far from the
+town of Malraye, belonged to the Order of St. Bernard. Before the
+beginning of the religious wars, the abbey was a splendid monument,
+built by the hands of <i>Jacques Bonhomme</i>,<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> like so many other
+monasteries that dot the soil of France. As a church vassal, Jacques
+Bonhomme transported either upon his own back, or, to the still greater
+injury of field agriculture, with the help of oxen, the stones, the
+lumber, the sand and the lime requisite for the erection of these
+pretentious monastic residences. He thereupon carried to the idling
+monks the tithes on his corn, on his cattle, on his poultry, on his
+eggs, on his butter, on his wine, on his oil, on the fleece of his
+sheep, on his honey, on his linen, in short, the prime of all that he
+produced with the sweat of his brow. Then came the corvee<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a>&mdash;to till
+the convent lands, to sow, weed and gather the crops thereon; to keep
+the convent roads in repair; to irrigate its meadows; to dredge its
+ponds; to serve as watchman; and finally to lay down his life in its
+defense against the roving bands of vagabonds and robbers.<a name="page_vol-2-008" id="page_vol-2-008"></a> In return
+for all these services&mdash;when either old, or sick, or exhausted with
+toil, Jacques Bonhomme could work no more&mdash;he was allowed to hold out
+his bowl at the gate of the monastery, when the monks would occasionally
+deign to fill it with greasy water from their kitchen. When the church
+vassal was at his last breath, stretched upon the straw in his hut, the
+good Fathers came to assist and solace him with their <i>Oremus</i>.<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> "God
+created man for sorrow and poverty," they would say to him; "you have
+suffered&mdash;God is pleased; you shall enjoy a famous seat in Paradise.
+Yours will be the delights of the celestial mansion."</p>
+
+<p>When the spirit of the Reformation penetrated some of the provinces,
+Jacques Bonhomme began to lend an ear to a new theory. "Poor, ignorant
+people, poor duped and defrauded people," said the pastors of the new
+church; "offerings to saints, masses, and purgatory are idolatries,
+tricks, frauds, sacrilegious inventions with the aid of which the
+priests and monks appropriate to themselves the silver laid by fools
+upon the altars and at the feet of wooden and stone images. Good men!
+Read the sacred Book. You will discover that God forbids the traffic on
+which thousands of frocked and tonsured idlers grow fat." In sight of
+such a revelation, based as it was upon the texts of Holy Writ, Jacques
+Bonhomme said to himself in his own rustic common sense: "&#8217;Tis so! I
+have been cheated, duped and robbed all these centuries by the Church of
+Rome!" Thereupon Jacques Bonhomme turned himself<a name="page_vol-2-009" id="page_vol-2-009"></a> loose upon the
+convents and churches; he overthrew, broke and profaned the altars, the
+relics and the statues of saints that had so long been the objects of
+his veneration.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, in the provinces where the population remained under
+the mental domination of the clergy, Jacques Bonhomme turned himself
+loose upon the houses of Huguenots, set them on fire, slaughtered the
+men, violated the women, and dashed the brains of old men and children
+against the walls.</p>
+
+<p>Occupied before the religious wars by the Bernardine monks, the Abbey of
+St. Severin had been repeatedly sacked, like so many other monastic
+resorts in the districts of Poitou, Berri and Limousin. Reared on an
+admirable site&mdash;the slope of a hill shaded by a thick forest&mdash;the
+convent clearly revealed the traces of a sack, freshly undergone:
+shattered windows, doors broken open or torn from their hinges, portions
+of the walls blackened by fire, and the capitals of the columns
+mutilated by the discharge of arquebuses and the fury of the
+devastators.</p>
+
+<p>One day, towards the middle of the month of June, 1569, as the sun drew
+near the western horizon, the silence around the ruins of the Abbey of
+St. Severin was disturbed by the arrival of two squadrons of light
+cavalry belonging to the Catholic army. The cavalcade escorted a long
+convoy of pack-mules, the men in charge of whom wore the colors and arms
+of the royal house of France and of the house of Lorraine. The convoy
+entered the yard of the cloister. The lackeys unloaded the mules and
+took possession of the deserted abbey. True to their name, the<a name="page_vol-2-010" id="page_vol-2-010"></a> horsemen
+were armed in the lightest manner, with Burgundian helmets and
+breastplates, together with armlets and gauntlets, besides thigh-pieces
+partly covered by their boots; small arquebuses, only three feet long
+and well polished, hung from their saddle pommels, and short swords and
+iron maces completed their outfit.</p>
+
+<p>The armed corps had for its commandant Count Neroweg of Plouernel, a man
+beyond sixty years of age, of rough, haughty and martial mien. From head
+to foot he was covered with armor damascened in gold. His Turkish
+silver-grey horse was cased at the neck, chest and crupper in light
+flexible sheets of chiseled and richly gilt steel. Its orange-colored
+velvet housings and saddle were ornamented with green and silver lace,
+the heraldic colors of the house of Plouernel. The jacket or floating
+coat that the Count wore above his armor was also of orange-colored
+velvet, and likewise embroidered with green and silver thread. The
+commandant of the detachment alighted from his horse; ordered the
+monastery to be searched; set up watches and sent out pickets over the
+principal roads that led to the place. He then remounted and rode away
+in the direction of Limoges, escorted by only one of the two squadrons.</p>
+
+<p>Immediately after the departure of the Count, the quartermasters of
+Queen Catherine De Medici, assisted by her serving-men and those of
+Charles of Guise, Cardinal of Lorraine, fell to work on the task of
+imparting to the devastated halls of the abbey the most presentable
+appearance possible, with the view of lodging the Queen and the pre<a name="page_vol-2-011" id="page_vol-2-011"></a>late
+whose arrival they expected. The mules, to the number of more than
+sixty, carried a complete traveling equipment on their pack-saddles, or
+in large trunks strapped to their backs&mdash;tent cloths, lambrequins,
+tapestry, easels, dismantled beds, curtains, mattresses, silver vessels,
+besides an abundance of eatables and wines with the necessary kitchen
+utensils, and even ice, in leather bags. The valets set to work with a
+will, and with a promptitude truly marvelous they tapestried the
+apartments destined for the Queen and for the Cardinal by hanging rich
+cloths, provided in advance with gilt hooks, from nails that they deftly
+drove along the upper edges of the walls. They then fitted out the two
+rooms with the necessary furniture brought by the mules. A chamber,
+separated from that of the Queen by a small passage was likewise
+prepared for the reception of the sovereign's four maids of honor. The
+pages, the knights, the chamberlains, the officers and the equerries
+were all quartered, as in time of war, in the outhouses of the abbey,
+the vast kitchen of which was invaded by the master cook and his aides,
+who prepared supper, while the stewards spread the royal table in the
+refectory of the monastery. Shortly before sunset forerunners announced
+the approach of the Queen. Upon the heels of the forerunners came a
+vanguard, and immediately after, several armed squadrons, in the center
+of which was the royal litter, enclosed with hangings of
+gold-embroidered violet velvet and carried by two mules, likewise in
+trappings of violet velvet. A second litter, not so richly decorated and
+empty at the time, was reserved for those maids of<a name="page_vol-2-012" id="page_vol-2-012"></a> honor who might tire
+of riding. These maids, however, together with their governess, had
+preferred to cover the distance on the backs of their richly caparisoned
+palfreys, the necks, flanks and cruppers of which were decked in
+embroidered velvet emblazoned with the arms of the royal house of
+France. Pages and equerries followed the maids of honor. The rear was
+brought up by the litter of the Cardinal of Lorraine, wrapped in purple
+taffeta hangings and surrounded by several leading dignitaries and
+Princes of the Church.</p>
+
+<p>Before entering the yard of the abbey the prelate put his head out of
+his litter, and ordered one of his gentlemen-in-waiting to summon before
+him the commandant of the escort. Charles of Guise, Cardinal of
+Lorraine, was at that time forty-six years of age. His otherwise
+handsome features, now marred by debauchery, reflected shrewdness,
+craft, and above all haughtiness, these being the dominant traits of his
+character. Count Neroweg of Plouernel, who was summoned by the prelate,
+approached the litter.</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur," said the Cardinal in an imperious tone, "do you answer for
+the safety of the Queen and myself?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Monsieur Cardinal."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you taken sufficient precautions against any surprise on the part
+of the Huguenot band known by the name of the 'Avengers of Israel' and
+captained by a felon nicknamed the 'One-Eyed'?"</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur Cardinal, I answer with my life for the safety of the Queen.
+The Huguenot forces need not alarm us. His Majesty's army covers our
+escort. Marshal<a name="page_vol-2-013" id="page_vol-2-013"></a> Tavannes is notified of the Queen's arrival; he has
+undoubtedly kept clear the route followed by her Majesty. I told your
+Eminence before that it would have been better to push straight ahead
+until we joined the army of Marshal Tavannes, instead of spending the
+night at this abbey."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you imagine the Queen and I can travel like a couple of troopers,
+without alighting for rest?"</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur Cardinal," replied Count Neroweg of Plouernel haughtily, "it
+is not for others to remind me of the respect I owe her Majesty."</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur!" exclaimed the Cardinal angrily, "you seem to forget that you
+are addressing a Prince of the house of Lorraine. Be more respectful!"</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur Cardinal, if you know the history of your house, I know the
+history of mine. Pepin of Heristal, the grandfather of Charlemagne, from
+whom you pretend to descend, was but a rather insignificant specimen
+when the house of Neroweg, illustrious in Germany long before the
+Frankish conquest, was already established in Gaul for two centuries on
+its Salic domains of Auvergne, which it held from the sword of one of
+its own ancestors, a leude of Clovis&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Lower your tone, monsieur! Do not oblige me to remind you that Colonel
+Plouernel, your brother, is one of the military chiefs of the rebels who
+have risen in arms against the Church and the Crown."</p>
+
+<p>The colloquy was interrupted at this point by the arrival of a page who
+hurried to announce to the Cardinal the entry of the Queen into the
+cloister.<a name="page_vol-2-014" id="page_vol-2-014"></a></p>
+
+<p>Leaving Count Neroweg under the stigma of insinuated treason, the
+prelate stepped down from his litter in order to hasten to the Queen's
+side and render her his homage. Catherine De Medici was then in her
+fiftieth year. Not now was she, as on that fateful January 21, 1535,
+merely a Princess, and the young butt of the arrows of the Duchess of
+Etampes. Since then, Francis I had died and had been succeeded to the
+throne by her husband as Henry II, who, dying later from the
+consequences of an accident at a tourney, left her Queen
+Regent&mdash;absolute monarch. In point of appearance also Catherine De
+Medici was now her complete self. She preserved the traces of her
+youthful beauty. A slight corpulence impaired in nothing the majesty of
+her stature. Her shoulders, arms and hands&mdash;all of a dazzling
+whiteness&mdash;would, thanks to the perfection of their lines, have
+presented a noble model for a sculptor. Her hair preserved its pristine
+blackness, and was on this evening covered by the hood of a damask
+mantle, violet like her trailing robe, which exposed a front of brass.
+Cunning, perfidy, cruelty, were stamped upon her striking countenance.
+Catherine De Medici leaned upon the arm of her lover, the Cardinal of
+Lorraine, and entered the abbey, followed by her maids of honor, a bevy
+of ravishing young girls.</p>
+
+<p>The maids of honor of Catherine De Medici indulged in these days, and by
+express orders of their mistress, in the strangest of doings. The
+ironical title was given them of the "Queen's Flying Squadron." Indeed,
+according as her policy might require, Catherine De Medici commanded
+her<a name="page_vol-2-015" id="page_vol-2-015"></a> maids of honor to prostitute themselves and take for their lovers
+the young seigneurs whom she wished to attract to her party, or whose
+secrets she wished to fathom. Occasionally the Queen even pointed out to
+her nymphs such court folks as she wished to be rid of. In such
+instances, René, the court perfumer, prepared the most subtle poisons
+and the surest to boot, wherewith the young maids impregnated the gloves
+of their lovers, or the petals of a flower, or smelling boxes, or the
+sugar plums which they offered to the victims designated to them. It was
+a customary saying of Catherine De Medici to her new female recruits:
+"My little one, you are free to worship at the shrine of Diana, or at
+that of Venus, but if you sacrifice to the little god Cupid, have an eye
+to the breadth of your waist."<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a></p>
+
+<p>After supper the Cardinal of Lorraine remained alone with the Queen. The
+maids of honor entertained themselves in a chamber adjoining the royal
+apartment. There were four of them, each of a different type of beauty.
+The youngest was eighteen years of age. A veneer of grace and elegance
+concealed the precocious degradation of the four beauties. They were
+superbly dressed. Catherine De Medici loved luxury; on their travels the
+members of her suite took with them, laden in trunks strapped to the
+backs of mules, complete outfits of splendid apparel. One of the maids
+of honor, Blanche of Verceil, was temporarily absent. Diana of
+Sauveterre, the senior of the Queen's squadron, was a white and pink
+beauty of the blonde type. She wore a blue waist ornamented with open
+gold lace-work;<a name="page_vol-2-016" id="page_vol-2-016"></a> her coif, made of white taffeta and surmounted with
+little curled feathers of blue and silver, marked with its point the
+middle of her forehead, whence, widening in two rounded wings to either
+side over her temples, it exposed an opulent growth of blonde hair
+combed back from the roots. Clorinde of Vaucernay, a dainty little
+creature with black hair and blue eyes, was clad in a waist and skirt of
+pale yellow damask threaded with silver; her bonnet, made of the same
+material, was embroidered with pearls. Finally, Anna Bell, the youngest
+and most beautiful of all, seemed to unite in her single person the
+different charms of the other maids of honor. Elegant of stature and
+with a skin of dazzling white, her thick light-brown hair contrasted
+marvelously with her eye-brows, jet-black like the long eyelashes which
+partly veiled her large, soft, brown eyes. The maid's rose-colored satin
+coat fell in graceful folds upon her robe of white satin. Her pink
+bonnet was surmounted by little white frizzled feathers. Anna Bell
+seemed to be in a mood of profound melancholy. Seated slightly apart
+from her companions, with her elbows leaning on a window that opened
+upon the enclosure of the abbey, she dreamily contemplated the starry
+sky, lending but an absentminded attention to the conversation of her
+sister maids of honor.</p>
+
+<p>"Did I understand you to say there were philters that could make men
+amorous?" asked Clorinde of Vaucernay.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, indeed," replied Diana of Sauveterre. "The effectiveness of
+certain philters is indisputable. In support of what I say I shall quote
+Madam Noirmoutier. She<a name="page_vol-2-017" id="page_vol-2-017"></a> succeeded in pouring a few drops of a certain
+liquid into Monsieur Langeais's glass. Before the repast was over, the
+young seigneur was crazy in love with her."</p>
+
+<p>"And yet there are people who remain incredulous concerning the efficacy
+of love potions," returned the first speaker. "What about you, Anna
+Bell, are you among the unbelievers?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sincere love is the only philter that can effect prodigies," Anna Bell
+sighed as she answered.</p>
+
+<p>At that moment Blanche of Verceil joined her companions. Hers was a
+masculine, brown-complexioned and tall type of beauty. The maid's
+abundant black hair and thick eyebrows would have imparted the stamp of
+harshness to her face were it not for the smile of merry raillery that
+habitually flitted over her cherry-red lips, which were accentuated by a
+light-brown down. She held in her hand several sheets of paper, and said
+gaily to her companions:</p>
+
+<p>"I have come to share with you, my darlings, a bit of good luck that has
+befallen me."</p>
+
+<p>"Good! Distribute your good things," cried Diana of Sauveterre.</p>
+
+<p>"This morning, just as we were mounting our horses," began Blanche of
+Verceil, "a page arrived from Paris, sent to me by my dear Brissac. The
+page brought me sugar plums, fresh flowers wonderfully preserved, and a
+letter full of love. But that is not all. The letter, which I could not
+read until a few minutes ago, contained a treasure&mdash;an inestimable
+treasure&mdash;the newest <i>pasquils</i>,<a name="page_vol-2-018" id="page_vol-2-018"></a> the most daring and most biting that
+have yet appeared! They are a true intellectual treat."</p>
+
+<p>"What a windfall! And against whom are they directed?" asked Diana of
+Sauveterre.</p>
+
+<p>"Innocent creature that you are!" Blanche of Verceil returned. "Against
+whom can they be written if not against the Queen, against the Cardinal,
+against the court, and against the maids of honor of the Queen's 'Flying
+Squadron'? It is all of us who are the butts of the satirists."</p>
+
+<p>"Those vicious people treat us with scant courtesy," exclaimed the
+black-haired Clorinde of Vaucernay. "But, at any rate, we are sung in
+superb and royal company. By Venus and Cupid, we should feel proud."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, Blanche, read us the verses," Diana of Sauveterre suggested. "The
+Queen may send for us any moment before she retires."</p>
+
+<p>Instead of complying at once with Diana's request, Blanche of Verceil
+pointed to Anna Bell, who remained in silent abstraction, and in a low
+voice said to her companions: "Decidedly, the little one is in love. Her
+ears do not prick up at the sound of that tickling word <i>pasquil</i>&mdash;a
+divine tid-bit of wit and wickedness the salt of which is worth a
+hundred fold, a thousand fold more than all the sugar of the candies."</p>
+
+<p>"I wager she is dreaming awake of the German Prince of whom she speaks
+in her slumbers. How indiscreet sleep is! Poor thing, she thinks her
+secret is well kept," rejoined Clorinde of Vaucernay.<a name="page_vol-2-019" id="page_vol-2-019"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Blanche, the pasquils," again cried Diana, impatiently. "I burn with
+curiosity to hear them."</p>
+
+<p>"Honor to whom honor is due. We shall commence with our good dame the
+Queen;" and with these words Blanche read:</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left">"People ask, What's the resemblance</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&#8217;Tween Catherine and Jesebel:</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">One, the latter, ruined Israel,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">And the former ruins France;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Extreme malice marked the latter,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Malice's self the former is;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Finally, the judgment fell</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Of a Providence divine</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Caused the dogs to eat up Jesebel,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">While the carcass rank of Catherine</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">In this point doth differ much:</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">It not even the dogs will munch."<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>The maids of honor broke out into peals of laughter. Anna Bell, still
+pensively seated apart at the open casement, let her eyes wander over
+space, a stranger to the hilarity of her companions. She paid no
+attention to the reading of the verses.</p>
+
+<p>"You will yet see, in the event of our good Dame Catherine's being taken
+unawares and swallowing some of the sugar plums destined for her
+victims, that the rascally dogs may fear the remains of our venerable
+sovereign are poisoned&mdash;and will run away from her carcass," said
+Clorinde of Vaucernay.</p>
+
+<p>"That pasquil should be read to the Queen. If she is in a good humor she
+will have a good laugh over it," put in Diana of Sauveterre.<a name="page_vol-2-020" id="page_vol-2-020"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, few things amuse her more than bold and witty verses,"
+acquiesced Blanche. "Do you remember how, when she read the 'Marvelous
+Discourses' from the satirical pen of the famous printer Robert
+Estienne, the good dame laughed heartily and said: 'There is some truth
+in that! But they do not know it all&mdash;how would it be if they were more
+fully posted!'<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> Now, listen. After the Queen, Monsieur the Cardinal,
+that is a matter of course. He is supposed to be dead&mdash;they wish he
+were&mdash;that also is natural. Here is his epitaph written in advance:</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 0em;">"The Cardinal, who, in his hours of life</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Kept heaven, sea and earth all seething o'er,</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 0em;">In hell now carries on his furious strife,</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">And 'mong the damned, as erst 'mong us makes war.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 0em;">"Why is it that upon his tomb is showered</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">The holy water in such rare profusion?</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 0em;">It is that there the torch of war lies lowered,</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">And all fear lest it flare to new confusion."<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></span></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>"Poor Monsieur Cardinal!" exclaimed Diana of Sauveterre. "What a
+villainous calumny! He, such a poltroon as he, for a Guise&mdash;he is the
+most craven of all cravens&mdash;to compare him with a bolt of war!"</p>
+
+<p>"No, not a bolt, but a torch," Blanche corrected. "He rests satisfied
+with holding the torch of war, like Madam Gondi, the governess of the
+royal Princes and Princesses, held the torch of Venus to light the
+amours of the late<a name="page_vol-2-021" id="page_vol-2-021"></a> King Henry II, whose worthy go-between, or, to speak
+more plainly, whose Cyprian, she was."</p>
+
+<p>"As for me," said Clorinde of Vaucernay, "I highly commend the Queen for
+having placed, as governess over her children, her own husband's
+go-between. It is a sort of hereditary office which can not be entrusted
+to hands too worthy, and should be perpetuated in titled families."</p>
+
+<p>"Accordingly," said Blanche, "Gondi, faithful to the duties of her
+Cyprian employment, took charge of carrying the first love letter from
+Mademoiselle Margot<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> to young Henry of Guise, whom we are about to
+meet in the army of Marshal Tavannes. Hence evil tongues are saying: 'In
+these days, it is not the men who fall on their knees before the women,
+but the women who fall on their knees before the men and entreat them
+for amorous mercy.'"<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a></p>
+
+<p>"Nothing wonderful in that!" replied Clorinde. "Is it not for a Queen to
+take the first step towards her subjects? What are we? Queens. What are
+the men? Our subjects. Besides that, Henry of Guise is so handsome, so
+brave, so amorous! Although he is barely eighteen years old, all the
+women are crazy over him&mdash;I first of all. My arms are open to him."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Clorinde! If Biron were to hear you!" cried Diana of Sauveterre.</p>
+
+<p>"He has heard me," answered Clorinde. "He knows<a name="page_vol-2-022" id="page_vol-2-022"></a> that in pledging
+constancy, exception is always implied for an encounter with Henry of
+Guise. But let us hear the other pasquils, Blanche!"</p>
+
+<p>"The next one," announced Blanche, "is piquant. It alludes to the new
+custom that the Queen has borrowed from Spain. It alludes to the title
+of <i>Majesty</i> that she wishes to be addressed by, as well as her
+children:</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left">"The Kingdom of France, to perdition while lagging,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Has seized from the Spaniard his heathenish bragging:</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">It rigs up a mortal in godhead's travesty,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">And when his estate with hypocrisy's smelling,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">I plainly can see, and without any telling,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Our Majesty's booked&mdash;to be stript of majesty."<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>"That last line is humorous," laughed Clorinde. "'Our Majesty's
+booked&mdash;to be stript of majesty.'"</p>
+
+<p>"For want of the thing we take the name&mdash;that is enough to impose upon
+the fools," said Diana of Sauveterre.</p>
+
+<p>Blanche pointed to their companion who was still seated by the window,
+now with her forehead resting on her hands, and said: "Look at Anna
+Bell. In what black melancholy is she plunged?"</p>
+
+<p>"To the devil with melancholy!" answered Diana. "One has to fall in love
+with some German Prince in order to look so pitiful!"</p>
+
+<p>"Who may the Prince Charming be?" Blanche inquired. "We know nothing of
+the secrets of that languishing maid, except a few words uttered by her
+in her sleep&mdash;'Prince&mdash;<a name="page_vol-2-023" id="page_vol-2-023"></a>Germany!&mdash;Germany!&mdash;My heart is all yours. Alas,
+my love can not be shared.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Can Anna Bell be German?" asked Clorinde.</p>
+
+<p>"Ask our good Dame Catherine about that. She is no doubt acquainted with
+the mystery of Anna Bell's birth, and may enlighten you on what you want
+to know. As for me, I know nothing about it."</p>
+
+<p>"The German Prince has turned her head and made her forget poor Solange
+altogether," said Clorinde.</p>
+
+<p>"The most famous preachers, among them Burning-Fire and Fra Hervé the
+Cordelier, failed to draw the Marquis of Solange back to the fold of the
+Church. Anna Bell undertook his conversion, and, by grace from above&mdash;or
+from below&mdash;by virtue of her blue eyes or of her charming hips, the
+Huguenot became an ardent Catholic."</p>
+
+<p>"But to whom does he render his devotions?" asked Clorinde, meaningly.
+"To the Church, or to the chapel of our little friend?" The maids of
+honor laughed uproariously and Clorinde continued: "But let us return to
+our pasquils."</p>
+
+<p>"This one," resumed Blanche of Verceil, "is odd on account of its
+form&mdash;and the climax is droll. Judge for yourselves:</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left">"The poor people endure everything;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">The men-at-arms ravage everything;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">The Holy Church pensions everything;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">The favorites demand everything;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">The Cardinal grants everything;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">The Parliament registers everything;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">The Chancellor seals everything;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">The Queen-Mother runs everything;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">And only the Devil laughs at everything;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Because the Devil will take everything."<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>The loud hilarity of the maids of honor, whom the wind-up of the last
+pasquil amused intensely, finally attracted the attention of Anna Bell.
+Her face bore the impress of profound sadness; her eyes were moist.
+Fearing that she was the object of her companions' jests, the maid
+furtively wiped away her tears, stepped slowly towards the other young
+women, and let herself down beside Blanche of Verceil.</p>
+
+<p>"We are somewhat after the fashion of the devil&mdash;we laugh about
+everything," said Clorinde to her. "You alone, Anna Bell, among us all,
+are as sad as a wife who sees her husband return from a long voyage, or
+beholds her gallant depart for the wars. What is the reason of your
+despondency?"</p>
+
+<p>Anna Bell forced a smile, and answered: "Forget me, as the wife forgets
+her husband. To-day I feel in a sad humor."</p>
+
+<p>"The remembrance, perhaps, of a bad dream?" suggested Blanche of
+Verceil, ironically. "Or perhaps bad news from a handsome and absent
+friend?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, dear Blanche," replied Anna Bell, blushing, "I am affected only by
+a vague sorrow&mdash;without cause or object. Besides, as you are aware, I am
+not of a gay disposition."<a name="page_vol-2-025" id="page_vol-2-025"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, God!" broke in Diana of Sauveterre, excitedly. "By the way of
+dreams, I must tell you I had a most frightful one last night. I saw our
+escort attacked by the Huguenot bandits called the Avengers of Israel."</p>
+
+<p>"Their chief is said to be a devilish one-eyed man, who attacks monks
+and priests by choice," said Blanche, "and, when he takes them prisoner,
+flays their skulls. He calls that raising them to the cardinalate,
+coifing them with the red cap!"</p>
+
+<p>"It is enough to make one shiver with terror. One hears nothing but
+reports of such atrocities," exclaimed Clorinde.</p>
+
+<p>"We need not fear that we shall fall into the hands of that reprobate,"
+said Diana reassuringly. "We have attended a special mass for the
+success of our journey."</p>
+
+<p>"I place but slight reliance upon the mass, my dear Diana, but a very
+strong one upon Count Neroweg of Plouernel, who commands our escort,"
+replied Blanche. "The Huguenot bandits will not dare to approach our
+armed squadrons and light cavalry. The saber is a better protection to
+us than the priest's cowl."</p>
+
+<p>"May God preserve us!" laughed Diana. "All the same, I would not regret
+undergoing a scare, or even running a certain degree of risk of being
+carried off, together with the accessory consequences&mdash;anything to see
+the frightened face of the Cardinal, who is as lily-livered as a hare."</p>
+
+<p>"To tell the truth, I do not understand these charges of cowardice that
+you fling at the Cardinal, after so many proofs of valor given by him,"
+said Blanche.<a name="page_vol-2-026" id="page_vol-2-026"></a></p>
+
+<p>Diana of Sauveterre burst out laughing again. "You must be joking," she
+said, "when you speak of the 'bravery' of the Cardinal, and of the
+'proofs of valor' given by him."</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed, my dear Diana," replied Blanche. "I am talking seriously.
+First of all, did he not carry bravery to the point of charging old
+Diana of Poitiers, as he would have done a citadel? Did he not
+accomplish another exploit in passing from the arms of Diana into those
+of our good Queen Catherine, though she be loaded with years and
+corpulence? Besides, we know," she added with a sinister smile, "that to
+play the gallant with Catherine is at times to court death. These are
+the reasons why I look upon the Cardinal as a Caesar."</p>
+
+<p>"You would be talking to the point, my dear, if, instead of braving the
+one-eyed man, who has such a reputation for ferocity, the Cardinal were
+now to turn to the assault of some one-eyed woman," said Clorinde of
+Vaucernay.</p>
+
+<p>"If heaven is just," said Diana, "it will yet place the Huguenot bandit
+face to face with the Cordelier Hervé. Then would we see terrible
+things. The monk commands a company of Catholics, all desperate men. For
+arms he has a chaplet, the beads of which are arquebus balls, and a
+heavy iron crucifix which he uses for a mace. All heretics who fall into
+the hands of the troop of Fra Hervé are put to death with all manner of
+refined tortures, whether they be men or women, old men or children. But
+do let us return to our pasquils."<a name="page_vol-2-027" id="page_vol-2-027"></a></p>
+
+<p>"The best are still to come. They are the cleverest and drollest, but
+they are in prose;" and Blanche continued reading:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">New Works Belonging to the Court Library.</span></p>
+
+<p>"The <i>Pot-pourri of the Affairs of France</i>, translated from the
+Italian into French by the Queen of France.</p>
+
+<p>"The <i>General Goslings' Record</i>, by the Cardinal of Bourbon. A
+collection of racy stories.</p>
+
+<p>"The <i>History of Ganymede</i>, by the Duke of Anjou, the Queen's
+favorite son."</p></div>
+
+<p>"The dear Prince surely did not write that book without a collaborator,"
+cried Diana of Sauveterre, laughing. "I wager the lovely Odet, the son
+of Count Neroweg of Plouernel, his aide-de-camp, must have helped the
+Duke of Anjou in his work. The two youngsters have become inseparable,
+day&mdash;and night!"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>O, Italiam! Italiam!</i> O, Italy, the rival of Gomorrah and of Lesbos!"
+exclaimed Clorinde, laughing boisterously.</p>
+
+<p>"You speak Latin, my dear?" asked Diana, amused.</p>
+
+<p>"Simply out of shame," replied Clorinde, "in order not to frighten the
+modesty of the maids of honor, my pretty chickens."</p>
+
+<p>"I have a horror of the little hermaphrodites," agreed Blanche. "They
+are decked out like women&mdash;gaudy ruffles, jewelry in their ears, fans in
+their hands! May Venus protect us from the reign of those favorites! May
+the fires of hell consume the popinjays! But to proceed with the
+pasquil. Attention, my dears:<a name="page_vol-2-028" id="page_vol-2-028"></a></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"<i>Singular Treatise on Incest</i>, by Monsignor the Archbishop of
+Lyons, recently published and dedicated to Mademoiselle Grisolles,
+his sister. A pretty couple!</p></div>
+
+<p>"Monsignor Archbishop studies reserved cases&mdash;in the confessional, in
+order to put them into practice.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"<i>Sermons</i>, by the reverend Father Burning-Fire, faithfully
+compiled by the street-porters of Paris.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>The Perfect Pig</i>, by Monsieur Villequier, revised, corrected and
+considerably enlarged by Madam Villequier. Boar and sow!"</p></div>
+
+<p>The maids of honor roared out aloud as they heard the burlesque title,
+and they repeated in chorus&mdash;"The Perfect Pig!"<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a></p>
+
+<p>"Now comes the last and best," proceeded Blanche. "We are again the
+theme, together with our good Dame Catherine. Ours the honors, as ever.
+Meditate upon these dainties:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="c">"<span class="smcap">Manifesto of the Court Ladies.</span></p>
+
+<p>"<i>Be it known to all by these presents that the Court Ladies have
+no less repentance than sins, as appears from the following
+lamentations</i>.</p>
+
+<p class="c">"<span class="smcap">Catherine De Medici, the King's Mother.</span></p>
+
+<p>"My God, my heart, feeling the approach of death, apprehends Thy
+wrath and my eternal damnation when I consider how many sins I have
+committed, as well with my body as through the violent death of
+others, even of near relatives&mdash;all in order to reign. How I have
+raised my children in vice, blasphemy and perfidy, and my daughters
+in unchaste licence, to the point of<a name="page_vol-2-029" id="page_vol-2-029"></a> tolerating and even
+authorizing a brothel at my Court. France made me what I am. I
+unmake her all I can. With the good King David I say&mdash;<i>Tibi soli
+peccavi</i>."<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a></p></div>
+
+<p>"That is carrying fiction to great lengths," laughed Diana of
+Sauveterre. "I do not believe our good Dame Catherine is capable of
+repenting any of the things laid to her door by the malignant
+pasquil&mdash;neither her debaucheries nor any of her other evil
+deeds&mdash;unchastities or assassinations."</p>
+
+<p>"The word 'brothel' is rather impertinent when applied to us!" Clorinde
+exclaimed. "They should have said, like our dear Rabelais, 'an Abbey of
+Thalamia,' or 'a Monastery of Cyprus, of which the Queen is the Mother
+Abbess.' That would have been elegant&mdash;without doing violence to the
+truth. A 'brothel'&mdash;fie! fie! Nasty word! We are the priestesses of
+Venus&mdash;only that!"</p>
+
+<p>"I was not aware, dearest, that you had become a model of prudishness!"
+returned Blanche of Verceil with exquisite mockery. "When you ply a
+trade you must be willing to accept its name, and be indifferent to the
+word with which it is designated;" and she proceeded to read:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="c">"<span class="smcap">Manifesto of the Maids of Honor.</span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh! Oh! Oh! My God! What is to become of us, Lord! Oh, what will
+be of us, if Thou dost not extend to us Thy vast, very vast mercy!
+We cry out to Thee in a loud voice that it may please Thee to
+forgive us the many carnal sins we have committed with Kings,
+Cardinals, Princes, knights, abbots, preachers, poets, musicians
+and all manner of other folks of all conditions, trades and
+quality, down to muleteers, pages and lackeys, and even<a name="page_vol-2-030" id="page_vol-2-030"></a> further
+down&mdash;people corroded with disease and soaked in preservatives!
+Therefore do we say with the good Madam Villequier: 'Oh, Lord,
+mercy! Grant us mercy! And if we can not find a husband, let us
+join the Order of the Magdalens!'</p>
+
+<p>"Done at Chercheau, voyage to Nerac.</p>
+
+<p class="c">"<i>Signed</i>, C<small>UCUFIN</small>.</p>
+
+<p>"(With the permission of Monsignor the Archbishop of Lyons.)"<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a></p></div>
+
+<p>Such was the cynicism and moral turpitude of the wretched girls,
+corrupted and gangrened to the core as they were since early childhood
+by the perversions of an infamous court and the example as well as the
+advice of Catherine De Medici, that this scorching satire, more than any
+of the other pasquils, provoked the boundless hilarity of the "Flying
+Squadron." All sense of decorum was blotted out. Anna Bell alone blushed
+and dropped her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>The gay guffaws of the beautiful sinners were interrupted by the solemn
+entrance of their governess.</p>
+
+<p>"Silence!" she commanded. "Silence, young ladies! Her Majesty is close
+by, in conference with Monseigneur the Cardinal."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear Countess!" answered Blanche of Verceil, endeavoring to smother
+the outbursts of her laughter. "If you only knew what a wicked pasquil
+we have just read! According to the author it would seem that we emerge
+from our dormitory like the goddess Truth out of her fountain, or with
+as scant clothing on our limbs as Madam Eve in her paradise."<a name="page_vol-2-031" id="page_vol-2-031"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Less noise, you crazy lasses! Less noise!" ordered the governess; and
+addressing Anna Bell: "Come, dearest, the Queen wishes to have a talk
+with you after her conference with his Excellency the Cardinal. You are
+to wait for her summons in a cabinet, which is separated from the
+Queen's apartment by the little corridor. When you hear her bell ring
+three times, the usual summons, you are to go in."</p>
+
+<p>Anna Bell went out with the governess, leaving her lightheaded and
+lighthearted companions in the room laughing and exchanging witticisms
+upon the pasquils.<a name="page_vol-2-032" id="page_vol-2-032"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_vol-2-II" id="CHAPTER_vol-2-II"></a>CHAPTER II.<br />
+<br />ANNA BELL.</h3>
+
+<p>Catherine De Medici and Cardinal Charles of Lorraine were in the midst
+of a conversation that started immediately after supper. The prelate,
+complaisant, sly and attentive to the slightest word of the Italian
+woman, showed himself alternately reserved and familiar, according to
+the turn that the conversation took. The Queen, on the other hand,
+intent, not so much upon what the retainer of the Guises said, as upon
+fathoming what he suppressed, at once hated and feared him, and sought
+to surprise upon his face the hidden secrets of his thoughts. Both the
+one and the other stood on their guard, the two accomplices in intrigue
+and crime vying with each other in dissimulation and perfidy, the
+Italian woman crafty, the prelate cautious.</p>
+
+<p>"Monsignor Cardinal," remarked Catherine De Medici with a touch of irony
+in her tone, "you remind me at this moment&mdash;you must excuse the
+comparison, I am a huntress you know&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Your Majesty unites all the deities&mdash;Juno on her<a name="page_vol-2-033" id="page_vol-2-033"></a> throne, Diana in the
+woods, Venus in her temple of Cytheria&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Mercy, Monsignor Cardinal, let us drop those mythological queens. They
+are old, they have lived their time&mdash;Diana, with the rest of them; they
+now inhabit the empyrean."</p>
+
+<p>The pointed allusion to his amours with old Diana of Poitiers, Duchess
+of Valentinois, stung the haughty prelate to the quick. He meant to give
+tit for tat, and, in his turn hinting at his present amours with the
+Queen herself, he replied:</p>
+
+<p>"I perceive, madam, that the death of the Duchess of Valentinois has not
+yet disarmed your jealousy. And yet, I feel hope re-rising in my
+heart&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Catherine De Medici had yielded herself to the prelate out of political
+calculation, the same as he himself had laid siege to her out of
+political ambition. The Italian woman affected not to have understood
+the Cardinal's hint at their intimate relations, and darting upon him
+her viper's glance, proceeded:</p>
+
+<p>"As I was saying, monsignor, when I begged you to excuse a comparison
+which I borrow from falconry, your oratorical circumlocutions remind me
+of a falcon's evolutions when he rises in the air to swoop down upon his
+prey. I have been searching through the mists of your discourse for the
+prey you are in pursuit of, and am unable to discover it. You induced me
+to join my son of Anjou in the army with the view of reviving the
+spirits of the Catholic chiefs. Meseems my faithful subjects should be
+suffi<a name="page_vol-2-034" id="page_vol-2-034"></a>ciently encouraged by the deaths of the Duke of Deux-Ponts, of
+Monsieur Condé, and of Dandelot, the brother of Coligny,&mdash;three of the
+most prominent chiefs of the Huguenot party, and all three carried off
+within a month. These are all fortunate events."<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a></p>
+
+<p>"We see God's hand in that, madam," observed the Cardinal. "These three
+sudden deaths are providential. They are utterances from God."</p>
+
+<p>"'Providential,' as you say Monsignor Cardinal," pursued the Queen.
+"Nevertheless, the Huguenots are pushing the campaign with great vigor,
+while the Catholic chiefs are flagging. You thought my presence at the
+camp of Roche-la-Belle would exert a favorable influence upon the fate
+of the campaign. Accordingly, I am on the way to join our army. Now,
+however, you indicate to me that this journey might lead to unexpected
+discoveries. You even dropped the word 'treason.' Once more I must say
+to you, Monsignor Cardinal, I see in all this the evolutions of the
+falcon, but not yet the prey that it threatens. In short, if there is
+treason, tell me where it lies. If there is a traitor, name him. Speak
+out plainly."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, madam. There is a plot concocted by Marshal Tavannes. The
+revelation seems to cause your Majesty to start. I beg your leave to go
+into the details of the affair. You will then be instructed upon its
+purpose."<a name="page_vol-2-035" id="page_vol-2-035"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Monsignor Cardinal, no act of treason can surprise me. All I care to
+understand is the cause that brings the treason about. Please continue
+your revelations."</p>
+
+<p>"I have it from good authority that Marshal Tavannes is negotiating with
+Monsieur Coligny. In present circumstances, negotiations smack of
+treason."</p>
+
+<p>"And what do you presume, Monsignor Cardinal, is the purpose of the
+negotiations between Tavannes and Coligny?"</p>
+
+<p>"To induce your Majesty's son, the Duke of Anjou, to embrace the
+Reformation and join the Huguenots."</p>
+
+<p>"Is my son of Anjou supposed to be implicated in the plot? That, indeed,
+would mightily surprise me."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, madam. The Emperor of Germany and Monsieur Coligny have promised
+to the Duke of Anjou, in case he consents to go over to the reformers,
+the sovereignty of the Low Countries, of Saintonge and of Poitou. They
+hope to drive the young Prince into open revolt against his reigning
+brother, his Majesty Charles IX."</p>
+
+<p>"Monsignor Cardinal, your insinuations, affecting as they do a son of
+the royal house of France, are of so grave a nature that I am bound to
+presume you have, ready at hand, the proofs of the plot which you are
+revealing to me. I demand that you produce the proofs instantly."</p>
+
+<p>"I am at the orders of my Queen. I now hasten to spread before your
+Majesty's eyes the correspondence relating to the plot. Here is a letter
+from his Majesty Philip II of Spain, who was the first to get wind of
+the scheme, through one of his agents in the Low Countries.
+Furthermore,<a name="page_vol-2-036" id="page_vol-2-036"></a> here are the written propositions from his Catholic
+Majesty and the Holy Father for common action with your Majesty against
+the Huguenot rebellion and heresy."</p>
+
+<p>"What are the propositions of his Catholic Majesty and venerated
+Pontiff?"</p>
+
+<p>"King Philip II and our Holy Father Pius V offer to your Majesty,
+besides the five thousand Walloon and Italian soldiers that now
+reinforce our army, a new corps of six thousand men&mdash;under the condition
+that your Majesty remove Marshal Tavannes and place the supreme command
+of the troops in the hands of the Duke of Alva."</p>
+
+<p>"Accordingly," replied Catherine De Medici, fixing her eyes upon the
+Cardinal, "our two allies, His Holiness and King Philip II demand that
+the Duke of Alva, a Spanish general, be the commandant in chief of the
+French forces?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is their condition, madam. But it is also agreed that the Duke of
+Alva is to exercise a nominal command only, and that the military
+operations shall be conducted by my brother of Aumale and my nephew
+Henry of Guise, who are to be his immediate subalterns."</p>
+
+<p>Catherine De Medici remained impassive, betraying neither astonishment
+nor anger at the proposition to deliver the command of the French royal
+troops to the Duke of Alva, the pestiferous menial of Philip II, and to
+strengthen the Duke's hand with the support of the brother and the
+nephew of the prelate. The Queen seemed to reflect. After a short pause
+she said to the Cardinal:</p>
+
+<p>"The proposition is not inacceptable. It may serve as the basis for some
+combination that we may offer later."<a name="page_vol-2-037" id="page_vol-2-037"></a></p>
+
+<p>Despite his self-control, the Cardinal's face betrayed his secret joy.
+The Queen seemed not to notice it, and proceeded:</p>
+
+<p>"The first thing to do would then be to withdraw my son of Anjou from
+the command of the army."</p>
+
+<p>"The principal thing to do, madam, would be to remonstrate with the
+young Prince, and to separate him from his present evil advisers."</p>
+
+<p>"That, indeed, would be the wisest course to pursue, if that plot
+exists, as I very much fear it can not be doubted in sight of the proofs
+you have presented to me. And yet, I must be frank to confess, I feel
+some repugnance against placing the Duke of Alva at the head of our
+army. I would be afraid, above all, of displeasing the other military
+chiefs and high dignitaries of our court. The measure will seem an
+outrage to them."</p>
+
+<p>"I have the honor of reminding your Majesty that, in that case, my
+brother and my nephew will be joined to the Duke of Alva."</p>
+
+<p>"You may feel certain, Monsignor Cardinal, that, without the express
+condition of Messieurs of Aumale and Guise being joined to the Spanish
+generalissimo, I would not for a moment have lent an ear to the scheme."</p>
+
+<p>Thrown off the scent by the Queen, the prelate answered
+enthusiastically:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, madam, I swear to God the throne has not a more faithful supporter
+than the house of Guise."</p>
+
+<p>"The fraud! The scamp!" said the Italian woman to herself. "I have
+probed his thoughts! I scent his treason!<a name="page_vol-2-038" id="page_vol-2-038"></a> But I am compelled to conceal
+my feelings and to humor his family, however heartily I abhor it."</p>
+
+<p>One of the Queen's pages, posted outside the door of the apartment and
+authorized at certain emergencies of the service to enter the Queen's
+cabinet without being called, parted the portieres, and bowing
+respectfully, said:</p>
+
+<p>"Madam, the Count of La Riviere, captain of the guards of the Duke of
+Anjou, has just arrived from camp, and requests to be introduced to your
+Majesty immediately."</p>
+
+<p>"Bring him in," answered Catherine De Medici. And as the page was about
+to withdraw, she added: "Should Monsieur Gondi arrive this evening, or
+even later in the night, let me be notified without delay."</p>
+
+<p>The page bowed a second time, and withdrew. The Queen's last words
+seemed to cause the Cardinal some uneasiness. He asked with surprise:</p>
+
+<p>"Does madam expect Monsieur Gondi?"</p>
+
+<p>"Gondi must have received a letter from me at Poitiers, in which I
+ordered him to meet me at the camp of my son, instead of pursuing his
+route to Paris."</p>
+
+<p>The Guisard had not quite recovered from his surprise when the Count of
+La Riviere, captain of the guards of the Duke of Anjou, was ushered in
+by the page. Catherine De Medici said to the prelate with a sweet smile:</p>
+
+<p>"We shall see each other again to-night, Monsignor Cardinal. I shall
+need the advice of my friends in these sad complications. I shall want
+yours."</p>
+
+<p>Charles of Lorraine understood that he was expected to withdraw; he
+bowed respectfully to the Queen and left the apartment, a prey to
+racking apprehensions.<a name="page_vol-2-039" id="page_vol-2-039"></a></p>
+
+<p>The captain of the guards of the Duke of Anjou stepped forward, and
+presenting a letter to Catherine De Medici, said:</p>
+
+<p>"Madam, my master ordered me to place this letter in your Majesty's own
+hands."</p>
+
+<p>"Is my son's health good?" inquired the Queen, taking the missive. "What
+is the news in the army?"</p>
+
+<p>"My master is in admirable health, madam. Yesterday there was a skirmish
+of vanguards between us and the Huguenots. The affair was of little
+importance&mdash;only a few men killed on either side."</p>
+
+<p>Catherine broke the seal on the letter. As her eyes ran over its
+contents, her face, which at first was rigid with apprehension,
+gradually relaxed, and reflected gladness and profound satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>"The Guisard," she muttered to herself, "dared accuse my son of
+negotiating with Admiral Coligny. The infamous calumniator!" And turning
+to her son's ambassador: "My son informs me of your plan, monsieur. You
+wish to serve God, the King and France. Your arm and your heart are at
+our disposal?"</p>
+
+<p>"Madam, I am anxious to emulate Monsieur Montesquiou&mdash;and to rid the
+King of one of his most dangerous enemies."</p>
+
+<p>"You will surpass Monsieur Montesquiou if you succeed! One Coligny is
+worth ten Condés. But are you sure of the man whom my son mentions?"</p>
+
+<p>"The man swore by his soul that he would not falter. He received six
+thousand livres on account of the fifty thou<a name="page_vol-2-040" id="page_vol-2-040"></a>sand promised to him. The
+rest is not to be paid until the thing is done. That is our guarantee."</p>
+
+<p>"Provided he is not assailed with some silly qualms of conscience. But
+how did you become acquainted with the fellow?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yesterday, as I just had the honor of advising your Majesty, there was
+a skirmish at our outposts. Admiral Coligny charged in person, and
+Dominic, that is the name of the man in question, led one of his
+master's relay horses by the reins&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"He is, then, in the service of Monsieur Coligny?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, madam; since infancy he has been attached to the Admiral's house.
+During the engagement he was separated from him. Two of our armed men
+were on the point of despatching Dominic, as we despatch all Huguenots,
+when, seeing me, he cried out 'Quarter!' 'Who are you?' I asked him. 'I
+am a servant of Monsieur the Admiral,' he answered. It suddenly flashed
+through my mind what profit we could draw from the man. Relying upon
+attaching him to me by the bonds of gratitude, I granted him his life.
+Later the proposition was made to him of causing the Admiral to drink a
+potion that we would furnish him with, and of a rich reward for
+himself."</p>
+
+<p>"If your prisoner agreed readily to all," said the Queen, raising her
+head, "there is reason to suspect him."</p>
+
+<p>"On the contrary, madam, he hesitated long. It was the magnitude of the
+promised sum that silenced his scruples. My master placed a certain
+powder in his hands and in<a name="page_vol-2-041" id="page_vol-2-041"></a>stucted him how to use it. The thing may be
+considered done."</p>
+
+<p>"How is our man to explain his return to the heretic camp?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very easily, madam. He will say that he was made a prisoner by us and
+escaped. The Admiral will not suspect a servant who was raised in his
+house."</p>
+
+<p>"I hardly dare hope for success! In one month we have been rid of three
+enemies&mdash;the Duke of Deux-Ponts, Condé and Dandelot. Now it will be
+Coligny's turn! When is the man to leave our camp and rejoin the
+Huguenots?"</p>
+
+<p>"This very night."</p>
+
+<p>"Accordingly&mdash;to-morrow&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"If it shall please God, madam, our holy Church and the kingdom will
+have triumphed over a redoubtable enemy."</p>
+
+<p>"How I wish it were to-morrow!" exclaimed Catherine De Medici in a
+hollow voice, as the page, reappearing at the portiere, announced:</p>
+
+<p>"Madam, Monsieur Gondi and another rider are alighting from their
+horses. Obedient to your Majesty's orders I have hastened to give you
+the news, and await your orders."</p>
+
+<p>"Summon Gondi to me," said the Italian woman; and addressing the Count
+of La Riviere: "Go and take rest, monsieur; you may depart early in the
+morning; you shall have a letter from me for my son. Whether the scheme
+succeed or not, we shall reward your zeal for the triumph<a name="page_vol-2-042" id="page_vol-2-042"></a> of the
+Catholic faith and the service of the King&mdash;two sacred interests."</p>
+
+<p>"Will your Majesty allow me to remind her that Maurevert has just
+received the necklace of the Order of St. Michael for having put the
+Huguenot captain, Monsieur Mouy to death, after having penetrated into
+the camp of the reformers under the pretext that he renounced the
+Catholic faith and embraced the Reformation? I would wish to be the
+object of a like distinction."</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur La Riviere, you shall be as satisfied with us as we are with
+you. Assassination, committed in the service of the King, deserves to be
+rewarded. You shall be decorated Knight of the Order of St. Michael."</p>
+
+<p>The captain of the guards of the Duke of Anjou saluted the Queen and
+withdrew as Monsieur Gondi entered in traveling costume. This Italian
+shared with his countryman Birago the confidence of Catherine De Medici.
+Delighted, the Queen took two steps towards Gondi, saying with impatient
+curiosity:</p>
+
+<p>"What tidings from Bayonne?"</p>
+
+<p>"Madam, I do not come alone. I bring with me the reverend Father
+Lefevre, one of the luminaries of the faith, a pupil and disciple of the
+celebrated Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Order of Jesuits."</p>
+
+<p>"But what is the result of your particular mission?"</p>
+
+<p>"At the very first words with which I broached the matter to the Duke of
+Alva, he stopped me, saying: 'Monsieur Gondi, the reverend Father
+Lefevre is just about to proceed to the Queen for the purpose of
+considering with<a name="page_vol-2-043" id="page_vol-2-043"></a> her the matter that brings you here. He has received
+the instructions of my master and of the Holy Father. He will disclose
+those instructions to the Queen.' It was impossible for me to draw
+anything further from the Duke of Alva. Accordingly, I had no choice but
+to return, madam, and to bring Father Lefevre to you."</p>
+
+<p>"This is strange. What sort of a man is the Jesuit?"</p>
+
+<p>"An impenetrable man. You can neither divine his thoughts, nor pick the
+lock of his secrets. You may judge for yourself when you shall have him
+before you. He requests an audience this very evening."</p>
+
+<p>"And my daughter? What news from my poor Elizabeth?"</p>
+
+<p>"The health of the Queen of Spain declines steadily, madam. She no
+longer leaves her bed."</p>
+
+<p>"Alas, Gondi, we one of these days shall hear that Philip II has
+poisoned my daughter, as we learned last year that he caused his own
+son, Don Carlos, to be put to death. Oh, Philip! Thou crowned monk! Thou
+vampire that feedst on human blood!" And after a short pause: "Fetch me
+the Jesuit."</p>
+
+<p>Gondi left and returned almost immediately, accompanied by the one-time
+friend of Christian the printer. The Queen made a sign to Gondi to be
+left alone with the Jesuit.</p>
+
+<p>"You are Father Lefevre, and belong to the Society of Jesus? I
+understand that our Holy Father and the King of Spain have charged you
+with a mission to me. Speak, I am listening."<a name="page_vol-2-044" id="page_vol-2-044"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Madam, the Holy Father and his Majesty Philip II are very much
+displeased&mdash;with you. Deign to acquaint yourself with this letter from
+his Holiness."</p>
+
+<p>The Jesuit extracted from a silk wallet a schedule sealed with the
+pontifical seal, carried it respectfully to his lips, and handed it over
+to Catherine De Medici. The Queen broke the seal and read:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>Madam and dearly beloved daughter:</p>
+
+<p>In no way and for no reason whatever should you spare the enemies
+of God. I have issued orders to the commander of my troops, the
+Count of Santa Fiore, that <i>he cause all the Huguenots that may
+fall into the hands of his soldiers to be</i> <span class="smcap">KILLED ON THE SPOT</span>.
+Accordingly, no human considerations for persons or things should
+induce you to spare the enemies of God, they never having spared
+either God or yourself. Only through the complete extermination of
+the heretics will the King be able to restore his noble kingdom to
+the old religion. The felons must be put to just torture and death.</p>
+
+<p>Receive, madam, our apostolic benediction.</p>
+
+<p class="r">P<small>IUS</small>.<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a></p></div>
+
+<p>After reading the apostolic schedule, Catherine De Medici placed it upon
+a table and proceeded:</p>
+
+<p>"I see, reverend Father, that both at Rome and Madrid I am charged with
+tolerance towards the Huguenots. I am blamed with prolonging the war.
+The two courts see in all this a political calculation on my part,
+whence it follows that if I continue to displease Rome and Madrid
+measures will be taken&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"The Holy Father, the vicar of God on earth, has the power to release
+subjects from obedience to their sovereign,<a name="page_vol-2-045" id="page_vol-2-045"></a> if he falls into heresy,
+deals with the same, or tolerates it."</p>
+
+<p>"Proceed, reverend Father."</p>
+
+<p>"The confirmatory bull of his Holiness Paul IV is formal&mdash;the Pope of
+Rome, by virtue of his divine right, is vested with power to
+excommunicate, suspend and depose all Kings guilty of divine <i>lese
+majesté</i>, or tolerant toward that irremissible crime. After which, the
+throne being declared vacant, it devolves upon the first good
+Catholic&mdash;who make take possession."</p>
+
+<p>"That sounds like a threat, directed at my son Charles IX and at
+myself."</p>
+
+<p>"It is a paternal warning, madam."</p>
+
+<p>"In plain words, my son runs the risk of seeing himself deposed by the
+Pope."</p>
+
+<p>"A disagreeable possibility, madam."</p>
+
+<p>"Reverend Father, assuming the throne is declared vacant&mdash;by whom will
+our Holy Father have it filled? Surely not by a Bourbon, seeing the
+house of Bourbon is heretical. Consequently, the good Catholic Rome and
+Spain have in view probably is young Henry of Guise, the descendant of
+Charlemagne, according to the theory of the house of Lorraine."</p>
+
+<p>"That is a temporal question which does not concern me, madam. It is,
+however, a notable fact that young Henry of Guise, son of the martyr of
+Orleans, carries a name that is dear to all Catholics."</p>
+
+<p>"Accordingly, the purpose of your mission, reverend Father, is to convey
+a threat to me? But why blame me,<a name="page_vol-2-046" id="page_vol-2-046"></a> a woman, with the slowness of the
+military operations against the Huguenots?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is believed, madam, that you would look with too much disfavor upon
+a chief who would insure speedy triumph to the Catholic armies, and that
+you deliberately hamper the military operations by inciting rivalry
+among the several captains and setting them at odds. The strategic
+mistake of allowing the Duke of Deux-Ponts to penetrate into the very
+heart of France and carry a reinforcement of troops to the Huguenots is
+laid to your door. The junction of the two army corps is now an
+accomplished fact."</p>
+
+<p>"The Duke of Deux-Ponts!" exclaimed Catherine De Medici with a sinister
+smile. "You do not seem to know what has befallen that heretic chief.
+But, before speaking of the miscreant, I wish to put you in condition to
+appreciate the facts concerning myself. I shall be frank&mdash;my interests
+command it."</p>
+
+<p>"Madam, I am ready to hear."</p>
+
+<p>"In order that you may have the key to my falsely interpreted conduct, I
+shall begin by making the following declaration to you&mdash;I have no
+religion! Does such an introduction, perchance, astonish or shock you?"</p>
+
+<p>"By no means."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, my reverend Father, we shall be able to understand each other.
+You justify&mdash;according to what is reported of your Order&mdash;tolerance for
+vice, provided appearances are saved. Now, then, I have no religion. It<a name="page_vol-2-047" id="page_vol-2-047"></a>
+follows that I concern myself only with promoting my own ambition."</p>
+
+<p>"Frankness can not be carried further."</p>
+
+<p>"With the same outspokenness I shall add that I love power&mdash;to rule is
+life to me. I have been compared to Queen Brunhild. It is said I wink at
+precocious debauchery among my children with the view of unnerving and
+stupefying them. It is claimed I sow the seed of jealousy, intrigue and
+lechery among them."</p>
+
+<p>"Those things are said&mdash;and many more, and more grave, madam."</p>
+
+<p>"Some credence must be accorded to <i>hear say</i>, reverend Father. At
+least, in what concerns myself, people are rarely wide of the mark. But
+let me proceed. The religious wars have furnished me with the means of
+alternately cropping the crests, now with the aid of the ones, then with
+the aid of the others, of both the Catholic and the Protestant
+seigneurs, who, during my husband's reign, conceived the design of
+restoring their old feudal sovereignties. I still have the house of
+Guise to contend with, as Brunhild of old had the stewards of the palace
+on her hands. Thus I combated the Reformation, or gave comfort to the
+Huguenots against the Catholics, according as political exigencies
+dictated. At present I am well acquainted with the purposes of the
+Protestants, and I know how to conduct myself in order to annihilate
+them&mdash;when the moment shall have come to strike the decisive blow."</p>
+
+<p>"You have unfolded to me your theories, madam, but you have recited not
+a single act in support of your pre<a name="page_vol-2-048" id="page_vol-2-048"></a>dilection for our holy Church. We
+require proofs."</p>
+
+<p>"Now let us pass to acts, reverend Father. A few minutes ago you
+mentioned the name of the Duke of Deux-Ponts, who hurried from Germany
+in aid of the Huguenots Condé, Coligny and his brother Dandelot."</p>
+
+<p>"The hydra-heads of the heresy, madam."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, reverend Father, already the hydra has three heads less. The Duke
+of Deux-Ponts is dead; Monsieur Dandelot is dead; the Prince of Condé is
+dead!"</p>
+
+<p>The Jesuit, though stupefied, contemplated Catherine De Medici
+challengingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you would like to have some details concerning these great
+events," the imperturbable Queen pursued. "I shall satisfy your
+curiosity. The day following his junction with the Protestant army, the
+Duke of Deux-Ponts was poisoned. That is the word which is current. But
+you, reverend Father, and myself, look to facts, not words. The Duke of
+Deux-Ponts was poisoned with a cup of Spanish wine, that was poured out
+to him by a young beauty. Two days later, Dandelot, who suffered of a
+slow fever, was coaxed by another young beauty to swallow a
+pharmaceutical potion that quickly carried away both the disease and the
+patient. At the battle of Jarnac, the Prince of Condé, who had
+surrendered his sword to D'Argence under promise that his life would be
+safe, was shot down dead with a pistol by Montesquiou, a captain of my
+son of Anjou's guards. The occurrence came near turning my son crazy,
+such was his joy! When notified of what had happened, he hastened to the
+spot to see the<a name="page_vol-2-049" id="page_vol-2-049"></a> corpse with his own eyes. He kicked it, and danced over
+and around it. It was a delirium! Finally, for fun, the thought struck
+him of placing the corpse across a she-ass, with the head dangling down
+on one side, the legs on the other. On that distinguished mount he
+returned the defunct general to the Protestant army, amid the hootings
+and cat-calls of our own soldiers.<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> That is the way my children treat
+their heretical relatives. Will his Holiness still insist that we deal
+with the Huguenots, or that we have any consideration for the enemies of
+the Church?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, madam!" cried the Jesuit, almost choking with glee. "I lack words
+to express to you my admiration."</p>
+
+<p>"And yet you claimed," proceeded Catherine De Medici with a hyena-like
+smirk, "that I favored the Huguenots! Would the Guisards, the Holy
+Father or Philip II do better than I? Hardly has the campaign opened
+when Condé, the soul of the French Protestant party, has ceased to
+breathe; the Duke of Deux-Ponts, the soul of the German party, has
+ceased to live; and Dandelot, one of the ablest Protestant generals, is
+also dead. Nor is that all!" added the Italian woman, taking from the
+table the letter of the Duke of Anjou, freshly brought to her by the
+captain of her son's guards, and passing it over to Lefevre, "Read
+this!"</p>
+
+<p>The Jesuit took the letter, and, after informing himself of its
+contents, cried, contemplating the Queen with ecstasy:</p>
+
+<p>"So that we may expect, to-morrow, to see Coligny effect a junction with
+his brother Dandelot!"<a name="page_vol-2-050" id="page_vol-2-050"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Well, now, do you not think I have done a good deal of work?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you have accomplished and even exceeded all that the Holy Father
+and the King of Spain could have asked!"</p>
+
+<p>"And yet, I still have information for you." Saying this, the Queen rang
+twice the bell near her. A page appeared. "Bring me," ordered Catherine,
+"the ebony casket that you will find in my chamber, on the table near my
+bed."</p>
+
+<p>The page went out and Catherine turned again to the Jesuit:</p>
+
+<p>"You surely know Prince Franz of Gerolstein by name and reputation?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know, madam, that the principality of that heretical family is a
+hot-bed of pestilence. We keep our eyes open upon that nest of
+miscreants."</p>
+
+<p>"The Duke of Deux-Ponts appointed as commander of his troops the aged
+general Wolfgang of Mansfeld, but did so with the recommendation that
+the active direction of operations be entrusted to the Prince of
+Gerolstein, a young, but one of the ablest German generals. This very
+night one of my maids of honor is to depart&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The re-entrance of the page broke off the Queen's sentence. He deposited
+the casket beside Catherine and withdrew.</p>
+
+<p>"You were saying, madam," observed Father Lefevre, "that one of your
+maids of honor was to depart this very night&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You seem to relish deeply my communications, rev<a name="page_vol-2-051" id="page_vol-2-051"></a>erend Father, and yet
+it was only a few minutes ago that you almost treated me like a Huguenot
+woman."</p>
+
+<p>"Mercy, madam, a truce of raillery. The unexpected and happy tidings you
+have imparted to me were not known by the Holy Father and the King of
+Spain when I left them. I declare to you, madam, that these events
+modify profoundly my mission to your court."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, reverend Father, I am constantly saying to the Spanish ambassador
+and the papal legate in France: 'Wait&mdash;let me do&mdash;have patience.' But
+all to no avail. The Holy Father yields to the inspirations of the
+agents of the Cardinal of Lorraine, while Philip II dreams of the
+dismemberment of France and desires to place Henry of Guise on the
+throne. In that Philip II plays a risky game, reverend Father! To
+overthrow the reigning dynasty of France would be to set a bad example
+to the people, and to deal a mortal blow to monarchy itself. We are
+living in frightful times. Everything conspires against royalty. The
+Huguenots, at least some of them who style themselves the most advanced
+in politics, proclaim the people's right to federate in a republic after
+the fashion of the Swiss cantons. And even you, my reverend Fathers, you
+also attack royal authority by preaching the doctrine of regicide."</p>
+
+<p>"That is true, madam; we maintain that the Kings who do not labor for
+the greater glory of the Church must be smitten from the throne."</p>
+
+<p>"Neither my sons nor I refuse to labor for the greater glory of the
+Church. It must be a matter of indifference<a name="page_vol-2-052" id="page_vol-2-052"></a> to the Holy Father whether
+the Huguenots are exterminated by us or by the Guises, or by Spain. What
+advantage could the court of Rome derive from suppressing the dynasty of
+Valois?"</p>
+
+<p>"His Holiness sees clearly through the game of the King of Spain. He
+will never favor Philip's ambitious designs to the injury of your
+dynasty&mdash;unless obliged thereto by your resistance to the court of Rome.
+We aim at the extirpation of heresy by the extermination of the
+Huguenots; and I have been commissioned, madam, to urge you to prosecute
+the war with vigor&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"The war!" broke in the Queen impatiently, and with marked contempt and
+irony. "How come you, a Jesuit, a man of keenness and science, to make
+yourself the echo of the Pope and of Philip II, two nearsighted
+intellects? Let us reason together, my reverend Father. Would you, if
+you want to kill your enemy, choose the time when he is on his guard and
+armed? Would you not wait for when he sheathed his sword and was
+peacefully asleep in his house? And in order to lead him to that state
+of apparent security, would you not approach him with a smile on your
+lips, your hand outstretched, and with the words: 'Let us forget our
+enmity'?"</p>
+
+<p>"But for the success of such tactics our enemy must have confidence in
+us."</p>
+
+<p>"Protestations of friendship are supported by oaths."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! Oh! Vain hope! Your Majesty errs if you believe you can lull the
+suspicions of the Huguenots with oaths."<a name="page_vol-2-053" id="page_vol-2-053"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I am of the school of Machiavelli, reverend Father; as such I have
+faith in the efficacy of oaths. Listen to this passage from the volume
+entitled <i>The Prince</i>. I learned it by heart; it deals upon this very
+subject: 'The animals whose appearance a Prince must know how to assume
+are the <i>fox</i> and the <i>lion</i>. The former defends himself but poorly
+against the wolf, while the latter readily falls into the snares laid
+for him. From the fox a Prince will learn how to be adroit, from the
+lion how to be strong. Whoever disdains the method of the fox knows
+nothing of governing men. In other words, a Prince neither can nor
+should keep his word, except when he can do so without injury to
+himself. The thing is to play his part well, and to know when to feign
+and dissimulate. To cite but one instance: Pope Alexander VI made
+deception his life-work. This notwithstanding, despite his well known
+faithlessness, he succeeded in all his artifices, protestations and
+oaths.' Did you hear, reverend Father," added the Italian woman
+interrupting her recitation and laying stress upon the word <i>oaths</i>, and
+she proceeded: "'Never before did any Prince break his word more
+frequently, or respect his pledges less, because he was master of the
+art of governing.'<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> Alexander VI was an incestuous Pope; he committed
+murder and sacrilege, yet there were those who believed they could rely
+upon his oath. I am said to be an incestuous mother; I am said to have
+caused blood to flow in streams; I am said to have caused my enemies to
+be poisoned; all these and many more misdeeds are imputed to me. Very
+well! Now, all this notwithstanding,<a name="page_vol-2-054" id="page_vol-2-054"></a> they will place faith in my oaths.
+Judge the future by the past. Remember that after the revocation of the
+Edict of Amboise, the Huguenot party allowed itself to be trepanned by
+the Edict of Longjumeau, confirmed by our royal word. But let us now
+pass to another line of argument, my reverend Father. Please hand me
+yonder casket&mdash;not the one the page just brought in, the other."</p>
+
+<p>The Jesuit placed on the table before the Queen the casket that she
+pointed out. She opened it with a little key suspended from her waist,
+and took out of it a scroll of paper which she handed to Father Lefevre.</p>
+
+<p>"Inform yourself on this document, reverend Father," she said.</p>
+
+<p>Father Lefevre read as follows:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Summary of the matters primarily agreed upon between the Duke of
+Montmorency, Constable; the Duke of Guise, Grand Master and Peer of
+France; and Marshal St. André, for the conspiracy of the
+triumvirate, and subsequently discussed at the entrance of the
+sacred and holy Council of Trent, and agreed upon by the parties
+herein concerned at their private council held against the heretics
+and the King of Navarre, because of his maladministration of the
+affairs of Charles IX, minor King of France, the which King of
+Navarre is a partisan of the new sect which now infests France."</p></div>
+
+<p>The Jesuit looked surprised. Deeply interested, he asked: "How is your
+Majesty in possession of this secret pact?"</p>
+
+<p>"It matters not how."</p>
+
+<p>The Jesuit proceeded to read:<a name="page_vol-2-055" id="page_vol-2-055"></a></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"In order that the affair be conducted under the highest authority,
+it is agreed to vest the superintendence of the whole plan in the
+Very Catholic King of all the Spains, Philip II, who shall conduct
+the enterprise. He is to remonstrate with the King of Navarre on
+the score of the support that he affords to the new religion; and
+if the said Navarrais proves intractable, the said King Philip II
+is to endeavor to draw him over to him with the promise of the
+restitution of Navarre, or some other gift of great profit or
+emolument. By these means the said King Philip II is to soften him,
+to the end of inducing him to conspire against the heretical sect.
+If he still resists, King Philip II shall raise the necessary
+forces in Spain, and fall unexpectedly upon the territory of
+Navarre, which he will be easily able to be overrun, while the Duke
+of Guise, declaring himself at the same time <i>chief of the Catholic
+confession</i>, shall from his side gather armed men, and, thus
+pressed from two sides, the territory of Navarre can be easily
+seized."</p></div>
+
+<p>"So you see, reverend Father, the pact dates back to 1651&mdash;eight years
+ago&mdash;and already then did Francis of Guise declare himself <i>chief of the
+Catholic confession</i>, under the protection of the King of Spain. Neither
+myself, the Regent, nor my son, the King of France, although then a
+minor, is at all taken into consideration."</p>
+
+<p>The Jesuit proceeded to read aloud:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"The Emperor of Germany and other Princes who have remained
+Catholic shall block the passages to France during the war in that
+country, in order to prevent the Protestant Princes from coming to
+the aid of the Navarrais, and they will also see to it that the
+Swiss cantons remain quiet. To that end it will be necessary that
+the Catholic cantons declare war upon the Protestant ones, and that
+the Pope give all the assistance in his<a name="page_vol-2-056" id="page_vol-2-056"></a> power to the said Catholic
+cantons, and that he subsidize them with money and other
+necessaries for the war.</p>
+
+<p>"While war is thus keeping France and Switzerland busy, the Duke of
+Savoy shall fall unexpectedly upon Geneva and Lausanne, shall seize
+the two cities, <i>and shall put all the inhabitants who resist to
+the sword, and all the others shall be thrown into the lake</i>,
+<span class="smcap">WITHOUT DISTINCTION OF AGE OR SEX</span>, to the end that all may be made
+to feel that divine Providence has compensated for the postponement
+of punishment with its grandeur, and wills that the children suffer
+for the heresy of their parents, obedient to the Biblical text."</p></div>
+
+<p>"Oh, we must all admit, madam," exclaimed the Jesuit, interrupting his
+reading, "Duke Francis of Guise is nourished with the marrow of
+Catholicism&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"We of the house of Valois will suck the identical bone, and we will
+verify the dream of the Guisard, who was assassinated the very day after
+he signed this pact&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Again the Jesuit proceeded to read:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"The same in France. For good and just reasons <i>all the heretics,
+without distinction, must be massacred at one blow</i>. <span class="smcap">The peace
+shall be put to that use.</span> And this mission of exterminating all the
+members of the new religion shall be entrusted to the Duke of
+Guise, who shall, moreover, be charged with entirely effacing the
+name and stock of the lineage of the Navarrian Bourbons, lest from
+them there may arise some one to undertake the revenge of these
+acts, or the restoration of the new religion. All these matters are
+to be kept in mind.</p>
+
+<p>"Matters being thus disposed of in France, it will be well to
+invade Protestant Germany with the aid of the Emperor and the
+bishops, and to restore that country to the holy apostolic See. To
+this end, the Duke of Guise <i>shall lend the Emperor and<a name="page_vol-2-057" id="page_vol-2-057"></a> other
+Catholic Princes all the moneys proceeding from the confiscations
+and spoils of so many nobles and rich bourgeois</i>, K<small>ILLED</small> <i>in
+France</i> as H<small>ERETICS</small>. The Duke of Guise shall be later reimbursed
+from the <i>spoils of the Lutherans, who, by reason of the same taint
+of heresy shall have been killed in Germany</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"The Cardinals of the Sacred College have no doubt that, in the
+same manner, all the other kingdoms can be turned into the flocks
+of the apostolic shepherd. But, first of all, may it please God to
+help and favor these purposes, they being <span class="smcap">HOLY AND FULL OF
+PIETY</span>."<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a></p></div>
+
+<p>"Holy and full of piety were these Catholic purposes!" exclaimed the
+reverend Father Lefevre laying the pact of the triumvirate upon the
+table. "Alas, death palsied the hand of the Duke of Guise at the very
+beginning of his great work!"</p>
+
+<p>"The Lord evidently wished, my reverend Father, to reserve for us, the
+Valois, the execution of the project that the Guisard organized with a
+motive of purely personal ambition. I shall hatch the bloody egg that
+the Lorrainian laid. But the chick can not break the egg except during
+peace. Then the Huguenots will have ceased to be on their guard; then
+they will be dozing in false security. The work of extermination will be
+accomplished with the help of a peace that we shall have brought about.
+All will be killed&mdash;men and women, children and the aged. Not one
+heretic will escape the avenging sword. Let Rome and Madrid give me time
+to move! Let Pius V and Philip II give over harassing me continually
+with their threats on<a name="page_vol-2-058" id="page_vol-2-058"></a> the ground that the war is dragging along! Are
+hostilities to be suddenly stopped? No, indeed! I must profit, as I have
+already profited, by all opportunities to destroy as many Huguenots as
+possible, especially their leaders. The Duke of Alva is right: 'One
+salmon is worth more than a thousand minnows.' At the first favorable
+juncture I shall negotiate peace with the Protestants, and grant them
+all they may demand. The more favorable the treaty shall be to the
+Huguenots, all the smoother will the rope run that is to strangle them.
+When the edict is promulgated it shall be scrupulously carried out, in
+order to induce our adversaries to disarm. At the right moment we shall
+organize the general massacre, for one day, all over France."</p>
+
+<p>"The Holy Father and the King of Spain shall be posted on your Majesty's
+project. They will be notified that it is thanks to you, the Duke of
+Deux-Ponts, Dandelot and the Prince of Condé <i>have been dismissed to
+appear before their natural Judge</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"People of your cloth, my reverend Father," replied the Queen, "know how
+to impart an ingenious and peculiar turn to the description of events."</p>
+
+<p>"Madam, seeing we are considering those people in whose behalf we simply
+advance the hour of final judgment, I wish above all to recommend to the
+attention of your Majesty that most dangerous German Prince&mdash;Franz of
+Gerolstein."</p>
+
+<p>"The young Prince came last year to my court shortly before the
+reformers took up arms. He is brilliant, dar<a name="page_vol-2-059" id="page_vol-2-059"></a>ing and gifted with great
+military talent. It was due to his influence that the Duke of Deux-Ponts
+decided to bring to the Protestant army the reinforcement it received of
+German troops. To-day Franz of Gerolstein is the real head of the forces
+over which Wolfgang of Mansfeld exercises but titular authority."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you expect to deliver the Church of that pestilential Gerolstein?"</p>
+
+<p>"One of my maids of honor is to take charge of that delicate mission, my
+reverend Father&mdash;" and stopping suddenly short and listening in the
+direction of a little door that communicated with the apartment,
+Catherine De Medici asked: "Did you not hear a sound, something like a
+suppressed cry outside there?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, madam."</p>
+
+<p>"It seems to me I heard a voice behind that door. Throw it open,"
+whispered Catherine to Father Lefevre; "see, I beg you, if there is
+someone listening!"</p>
+
+<p>The Jesuit rose, pushed open the door, looked out, and returned: "Madam,
+I can see nobody; the corridor is dark."</p>
+
+<p>"I must have deceived myself. It must have been the moaning of the wind
+that I heard."</p>
+
+<p>"Madam," said Father Lefevre as he resumed his seat, "once we are
+considering dangerous persons, I request you to mention to your generals
+two heretics in particular&mdash;Odelin Lebrenn and his son, armorers by
+trade, who serve in the Admiral's army as volunteers. I would urge you
+to recommend to your generals that they spare the lives of<a name="page_vol-2-060" id="page_vol-2-060"></a> both
+heretics if they are ever taken prisoners."</p>
+
+<p>"Did I understand you correctly, my reverend Father? The lives of the
+two miscreants are to be spared?"</p>
+
+<p>"The grace extended to them will be but a short respite, which we would
+put to profit by wresting from them certain valuable secrets with the
+aid of the rack&mdash;before dismissing them to their supreme Judge."</p>
+
+<p>"Those are details, my reverend Father, with which I can not burden
+myself. Upon such matters you must treat with Count Neroweg of
+Plouernel, the chief of my escort."</p>
+
+<p>At the name of Neroweg of Plouernel the Jesuit gave a slight start. With
+a face expressive of gratification he remarked: "Madam, Providence
+seconds my wishes. There is none fitter than the Count of Plouernel for
+me to address myself to in this affair."</p>
+
+<p>"Let us return to more weighty questions, my reverend Father. I have
+still two words to say to you concerning the Cardinal of Lorraine. This
+evening the Guisard strove to make me believe that Marshal Tavannes, the
+commandant of the army of my son of Anjou, was treating secretly with
+Coligny. According to the Cardinal, the plot is to offer my son the
+sovereignty of the Low Countries, besides Guyenne and other provinces,
+upon condition that he embrace the Reformed religion. Have you received
+any inkling of these projects through your spies? Unless your own
+interests render it necessary for you to deceive me on this head, answer
+me truthfully. I know how to hear and bear the full truth on all
+matters."<a name="page_vol-2-061" id="page_vol-2-061"></a></p>
+
+<p>The Jesuit reflected for a moment; he then made answer: "Yes, madam; we
+are informed on those negotiations&mdash;indeed, it is due to that very
+information that it was decided to send me upon the present mission to
+your Majesty."</p>
+
+<p>"And, with the view of thwarting the plot, did the Cardinal of Lorraine
+induce Philip II to propose the Duke of Alva to me for general-in-chief
+of the Catholic army, with young Henry of Guise, the Cardinal's nephew,
+and his brother, the Duke of Aumale, as Alva's lieutenants?"</p>
+
+<p>"The proposition was made to the King of Spain. It is true."</p>
+
+<p>"Who, no doubt, received it favorably?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, madam. But his Catholic Majesty was not then aware of the latest
+happenings which you communicated to me, the same as he is still
+ignorant of your resolution to put an end to the heresy when the moment
+shall have come to strike the decisive blow, as you explained it."</p>
+
+<p>"You are now informed on the contents of the letter which I showed you
+from my son of Anjou, regarding the project against Coligny. The
+Cardinal lied knowingly when he accused my son of dealing with the
+Admiral. Of course he knows the Marshal and my son will stoutly deny the
+charge. He merely seeks to arouse doubts and suspicions in my mind,
+hoping I may be frightened into transferring the command of the French
+army into the hands of the Duke of Alva and his nephew."</p>
+
+<p>"The Cardinal's falsehood, madam, did not lack skill. It was an adroit
+diplomatic move."<a name="page_vol-2-062" id="page_vol-2-062"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Now, my reverend Father, let me sum up our interview&mdash;war upon the
+Huguenots, merciless war, while it lasts; thereupon the offer or
+acceptance of a peace, which is to be utilized by us in preparing their
+extermination. That is my line of conduct."</p>
+
+<p>"My mission to you is ended, madam. To-morrow I shall take my departure
+and return to inform the King of Spain and the Holy Father of the happy
+deeds done, and those in contemplation, all of which guarantee the
+execution of your promises for the future."</p>
+
+<p>"My reverend Father, is it in my power to bestow any favor upon you, to
+grant you a present? It is a right enjoyed by all negotiators."</p>
+
+<p>"Madam, we care but little for the goods and honors of this world. All I
+shall ask of you is to cause your son, King Charles IX, to change his
+confessor, and take one from our Society, the reverend Father Auger. He
+is an able and accommodating man, skilful in understanding everything,
+permitting everything&mdash;and advising everything."</p>
+
+<p>"I promise you I shall induce my son Charles to take Father Auger for
+his confessor. Good night, my reverend Father, go and rest. I shall see
+you to-morrow before your departure and deliver to you a letter for the
+Holy Father."</p>
+
+<p>The Queen rang twice the little bell that lay at her elbow. A page
+entered: "Conduct the reverend Father to Count Neroweg of Plouernel."</p>
+
+<p>She then rang again, not twice, but three times. After bowing to
+Catherine De Medici the Jesuit withdrew upon<a name="page_vol-2-063" id="page_vol-2-063"></a> the steps of the page.
+Almost immediately Anna Bell stepped into the apartment through the door
+that opened upon the corridor.</p>
+
+<p>Catherine De Medici was struck by the pallor and the troubled, almost
+frightened, looks of her maid of honor as she presented herself upon the
+summons of the bell. Fastening a penetrating look upon Anna Bell, the
+Queen said:</p>
+
+<p>"You look very pale, dearest; your hands tremble; you seem unable to
+repress some violent emotion."</p>
+
+<p>"May your Majesty deign to excuse me&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"What is the cause of your great agitation?"</p>
+
+<p>"Fear, madam. I was hurrying to answer your summons, and&mdash;as I crossed
+the dark corridor&mdash;whether it was an illusion or reality, I know not,
+madam, I thought I saw a white figure float before me&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"It must be the ghost of some deceased belle, who, expecting still to
+find here the sturdy abbot of the monastery, came to pay him a nocturnal
+visit. But let us leave the dead to themselves, and turn our thoughts to
+the living. I love you, my pet, above all your companions."</p>
+
+<p>"Your Majesty has taken pity upon a poor girl."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; it is now about eight or nine years ago, that, as Paula, one of my
+women, was crossing the Chatelet Square, she saw an old Bohemian wench
+holding a little girl by the hand. Struck by the beauty and comeliness
+of the little one, Paula offered to buy her. The gypsy quickly closed
+the bargain. Paula told me the story. I desired to see her protegé. It
+turned out to be yourself. The Bohemian woman must have kidnapped you
+from<a name="page_vol-2-064" id="page_vol-2-064"></a> some Huguenot family, I fear, judging from a little lead medal
+that hung from your neck and bore the legend&mdash;<i>A Pastor calling the
+sheep of the Church out of the desert</i>&mdash;a common expression in the
+cabalistic cant of those depraved people."</p>
+
+<p>"Alas! madam, I preserve no other memento of my family&mdash;you will pardon
+me for having kept the medal."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, from the instant that Paula brought you before me I was charmed
+with your childish gracefulness. I had you carefully trained in the art
+of pleasing, and placed you among my maids of honor."</p>
+
+<p>"Your Majesty enjoys my unbounded gratitude. Whenever you commanded I
+obeyed, even when you exacted a sacrifice&mdash;whatever it may have cost
+me&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You are alluding, my pet, to the conversion of the Marquis of Solange!
+I said to you: 'Solange is a Huguenot; he is influential in his
+province; should war break out again, he may become a dangerous enemy to
+me; he contemplates leaving the court;&mdash;make him love you, and be not
+cruel to him; a handsome lass like you is well worth a mass.' The
+bargain was struck. We now have one Catholic more, and one virgin less."</p>
+
+<p>Anna Bell hid her face, purple with shame.</p>
+
+<p>Without seeming to notice the young girl's confusion, Catherine De
+Medici proceeded: "By the virtue of your beautiful eyes Solange has
+become a fervent Catholic and one of my most faithful servitors. You
+gave me in that instance proof of your complete devotion. For the rest,
+it was a sweet sacrifice on your part, my pet; Solange is<a name="page_vol-2-065" id="page_vol-2-065"></a> an
+accomplished nobleman, young, handsome, brave and witty. It is not now
+about that lover that we have business on hand. I have other plans for
+you. I am thinking of marrying you. I wish to make a Princess of you,
+and verify the most cherished of your secret wishes&mdash;which I have
+guessed. Anna Bell, you do not love Solange; you never loved him; and
+you nourish in the recesses of your heart a desperate passion for the
+young Prince Franz of Gerolstein."</p>
+
+<p>"Good God! Madam. Have pity upon me! Mercy!"</p>
+
+<p>"There is nothing pitiful in the matter. The Prince is made to be loved.
+His reputation for bravery, magnificence and gallantry ran ahead of him
+to my court, where you saw him last year. He often conversed with you
+tête-a-tête. When other women sought to provoke him with their
+allurements your face grew somber. Oh, nothing escapes me! Affairs of
+state do not absorb me to the point that I can not follow, with the
+corner of my eye, the cooings of my maids of honor. It is my mental
+relaxation. I love to see beauty in its youth devote itself to the cult
+of Venus, and put in practice the saying of Rabelais' Thalamite&mdash;'<i>Do
+what you please!</i>' How often did I not seat myself among you, my dear
+girls, to chat about your gallants, your appointments, your
+infidelities! What delightful tales did we not tell! How you all led the
+poor youngsters by the nose! Truth to say, they returned you tit for
+tat, and with usury, to the greater glory of the goddess Aphrodite! And
+yet, my pet, although I had trained you a true professional of the Abbey
+of Thalamia, with<a name="page_vol-2-066" id="page_vol-2-066"></a> Cupid for your god and Voluptuousness for your patron
+saint, you ever remained out of your element among your companions.
+Serious and melancholy, you are a sort of nun among my other maids. What
+you need is devoted and faithful love; a husband whom you can adore
+without remorse; a brood of children to love. That is the reason, my
+pet, why I wish to marry you to Franz of Gerolstein."</p>
+
+<p>"It pleases your Majesty to mock me&mdash;take pity upon poor Anna."</p>
+
+<p>"No joke! You admit you love the young and handsome German Prince. I can
+read in your soul better than you could yourself. I shall tell you what
+your thoughts are at this moment: 'Yes, I love Franz of Gerolstein! But
+a deep abyss separates us two, and will always separate me from him. He
+is in the camp opposed to that of the Queen, my benefactress; he is the
+head of a sovereign house; he is ignorant of my passion, and if he did
+know, he never could think of wedding me! What am I? A poor girl picked
+up from the street. I already have had one gallant. Besides, Catherine
+De Medici's maids of honor enjoy a bad, a deservedly bad, reputation.
+The satires and the pasquils designate us with the appellation of the
+Queen's Flying Squadron. I should be crazy to think of marriage with
+Franz of Gerolstein&mdash;'"</p>
+
+<p>"Madam, take pity upon me!" broke in Anna Bell, no longer able to
+restrain her tears. "Even if what you say is true, even if you read to
+the very core of my thoughts&mdash;please do not sport with my secret
+sorrows."</p>
+
+<p><a name="page_vol-2-067" id="page_vol-2-067"></a>"My pet, hand me the little casket of sandal wood, ribbed in gold, that
+lies upon yonder table. It contains wonderful things."</p>
+
+<p>Anna Bell obeyed. The Queen selected one of the little keys attached to
+her girdle and opened the casket. Nothing could be more fascinating to
+the eyes than the contents of the chest&mdash;embroidered and perfumed
+gloves, smelling apples, dainty-looking vermillion confectionery boxes,
+filled with sugar plums of all colors, and several vials of gold and
+crystal. Catherine De Medici picked out one of these, reclosed the
+casket carefully and returned it to Anna Bell. The maid of honor
+replaced it upon the table and returned to the Queen. Smiling benignly
+and holding up the golden, glistening vial before her victim, the Queen
+said: "Do you see this, my pet? This little vial encloses the love of
+Franz of Gerolstein."</p>
+
+<p>"What a suspicion!" was the thought that flashed through Anna Bell's
+mind and froze her to the floor. But the terror-stricken girl quickly
+regained her self-control at that critical moment. "I must not," was the
+second thought that flashed through her mind close upon the first, "I
+must not allow the Queen to notice that I know her purpose."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you believe, my pet, in the potency of love-philters?"</p>
+
+<p>"This evening," answered the young girl with an effort to control her
+emotions, "this very evening Clorinde of Vaucernay was telling us,
+madam, that a lady of the court succeeded by means of one of those
+enchanted potions in<a name="page_vol-2-068" id="page_vol-2-068"></a> captivating a man who, before then, had a strong
+dislike for her."</p>
+
+<p>"You, then, believe in the potency of philters?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, madam," answered Anna Bell anxious not to awaken the Queen's
+suspicions; "I must have full confidence in their efficacy, seeing it is
+proved by such incontestable facts."</p>
+
+<p>"The merest doubt on the subject is unallowable, my pet; to doubt would
+be to shut one's eyes and deny the light of day. Now, my little beauty,
+the philter contained in this vial, is put together by Ruggieri, my
+alchemist, under the conjunction of marvelously favorable planets. It is
+of such virtue that only a few drops, if poured out by a woman who
+wishes to be loved by a man, would suffice to turn him permanently
+amorous of her. Take this philter, my pet&mdash;go and find your Prince
+Charming. Let him drink the contents of this vial&mdash;and grant him the
+gift of an amorous mercy."</p>
+
+<p>Anna Bell no longer suspected, she comprehended the Queen's intentions.
+For a moment she was seized with terror and remained silent,
+mechanically holding the vial in her hand. The Queen, on her part,
+attributing the stupor and silence of Anna Bell to an excess of joy, or,
+perhaps, to the apprehension caused her by the thought of the many and
+great dangers to overcome in order to approach her Prince, proceeded to
+allay her fears:</p>
+
+<p>"Poor dear girl, you are as speechless as if, awakened with a start from
+a dream, you find it a reality. You are surely asking yourself what to
+do in order to reach Franz?<a name="page_vol-2-069" id="page_vol-2-069"></a> Nothing easier&mdash;provided your courage is
+abreast of your love."</p>
+
+<p>Controlling her troubled mind, Anna Bell answered with composure: "I
+hope, madam, I do not lack courage."</p>
+
+<p>"Listen to me carefully. We are only a few leagues from the enemy's
+army. I shall issue orders to Count Neroweg of Plouernel to furnish you
+with a safe conduct up to the Huguenot outposts. You shall be carried in
+one of my own litters, drawn by two mules. By dawn to-morrow morning you
+can not fail to run against some scout or other making the rounds of the
+Protestant camp&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Great God! madam. I tremble at the bare thought of falling into the
+hands of the Huguenots!"</p>
+
+<p>"If your courage fail you, all will run to water. But you may be quite
+certain that you run no risk whatever. The Huguenots do not kill
+women&mdash;especially not such handsome ones as yourself. You will be merely
+the prisoner of the miscreants."</p>
+
+<p>"And what am I to do then, madam?"</p>
+
+<p>"You will say to those who will arrest you: 'Messieurs, I am one of the
+Queen's maids of honor; I was on my way to join her Majesty; the leader
+of my litter struck a wrong road; please take me to Prince Franz of
+Gerolstein.' The rest will go of itself. The Huguenots will take you to
+the Prince. Like the nobleman that he is, my little beauty, he will keep
+you at his lodgings or in his tent, he will yield you the place of honor
+at his table&mdash;and&mdash;in his bed. You will have more than one opportunity
+to improve Franz's wine with a few drops of the philter."<a name="page_vol-2-070" id="page_vol-2-070"></a></p>
+
+<p>The Queen's instructions were interrupted at this point by the entrance
+of a page who came to announce that Count Neroweg of Plouernel prayed
+for admission to the Queen's presence upon pressing and important
+matters. Catherine ordered the page to introduce the Count, and she bade
+Anna Bell godspeed, kissing her on the forehead and adding these last
+instructions:</p>
+
+<p>"Prepare immediately for your journey, my pet. The Count of Plouernel
+will appoint the guide who is to accompany you. One of my equerries will
+get a litter ready. I expect to see you again before your departure."</p>
+
+<p>The maid of honor followed the Queen's instructions. Seeing that the
+interview with the Count of Plouernel lasted longer than she had
+anticipated, Catherine De Medici was prevented from seeing Anna Bell
+again, and sent her a note to depart without delay.</p>
+
+<p>Towards one o'clock in the morning the maid of honor mounted in one of
+the Queen's litters, left the Abbey of St. Severin.<a name="page_vol-2-071" id="page_vol-2-071"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_vol-2-III" id="CHAPTER_vol-2-III"></a>CHAPTER III.<br />
+<br />THE AVENGERS OF ISRAEL.</h3>
+
+<p>The sun was rising. Its early rays gilded the crest of a forest about a
+league distant from St. Yrieix, a large burg that served as the center
+of the Protestant encampment. A chapel, formerly dedicated to St. Hubert
+by an inveterate hunter, raised its dilapidated walls on the edge of the
+wood, the skirts of which were now guarded by mounted scouts, posted at
+long intervals. The chapel had been devastated during the religious
+wars. Its belfries, the capitals and the friezes of its portico were
+broken; its windows were smashed in; the statue of St. Hubert, the
+patron of hunters, lay decapitated in the midst of other debris, along
+with that of the seigneur who founded the holy shrine, chosen by him for
+his sepulcher. The fragments of his marble image, representing him lying
+prone, with hands joined in prayer, hunting horn slung over his
+shoulder, his favorite greyhound stretched at his feet&mdash;all lay strewn
+around the mortuary vault, now gaping wide open and cumbered with ruins.
+The interior of the chapel now served as a stable, and also as
+guardhouse to a picket squad of the Huguenot army, posted at the spot.
+The pickets' horses, ready saddled and bridled, stood drawn up<a name="page_vol-2-072" id="page_vol-2-072"></a> in
+double row in one of the low-roofed aisles and on either side of a door
+that communicated with the old vestry. For want of forage the beasts
+were eating the green leaves of large bunches of branches thrown at
+their feet. The riders, either standing, or seated, or stretched out at
+full length, wrapped in their cloaks, were not dressed in uniform. Their
+offensive and defensive arms, however, dissimilar and worn, were in
+usable condition.</p>
+
+<p>This band of Huguenot volunteers took the name of the Avengers of
+Israel. Josephin, the Franc-Taupin, named by the Catholics "The
+One-Eyed," was their commander. On all occasions the Avengers of Israel
+approved themselves animated by an intrepidity that was matchless,
+always claiming for themselves the post of greatest danger, and always
+found first in battle. The indomitable courage of the Franc-Taupin, his
+exceptional skill in guerilla warfare, his pitiless hatred for the
+papists, upon whom he swore to avenge the fate of his sister Bridget and
+his niece Hena, earned for him the leadership of these resolute men.</p>
+
+<p>On this day, at sunrise, the commander presided at a species of tribunal
+consisting of several of his companions in arms, all seated in the midst
+of the ruins of the chapel of St. Hubert. The years had whitened the
+hair and beard of the Franc-Taupin, without impairing the fiber of his
+energy. An old rust-covered steel breastplate over his chest answered
+the purpose of corselet; his wide hose of red cloth were half covered by
+a pair of high leather boots heavy with dust; at his belt, which also
+contained his cartridges, hung a short stick suspended from a piece of<a name="page_vol-2-073" id="page_vol-2-073"></a>
+pack-thread, and indented with sixteen notches&mdash;each tallying the death
+of a priest or monk. The dagger of fine Milan steel, a present from
+Odelin, hung on the Franc-Taupin's right side, while at his left he wore
+a long sword with an iron hilt. The Franc-Taupin's bronzed and haggard
+features, rendered all the more sinister by the large black patch which
+covered one eye, were at this moment expressive of sardonic cruelty. He
+was sitting in judgment upon a Cordelier, a man of tall and robust
+build, who was captured in the early morning prowling in the forest.
+Some letters found about his person proved that the tonsured gentleman
+was a spy of the royalist army, and one of the Avengers of Israel
+recognized him as one of the monks who took part in the carnage of
+Mirebeau, where nearly twelve hundred Huguenot prisoners were put to
+death with frightful refinements of cruelty. Surrounded by several of
+his companions, who, like himself, were seated upon the ruins of the
+altar, the Franc-Taupin drew his dagger and was engaged in leisurely
+sharpening it upon a stone that he held between his knees, without
+looking at the monk who, livid with rage and terror, and standing a few
+steps aside with his arms tied behind his back, was uttering
+maledictions at the top of his voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Accursed and sacrilegious wretches! You abuse your strength! The hand
+of the Lord will fall heavy upon you! Heretical dogs!"</p>
+
+<p>The Franc-Taupin calmly sharpened his dagger. "Good!" he exclaimed. "Be
+brave, my reverend! Disgorge your monastic bile! Crack your apostolic
+hide! It<a name="page_vol-2-074" id="page_vol-2-074"></a> will not make your fate any worse. Be prepared for the worst,
+and you will still be far behind what I have in store for you. We care
+nothing for your threats."</p>
+
+<p>"Neither can anything render your fate worse than it will be,
+reprobates," howled the Cordelier, "when the whole pack of you, to the
+very last one, will be hurled into the pit of everlasting flames!"</p>
+
+<p>"By my sister's death!" the Franc-Taupin answered. "You make a mistake
+to mention 'flames.' You remind me of what I never forget&mdash;the fate of
+my niece, who, poor innocent creature, was plunged twenty-five times
+into the burning pyre. Brothers, instruct the tonsured fellow upon our
+reasons for enrolling ourselves in the corps of the Avengers of Israel,
+and why we are pitiless."</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly, while the Franc-Taupin continued to whet his dagger, one of
+the Huguenot soldiers thus addressed the monk:</p>
+
+<p>"Monk, listen! In full peace, after the Edict of Orleans, my house was
+invaded during my absence by a band of fanatics. The vicar of the parish
+led them. My old and blind father, who remained at home in my house, was
+strangled to death. It is to avenge my father that I enrolled myself
+with the militia of the Avengers of Israel. Therefore, death to the
+papist Church! Death to all the tonsured felons!"</p>
+
+<p>"Marshal Montluc held command in Guyenne," continued a second Huguenot.
+"Six soldiers, attached to his ordnance company, lodged at our
+farm-house. One day they forced the cellar door, drank themselves drunk,
+and violated my brother's wife. Wounded with cutlass<a name="page_vol-2-075" id="page_vol-2-075"></a> cuts in his
+endeavor to defend her, he dragged himself bleeding to the headquarters
+of Marshal Montluc to demand justice. Montluc ordered him to be hanged!
+Monk, I have sworn to avenge my brother! Death to the papists!"</p>
+
+<p>"I also am from Guyenne, like my companion," came from another Huguenot.
+"One Sunday, relying upon the Edict of Longjumeau, I attended services
+with my mother and sister. A company of Marshal Montluc's swashbucklers,
+led by a chaplain, invaded the temple, chased out the women, locked up
+the men in the building, and set it on fire. There were sixty-five of us
+inside, all without arms. Nine succeeded in making their escape from the
+flames. The rest, burned, smothered by the smoke, or crushed under the
+falling roof, all perished. The women and young girls were dragged to a
+nearby enclosure; they were stripped to the skin; they were then
+compelled at the point of pikes to dance naked before the papist
+soldiers; and were finally forced to submit to the lechery of their
+persecutors. My mother was killed in her endeavor to save my sister from
+that crowning outrage; nine months later my sister died in childbed of
+the fruit of her rape. Monk, I swore to avenge my sister! I swore to
+avenge my mother! Death to the papist seigneurs and nobles!"</p>
+
+<p>"I come from Montaland, near Limoges," a fourth Huguenot proceeded.
+"Three months after the new edict, I attended services with my young
+son. A band of peasants, led by two Carmelites and one Dominican, rushed
+into the temple. My poor boy's head&mdash;he was not yet fif<a name="page_vol-2-076" id="page_vol-2-076"></a>teen&mdash;was cut
+off with a scythe, and stuck upon a pole. Monk, I swore to avenge my
+son! Death to the whole monastic vermin!"</p>
+
+<p>"Was it I, perchance, who committed the acts that you are seeking to
+avenge?" howled the Cordelier. "Cowardly felons!"</p>
+
+<p>At this the Franc-Taupin interrupted the sharpening of his dagger, cast
+a sardonic look at the monk, and cried: "Oh! Oh! This is the seventeenth
+time I hear that identical remark&mdash;you being the seventeenth tonsured
+gentleman whom I sentence. Do you see this little stick? I cut a notch
+in it at each reprisal. When I shall have reached twenty-five the bill
+will be settled&mdash;my sister's daughter was plunged twenty-five times into
+the furnace, at the order of the Catholic priests, the agents of the
+Pope.</p>
+
+<p>"Monk, it stands written in the Bible: 'Life for life, eye for eye,
+tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning,
+wound for wound, stripe for stripe.'<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> Well, now, instead of burning
+you, as should be done, I purpose to make you a Cardinal."</p>
+
+<p>Saying this the soldier of fortune described with the point of his
+dagger a circle around his head. The monk understood the meaning of the
+frightful pantomime. The Avengers of Israel threw him down and held him
+fast at the foot of the altar. The Franc-Taupin passed his thumb along
+the edge of his weapon, and sat down upon his haunches beside the
+patient. At that moment one of the riders rushed precipitately into the
+chapel, shouting:<a name="page_vol-2-077" id="page_vol-2-077"></a></p>
+
+<p>"A good prize! A good prize! A maid of honor of Jezebel!"</p>
+
+<p>The arrival of the captive girl suspended the torture of the monk who
+remained pinioned at the feet of Josephin. The Franc-Taupin rose, and
+cast a look upon the female captive, who was none other than Anna Bell.
+The features of the hardened soldier relaxed, a tremor ran over his
+frame, he hid his face in his hands and wept. It seemed to him as if he
+saw in the young captive Hena, the poor martyr he so deeply mourned! The
+otherwise inexorable man remained for a moment steeped in desolate
+thoughts, in the midst of the profound silence of the Avengers of
+Israel. The maid of honor stood cold with fright. She realized she was
+in the power of the terrible One-Eyed man, the ferocity of whom spread
+terror among the Catholics.</p>
+
+<p>The Franc-Taupin passed the back of his hand over his burning and hollow
+eye, the fierce fire of which seemed kindled into fiercer flame by the
+tear that had just bathed it. Turning with severity to Anna Bell he
+ordered her to step nearer:</p>
+
+<p>"You are a maid of honor to the Queen?"</p>
+
+<p>With a trembling voice Anna Bell replied: "Yes, monsieur, I belong to
+her Majesty the Queen."</p>
+
+<p>"Where do you come from?"</p>
+
+<p>"From Meilleret. Tired with travel, I stopped for rest at the village.
+From there I proceeded on my journey to join the Queen.&mdash;My guide lost
+his way. Your riders stopped my litter.&mdash;Have pity upon me and order
+that I<a name="page_vol-2-078" id="page_vol-2-078"></a> be taken to Monsieur the Prince of Gerolstein. I think I may
+rely upon his courtesy."</p>
+
+<p>"At what hour did you leave Meilleret?"</p>
+
+<p>"About one this morning."</p>
+
+<p>"You lie! It is hardly five o'clock now&mdash;you traveled in a litter&mdash;it
+takes more than eight hours to come from Meilleret to this place on
+horseback and riding fast."</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur, I conjure you, have me taken to the Prince of Gerolstein&mdash;it
+is the only favor I entreat of your kindness," cried Anna Bell,
+trembling and stammering.</p>
+
+<p>Struck by the insistence with which the maid of honor requested to be
+taken to Prince Franz of Gerolstein, the Franc-Taupin contemplated her
+with mistrust. Suddenly he ordered:</p>
+
+<p>"Search the woman!"</p>
+
+<p>Two Huguenots executed the order, and extracted from Anna Bell's pockets
+a purse, a letter and the gold vial. The Franc-Taupin opened the letter,
+the seal of which was broken; read it; looked puzzled over a passage in
+the missive and remained for a moment thoughtful. But immediately struck
+by a sudden inspiration, he darted a fierce glance at the maid of honor,
+examined the gold vial in silence, and holding it up to Anna Bell, said:</p>
+
+<p>"Woman, what does that vial contain?"</p>
+
+<p>With a great effort, Anna Bell replied, "I&mdash;I&mdash;know not."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you know not!" cried the Franc-Taupin, breaking out in a sardonic
+guffaw. "Miserable creature. You seem to have the audacity of a
+criminal."<a name="page_vol-2-079" id="page_vol-2-079"></a></p>
+
+<p>He stepped slowly towards the young girl, seized her by the arm, and
+holding the vial to her lips, cried:</p>
+
+<p>"Drink it on the spot, or I stab you to death!"</p>
+
+<p>Anna Bell, terror-stricken and fainting, dropped upon her knees, crying:
+"Mercy! Mercy! I beg of you, mercy! Pity! Mercy!"</p>
+
+<p>"Poisoner!" exclaimed the Franc-Taupin.</p>
+
+<p>The maid of honor crouched still lower upon her knees, hid her face in
+her hands, and sobbed aloud. The Huguenots looked at one another
+stupefied. Again silence reigned.</p>
+
+<p>"Brothers," said the Franc-Taupin, breaking the silence, "listen to the
+letter that you have just taken from this woman's pocket:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"A courier from my son Charles has arrived from Paris, my pet,
+compelling me to have an immediate conference with the Cardinal. I
+can not see you before your departure. Adieu, and courage. You will
+reach your Prince. I forgot one important recommendation to you.
+The philter must be emptied quickly after the stopper is removed
+from the vial.</p></div>
+
+<p>"The letter is signed 'C. M.'&mdash;Catherine De Medici! Here we have it! The
+Queen sends one of her strumpets to poison Franz of Gerolstein!"</p>
+
+<p>Still under the shock of the cowardly assassination of Condé, and of the
+recent deaths by poison of the Duke of Deux-Ponts and the Admiral's
+brother, the Huguenots broke out into imprecations. The youth and beauty
+of the maid of honor only rendered her criminal designs all the more
+execrable in their eyes. The moment was critical.<a name="page_vol-2-080" id="page_vol-2-080"></a> Anna Bell made a
+superhuman effort&mdash;a last endeavor to escape the fate that threatened
+her. She rose on her knees and with clasped hands cried:</p>
+
+<p>"Mercy! Listen to me! I shall confess everything!"</p>
+
+<p>"O, Hena," cried the Franc-Taupin with savage exaltation. "Poor martyr!
+I shall avenge your death upon this infamous creature&mdash;beautiful like
+yourself&mdash;young like yourself! Throw together outside of the chapel the
+branches that our horses have bared of their leaves. The wood is
+green&mdash;it will burn slowly. We'll tie the poisoner and the monk back to
+back upon the pyre the instant I have ordained him a Cardinal."</p>
+
+<p>In chorus the Huguenots shouted: "To the pyre with the monk and the
+poisoner!"</p>
+
+<p>Anna Bell's mind began to wander. Livid and shivering she crouched in a
+heap upon the ground, her voice choked in her throat, already rigid with
+terror, and escaped only in convulsive sobs. The Avengers of Israel
+hurried to heap up the bare branches around a tall oak-tree planted
+before the portico of the chapel. The Franc-Taupin stepped towards the
+Cordelier, who muttered in an agonizing voice, "<i>Miserere mei,
+Domine&mdash;miserere!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>Again the solemnity of ordaining the monk a Cardinal was suddenly
+interrupted. The sound of an approaching and numerous cavalcade reached
+the Avengers of Israel. A moment later Prince Franz of Gerolstein
+appeared at the head of a mounted troop.</p>
+
+<p>The personage who now stepped upon the scene was the grandson of Charles
+of Gerolstein, who in 1534 assisted at<a name="page_vol-2-081" id="page_vol-2-081"></a> the council of the Calvinists in
+the quarry of Montmartre, together with Christian the printer. The young
+Prince was twenty-five years of age. The short visor of his helmet
+exposed his features. Their regularity and symmetry were perfect; they
+expressed at once benevolence and resolution. Of tall and wiry build,
+the young man's heavy black cuirass, worn German fashion, and his thick
+armlets, seemed not to weigh upon him. His wide hose, made of scarlet
+cloth, were almost overlapped by his long boots of buff leather armed
+with silver spurs. A wide belt of white taffeta&mdash;the Protestants'
+rallying sign&mdash;was fastened with a knot on one side.</p>
+
+<p>Immediately upon entering the chapel the Prince addressed the
+Franc-Taupin:</p>
+
+<p>"Comrades, I have just learned that your scouts have arrested one of the
+Queen's maids of honor&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Before the Franc-Taupin had time to answer the Prince, Anna Bell jumped
+up, ran to Franz, and threw herself at his feet, crying: "For mercy's
+sake, monsieur, deign to hear me!"</p>
+
+<p>Franz of Gerolstein recognized the young girl at once. He reached out
+his hand to her and made her rise, saying: "I remember to have met you,
+mademoiselle, at the French court, last year. Be comforted. There must
+be some untoward misunderstanding in regard to you."</p>
+
+<p>Anna Bell in turn seized the Prince's hands and covered them with kisses
+and tears. "I am innocent of the horrible crime that they charge me
+with!" she cried.</p>
+
+<p><a name="page_vol-2-082" id="page_vol-2-082"></a>"Prince," broke in the Franc-Taupin, "the woman must die! The wretch is
+a poisoner; she is an emissary of Catherine De Medici; and you were
+singled out for her victim. We are about to do justice to the case."</p>
+
+<p>"No pity for the prostitutes of the Italian woman! None for her
+messengers of death!" cried several Huguenots.</p>
+
+<p>But Franz of Gerolstein interposed, saying: "My friends, I can not
+believe in the crime that you charge this young girl with. I knew her at
+the court of France. I often spoke with her. Whatever the deplorable
+reputation of her companions, she is a happy exception among them."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! thank you, monsieur," exclaimed Anna Bell in accents of ineffable
+gratitude. "Thank you, for testifying so warmly in my favor&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Prince, the hypocrite had her mask on when she conversed with you!"
+insisted the inexorable Franc-Taupin. "Read this letter from the Queen.
+You will learn from it the reason why her maid of honor threw herself
+intentionally into the hands of our outposts, and immediately requested
+to be taken to your tent. As to this vial," he turned to Anna Bell,
+"does it contain poison, yes or no?"</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur, do not allow appearances to deceive you&mdash;if you only knew!"
+cried Anna Bell, in distress.</p>
+
+<p>Franz of Gerolstein cast upon the maid of honor a frigid look; then,
+turning away his head, he stepped towards the door of the chapel. Anna
+Bell rushed after the Prince, fell again at his feet, clasped his knees
+and cried: "Monsieur, do not forsake me! In the name of your mother,
+deign to listen to me! It is not death I fear&mdash;what I fear is your
+contempt&mdash;I am innocent!"<a name="page_vol-2-083" id="page_vol-2-083"></a></p>
+
+<p>The accent of truthfulness often touches the most prejudiced of hearts.
+Moved, despite himself, Franz of Gerolstein stopped, and looking down
+upon the maid of honor with pain and pity, said:</p>
+
+<p>"I grant your prayer&mdash;I wish still to doubt the crime that you are
+accused of&mdash;explain the mystery of your movements." He looked around,
+and noticing the vestry door that led from one of the aisles of the
+chapel, he added, "Come, mademoiselle, I shall listen to you without
+witnesses in yonder private place."</p>
+
+<p>With an effort Anna Bell arose, and with staggering steps she followed
+Franz of Gerolstein into the vestry. Arrived there, the maid of honor
+collected her thoughts for a moment, and then addressed the young
+Huguenot Prince with a trembling voice in these words:</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur, before God who hears me&mdash;here is the truth: Last evening,
+shortly before midnight, at the Abbey of St. Severin where the Queen
+halted for rest, she summoned me to her, and after reminding me of all
+that I owed to her generosity, because," and Anna Bell broke down
+weeping, "I am a waif, picked up from the street&mdash;out of charity&mdash;one of
+the Queen's serving-women bought me about ten years ago, as she informed
+me, from a Bohemian woman who made me beg before the parvise of Notre
+Dame in Paris&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"How came you to become a maid of honor to Catherine De Medici?"</p>
+
+<p>"The woman who took me in showed me to the Queen,<a name="page_vol-2-084" id="page_vol-2-084"></a> and, to my
+misfortune!&mdash;to my disgrace!&mdash;the Queen interested herself in me!"</p>
+
+<p>"To your misfortune? To your disgrace?"</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur," answered Anna Bell as if the words were wrung from her
+heart, "Alas! although barely beyond girlhood, two years ago, thanks to
+the principles and the instructions that I received, and the examples
+set to me, my education was perfect and complete, I was found worthy of
+forming part of the Queen's 'Flying Squadron'!"</p>
+
+<p>"I understand you! Poor girl!"</p>
+
+<p>"That is not all, monsieur. The day came when I was to prove my
+gratitude to the Queen. It happened during the truce in the religious
+wars. The Marquis of Solange, although a Protestant, often came to
+court. He was to be detached from his cause, monsieur. He had manifested
+some inclination towards me. The Queen called me apart. 'The Marquis of
+Solange loves you,' she said; 'he will sacrifice his faith to
+you&mdash;provided you are not cruel towards him.' I yielded to the pressure
+from the Queen. I had no consciousness of the indignity of my conduct
+until the day when&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Anna Bell could proceed no further; she seemed to strangle with
+confusion, and was purple with shame. Suddenly frightful cries,
+proceeding from the interior of the chapel, startled the oppressive
+silence in the vestry. The cries were speedily smothered, but again,
+ever and anon, and despite the gag that suppressed them, they escaped in
+muffled roars of pain. Frightened at these ominous sounds, the maid of
+honor precipitately took refuge by the Prince's<a name="page_vol-2-085" id="page_vol-2-085"></a> side, seeming to
+implore his protection and muttering amid sobs:</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur&mdash;do you hear those cries&mdash;do you hear the man's moans?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" answered Franz of Gerolstein, visibly depressed with grief.
+"Forever accursed be they, who, through their ferocity, were the first
+to provoke these acts of cruel reprisal!"</p>
+
+<p>The moans that reached the vestry gradually changed into muffled and
+convulsive rattles that grew fainter and fainter. Silence prevailed once
+more. The expiring monk was ordained Cardinal by the Franc-Taupin.</p>
+
+<p>"I arrived in time, mademoiselle, to rescue you from the vengeance of
+those pitiless men," resumed the Prince. "The candor of your words would
+denote the falseness of the accusations raised against you. And yet,
+this letter from the Queen, this vial, would seem to furnish convincing
+testimony against you."</p>
+
+<p>"Last evening," Anna Bell proceeded, "notified by our governess that the
+Queen wished to speak to me, I awaited her orders in a dark corridor
+that separated my chamber from the Queen's apartments. At the very
+moment I was about to open the door I heard your name mentioned,
+monsieur. The Queen was speaking about you with Father Lefevre, a priest
+of the Society of Jesus, one of the counselors of the King of Spain."</p>
+
+<p>"To what purpose was my name mentioned by the Queen and the Jesuit?"</p>
+
+<p>"It seems that, in their opinion, monsieur, you are a<a name="page_vol-2-086" id="page_vol-2-086"></a> redoubtable
+enemy, and the Queen promised Father Lefevre to rid herself of you. One
+of her maids of honor was to be commissioned to execute the murder
+through poison. The maid of honor chosen was myself. Madam Catherine
+selected me for this horrible deed. Frightened at what I had overheard,
+an involuntary cry of horror escaped me. Almost immediately I heard
+footsteps approach the door of the Queen's apartment. Luckily I had time
+to regain my own chamber without being heard or even suspected of having
+overheard the Queen's words. Presently she rang for me. The Queen began
+by reminding me of her acts of kindness to me, and added she decided to
+fulfil the dearest and most secret wishes of my heart. 'Anna Bell,' she
+said, 'you no longer love the Marquis of Solange; you have transferred
+your affections to the Prince of Gerolstein, whom you saw at court last
+year.' Take this vial. It contains a philter that makes one beloved. A
+guide will take you to the outposts of the Huguenots; you will fall into
+their hands; you will then ask to be taken to the Prince of Gerolstein.
+He is a nobleman, he will take pity upon you, he will lodge you in his
+tent. Love will inspire you. You will find the opportunity to pour a few
+drops of this philter into Franz of Gerolstein's cup&mdash;thus you will
+reach your Prince'&mdash;and these are the words which the Queen repeated to
+me in her letter."</p>
+
+<p>"And guessing that the philter was poison, and fearing to awaken the
+Queen's suspicions, you feigned readiness to accept the mission of
+death? That, I suppose, is the complement of your story?"<a name="page_vol-2-087" id="page_vol-2-087"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monsieur. I hoped to warn you to be on guard against the dangers
+that threaten you!"</p>
+
+<p>Exhausted by so many emotions, and crushed with shame, the poor girl
+dropped down upon one of the benches in the vestry, hid her face in her
+hands, and wept convulsively.</p>
+
+<p>The revelation, bearing as it did the stamp of irresistible candor,
+awakened in the heart of Franz of Gerolstein a deep interest for the
+ill-starred young woman.</p>
+
+<p>"Mademoiselle," he said to her in a firm yet kind tone, "I believe in
+your sincerity&mdash;I believe your account of your misfortunes."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, monsieur, I can die."</p>
+
+<p>"Dismiss such mournful thoughts&mdash;perhaps an unexpected consolation
+awaits you. Owing to certain details that you mentioned concerning your
+early years, I am almost certain I know your parents. You must have been
+born at La Rochelle, and was not your father an armorer?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes!" cried Anna Bell. "Yes! I remember how the sight of glistening
+arms delighted my eyes in my childhood."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you not, at the time you were kidnapped from your family, wear any
+collar or other trinket that you may have preserved?"</p>
+
+<p>"I wore around my neck, and have preserved ever since, a little lead
+medal. I have it here attached to this chain."</p>
+
+<p>Franz of Gerolstein ran to the door of the vestry and called for
+Josephin. The Franc-Taupin approached, stepping slowly, and engaged in
+imparting the latest notch to the stick that hung from his cartridge
+belt: "Seventeen!<a name="page_vol-2-088" id="page_vol-2-088"></a> There are still eight wanting before we reach
+twenty-five! Oh! My bill shall be paid, by my sister's death! My bill
+shall be paid!"</p>
+
+<p>Franz of Gerolstein inquired from the Franc-Taupin: "What was the age of
+Odelin's child when she was kidnapped!"</p>
+
+<p>With a look of surprise the Franc-Taupin answered: "The poor child was
+eight years old. It is now ten years since the dear little girl
+disappeared."</p>
+
+<p>"Did she wear anything by which she might be identified?" pursued Franz.</p>
+
+<p>"She wore from her neck," said the Franc-Taupin with a sigh, "a medal of
+the Church of the Desert, like all other Protestant children. It was a
+medal that I presented to her mother the day of the little creature's
+birth."</p>
+
+<p>Franz of Gerolstein held before the Franc-Taupin the medal that Anna
+Bell had just given him, and said: "Do you recognize this medal?
+Josephin, this young girl was kidnapped from her family ten years
+ago&mdash;she carried this medal from her neck&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" cried the Franc-Taupin, looking at Anna Bell with renewed
+confusion. "She is Odelin's daughter! That accounts for my having been
+from the first struck with her resemblance to Hena."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you, monsieur, know my parents?" it was now Anna Bell's turn to ask.
+"Pray tell me where I can find them."</p>
+
+<p>But overcome with emotion, the Franc-Taupin said: "But Oh! what a shame
+for the family! What a disgrace! A maid of honor to the Queen!"<a name="page_vol-2-089" id="page_vol-2-089"></a></p>
+
+<p>The Franc-Taupin was quickly drawn from his mixed emotions of sorrow and
+joy. More important work was soon to be done. An officer entered the
+vestry, bringing orders from Admiral Coligny for the vanguards and
+outposts to fall back without delay toward St. Yrieix. Franz of
+Gerolstein immediately conveyed the Admiral's orders to the Avengers of
+Israel, who crowded behind the officer, and then turned to Anna Bell,
+saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Mademoiselle, come; remount your litter. We shall escort you to St.
+Yrieix. I shall impart to you on the road tidings concerning your
+family&mdash;of which I am a member."</p>
+
+<p>"What a revelation to Odelin&mdash;and to Antonicq!" the Franc-Taupin thought
+to himself, "when they learn within shortly, at St. Yrieix, that this
+unfortunate creature&mdash;the disgraced and dishonored maid of honor to the
+Queen is the daughter of the one and the sister of the other!"</p>
+
+<p>The Avengers of Israel and the squadron of German horsemen, with Franz
+of Gerolstein at their head, completed their reconnoisance about the
+forest and fell back upon St. Yrieix. The chapel of St. Hubert remained
+deserted and wrapped in silence. The morning breeze swung the body of
+the monk as it hung limp from a branch of the oak-tree in front of the
+portico of the holy place. Horrible to look at were the features of the
+corpse. They preserved the impress of the Cordelier's last agonies. The
+skin was ripped from the head. It had the appearance of being covered
+with a red skull cap.</p>
+
+<p>Abominable reprisals, without a doubt; and yet less abominable than the
+crimes of which they record the expiatory vengeance.<a name="page_vol-2-090" id="page_vol-2-090"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_vol-2-IV" id="CHAPTER_vol-2-IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br />
+<br />GASPARD OF COLIGNY.</h3>
+
+<p>The burg of St. Yrieix stood in the center of the staked-in camp
+occupied by the army of Admiral Coligny. An inflexible disciplinarian,
+Admiral Coligny maintained rigorous order among his troops. Never was
+pillage allowed; never marauding. His soldiers always paid for all that
+they demanded from city folks or peasants. He went even further.
+Whenever it happened that, scared at the approach of armed forces, the
+peasants fled from their villages, the officers, executing the express
+orders of Admiral Coligny, left in the houses the price of the
+vegetables and forage with which the soldiers provisioned themselves and
+their beasts in the absence of the masters of the place. Finally, as a
+necessary and terrible example&mdash;thieves caught redhanded were inexorably
+hanged, and the stolen objects tied to their feet. Finally there never
+were seen at the Huguenot camps the swarms of women of ill fame that
+ordinarily encumbered the baggage of the Catholic army, and that,
+according to the ancient practice, were placed under the supervision of
+the "King of the Ribalds."</p>
+
+<p>The habits of the Protestants in the army of Admiral <a name="page_vol-2-091" id="page_vol-2-091"></a>Coligny were
+pious, austere and upright. This notwithstanding, the Admiral found it
+impossible to impose rigid discipline upon the numerous bands that from
+time to time attached themselves to his main forces, usually conducted a
+guerilla warfare, and emulated the royalists in rapine and cruelty.</p>
+
+<p>The Admiral, the Princes of Orange, of Nassau and of Gerolstein, the
+sons of the Prince of Condé who was assassinated upon orders from the
+Duke of Anjou, young Henry of Bearn, besides many other Protestant
+chiefs, occupied several houses at St. Yrieix. The ancient priory served
+as the Admiral's quarters. Early in the morning, as was his wont,
+Admiral Coligny left his lodgings accompanied by his servants, to attend
+the prayers held in the Huguenot camp and called the "Prayer of the
+Guard." The officers and soldiers of the Admiral's post, together with
+those of some neighboring ones, filled on these occasions the courtyard
+of the priory, and standing erect, bareheaded, silent, they awaited in
+meditation the hour of raising their souls to God. Old soldiers grey of
+beard and seamed with scars; young recruits, barely beyond adolescence;
+rich noblemen, raised in the spacious halls of castles; field laborers,
+as well as artisans from the cities, who rallied to the defense of the
+"Church of the Desert"&mdash;all animated with an ardent faith, would there
+unite upon the level of Evangelical equality. The seigneur, battling
+side by side with his vassal for the holy cause of freedom of
+conscience, saw in him only a brother. Thus germinated among the
+Protestants the tendencies toward fraternity that were later to cause
+the distinctions of castes and races,<a name="page_vol-2-092" id="page_vol-2-092"></a> so much prized by royalists, to
+vanish. A slight murmur, betokening the affection and respect that he
+inspired, greeted the Admiral's arrival. The rude fatigues of many wars
+had bent his tall and one-time straight figure. His white hair and
+beard, together with the pallor of his noble visage, now profoundly
+changed since the death of his brother, who was treacherously poisoned,
+imparted to the aspect of the supreme chieftain of the Protestant armies
+a venerable and touching expression. Encased from his neck down in armor
+of burnished iron, without any ornament whatever, and half concealed
+under a flowing cloak of white cloth&mdash;the Huguenot color&mdash;the Admiral
+was bareheaded. Beside him stood the brave Francis of Lanoüe, a young
+Breton nobleman. Courage, honor, kindness, were stamped upon his manly
+and loyal countenance. A sort of steel arm, artistically forged by
+Odelin Lebrenn, with the aid of which Monsieur Lanoüe could guide his
+horse, replaced the arm that the daring captain had lost in battle. When
+the murmur that greeted the Admiral's arrival subsided, one of the
+pastors, Feron by name, who attended the army, uttered in a benign voice
+the following short prayer:</p>
+
+<p>"Our trust lies in God, who made the heavens and the earth.</p>
+
+<p>"Our Father and Savior, since it has pleased You, in the midst of the
+dangers of war, to preserve us last night and until this day, may it
+please You to cause us to employ it wholly in Your service. Oh, heavenly
+Father! Our brothers rely upon our vigilance. They rely upon us, their<a name="page_vol-2-093" id="page_vol-2-093"></a>
+defenders. Deign by Your grace to help us in faithfully fulfilling our
+charge, without negligence, or cowardice. Finally, may it please You, O
+Lord of Hosts, to change these calamitous times into happy times where
+justice and religion shall reign! Not then shall we any longer be
+reduced to the necessity of defending ourselves; then will Your holy
+name be glorified more and more the world over! All these things, O
+Lord, our Father! O, good God! we beg of You in the name and by the
+grace of our Savior Jesus Christ. We pray to You to increase our faith
+which we now confess, saying: I believe in God the omnipotent Father,
+and in his Son the Redeemer.</p>
+
+<p>"May the blessing of God the Father, the grace and the mercy of our Lord
+Jesus Christ remain and dwell forevermore among us in the communion of
+the Holy Ghost.</p>
+
+<p>"Amen!"<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a></p>
+
+<p>"Amen!" responded Admiral Coligny devoutly and in a grave voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Amen!" answered the soldiers.</p>
+
+<p>The morning prayer had been said.</p>
+
+<p>While the Admiral was religiously attending morning service in the
+courtyard at his headquarters, Dominic, the servant of his household who
+was captured shortly before by the royalists, was engaged in executing
+the crime plotted by the Duke of Anjou jointly with the captain of his
+guards.</p>
+
+<p>Dominic stepped into the chamber of Coligny; he moved about cautiously,
+with eyes and ears alert, watching from<a name="page_vol-2-094" id="page_vol-2-094"></a> all sides whether he was either
+seen or heard; he approached a table on which, standing beside several
+scrolls of paper, was an earthen bowl containing a refreshing drink that
+Coligny was in the habit of taking every morning, and which his faithful
+equerry Nicholas Mouche always prepared for him. Mouche was at the
+moment at prayers with the Admiral, together with the rest of the
+household servants. Dominic purposely did not join his comrades that
+morning; he figured upon their absence to carry out his nefarious deed.
+The poisoner took up the earthen bowl to drop the poison in. For an
+instant he hesitated. Brought up in the house of Coligny and ever
+treated by his master with paternal kindness, the thoughts of the wretch
+for an instant conjured up the past before him. Then cupidity stifled
+pity in the assassin's breast. He took out of his pocket a scent-bag
+containing some grey powder, shook the contents into the bowl, and
+stirred it, in order to mix the poison well with the liquid. Dominic was
+placing the bowl back from where he took it when he heard steps
+approaching. Quickly and tremblingly he slid away from the table. It was
+Odelin Lebrenn, bringing back the Admiral's casque, which was sent to
+him to repair, it having been bent in the day before by a ball from a
+large arquebus while the Admiral was on a reconnoitering expedition.
+Although serving as a volunteer with his son Antonicq in the Protestant
+army, Odelin exercised his trade with the help of a portable forge.
+Thirty-three years had elapsed since the day when he returned to Paris
+with Master Raimbaud. He was now bordering on his forty-eighth<a name="page_vol-2-095" id="page_vol-2-095"></a> year.
+His beard and hair were grizzled with grey. His features betokened
+frankness and resolution. Odelin had not seen Dominic since his capture
+by the Catholics. He now congratulated him heartily upon his escape from
+the enemy, but remarking the wretch's pallor, he added:</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter, my dear Dominic? You look ashy pale."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know&mdash;what&mdash;you mean&mdash;" stammered Dominic, saying which the
+poisoner rushed out precipitately.</p>
+
+<p>The hurry of the man's departure, his pallor and flutter, awakened the
+armorer's suspicion; but these thoughts were quickly crowded out of his
+mind by the sudden appearance of his son Antonicq, who ran in with
+flustered face and tears in his eyes, crying:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, father! Come quick! In heaven's name come to the Prince of
+Gerolstein who is just back to camp with uncle Josephin, the
+Franc-Taupin."</p>
+
+<p>At this moment, Nicholas Mouche, the Admiral's confidential equerry
+entered his master's room. Not seeing the face of either Odelin or his
+son, both having their backs turned to the door, he cried out in
+surprise and alarm:</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you? What are you doing here?" But instantly recognizing the
+armorer and his son, for whom he entertained warm esteem, he added:
+"Excuse me, my dear Lebrenn, I did not recognize you at first. Excuse
+me. You and your son are really members of the household. Your presence
+here need not alarm me for my master's safety."<a name="page_vol-2-096" id="page_vol-2-096"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I brought back Monsieur Coligny's casque," Odelin explained, "and my
+son came after me. I do not yet know the cause of his excitement. See
+how flustered his face is! What extraordinary thing has happened, my
+boy?"</p>
+
+<p>"My sister&mdash;Marguerite&mdash;whom we thought lost forever&mdash;has been found&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Great God!"</p>
+
+<p>"Come, father&mdash;the Prince&mdash;and my uncle&mdash;will tell you all about
+it&mdash;they will narrate to you the extraordinary affair&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"What!" exclaimed Nicholas Mouche, looking at Odelin. "Is the poor child
+who disappeared so long ago found again! Heaven be praised!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I can not yet believe such a happy thing possible!" said Odelin,
+his heart beating between doubt and hope.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, father, you will know all!"</p>
+
+<p>"Adieu!" said the armorer to Nicholas, as he followed his son, no less
+wrought up than the young man.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor father!" mused the old equerry as he followed Odelin with his
+eyes. "Provided only he is not running after some cruel disappointment!"
+Approaching his master's writing table to assure himself that the
+Admiral was supplied with ink, Nicholas's eyes fell upon the earthen
+bowl. He noticed that it was full to the brim&mdash;untouched.</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur the Admiral has not taken a single mouthful of his chicory
+water! Truth to say, in point of taking care of himself, the dear old
+hero is as thoughtless as a child! But here he is! He shall not escape a
+lecture;"<a name="page_vol-2-097" id="page_vol-2-097"></a> and addressing Coligny, who now returned to his room after
+prayers, the equerry said in a tone of familiar reproach that his long
+years of service justified: "Well, Monsieur Admiral; what about your
+chicory water! The bowl is as full as when I brought it in early this
+morning&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That is so," answered Coligny with a smile. "The trouble lies with you.
+You make the drink so frightfully bitter that I postpone all I can the
+hour of gulping it down."</p>
+
+<p>"That is an odd reason, Monsieur Admiral! Is not the bitterness of the
+drink the very thing that gives it virtue? Monsieur, you are going to
+drink it now&mdash;on the spot&mdash;and before me!"</p>
+
+<p>"Come, let us compromise&mdash;I promise you that the bowl shall be empty
+within the next hour. Are the horses saddled and bridled?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monsieur. If we ride out this morning I shall bring along Julien
+the Basque and Dominic to take charge of your relay horses. The poor
+fellow Dominic, despite the mishap of the day before yesterday, which
+might have cost him dear, begged me this morning to choose him as one of
+the footmen to accompany you to-day, if there is to be any engagement."</p>
+
+<p>"Dominic is a worthy servant."</p>
+
+<p>"What else should he be? Was he not brought up in your house, monsieur,
+and the son of one of your oldest servants, the worthy forester of the
+woods of Chatillon?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my dear house of Chatillon, my meadows, my<a name="page_vol-2-098" id="page_vol-2-098"></a> woods, my vines, my
+grain fields, my thrifty laborers&mdash;am I ever to see you again?" remarked
+Coligny with a melancholic sigh. "Oh, the country life! The family
+life!" The Admiral remained in silent meditation for a moment, then he
+added:</p>
+
+<p>"Leave me alone. I have some writing to do."</p>
+
+<p>The equerry left the room. Monsieur Coligny stepped slowly towards the
+table, drew a campstool near, and sat down upon it. With his forehead
+resting on his hand he remained long lost in revery, musing to himself:</p>
+
+<p>"Why should this thought have come to me to-day, more than any other
+day? I know not. God inspires me. Let us listen to His warnings. At any
+rate, it is well to have our accounts clear with heaven. Besides, it is
+my duty to answer before God and men the accusations that are preferred
+against me. It is my duty to answer the capital and defaming sentence
+that has been hurled against me and mine."</p>
+
+<p>Taking a scroll from the table, the Admiral read:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"As the principal author of and leader in the conspiracy and
+rebellion gotten up against the King and his State, the said Sieur
+of Coligny is sentenced to be hanged and strangled upon the Greve
+Square, and subsequently to be exposed from the gibbet of
+Montfaucon. His goods revert to and are confiscate by the King. His
+children are declared forfeit of their noble rank, infamous, and
+disqualified from holding office or owning any property in the
+kingdom. Fifty thousand gold ecus are promised to whomsoever will
+deliver the said Sieur of Coligny, dead or alive. The children of
+his brother Dandelot are likewise declared infamous."</p></div>
+
+<p>Coligny flung back upon the table the scroll containing the extract of
+the royal decree, registered in the Parliament of Paris on May 27, 1569,
+and raising his tearful eyes heavenward, exclaimed in accents of
+profound grief:</p>
+
+<p>"My poor and good brother! They killed you treacherously by poison! Your
+children are orphans, with none but myself for their support&mdash;and now a
+price is set upon my own life! To-day, to-morrow, in battle, or
+otherwise, God may call me to Him! Oh, let me at least carry with me the
+consolation that my own and my brother's orphans will remain entrusted
+to worthy hands!"</p>
+
+<p>Coligny remained long absorbed in meditation. He then took a sheet of
+paper, a pen, and again concentrating his thoughts, proceeded to write
+his testament:<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>Of all His creatures, God has created man the most worthy.
+Accordingly, it is man's duty, during his life, to do all he can to
+glorify the Lord, render evidence of his faith, set a good example
+to his fellows, and, to the extent of his powers, leave his
+children in comfort, if it has pleased God to afford him any.</p>
+
+<p>Although our days are numbered before God, nothing is more
+uncertain than the hour when it will please Him to call us away. We
+must keep ourselves so well prepared that we may not be taken by
+surprise. For this reason I have decided to draw up the present
+writing, in order that those who may remain behind me, may hear my
+intentions and know my wishes.</p>
+
+<p>In the first place, after invoking the name of God, I make<a name="page_vol-2-100" id="page_vol-2-100"></a> to Him
+a summary confession of my faith, imploring Him that the same may
+serve me at the hour when it shall please Him to call me away,
+because He knows that I make this confession with my heart and
+affection, and in the full sincerity of my soul.</p>
+
+<p>I believe in what is contained in the Old and the New Testament, as
+being the true word of God, to which and from which nothing may be
+added or taken away, as it orders us. Lastly, I seek in Jesus
+Christ and through Him alone my salvation and the remission of my
+sins, according as He has promised. I subscribe to the confession
+of faith of the Reformed Church in this kingdom. I wish to live and
+die in this faith, judging myself happy, indeed, if I must suffer
+on that account.</p>
+
+<p>I know I am accused of having attempted against the life of the
+King, of the Queen, and of messeigneurs the King's brothers; I
+protest before God that I never had the wish or the intention of
+doing so. I am also accused of ambition, on account of my having
+taken up arms with the Reformers; I protest that only the interest
+of religion, and the necessity of defending my own life and the
+lives of my family made me take up arms. Upon this head I confess
+that my greatest guilt lies in not having resented the injustices
+and the murders perpetrated upon my brothers. I had to be driven to
+take up arms by the dangers and the plots of which I myself was the
+object. But I also say it before God, I have endeavored by all
+means available to pacify, fearing nothing so much as civil war,
+and foreseeing that the same would carry in its wake the ruin of
+this kingdom, whose preservation I have ever desired. I write this
+because, ignorant of the hour when it will please God to call me
+away, I do not wish to leave my children with the brand of infamy
+and rebellion.</p>
+
+<p>I have taken up arms, not against the King, but against those whose
+tyranny compelled the Reformers to defend their lives. I knew in my
+heart that they often acted against the wishes of the King,
+according to several letters and instructions that prove the fact.
+I know I must appear before the throne of God and there receive
+judgment. May He condemn me if I lie when I say that my warmest
+desire is to see the King served in all<a name="page_vol-2-101" id="page_vol-2-101"></a> purity, obedient to his
+orders, and that the kingdom of France be preserved. On these
+conditions I would gladly forget all that concerns me
+personally&mdash;injuries, insults, outrages, confiscation of my
+estates&mdash;provided the glory of God and public tranquility are
+assured. To that end I am determined to occupy myself to my last
+breath. I wish this to be known, in order not to leave a wrong
+impression concerning myself after my death.</p>
+
+<p>I request and order that my children be always brought up to the
+love and fear of God; that they continue their studies up to the
+age of fifteen, without interruption. I hold those years to be
+better employed in that manner than if they are sent to a court, or
+placed in the suite of some seigneur. Above all do I request their
+tutors never to allow them to keep bad or vicious company. We are
+all too much inclined to evil, by our own nature. I request that my
+children be frequently reminded of this, in order that they may
+know that such is my desire, as I have often expressed it to them
+myself.</p>
+
+<p>I request that my children be brought up with those of my brother
+Dandelot, as he himself expressed in his testament the wish that
+they should be. That the ones and the others take for their example
+the warm and fraternal friendship that always existed between my
+brother and myself.</p>
+
+<p>Loving all my children equally, I expect that each will receive as
+my successors that which is accorded to them by the usages of the
+country where my estates are situated (if the confiscation with
+which they are attainted cease). I request that the jewelry
+belonging to my deceased wife be equally divided between my two
+daughters.</p>
+
+<p>I desire that my eldest son take the name of Chatillon; Gaspard, my
+second son, the name of Dandelot; and Charles, the third, that of
+La Breteche.</p>
+
+<p>I request Madam Dandelot, my sister-in-law, to keep near her my two
+daughters, so long as she may remain in widowhood. Should she marry
+again, I request Madam La Rochefoucauld, my niece, to take charge
+of them.</p>
+
+<p>Having learned that they burned down the college founded by me at
+Chatillon, I desire and expect that it be re-built, because<a name="page_vol-2-102" id="page_vol-2-102"></a> it is
+a public good with the aid of which God may be honored and
+glorified.</p>
+
+<p>I order that my servants and pensioners be paid all that may be due
+to them on the day of my decease, and do grant them, besides, a
+year's wages. In recognition of my great satisfaction with Lagrele,
+the preceptor of my children, for the care he has bestowed upon
+them, I bequeath to him one thousand francs. To Nicholas Mouche and
+his wife Joan, in reward of their good offices to me and my
+deceased wife, I bequeath five hundred francs, and an annual
+stipend of seventeen measures of wheat during their lives, because
+they have so many children.</p>
+
+<p>When it shall please God to call me away, I desire, if it be
+possible, that my body be taken to my Chatillon home, to be there
+interred beside my wife, without any funeral pomp or other ceremony
+than that of the Reformed religion.</p>
+
+<p>And in order that the above provisions be carried out, I request
+Monsieur the Count of Chatillon, my brother; Monsieur La
+Rochefoucauld, my nephew; and Messieurs Lanoüe and Saragosse, to be
+the executors of these my last wishes. Above all do I recommend to
+them <i>the education and instruction of my children</i>. I consecrate
+them to the service of God, entreating them to cause my children
+always to deport and guide themselves by His holy spirit, and to so
+behave that their actions contribute to His glory, to the public
+welfare, and to the pacification of the kingdom. I pray to God to
+be pleased with the benediction that I bestow upon my children, to
+the end of attracting upon them the blessing of heaven.</p>
+
+<p>As to myself, offering to the Lord the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in
+the redemption of my sins, I pray to Him that He may receive my
+soul and grant to it the blessed and eternal life that awaits the
+resurrection of the body.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, I request Messieurs La Rochefoucauld, Saragosse and
+Lanoüe, to be the tutors and guardians of my children.</p></div>
+
+<p>Coligny was just finishing this testament, every line of which breathed
+sincerity, straightforwardness, wisdom,<a name="page_vol-2-103" id="page_vol-2-103"></a> modesty, the tenderest of
+domestic virtues, faith in the holiness of his cause, love for France,
+and horror of civil war, when Monsieur Lanoüe entered the room with
+indignation stamped upon his features. He held an open letter in his
+hand, and was about to address Coligny, when the Admiral forestalled
+him, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"My friend, I have just written your name at the foot of my testament,
+requesting you and Monsieur La Rochefoucauld kindly to accept the office
+of guardians to my children, and those of my brother;" and extending his
+hand to Lanoüe: "You accept, do you not, this mark of my friendship and
+confidence? Brought up under your eyes, my nephews and my children, if
+it please God, will be honorable men and women."</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur," answered Lanoüe with profound emotion, "in heart, at least,
+I shall be worthy of the sacred mission that you honor me with."</p>
+
+<p>"May people some day be able to say of my children and nephews: 'They
+have the virtues of Lanoüe!' God will then have granted my last prayer.
+I entrust this testament to your hands, my friend. Keep it safe."</p>
+
+<p>"It is not sealed, monsieur."</p>
+
+<p>"Both my friends and my enemies are free to read it. What a man says to
+God men may hear," replied the Admiral with ancient loftiness. "Here I
+am now, settled with myself," the noble soldier proceeded to say; "now
+let us consider the military preparations for the day."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what a war!" cried Lanoüe. "No, it is war no longer; it is
+treachery; it is assassination! I have a letter<a name="page_vol-2-104" id="page_vol-2-104"></a> from Paris. They send
+me a copy of a missive to the Duke of Alençon from his brother, in the
+Maurevert affair."</p>
+
+<p>"The cowardly assassin of Mouy?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, the cowardly assassin Maurevert, who came to our camp with the
+mask of friendship, and who, profiting by the darkness of night and the
+defenselessness of Mouy asleep, stabbed him to death, and immediately
+took flight. Listen, Admiral, listen now to this! This is what Charles
+IX, the present King of France, writes to his brother:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"To my brother the Duke of Alençon.</p>
+
+<p>"My brother, in reward for the signal service rendered to me by
+Charles of Louvier, Sieur of Maurevert, the bearer of these
+presents, <span class="smcap">it being he who killed Mouy</span>, <i>in the way that he will
+narrate to you</i>, I request you, my brother, to bestow upon him the
+collar of my Order, he being chosen and elected by the brothers of
+the said Order a member of the same; and furthermore to see to it
+that he, the said Maurevert, be gratified by the denizens and
+residents of my good city of Paris <i>with some worthy present</i> <span class="smcap">IN
+KEEPING WITH HIS DESERTS</span>, while I pray God, my brother, that He
+keep you under His holy and worthy protection.</p>
+
+<p>"Done at Plessis-les-Tours, the 1st day of June, 1569.</p>
+
+<p class="r">"Your good brother &nbsp; &nbsp;<br />
+"C<small>HARLES</small>."<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a><br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>The Admiral listened stupefied.</p>
+
+<p>"Never," observed Lanoüe after reading the royal schedule, "never yet
+was the glorification of assassination carried further than this! Oh,
+Monsieur Admiral, you often made the remark&mdash;'You, as well as I and so
+many others,<a name="page_vol-2-105" id="page_vol-2-105"></a> are attached by heart and principle, if not to the King,
+still to the Crown.' But this house of Valois will yet cover itself with
+so many crimes that it will inspire hatred for monarchy. Do we not
+already see springing up the desire for a federal republic, like the
+federated Swiss cantons? The desire already has spread among many men of
+honorable purposes, and it gains new supporters every day."</p>
+
+<p>Nicholas Mouche appeared at this moment at the threshold of the door. "I
+wager," he said to himself, "that the wholesome drink of chicory water
+still lies forgotten." And approaching his master, he added: "Well,
+Monsieur Admiral, the hour has elapsed!"</p>
+
+<p>"What hour?" asked Coligny, whose thoughts were absorbed in the painful
+reminiscences awakened by Lanoüe's words, "what do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"Your morning drink!" answered the trusty equerry; and turning from his
+master: "Monsieur Lanoüe, I entreat you; join me in making the Admiral
+listen to reason. He knows that his surgeon, Monsieur Ambroise Paré,
+strongly recommended to him chicory water when in the field, because the
+Admiral often is twelve and fifteen hours at a stretch on horseback,
+without once taking off his boots. Well, he refuses to follow the orders
+of his physician."</p>
+
+<p>"You hear the complaint of your worthy servant, Monsieur Admiral,"
+remarked Lanoüe smiling. "I agree with him; he is right. You should
+follow the orders of Master Ambroise Paré."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, come&mdash;it shall be as Monsieur Nicholas wishes," said Coligny,
+taking the bowl from the table. He looked<a name="page_vol-2-106" id="page_vol-2-106"></a> at the greenish color of the
+decoction with visible repugnance, and carried the bowl to his lips.</p>
+
+<p>At that very instant Odelin Lebrenn rushed into the chamber, dashed the
+earthen vessel from Coligny's hands and crushed it under his feet,
+crying:</p>
+
+<p>"Thank God! I arrived in time!"</p>
+
+<p>Lanoüe, Nicholas Mouche and Coligny were stupefied. Breathless with
+excitement and winded from a long and rapid run, Odelin Lebrenn leaned
+with one hand against the table. He made a sign that he wished to speak
+but could not yet. Finally he stammered out:</p>
+
+<p>"A second later&mdash;and Monsieur Coligny would have been poisoned&mdash;by the
+potion&mdash;he was about&mdash;to drink!"</p>
+
+<p>"Great God!" cried Lanoüe, growing pale, while Nicholas Mouche trembled
+like an aspen leaf as he looked at his master.</p>
+
+<p>"Explain yourself, Monsieur Lebrenn!" commanded the Admiral.</p>
+
+<p>"This morning, when you were away from the room with your servants at
+prayer, I came in to bring back your casque. I found Dominic here."</p>
+
+<p>"That is so," said Nicholas Mouche; "he did not go to prayer with the
+rest."</p>
+
+<p>"Without being surprised at finding Dominic in his master's room,"
+Odelin proceeded, "I noticed, notwithstanding, that he was pale and
+confused. Later, God be blessed, I recalled the circumstance that, as I
+came in, I saw him quickly step away from the table on which stood the
+vessel which, as Nicholas afterwards told me, held the<a name="page_vol-2-107" id="page_vol-2-107"></a> drink you take
+every morning, Monsieur Admiral. Into that drink, into that chicory
+water, Dominic dropped the poison."</p>
+
+<p>"He!" exclaimed Coligny, horrified. "Impossible! A servant raised under
+my own roof since his early childhood!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, the wretch!" cried Nicholas Mouche. "This morning, seeing me
+prepare the potion, Dominic asked me to let him attend to the matter. I
+saw in that only a warning to be careful."</p>
+
+<p>"My God!" put in Lanoüe, who had remained dumb with horror and
+indignation. "Providence can allow such crimes, only to inspire the
+world with execration for their perpetrators. Can such wickedness be,
+Monsieur Lebrenn?"</p>
+
+<p>"Dominic has confessed all. The instigators of the murder are the Duke
+of Anjou and the Count of La Riviere, a captain of the Duke's guards.
+The temptation of a vast sum decided the assassin to undertake the
+deed."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Catherine De Medici, your children approve themselves worthy of
+you! They emulate the example you have set them!" exclaimed Lanoüe.</p>
+
+<p>"But how did you discover the crime, Monsieur Lebrenn? Tell us."</p>
+
+<p>"What I noticed this morning would have awakened my suspicions on the
+spot, were it not for the hurried arrival of my son and the tidings he
+brought me. I followed him in a great hurry. As we were passing by the
+inn that lies not far from my place and where the horses of Monsieur<a name="page_vol-2-108" id="page_vol-2-108"></a>
+Coligny are stabled, I saw Dominic come out, riding bareback. His nag
+bore evidence of having been bridled in great haste. Dominic departed at
+a gallop. The man's frightened looks and his hurry to get off revived my
+first suspicions. I ran after him calling out: 'Hold him!' 'Hold him!'
+My uncle, the Franc-Taupin, together with some others of his men,
+happened to be in the wretch's way. They jumped at the bridle of his
+horse, and held him fast. As I caught up with them I shouted to him
+point-blank: 'You poisoned the Admiral!' Surprise, fear and remorse
+immediately drew from him a full confession of his crime. 'It is true,'
+he answered. 'I repent it. The Duke of Anjou offered me a large sum to
+poison my master&mdash;I yielded&mdash;the poison was handed to me&mdash;and I returned
+to camp in order to commit the murder.' The instant I heard this, I ran
+hither, leaving Dominic in the care of my son."</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur Lebrenn," said Coligny, grasping Odelin's hands with warmth,
+"It is thirty and odd years ago that I met your worthy father at one of
+the first councils of the reformers on Montmartre. I was then quite
+young, while your father, an artisan employed at the printing
+establishment of Robert Estienne already had rendered valiant services
+to the cause. It is sweet to me to owe my life to you&mdash;to you, his
+worthy son."</p>
+
+<p>"The cannon!" suddenly called out Lanoüe, listening to a muffled and
+rumbling sound that came from afar, carried into the room by the early
+morning breeze, "It is the<a name="page_vol-2-109" id="page_vol-2-109"></a> rumbling sound of approaching cannon wheels.
+The detonations succeed each other rapidly."</p>
+
+<p>"Nicholas," said Coligny, without indicating any surprise, "look at my
+pocket-watch. It must now be nearly ten o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monsieur," answered the equerry after consulting the watch; "it is
+nearly ten."</p>
+
+<p>"La Rochefoucauld has executed my orders punctually. It shall not be
+long before we shall see one of his officers arrive. Lanoüe, let us be
+ready to jump on horseback." And turning to his equerry: "Order the
+horses brought to the door of the priory. Monsieur Lebrenn, I count upon
+having your son at my side, as usual in action, to carry my orders."</p>
+
+<p>"Here he is, monsieur," answered Odelin as Antonicq entered. "Where is
+the wretch, my son?"</p>
+
+<p>"Father, he repeated his confession, again accusing the Duke of Anjou
+and the captain of the Duke's guards with having driven him to the
+commission of the crime, which he seemed deeply to repent. The
+exasperated soldiers executed instant justice upon the poisoner. They
+hanged him. His corpse is now swinging from the branch of an oak."<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a></p>
+
+<p>At this moment a Huguenot officer covered with dust<a name="page_vol-2-110" id="page_vol-2-110"></a> appeared at the
+threshold of the door. Monsieur Coligny said to him:</p>
+
+<p>"I was waiting for you. Is the skirmish opened? Are all doing their duty
+well?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monsieur. A few companies of the royal army answered our attack,
+and have crossed the stream that covered their front."</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur La Rochefoucauld must have feigned a retreat towards the hill
+of Haut Moulin, behind which are massed the twenty cavalry squadrons of
+the Prince of Gerolstein. Have all my orders been executed?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, monsieur. At the very moment that he despatched me to you,
+Monsieur La Rochefoucauld was executing the retreat. The Prince was in
+command of his cavalry. All the forces are in line of battle."</p>
+
+<p>"All goes well," observed Coligny to Lanoüe; "I ordered the Prince's
+squadrons not to dismask and charge until the royal troops, drawn into
+disorder by their pursuit of our men, shall have arrived at the foot of
+the hill. We may expect a good result."</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur La Rochefoucauld also ordered me to make an important
+communication to you. From some royalist prisoners we learned this
+morning that the Queen and the Cardinal arrived in the camp of the Duke
+of Anjou."</p>
+
+<p>Upon hearing of Catherine De Medici's arrival, the Admiral reflected for
+an instant, then drew near the table, dashed a few words down on a sheet
+of paper and handed it to the officer, saying:<a name="page_vol-2-111" id="page_vol-2-111"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur, return at your fastest, and deliver this order to Monsieur La
+Rochefoucauld." And addressing Lanoüe as the officer left on the wings
+of the wind on his errand: "The presence of the Queen in the royal camp
+may suggest to Marshal Tavannes the idea of engaging in a decisive
+action. Come, my friend," he added, leaving the chamber, "I wish to
+consult with the Princes of Orange and Nassau before taking horse."<a name="page_vol-2-112" id="page_vol-2-112"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_vol-2-V" id="CHAPTER_vol-2-V"></a>CHAPTER V.<br />
+<br />FAMILY FLOTSAM.</h3>
+
+<p>Almost immediately upon the arrival of Monsieur La Rochefoucauld's aide
+at the Admiral's quarters, Odelin Lebrenn and Antonicq hastened to reach
+their lodgings, where Anna Bell awaited them. The meeting between father
+and daughter was delayed through the discovery of the crime that Coligny
+was to be the victim of.</p>
+
+<p>Odelin Lebrenn had set up his armorer's establishment on the ground
+floor of a house in St. Yrieix which the inhabitants had abandoned.
+Franz of Gerolstein, together with several noblemen of his suite and
+their pages, occupied a set of rooms on the floor above, below them
+being also the quarters of Odelin, his son and the Franc-Taupin. A straw
+couch, large enough to accommodate the three, stood at the rear of the
+apartment. Near a wide, open fireplace lay the hammers, the anvil and
+the portable forge requisite for the armorer's work. Day was now far
+advanced. Since morning Anna Bell had not left the lodging. Seated on a
+wooden bench, and her head reclined upon her hands, she expectantly
+turned her ears from time to time toward the street. The recent
+agonizing bustle of the camp was now followed by solitude and silence.
+All<a name="page_vol-2-113" id="page_vol-2-113"></a> the troops, a few companies excepted that were left in charge of
+the baggage, had marched out beyond the burg and its entrenchments, in
+order to form in battle array about one league from the Admiral's
+headquarters, he having prepared for a possible general engagement.</p>
+
+<p>Odelin Lebrenn's first interview with Anna Bell was both tender and
+painful. The father found again his daughter, once dearly beloved and
+long wept as lost. But he found her soiled with the title of maid of
+honor of Catherine De Medici! With distressing frankness the wretched
+girl confessed to her father the disorders of her past life. Anna Bell
+was just finishing her narrative when the general call to arms
+resounded. Antonicq went to his post beside Monsieur Coligny, after
+listening to the revelations of his sister; a few minutes later Odelin
+also, yielding to the imperious voice of duty, left his weeping
+daughter, to join the cavalry squadron in which he served as volunteer.</p>
+
+<p>Left alone, Anna Bell fell a prey to cruel anxieties. Her father, her
+brother and Franz of Gerolstein were about to run the dangers of a
+battle. The confession wrung from her lips by a terrific necessity
+seemed to render all the more profound, all the more grievous the love
+of the young girl for the Prince. Now less than ever did she expect her
+affection to be returned. Still she experienced a sort of bitter
+consolation in the thought that Franz of Gerolstein was no longer
+ignorant of her passionate devotion, and that, in order to save him from
+poison, she risked her own life. The chaos of distressing thoughts, now
+rendered all<a name="page_vol-2-114" id="page_vol-2-114"></a> the more painful by her uneasiness for those whom she
+loved, plunged Anna Bell into inexpressible agony. She counted the hours
+with increasing anxiety. Toward night the roll of drums and blare of
+trumpets resounded from afar. The young girl trembled and listened.
+Presently she could distinguish the approaching tramp of horses' hoofs,
+and not long thereafter she heard them stop before the lodging. Running
+to the door, she opened it in the hope of seeing her brother and father.
+Instead, she saw a page in the livery of the Prince of Gerolstein
+holding a second horse by the reins.</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur," asked Anna Bell anxiously of the lad, "what news of the
+battle?"</p>
+
+<p>"There was no battle, mademoiselle, only a lively engagement of
+outposts. The royalists were worsted," and swallowing a sigh, while
+tears appeared in his eyes, he added, "but unfortunately my poor comrade
+Wilhelm, one of the Prince of Gerolstein's pages, was killed in the
+skirmish. I am leading back his horse."</p>
+
+<p>"And the Prince?" inquired Anna Bell, nervously. "He has not been
+wounded?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, mademoiselle. I am riding ahead of monsieur; he is returning with
+his squadrons," answered the page, alighting from his horse, and his
+sighs and sobs redoubled, while the tears rolled down his cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>At ease on the score of Franz of Gerolstein's life, Anna Bell had some
+words of consolation for the afflicted page. "I am sorry for you," she
+said; "to lose a friend at your age."<a name="page_vol-2-115" id="page_vol-2-115"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, mademoiselle. I loved him so dearly&mdash;he died so valiantly! An
+arquebusier was taking aim at the Prince. Wilhelm threw himself in front
+and received the ball in his chest. He dropped, never to rise again."</p>
+
+<p>"Generous lad!" exclaimed Anna Bell, and silently she thought: "To die
+for Franz! Under his own eyes. That is a death to be envied!"</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Wilhelm!" continued the page sadly, "his last words were for his
+mother. He asked me, if ever I return home again, to carry to her a sash
+that she embroidered for him, and which he left at our lodging together
+with his gala suit."</p>
+
+<p>The lad's words seemed to have suggested an unexpected line of thought
+to Anna Bell, when she suddenly saw Odelin from a distance, returning at
+full gallop in the company of other horsemen. She cried: "There is
+father! Thank God, he is not wounded. But where is brother?"</p>
+
+<p>Not daring, out of a sense of modesty, to be seen by the strangers who
+accompanied her father, Anna Bell stepped back into the room. Odelin led
+his horse to a stable where also the horses of Franz of Gerolstein were
+kept, and hastened back to join his daughter in the house. The girl ran
+to him, kissed his hands respectfully several times, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Thank heaven, father, you are safe and sound&mdash;but brother, dear
+Antonicq, did he also come off scathless?"</p>
+
+<p>"You may feel at ease," answered Odelin, embracing his daughter,
+"Antonicq is not wounded. Together with other volunteers he is escorting
+a number of prisoners to<a name="page_vol-2-116" id="page_vol-2-116"></a> places of safety in the camp. Poor child,
+great must have been your anxiety since I left you. Come to your
+father's arms!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I counted the hours&mdash;the minutes&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Let me embrace you again&mdash;and yet again," said Odelin with tears in his
+eyes, and fondly holding her in his arms. "Oh, divine power of
+happiness! It brings with it the balm of forgetfulness of the past! I
+have found you again&mdash;dear child! In one day, years of sorrow are
+blotted out!"</p>
+
+<p>Hardly able to repress her tears, Anna Bell responded unrestrainedly to
+Odelin's caresses. His ineffable clemency was not belied.</p>
+
+<p>"Father," she said, "would you have me disarm you while we wait for
+Antonicq? Your cuirass must tire you. Let me unbuckle it."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, child," the armorer answered, as he stepped to a lanthorn
+that hung from the wall, and lighted the same to dispel the shadows that
+began to invade the apartment. He then took off his casque, loosened his
+belt, and returned to his daughter: "But I shall remain armed. The
+Admiral issued orders that the troops rest a few hours, take supper, and
+hold themselves ready to march at a minute's notice."</p>
+
+<p>"My God&mdash;is there another battle pending?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know the projects of Admiral Coligny; all I know&mdash;and that is
+all that is of importance to me&mdash;I know we have a few hours to
+ourselves. Sit down there, dear child, so that the light of the lanthorn
+may fall upon your<a name="page_vol-2-117" id="page_vol-2-117"></a> face&mdash;I wish to behold you at my leisure. This
+morning tears darkened my eyes almost continuously."</p>
+
+<p>And after contemplating Anna Bell for a while with tender and silent
+curiosity, Odelin resumed:</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, your sweet beauty is such as your charming little girl's face gave
+promise of. Oh! how often did I not leave my anvil and drop my hammer to
+fondle your blonde head! Your hair has grown darker. In your infancy you
+were as blonde as my sister Hena. Many a line in your face recalls hers.
+She and I resembled each other. But your beautiful brown and velvety
+eyes have remained the same&mdash;neither in color nor shape have they
+changed. I find the dimple still on your chin, and the two little ones
+on your cheeks each time you laughed, they also are still there&mdash;and you
+were always laughing&mdash;my dear, dear child!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! how happy those days must have been to me!" murmured the young
+girl, as she recalled with bitter sorrow the hours of her innocent
+childhood. "I then was near you, father, and near mother&mdash;and besides&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Anna Bell could not finish the sentence. The distressed girl broke down
+sobbing.</p>
+
+<p>"Heaven and earth!" cried up the armorer, whose features, shortly before
+illumined with happiness, now were overcast with grief. "To think that
+you had to beg your bread! My poor child&mdash;perhaps beaten by the gypsy
+woman who kidnapped you from the loving paternal roof!"</p>
+
+<p>"Father," replied the poor girl with a look of profound<a name="page_vol-2-118" id="page_vol-2-118"></a> grief, "those
+days of misery were not my worst days. Oh, that I had always remained a
+beggar!"</p>
+
+<p>"I understand your thoughts, unhappy child! Let us drop those sad
+recollections!" And stamping the floor furiously Odelin added: "Oh,
+infamous Queen! Thou art the monster who debauched my child! A curse
+upon thee and thy execrable brood!" After a painful silence, Odelin
+proceeded abruptly: "Do! I conjure you! Let us never again return to the
+past. Let us endeavor to bury it in everlasting oblivion!"</p>
+
+<p>"Alas, father, even if your clemency were to forget, my conscience will
+ever remember. It will every day remind me that I am a disgrace to my
+family. Oh, God! My cheeks tingle with shame at the bare thought of
+meeting my sister&mdash;and mother!"</p>
+
+<p>"Your mother! You know not the depths of a mother's love, indulgence and
+compassion. You return to her soiled, but repentant, and your mother
+will forgive. Besides, you are not guilty&mdash;you are the victim of, not
+the accomplice in, your past life. Your heart has remained pure, your
+instincts honest and lofty; your tears, your remorse, your apprehensions
+prove it to me. No, no! Be not afraid. Your mother and sister will
+receive you with joy, with confidence. I am certain henceforth your life
+will be ours, pure, modest, industrious! Oh, I know it&mdash;it is only that
+that causes my heart to bleed, and my pity for you to redouble; you are
+never to experience the austere yet sweet joys of a wife&mdash;and a
+mother!"<a name="page_vol-2-119" id="page_vol-2-119"></a></p>
+
+<p>Odelin remained for a moment steeped in silent rumination. After a pause
+he proceeded:</p>
+
+<p>"It is the severe punishment for a sin that it is allowed to none but
+your own family to absolve you of. But your sister's children will be
+your own. Your brother also is to marry. Cornelia, his sweetheart, is
+worthy of our affection. You will silence the cravings of your own heart
+in loving their children as you would have done your own. They will also
+love you. You will spend your life near them and us. Come, take a
+father's word for it&mdash;the domestic hearth is an inexhaustible source of
+consolation for the sorrowful&mdash;an inexhaustible source of sweet joys and
+healthy pleasures."</p>
+
+<p>These warm and affectionate words moved Anna Bell so profoundly that,
+dropping down upon her knees before her father, she covered his hands
+and face with kisses and tears; and raising her eyes up to him, and
+contemplating him with a kind of respectful admiration, "Oh, father!"
+she exclaimed, "living image of God! Your goodness and compassion are
+like only unto His!"</p>
+
+<p>"Because you suffer, my poor child," replied Odelin, his eyes moist with
+tears. And raising his daughter from the floor and placing her beside
+him, he put his arm around her and covered her with renewed caresses.</p>
+
+<p>"It is because you are to suffer still more&mdash;it is because you love&mdash;it
+is because you are bound to love&mdash;and without hope!" the armorer
+proceeded with solemnity. "Only this once, and never again shall I
+mention this painful love. If I, your father, touch upon such a subject
+with<a name="page_vol-2-120" id="page_vol-2-120"></a> you, the reason is that it is impossible for me to blame the
+choice of your heart. Franz of Gerolstein, by the strength of his
+character, the generosity of his sentiments, the loftiness of his whole
+life, deserves to be loved passionately. Alas, but for that unhappy
+past, your love needed not be hopeless. Only a few hours ago, speaking
+about you at a halt made by our troops, Franz of Gerolstein remarked to
+me: 'Oh, that honor, the only barrier I may never leap, should separate
+me forever from your daughter!' It was not a hollow consolation the
+Prince was offering me. I know Franz's contempt for distinctions of
+rank. Moreover we are of the same blood, our family comes from one
+stock; but that fatal past&mdash;that is the unbridgeable abyss that
+separates us forever from the Prince. That is why you inspire me with so
+much pity. Yes, you are all the more endeared to me because you suffer,
+and by reason of your future sufferings, poor dear child, so guiltless
+of the sins you have committed!" added Odelin with renewed tenderness.
+"But be brave, be brave, my child! Your hopeless love is at least
+honorable and pure; you can nourish it without shame, in the secret
+recesses of your heart. I shall say not another word upon that
+ill-starred passion. When you are back among us and, although surrounded
+by our affection, I shall see you at times lost in revery, sad, and
+moist of eye, believe me, poor distressed soul, your father will
+sympathize with your grief; each tear you drop will fall upon my heart."</p>
+
+<p>Odelin was uttering these last words when his son hurried into the
+apartment, looking sad and even bewildered.<a name="page_vol-2-121" id="page_vol-2-121"></a> Anna Bell jumped up to meet
+the young man, saying: "Thank God, brother, I see you back safe and
+sound!"</p>
+
+<p>Such was the preoccupation of Antonicq that, without answering his
+sister, without taking notice of her, and even gently pushing her aside,
+he approached his father, and taking him apart to the other end of the
+room, spoke to him in a low and excited voice. Painfully affected at
+seeing herself pushed out of the way by her brother, who seemed to have
+neither a word nor a look for her in response to the gladness that she
+expressed at his safe return from battle, the young girl imagined
+herself despised by him.</p>
+
+<p>"Alas!" thought the maid of honor, "my brother will not forgive my past
+life; only a father's heart is capable of indulgence. Great God! If my
+sister, my mother, were also to receive me with such disdain&mdash;perchance
+aversion! I would rather die than expose myself to such treatment!"</p>
+
+<p>Antonicq continued to speak with his father in a low voice. Suddenly
+Odelin seemed to shudder, and hid his face in his hands. Profound
+silence ensued. Anna Bell, more and more the prey of the shyness and
+mistrust that conscious guilt inspires in a repentant soul, imagined
+herself the subject of the mysterious conversation between her father
+and brother. Odelin's features, lowering and angry, betokened disgust
+and indignation. The words escaped him: "And yet, despite such revolting
+horrors, I am bound to him by a sacred bond! Oh, a curse upon the day
+that brought us together again! A curse upon the fatal discovery! But
+once I shall have fulfilled that last duty, may heaven ever after
+deliver me of his hated presence!<a name="page_vol-2-122" id="page_vol-2-122"></a> Listen," added the armorer, and again
+lowering his voice, he spoke to his son with intense earnestness,
+closing with the statement: "Such is my plan!"</p>
+
+<p>The conversation was again renewed in undertones between father and son.
+Anna Bell had caught only fragments of her father's remarks. She was
+convinced they spoke of her&mdash;and yet, only a minute before, Odelin was
+so lovingly indulgent towards his erring daughter. In vain did the young
+girl seek to fathom the cause of so sudden a change. What could the
+fatal discovery be that Antonicq had just imparted to his father, and
+seemed suddenly to incite his indignation and anger? Did she not lay her
+past life bare to her father in all sincerity of heart? What could she
+be accused of that she had not voluntarily confessed? A prey to profound
+anxiety, the young girl's heart sank within her; her limbs trembled as
+she saw her father hurriedly take up his sword and casque, and make
+ready to leave with Antonicq.</p>
+
+<p>The young man stepped to the couch of straw and pulled out of it a long,
+wide cloak of a brown material with a scarlet hood attached, such as was
+common among the Rochelois,<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> and helped his father to wrap himself in
+it over his armor; Odelin then put on his casque, threw the hood over
+it, and, without either look or word to his daughter, who, trembling and
+with frightened eyes followed his movements, went out, followed by his
+son.</p>
+
+<p>Long did Anna Bell weep. When her tears ran dry, the young girl turned
+her face to the future with sinister resolution.<a name="page_vol-2-123" id="page_vol-2-123"></a> She considered herself
+an object of disgust and aversion to her brother and father. Forsaken by
+them, an unbridgeable abyss&mdash;honor&mdash;separated her forever from Franz of
+Gerolstein. Nothing was left but to die. Suddenly a flash of joy
+lightened her eyes, red with recent tears. She rose, stood erect, and
+looking about said: "Yes, to die. But to die under Franz's eyes&mdash;to die
+for him, like the young page killed this very day by throwing himself in
+the path of the bullet that was to fell his master. The army is to
+return to battle. The clothes, the horse of the page who was killed
+to-day are all here!"</p>
+
+<p>As these thoughts seethed in her mind, Anna Bell's eyes fell upon some
+sheets of paper, a pen and ink in a broken cup lying on the mantlepiece.
+The girl took them down with a sigh:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, father! Oh, brother! Despite your contempt and aversion, my last
+thoughts will be of you!"</p>
+
+<p>
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Hervé Lebrenn, the incestuous wretch who raised a matricidal hand
+against his mother, Fra Hervé, the Cordelier, as he was called in the
+royal army, deserved but too well the reputation for a fiery preacher
+and leader of implacable sectarians. His sermons, lighted by a savage
+style of eloquence, and coupled to acts of ferocity in battle, inspired
+the Catholics with fanatic admiration. Wounded and made a prisoner in
+the course of the engagement of that day, he was taken pinioned to St.
+Yrieix and locked up in a dark cellar. The cellar door opened. The light
+of a lanthorn partially dispelled the gloom of the subterranean cell.
+Seated on the ground with his shoulders<a name="page_vol-2-124" id="page_vol-2-124"></a> against the wall, Fra Hervé saw
+a man enter, wrapped in a brown mantle, the scarlet hood of which, being
+wholly thrown over his head, concealed the face of the nocturnal
+visitor. The visitor was Odelin Lebrenn. He closed the door behind him,
+placed the lanthorn on the floor, and almost convulsed with wracking
+emotions, silently contemplated his brother, who had not yet recognized
+him. Odelin saw him now for the first time since the day when, still a
+lad returning from Italy with Master Raimbaud, the armorer, he
+involuntarily witnessed the torture and death of his sister Hena and
+Brother St. Ernest-Martyr. Hervé also attended the solemnity of his
+sister's execution, in the company of Fra Girard, his evil genius.</p>
+
+<p>Odelin Lebrenn looked with mute horror upon his imprisoned brother. The
+lanthorn, placed upon the floor, threw upward a bright light streaked
+with hard, black shadows upon the cadaverous, ascetic and haggard
+features of Hervé. His large, bald forehead, yellow and dirty, was tied
+in a blood-stained bandage. The blood had flowed down from his wound,
+dried up on one of his protruding cheek bones, and coagulated in the
+hairs of his thick and matted beard. His brown and threadbare coat,
+patched up in a score of places, was held around his waist by a cord
+from which hung a chaplet of arquebus balls with a small crucifix of
+lead. Rusty iron spurs were fastened with leather straps to his muddy
+feet, shod in sandals. Fra Hervé, unable to distinguish his brother's
+face, shadowed as it was by the hood of the mantle, turned his head
+slowly<a name="page_vol-2-125" id="page_vol-2-125"></a> towards the visitor, and kneeling down with an expression of
+gloomy disdain, said in a hollow voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Is it death? I am ready!"</p>
+
+<p>The Cordelier thereupon bowed down his large bald head, and raising his
+fettered hands towards the roof of the cellar muttered in a low voice
+the funeral invocation of the dying. Odelin threw back his hood, took up
+the lanthorn, and held it so as to throw a clear light upon his face.</p>
+
+<p>"Brother!" he called out to the monk in a voice that betrayed his
+profound emotion. "I am Odelin Lebrenn!"</p>
+
+<p>Without rising from his knees, Fra Hervé threw himself back, and
+examined for a moment the face of Odelin. At length he recognized him,
+and, a sudden flash of hatred illumining his hollow eyes and an infernal
+smile curling his livid lips, he cried:</p>
+
+<p>"God has sent you! I shall spit out the truth into the face of the
+apostate! Oh, that your father were also here!"</p>
+
+<p>"Respect his memory&mdash;our father is dead!"</p>
+
+<p>"Did he die impenitent?"</p>
+
+<p>"He died in his faith!"</p>
+
+<p>"He died damned!" replied Fra Hervé with a savage guffaw. "Everlastingly
+damned! The corruptor of my youth! The heretical leper! The sink of
+pestilence! Damned along with his wife! It was Thy will, Oh, God! In Thy
+wrath Thou didst so decree it. The flames of hell will be doubly hot to
+them! Forever and ever will they be face to face with the spectacle of
+their daughter, damned<a name="page_vol-2-126" id="page_vol-2-126"></a> through their acts, and damned like themselves,
+writhing in the midst of everlasting fires!"</p>
+
+<p>"Do not take upon your lips the names of our sister, the poor martyr, or
+of our mother, you wretched fanatic, author of all their sufferings!"</p>
+
+<p>"'Our' mother! 'Our' father! 'Our' sister!" echoed back the monk, with
+an outburst of sardonic laughter. "Look at the renegate! He dares invoke
+bonds that are snapped, and are abhorred! Man&mdash;I have no father but the
+vicar of Christ! No mother but the Church! No brothers but faithful
+Catholics. Outside of that holy family&mdash;holy, thrice holy!&mdash;I see only
+savage beasts, bent in their demoniacal rage upon tearing into shreds
+the sacred body of my holy mother! And I kill them! I throttle them! I
+immolate them to God, the avenger! Oh, how I grieve to think that you
+did not fall, like the likes of you, under my heavy iron crucifix, which
+the Holy Father blessed! What more beautiful holocaust could I offer to
+the implacable anger of the Lord, than to say to Him as Abraham did on
+the mountain: 'Lord! May the vapor of this blood rise to your nostrils.
+This blood is twofold expiatory! It is my blood, it is the blood of my
+family!'"</p>
+
+<p>"Blood! Always blood!" echoed Odelin, shivering with disgust and horror.
+"Hervé, blood has intoxicated you. Like so many other priests, you are
+the prey of a savage frenzy. A bloodthirsty dementia has dethroned your
+reason. I have for you the pity that a furious madman inspires. After a
+desperate resistance you fell into the power<a name="page_vol-2-127" id="page_vol-2-127"></a> of a corps of Protestant
+horsemen. My son was among them; he identified you by the mournful
+celebrity that surrounds your name. His companions were of a mind to
+kill you on the spot. He obtained from them a postponement of your
+execution under the pretext that your death would be more exemplary
+before the assembled ranks of our soldiers. My son's views prevailed.
+You were taken to this place, to this cellar belonging to the priory
+occupied by Admiral Coligny, who, thanks to God, escaped this day being
+poisoned, escaped the latest abominable crime planned against him. You
+were taken to this cell. My son just notified me of your capture and of
+his desire to save you. I share his wishes&mdash;seeing that, unfortunately,
+we are both children of one father. But for that I would have left you
+to your fate. Your religion commands you to kill me; mine commands me to
+save you. I shall untie your hands; you shall throw this mantle over
+your shoulders and lower the hood over your head. My son is the only
+watchman. He offered to the sentinel placed on guard over you to take
+his place. The offer was accepted. We shall leave this cell together.
+The Rochelois mantle will conceal your frock and remove suspicion. You
+will follow me. I am known to all the people and soldiers whom we may
+meet in crossing the courtyard of the Admiral's house. I hope to secure
+your flight with the aid of this disguise. That duty, a sacred one to
+me, I fulfil in the name of our parents who are no more&mdash;in the name of
+those cherished beings who loved us so dearly."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, God, the Avenger!" exclaimed Hervé with savage<a name="page_vol-2-128" id="page_vol-2-128"></a> exaltation. "Ever
+does Thy anger strike Thy enemies with blindness! Themselves they break
+the chains of their immolators! Themselves they deliver themselves
+defenseless into the hands of their implacable enemies!"</p>
+
+<p>And stretching out his fettered hands to his brother, the monk added:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, thou vile instrument of the King of Kings! Free these hands from
+their bonds! There is still work for them to do in cropping the bloody
+field of heresy! There are still supporters of Satan for these hands to
+exterminate!"</p>
+
+<p>Calm and sad, Odelin loosed the fetters from Fra Hervé's hands. Hardly
+did the monk regain the free use of his arms than, darting a tiger's
+look at his brother, he took two steps back, seized the heavy string of
+leaden balls that hung from his girdle, swung it like a sling, and,
+before his liberator, who stood stupefied at the brusque assault, had
+time to protect himself, smote him several times on the head with the
+heavy chaplet. Although considerably deadened by Odelin's casque, the
+violent blows staggered the armorer. For a moment he seemed to reel on
+his feet, but instantly recovering himself, he drew his sword at the
+very moment that Fra Hervé returned to the charge. Odelin parried the
+blows, and, cutting with a back-stroke the string that held the balls,
+caused them to slip off and roll down at the feet of the monk. Odelin
+immediately threw his sword aside, but carried away with rage and
+indignation, he dashed upon his brother, seized him by the throat, threw
+him to the ground and pinned him down with his knees<a name="page_vol-2-129" id="page_vol-2-129"></a> upon his chest. In
+this struggle, Fra Hervé, weakened by his wound, had the disadvantage.
+He furiously bit Odelin's hand. The pain drew a piercing cry from
+Odelin. The noise was heard by Antonicq, who stood on guard at the
+outside of the door. The young man rushed in and saw his father at close
+quarters with the monk, who, in his rage, kept his teeth in Odelin's
+flesh and sought, after having penetrated to the bone, to crush his
+brother's thumb between his teeth. Exasperated at the sight, Antonicq
+picked up his father's sword and dealing with the handle of the weapon a
+crushing blow upon Fra Hervé's cheek, knocked in several of his teeth
+and compelled him to release his prey. Odelin rose. Panting with fury
+and exhausted by the violence of the struggle, the Cordelier sank upon
+his knees; tore off the bandage from his head, thereby leaving a deep,
+gaping wound exposed; and trembling with silent, savage rage, sought to
+staunch the blood that poured in streams out of his mouth.</p>
+
+<p>"My son, look at that monk," observed Odelin to Antonicq with a broken
+voice. "There was a time when that man was full of tenderness and
+respect for my father and mother. He cherished my sister and me. Brought
+up like myself in the practice of justice, and gifted with exceptional
+intelligence, he was the joy, the pride, the hope of our family. Look at
+him now; shudder; there you see him the handiwork of the infamous clergy
+of the papacy!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it is horrible!" exclaimed Antonicq, hiding his face in his hands.
+And, suddenly startled by the sound of a distant tumult that reached the
+depth of the cell across the<a name="page_vol-2-130" id="page_vol-2-130"></a> profound silence of the night, the young
+man listened for a moment and said: "Father, do you hear that noise? The
+troops are on the march. The cavalry is moving."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," answered Odelin, listening in turn. "The Admiral must have
+decided to surprise the royalist army before daybreak. The forces will
+be shortly on the march. You remain on guard at the door of the cellar.
+This prisoner is the object of so much hatred that they are likely to
+come for him any moment, to put him to death before we deliver battle.
+His cell will be found empty. You will answer that the man was my
+brother and that I wished him to escape punishment. Before mounting your
+horse, come for me at my lodging. We left your poor sister there. Our
+sudden departure must have seemed strange to her, and may have caused
+her anxiety. In my confusion I never thought of giving her a word of
+comfort. Let us make haste."</p>
+
+<p>And throwing his Rochelois cloak to Fra Hervé, Odelin continued:</p>
+
+<p>"If you care to escape death, put that cloak on and come. Towards you,
+and despite yourself, I shall act as a brother."</p>
+
+<p>"And I will pursue you with revengeful hatred, apostate!" answered the
+monk with implacable resentment, rising to his feet and donning the
+cloak. "The Lord delivers me through your hand. He has His purpose. I
+shall be the exterminator of your heretical kin! March&mdash;lead my way
+out&mdash;save me! God orders it&mdash;obey!"</p>
+
+<p>Thanks to the disguise of Fra Hervé, who was wrapped<a name="page_vol-2-131" id="page_vol-2-131"></a> in a Rochelois
+cloak like a large number of Protestant volunteers, Odelin succeeded in
+aiding him to escape from the grounds of the priory where he was a
+prisoner. The two thereupon crossed the streets of St. Yrieix, these
+being crowded with soldiers hastening in silence to their several posts.
+Intending to surprise the enemy in the morning by a forced night march,
+the Admiral ordered the assembly of the forces to be done without beat
+of drum. Odelin and Fra Hervé saw not far from them the Franc-Taupin and
+the Avengers of Israel as they crossed the road on their way to the
+prison of the Cordelier whom they were to execute. A few minutes later,
+led by his brother to the furthest end of the camp, Fra Hervé vanished
+in the dark, taking long strides, and hurling threats of vengeance and
+anathema at his liberator.</p>
+
+<p>Odelin hastened to return to his own lodging in order to comfort his
+daughter and embrace her before going to battle. Anna Bell had vanished.
+The room was empty. There was a letter left by her upon the armorer's
+anvil.<a name="page_vol-2-132" id="page_vol-2-132"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_vol-2-VI" id="CHAPTER_vol-2-VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br />
+<br />THE BATTLE OF ROCHE-LA-BELLE.</h3>
+
+<p>The Protestant army, about twenty-five thousand strong, marched out of
+St. Yrieix in profound silence at about one o'clock in the morning. The
+black and sinuous line of battalions and squadrons was hardly
+distinguishable from the surrounding darkness of the night, lighted only
+by the scintillations of the stars. The column followed the winding of
+the whitish road which was lost to sight in the distant horizon in the
+direction towards Roche-la-Belle, the royalist encampment. The measured
+step of the foot soldiers, the sonorous tramp of the cavalry, the
+clinking of the armors, the jolting and rumbling of artillery
+wheels&mdash;all these noises merged into one muffled and solemn sound.
+Scouts, alert with eye and ear, and pistol in hand, preceded the
+vanguard. At the head of the vanguard rode Admiral Coligny, with two
+young men, one on either side&mdash;Henry of Bearn, the son of the brave Joan
+of Albert, Queen of Navarre, and Condé, a son of the Prince of Condé,
+whom Montesquiou assassinated. Other Protestant leaders, among them
+Lanoüe and Saragosse, followed in the Admiral's suite. On that morning
+the Admiral rode a superb silver-grey Turkish horse that was<a name="page_vol-2-133" id="page_vol-2-133"></a> wounded
+under him at Jarnac, and which he preferred to all other mounts. A light
+iron mail covered the neck, chest and crupper of the spirited steed.
+Coligny himself wore his habitual armor of polished iron devoid of
+ornament. His strong high boots reached up as far as his cuisses. His
+floating white and wire-sleeved cloak allowed his cuirass to be seen.
+His old battle sword hung from his belt. The butts of his long pistols
+peeped from under his saddle-bow. He rode bowed down by years, sorrows
+and the trials of so many campaigns. His venerable head seemed to bend
+under the weight of his casque. He guided his horse with his left hand.
+His right, gloved, reclined upon his cuisse. Suddenly he straightened up
+in the saddle, reined in his horse, and said in a grave voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Halt, messieurs!"</p>
+
+<p>The order was repeated from rank to rank back to the rearmost of the
+rear guard. One of the volunteers, who served as aide-de-camp to the
+Admiral, rode forward at a gallop to carry to the scouts the order to
+stop. An almost imperceptible shimmer began to whiten the horizon and
+announced the approach of dawn. A tepid breeze rose from the west, and
+became strong enough to chase the few clouds before it. These grew
+denser; at first they veiled the stars; soon they seemed to invade the
+whole firmament. Coligny attentively examined the aspect of the skies,
+communicated his opinion to his escort, and said to his lieutenants:</p>
+
+<p>"A west wind, rising at dawn, generally presages a rainy day. Messieurs,
+we shall have to push the attack in lively<a name="page_vol-2-134" id="page_vol-2-134"></a> style before the rain comes
+down upon us, otherwise the fire of our infantry will be almost
+useless."</p>
+
+<p>And addressing Lanoüe:</p>
+
+<p>"My friend, the chiefs of divisions have my orders; let them be drawn up
+for battle."</p>
+
+<p>Lanoüe and several other officers rode off to execute the instructions
+of the Admiral. At this spot the road crossed a vast plateau more than a
+league wide, upon which the Protestant army deployed its lines and took
+up its positions. Coligny had Lanoüe and John of Soubise for his
+lieutenants. Prince Louis of Nassau commanded the right wing; La
+Rochefoucauld the center, with Henry of Bearn, Condé, the Prince of
+Orange, Wolfgang of Mansfeld and the Prince of Gerolstein under his
+orders; finally, the left was in charge of Saragosse. Colonels Piles and
+Baudine covered the right wing with their regiments; Colonels Rouvray
+and Pouilly the left. The lancers and the artillery were distributed
+along the two wings, while a strong cavalry force, consisting of twenty
+squadrons, held itself in reserve, ready to ride into action supported
+by several regiments of infantry.</p>
+
+<p>In the measure that the light of dawn rendered the distant horizon more
+distinct, the belfry of the church of Roche-la-Belle, the fortified town
+occupied by the royalists, and lying about half a league away, could be
+discerned from the highest point of the plateau where the Protestant
+forces were deploying their lines. A black line along the dawn that
+dimly lighted the horizon marked the royalist entrenchments.<a name="page_vol-2-135" id="page_vol-2-135"></a></p>
+
+<p>Soon as the army was drawn up in battle formation, Coligny said to
+Antonicq, one of the volunteers who served as aide-de-camp:</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur Lebrenn, convey to Colonel Plouernel my orders to push forward
+with his regiment and six companies of auxiliaries. Recommend to him
+above all to execute his march in the profoundest silence possible,
+without either beat of drums or blare of trumpets. The enemy must be
+taken by surprise. The colonel is to seize the lake road, which is
+strongly defended. When that post is carried, return and notify me."</p>
+
+<p>Antonicq left at a gallop for the extreme right wing, the post of
+Colonel Plouernel, the younger brother of Count Neroweg of Plouernel,
+who commanded the escort of Queen Catherine De Medici the day of her
+arrival at the Abbey of St. Severin. The religious feuds threw the two
+brothers into opposite camps&mdash;a not infrequent occurrence in those
+unhappy days. In the course of the civil wars, the colonel, like so many
+other Protestants, sought refuge in the city of La Rochelle. Odelin
+thanks to the family archives left to him by his father Christian, knew
+that the printer had met and was greatly gratified by the courtesy of
+Colonel Plouernel on the occasion of one of the first councils held by
+the reformers in the quarry of Montmartre, when he was known as the
+Knight of Plouernel. One day, at La Rochelle, Odelin saw the knight, who
+had become a colonel in the Huguenot army, enter his smithy. He came to
+purchase arms, and noticing on the shield of the shop the name of
+Lebrenn, inquired from the armorer whether any rela<a name="page_vol-2-136" id="page_vol-2-136"></a>tionship existed
+between him and the artisan once employed in the printing establishment
+of Robert Estienne. Odelin answered that he was a son of the artisan,
+and, agreeably impressed by the cordiality with which the colonel spoke
+of his father, entered into friendly relations with the nobleman,
+finding a singular charm in an acquaintance with one of the descendants
+of that old Frankish family whose path the sons of Joel had so often
+crossed, arms in hand, across the ages. In short, prizing more and more
+the noble character, the generous heart and the artless manners of
+Colonel Plouernel, a man free from all taint of family haughtiness and
+imbued, as much as any, with the democratic principles of the
+Reformation, Odelin informed the scion of the ancient house of Plouernel
+of the accidental circumstance concerning the hereditary feud between
+the two families both before and since the conquest of Clovis, and
+communicated to him the passages of the domestic chronicles touching
+upon those historic facts. By little and little an intimate friendship
+sprang up between Odelin and Colonel Plouernel. The latter, having
+married during one of the truces of the civil war a young lady of
+Vannes, from whom he had two little boys, was forced to seek refuge in
+La Rochelle with them and his wife when at last war broke out anew. He
+hired a few vacant rooms from Odelin, being anxious to leave Madam
+Plouernel with a family the virtues of which he appreciated. For
+Antonicq, Odelin's son, he felt an almost paternal affection, there
+being many years' difference between their ages. Being, thanks to his
+bravery, his reputation, his military talents, and his experience in<a name="page_vol-2-137" id="page_vol-2-137"></a>
+the field, greatly esteemed among the Protestants, Colonel Plouernel
+commanded in this campaign a regiment composed almost exclusively of
+Bretons. His soldiers, however, although brave and zealous, were, like
+all other volunteers, unfortunately prone to disregard discipline;
+being, moreover, but ill broken to the pursuit of arms, they often
+failed to appreciate the authority of skilful and prudent tactics,
+preferring to listen to their own blind intrepidity. The Breton
+regiment, together with the company of auxiliaries, numbered about three
+thousand men. They stood drawn up for battle at the furthest extremity
+of the right wing, when Antonicq, the carrier of the Admiral's orders,
+arrived at a gallop before their front ranks. Some, being field
+laborers, wore the ancient loose Gallic blouse, with hose fastened
+around the waist by a belt, and woolen bonnets on their heads; others,
+being either artisans or bourgeois from the cities, wore wide hose,
+jackets laced in front in the Burgundian style, or brigandines, or coats
+of mail or other defensive equipments, according to their several
+tastes. The men's headgear also offered a varied aspect: casques,
+morions, bassinets, slouch hats, bonnets ribbed with two iron hoops.
+Neither were the offensive arms more uniform&mdash;lances, pikes, halberds,
+antique swords, cross-bows, iron maces, cutlasses, hunting arquebuses,
+field arquebuses, and pistols all being visible. Several wood-cutters
+and their helpers were armed with hatchets, and some had scythes with
+the edge turned out. The only uniform, or article common to all, was a
+belt or shoulder sash of white material. These men, although<a name="page_vol-2-138" id="page_vol-2-138"></a> presenting
+a rather unmilitary appearance, displayed spirit and ardor. More than
+once did it happen that the fury of their onslaught overthrew the best
+royal troops, both infantry and cavalry, despite the latter's long
+military training and discipline.</p>
+
+<p>Armed like a German rider, with black casque, black cuirass and white
+cloak, Colonel Plouernel bestrode a powerful Breton bay mare,
+caparisoned in scarlet. When Antonicq approached him he was in
+conversation with several officers of his regiment. Among these was the
+Pastor Feron, a man gifted with exceptional energy, and of austere and
+resolute mien. Often did he, like so many other ministers of the
+Reformed religion, march to battle at the head of a troop, singing
+psalms like the old bards of Gaul who marched in advance of the warriors
+singing their heroic chants. More than once wounded, the clergyman Feron
+inspired the Protestants with as much confidence as veneration. Antonicq
+transmitted the orders of Admiral Coligny to Colonel Plouernel. The
+latter immediately faced his troops and said to the captains who
+surrounded him:</p>
+
+<p>"The Admiral does us the honor of entrusting to us the lead in the
+attack. We shall prove ourselves worthy of the distinction. We are to
+take the royal army by surprise. It will soon be day, but the slope of
+this hill, along the foot of which runs the road that we are to follow,
+will hide us from the enemy's pickets. We shall be able to reach the
+edge of the lake without being seen. Foreseeing the attack with which we
+are charged, I have just commis<a name="page_vol-2-139" id="page_vol-2-139"></a>sioned the Franc-Taupin to proceed with
+a picked body of determined men of his own corps and sound for a ford
+across the lake. Return to your companies. Order the drummers and
+trumpeters to remain quiet, and all your men to observe scrupulous
+silence."</p>
+
+<p>"Brothers," remonstrated Pastor Feron with elation, "why conceal our
+approach from the Philistines? Does not the Lord lead the children of
+Israel? Let us place our reliance on Him only, and the proud towers of
+Zion will crumble before the breath of the Eternal. Let us march to the
+attack, not like timid and slinking thieves, but openly, bravely, like
+true soldiers of God! It was under the open sky that David vanquished
+Goliath!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes. No underhanded tactics!" cried several officers. "Let us
+march straight upon the enemy, singing praises to the Lord. He is with
+us. We shall vanquish."</p>
+
+<p>"My friends," said Colonel Plouernel, "follow my advice. Let us proceed
+with caution. The royal army is much our superior in numbers. We must
+make up with tactics for our inferiority. Let us arrive noiselessly
+before the vanguard of the enemy, you will not then lack for opportunity
+to prove your valor. Place yourselves at the head of your companies, and
+forward at the double quick, only in the profoundest silence."</p>
+
+<p>The authority enjoyed by Colonel Plouernel, the wisdom of his orders,
+the confidence of the volunteers in his bravery and military skill once
+more carried the day over the seething impatience of his captains,
+although Pastor Feron looked displeased with a manoeuvre in which he<a name="page_vol-2-140" id="page_vol-2-140"></a>
+imagined he saw a weakness and dissimulation unworthy of the children of
+Israel. The officers took their posts, and the column advanced in
+silence, with its right covered by the ridge of a long hill that
+completely masked it on the side of the enemy's entrenchment. The road
+that the column followed crossed a wide field covered with wild roses,
+their petals heavy with the dew of night, and spreading an aromatic odor
+far and wide. Colonel Plouernel inhaled with delight the early morning
+fragrance, and addressing Antonicq, who rode beside him, said:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my boy! This sweet perfume, these wild smells, remind me of the
+moors of Brittany. I draw them in with full lungs."</p>
+
+<p>"Brittany! It is the dream of my life! When I was still a boy my father
+took us to Vannes, on a pilgrimage to the sacred stones of Karnak. They
+rise not far from the spot where stood the cradle of our family at the
+time of Julius Caesar. I being then too young to understand it, my
+father only gave me a short account of our family history. Since then I
+have read it from beginning to end. I now have but one uppermost desire,
+and my father shares it. It is, should God put an end to these
+disastrous wars, to leave La Rochelle and settle down in Vannes. We may
+be able to purchase a patch of land on the seashore, near the stones of
+Karnak."</p>
+
+<p>"Those sacred stones, the surviving witnesses of the voluntary sacrifice
+of your ancestress Hena, the virgin of the isle of Sen&mdash;that old
+Armorica, the independence of which<a name="page_vol-2-141" id="page_vol-2-141"></a> your ancestor Vortigern defended so
+valiantly against the son of Charlemagne!"</p>
+
+<p>"You may judge, colonel, what memories are awakened within us by that
+single word&mdash;Brittany."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my boy, it occurred to me quite recently that your and your
+father's wishes may easily be realized."</p>
+
+<p>"How?"</p>
+
+<p>"By virtue of his primogeniture, my brother is the sole owner of the
+vast hereditary domains belonging to our family in Auvergne and in
+Brittany. But the father of my dear wife Jocelyne, a good and honest
+Breton who resides in Brittany, owns an estate that lies not far from
+Karnak, along the seashore. Judging from what your father has told me of
+your family traditions, the estate is bound to consist, partly at least,
+of the fields once owned by your ancestor Joel the brenn of the tribe of
+Karnak. Now, then, if God should grant us peace again, nothing would be
+easier for me than to obtain from my wife's father either the sale or
+lease of a portion of those fields, and you could then settle down there
+with your family."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, colonel! I should be pleased to owe to you the happiness of living
+in Brittany, near the cradle of my family, together with father and
+mother, and my sisters, and Cornelia my sweetheart, who will then be my
+wife!"</p>
+
+<p>"And yet, strange to say, my boy, your ancestors and mine have hated and
+fought each other across the ages. I must admit the fact&mdash;the law of
+nature justified the terrible reprisals of the conquered upon their
+conquerors, in those days of frightful oppression. It required the rude<a name="page_vol-2-142" id="page_vol-2-142"></a>
+school of the religious wars to join in one common belief the children
+of Joel the Gaul and of Neroweg the Frank, as your father puts it. That
+first step in Evangelical fraternity marks an immense progress. Thus
+will traditional hatreds cool down little by little, and race
+antagonisms will be wiped out, as they have been wiped out between our
+two families, once such bitter enemies&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And now," Antonicq completed the sentence, "united by the bonds of firm
+friendship. May the same be kept ever green among our descendants."</p>
+
+<p>"It is my fervent hope, my dear Antonicq. I am bringing up my children
+in that feeling. More than once have I cited to them incidents from your
+family legends, to the end that their young minds may be penetrated with
+the sense that the rights, the privileges, the titles of which the
+nobility boasts so loudly, and which it guards so jealously, have for
+their principle or origin the abominable acts of violence that conquest
+brings in its train."</p>
+
+<p>During the conversation between Colonel Plouernel and Antonicq the
+regiment pursued its march under shelter of the ridge that it skirted.
+The further end of the ridge sloped gradually down to the level of the
+field, watered by the lake and the stream which protected the front of
+the royal camp. The attacking column, which, obedient to the orders of
+the Admiral, marched in silence, was expected to reach the open before
+sunrise, and thus be able to open the assault unexpectedly upon the
+strongly entrenched outposts, that were planted on the lake road. The
+execution of the plan was frustrated by the martial impatience of the<a name="page_vol-2-143" id="page_vol-2-143"></a>
+volunteers, whom Pastor Feron in his exaltation drove to a fever heat of
+excitement with his blind faith in the irresistible power of the arm of
+Israel. The Huguenots were still half an hour's march from the enemy
+when the pastor, who marched ahead of the silent drummers, suddenly
+intoned in a ringing voice the psalm well known to the Protestants:</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left">"The Eternal looks down from above,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Night and day from out the skies,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">On all men bestowing love,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">And nothing escapes His eyes.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">"From His throne august,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">The holy King and just</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Sees below distinctly,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Of man the distant race,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Through th' abyss of space</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Sees it all distinctly.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">"Nor camps nor yet gendarmes,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Nor all the strong alarms</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Can ever save a king!</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Nor iron nor courage</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Are of a good usage,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Oh, Lord, without Thy aid.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">"Yes, God His wings doth spread,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">On us His grace doth shed.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">And ever mounteth guard</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">O'er those who Him esteem.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">None other worthy deem</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">But only Him regard."</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>No sooner had the pastor struck up the psalm with its biblical poetry,
+than each couplet was repeated in chorus by the Huguenots. Nothing could
+be more solemn than that choir of three thousand male and sonorous
+voices, rising from the silent plain, and seeming to salute with a
+martial hymn the first rays of that day of battle. Nevertheless, sadly
+inopportune, the canticle announced to the enemy the approach of the
+Protestants. Driven to despair by the infraction of the Admiral's
+orders, Colonel Plouernel sought at first to restore silence by
+addressing himself to the foremost companies. Vain hope; vain
+entreaties. The soldiers wrought themselves up with their own voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, this lack of discipline will ever be fatal to us!" observed Colonel
+Plouernel to Antonicq. "Thus have we almost always either endangered the
+success of a battle, or even lost the day that otherwise would
+positively have been ours! But the error is committed. The enemy is
+informed of our proximity. Let it at least be announced resolutely!"</p>
+
+<p>And addressing the drummers:</p>
+
+<p>"Boys, beat the double-quick!"</p>
+
+<p>The drums immediately resounded without however drowning the voices of
+the Protestants&mdash;an imposing military orchestra. The column hastened its
+steps. After half an hour's rapid march its front ranks debouched into
+the open field. Piercing a heavy bank of clouds, the first rays of the
+sun crimsoned the face of a wide lake into which emptied a stream that
+itself was fed by a number of streamlets which descended from an
+elevated plateau, dominated by the burg of Roche-la-Belle. The lake and
+main stream<a name="page_vol-2-145" id="page_vol-2-145"></a> were hemmed in on the side of the royal entrenchments, and
+constituted the enemy's first line of defense. A thick chestnut forest
+rose to the left of the lake. The lake road ran at right angles, and was
+fortified by an earthwork, furnished with embrasures, and these armed
+with falconets. This light artillery could sweep the whole length of the
+water-courses, which had to be crossed in order to attack a palisaded
+ground, which, crenelated with loop-holes for the use of arquebusiers,
+completed the defenses of the Catholic army. Finally, a number of heavy
+guns, mounted upon a high embankment, could also play upon the
+water-course. A cross-fire thus rendered the crossing doubly dangerous.
+This particular peril would have been almost wholly escaped had the
+Admiral's orders been obeyed. Had the attacking column arrived
+noiselessly at break of day and taken the royalists by surprise when
+still rolled in slumbers, and before they could hurry to their light and
+heavy guns and form their ranks, the Huguenots could have crossed the
+stream and, soon supported by their whole army corps, could have led a
+powerful attack upon the enemy's position. It happened otherwise. The
+reverberations of the hymn sung by the Huguenots sounded the reveille to
+the enemy, and frustrated the Admiral's plans. From all sides the drums
+of the Catholics were sounding the call to arms when the first company
+of the Protestants debouched upon the plain. Colonel Plouernel ordered a
+halt, alighted from his horse, gathered his captains around him and, in
+order to avoid further mishaps said to them:</p>
+
+<p>"We can no longer hope to take the enemy by surprise.<a name="page_vol-2-146" id="page_vol-2-146"></a> I shall now
+communicate to you my new plan of attack."</p>
+
+<p>Hardly had Colonel Plouernel uttered these words when they heard a
+lively rattle of arquebus fire from the lake road. He turned his eyes in
+that direction, unable at first to conjecture against whom the fire
+could be directed, seeing that he and his forces were beyond the reach
+of the shot. Immediately, however, the ricochetting of the balls over
+the surface of the lake attracted the colonel's attention, and he soon
+perceived here and there, at a considerable distance from one another,
+several casqued heads just above the surface of the water, and ever and
+anon diving below with the view of escaping the fire of the
+arquebusiers.</p>
+
+<p>"It is the Franc-Taupin and his Avengers of Israel. They have been
+sounding for a ford across the lake and the stream!" exclaimed the
+colonel in high glee. "Their information will be of great use to us."
+But immediately he cried out: "Oh! one of the brave men has been
+struck!"</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, one of the Avengers of Israel, who, following the example of the
+Franc-Taupin, and in order not to offer his full body to the aim of the
+enemy, crouched lower and lower in the measure that, as he drew nearer
+to the reed-covered edge of the lake, the water grew shallower&mdash;one of
+the Avengers of Israel was struck by a bullet full in the head. He
+straightened up with a convulsive movement, threw his arms in the air,
+reeled, and then dropped, immediately disappearing under the water,
+whose surface at the spot reddened with his blood. The Franc-Taupin,
+together with his other companions, continued to drag themselves<a name="page_vol-2-147" id="page_vol-2-147"></a> up
+through the reeds as far as the shore of the lake. Once there, the balls
+could not reach them. They picked up their arms and munitions, which
+they had left close to the bank, put on their cross-belts, and walked
+towards the group of officers whom they saw at a distance, standing near
+the last undulation of the ridge that still masked their column.
+Antonicq, who had alighted from his horse together with Colonel
+Plouernel, ran to meet the Franc-Taupin and threw his arms around the
+brave old soldier, saying: "Heaven be thanked, you have had a narrow
+escape from death!"</p>
+
+<p>"Good morning, my boy!" answered Josephin. "But quit your
+embracings&mdash;you will get wet; I am streaming water. In my young days I
+played the mole, now in my old age I play the crawfish&mdash;so cease
+embracing me. Besides, I am angry with you and your father&mdash;it was due
+to you two that the scoundrel Hervé escaped death. We found his prison
+empty last night. Who but you winked at the demon's escape? I did not
+know that you were placed on guard over him."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle, the bonds of blood&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"By my sister's death! Did he respect the bonds of blood!"</p>
+
+<p>And stepping towards Colonel Plouernel, he said:</p>
+
+<p>"Colonel, this is the result of our explorations: We arrived here before
+dawn; we left our horses at the ruined farm-house that you see yonder;
+we then took to the water. The royalists were not on the watch. The lake
+is fordable by cavalry from the point where the reeds run obliquely<a name="page_vol-2-148" id="page_vol-2-148"></a>
+into the water. The stream is fordable in all parts by infantry. The
+water is not more than four feet deep at its deepest, and the bottom is
+hard. If you wish to flank the entrenchment on the lake road, you will
+have to ride up about three thousand feet on the side of the chestnut
+wood. There you will find, running into the marsh, a long and wide
+jetty. Ten men can walk abreast on it. It abutts on a palisaded
+earthwork that can be easily taken. It is the weak side of the enemy's
+defenses. You may rely upon the accuracy of these facts, colonel. I made
+the reconnoissance myself."</p>
+
+<p>"I know you are reliable, Josephin," answered Colonel Plouernel. "The
+information you bring me confirms me in the plan of attack that I have
+projected."</p>
+
+<p>And stepping back to the group of officers whom Pastor Feron had just
+joined, the colonel said:</p>
+
+<p>"Gentlemen, the following is my plan&mdash;we would incur a useless loss of
+men were we to make a front attack upon the lake road fortifications,
+and the palisaded fort. The enemy is up. The stream that we would have
+to wade is swept from right and left by a cross artillery fire. We will
+divide our forces into three corps. The first, which I shall command,
+will attempt to cross the stream, however perilous the feat, to the end
+of attracting the enemy's fire upon us, while our second corps, masked
+by the chestnut grove, shall march up to the jetty of the swamp in order
+to take the road fortifications on the flank. Finally, our third corps
+will move upon that other entrenchment which you see yonder where the
+stream crosses. The attack being<a name="page_vol-2-149" id="page_vol-2-149"></a> thus made upon three points at once,
+the bulk of the army that comes close behind us will support our action.
+The engagement will be hot. Let us spare the blood of our men all we
+can. Courage and prudence."</p>
+
+<p>"Still prudence! Still hesitation! notwithstanding the Lord fights for
+our rights!" exclaimed Pastor Feron with burning enthusiasm. "We but
+puff up the pride of the Philistines by not daring to attack them in
+front! Pusillanimity! Lack of faith in God!"</p>
+
+<p>"To divide our forces instead of overwhelming the enemy by concentrating
+them upon one point?" put in one of the principal officers. "Did you
+consider that, Colonel Plouernel?"</p>
+
+<p>The exasperated colonel cried: "Rely upon my mature experience&mdash;to make
+a front attack, and in mass, upon the enemy's position is as foolhardy
+an enterprise as it is fraught with danger."</p>
+
+<p>"Intrepidity is the strength of the children of Israel!" cried the
+pastor in a louder voice. "United the children of Israel are invincible!
+Let us all march! Side by side! Like brothers, forward! High our heads
+and without fear! The finger of God points us the way!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes! Let us attack in mass and with fury!" echoed most of the
+officers. "Forward all! Holding close together, nothing can resist us!
+God is with us!"</p>
+
+<p>Alas, once again, as happened so often before in our wars, and to the
+greater misfortune of our arms, blind foolhardiness, inexperience, lack
+of discipline, and an exaggerated faith in the triumph of the cause,
+prevailed over<a name="page_vol-2-150" id="page_vol-2-150"></a> the wise counsels of an officer who had grown grey in
+harness, and whose military science matched his bravery. First the
+captains, soon the soldiers also, successively informed from rank to
+rank upon the subject of the deliberation, and wrought up by the burning
+words of the pastor, objected to a division of the forces, deeming that
+such a move would weaken them; and, above all, fearing to seem to waver
+in sight of the foe, they demanded aloud to be led in mass against the
+enemy. Colonel Plouernel, who had a long experience with Breton
+volunteers, and was too well acquainted with their proverbial
+stubbornness, abandoned all thought of winning them over to his views.
+Seeing the men elated to the point of delirious heroism, he calmly said
+to the officers:</p>
+
+<p>"Is it your wish? Well, let us march! Drummers, beat to the charge!
+Forward, at the enemy! Battle, all along the line!"</p>
+
+<p>Colonel Plouernel then drew his sword, clasped Antonicq's hand, and
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"My friend, we are marching to slaughter. If you escape the carnage that
+I foresee, take my last adieus to my wife and little boys, and also to
+your worthy father."</p>
+
+<p>"These brave fellows are crazy! We shall be mowed down," observed the
+Franc-Taupin in turn to Antonicq. "I would die without first having done
+my twenty-five Catholic priests to death! The devil still owes me seven
+of them. Be firm, my boy. Let us not be separated from each other. We
+shall then at least both have the same<a name="page_vol-2-151" id="page_vol-2-151"></a> stream for our tomb. To think of
+it! I who in my young days loved wine so well, now to die in water!"</p>
+
+<p>The column set itself in motion in a compact mass, at a quick pace, and
+with drums beating at its head. Before the drummers marched Pastor
+Feron, who again intoned a psalm that was speedily taken up in chorus by
+the Protestants in the midst of a veritable hailstorm of balls and
+bullets:</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 0em;">"God ever was both my life and my light!</span>0</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Death, I defy thee! What have I to fear?</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 0em;">God's my support with His infinite might!</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Have I not from Him my title quite clear?</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 0em;">"When the malignants did fire on me,</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">When they expected to tear out my heart,</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 0em;">Have I not seen them all thrown down by Thee,</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Scattered, and smitten, and struck by Thy dart?</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 0em;">"Come, let a whole camp surround me on all sides,</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Never my heart will be shaken with fright!</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 0em;">Close by my side, Oh! the Lord ever strides,</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Need I to fear of a foe any blight?"</span></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>The battle raged with fury. Colonel Plouernel's apprehensions were
+realized. Despite prodigies of intrepidity, his column, as it waded
+through the stream in serried and compact ranks, was received in front
+and from the two flanks by a terrific cross-fire of arquebuses and
+artillery. Three-fourths of the volunteers fell under the torrent of
+lead, even before reaching the middle of the stream. Wondering at the
+length of this vanguard attack, the successful<a name="page_vol-2-152" id="page_vol-2-152"></a> execution of which he
+considered certain by entrusting it to Colonel Plouernel. Admiral
+Coligny suddenly saw Antonicq Lebrenn riding back at top speed with his
+thigh pierced by a bullet. Informed by Antonicq of the reason of the
+disastrous result of the encounter, the Admiral promptly ordered
+Colonels Bueil and Piles to proceed at their swiftest with their
+respective regiments to the jetty, and take the road entrenchment from
+the flank. Soubise, La Rochefoucauld and Saragosse received and, with
+their wonted skill, executed another set of orders. Within shortly
+battle was engaged all along the line, changing the aspect of the
+conflict. The Huguenots' artillery responded to and silenced the fire
+from the opposite side. Attacked in front, from the right and the left,
+the royalists were dislodged from their entrenchments near the lake.
+They retired behind the palisaded ground, from which they kept up a
+murderous fire. But the palisade was broken through. First the infantry,
+then the cavalry of the Protestants rushed through the breaches. A
+stubborn melee ensued, and was at its height when the muffled rumbling
+of distant thunder, immediately followed by heavy rain-drops from the
+blackening sky overhead, announced the approach of the storm that
+Coligny had that morning predicted.<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a></p>
+
+<p>
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>I, Antonicq Lebrenn, who write this account, am overcome with grief in
+completing it. Its close revives sad memories.<a name="page_vol-2-153" id="page_vol-2-153"></a></p>
+
+<p>After I informed Admiral Coligny of the check sustained by the column of
+Colonel Plouernel, the kindhearted old man insisted that his own surgeon
+dress my wound. Though painful, the wound did not prevent me from
+keeping in the saddle. After being attended by the surgeon, I hastened
+back to the thick of the battle. A large body of cavalry, commanded by
+Marshal Tavannes, with the Duke of Anjou, brother of Charles IX, and
+young Henry of Guise at his side, covered the right wing of the royalist
+camp. Against that armed body of heavy and light troopers Admiral
+Coligny hurled twenty squadrons of horsemen under the command of Prince
+Franz of Gerolstein. It was at that moment that I rejoined the battle.
+The thunder claps, now succeeding one another with increasing frequency
+and vehemence, drowned the roar of the artillery. The storm was soon to
+break out in all its fury. The Protestant cavalry was advancing at a
+gallop three ranks deep upon the Catholic horsemen. Sword in hand, Franz
+of Gerolstein led, a few paces in advance of his troopers. The Prince
+was accompanied by his knights and pages. Among the latter was Anna
+Bell. The dashing sight soon disappeared from before my eyes in the
+cloud of pistol smoke, and the dust raised by the horses, as the two
+opposing masses of riders met each other, pistol in hand and exchanged
+fire. Suddenly I heard my father's voice calling to me:</p>
+
+<p>"God sends you, my son! Come and fight by my side."</p>
+
+<p>"Father," I said to him drawing up my horse beside his own, he being on
+the right wing of our army and at the<a name="page_vol-2-154" id="page_vol-2-154"></a> end of a line composed of
+Rochelois volunteer horsemen who followed upon the heels of the charging
+contingent of the Prince of Gerolstein, "did you have time to see my
+sister again after you left me last night?"</p>
+
+<p>"Alas, no; but I found a letter that she left behind, and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>My father could proceed no further. Two regiments of mounted
+arquebusiers under the command of Count Neroweg of Plouernel, the
+colonel's brother, made a charge upon us with the object of isolating us
+from the German troopers. The manoeuvre succeeded. The impetuosity of
+the charge threw our ranks into disorder. The enemy broke through them.
+We could no longer fight in line. A general melee ensued. It was a
+combat of man to man. Despite the disorder I managed to remain at my
+father's side. Fate drove us, him and me, face to face with Count
+Neroweg of Plouernel, at whose side rode his son Odet, a lad of sixteen
+years, and a great favorite with the Duke of Anjou. I heard the Count
+cry to him:</p>
+
+<p>"Courage, my boy! Strike hard, and kill as many of the enemy as you can!
+Prove yourself worthy of the house of Neroweg!"</p>
+
+<p>Almost immediately thereupon I saw the Count rise in his stirrups. His
+sword was on the point of striking my father when the latter crushed the
+shoulder of Neroweg with a pistol shot fired at close range. The Count
+dropped his sword and uttered a piercing cry. His son raised his light
+arquebus and took aim at my father, just then engaged in replacing his
+pistol in its holster. Instantly,<a name="page_vol-2-155" id="page_vol-2-155"></a> driven by two digs of my spurs, my
+horse bounded forward, striking the steed of Odet of Plouernel breast
+against breast; at the very moment that Odet discharged his arquebus
+upon my father, I struck the lad so furious a blow with my saber that
+his casque and skull were cleaved in two. Odet stretched out his arms,
+and dropped backward bleeding upon the crupper of his horse. In the
+meantime, my own steed, wounded in the loins by a severe cut, collapsed.
+In falling, the heavy animal rolled over me, pressing with its full
+weight upon my wounded thigh. Pain deprived me of the strength to
+extricate myself. Several combatants trampled me under foot. My corselet
+was torn open under the iron hoofs of the horses. My morion was knocked
+in and flattened; pressed by its walls my skull felt as if cramped by a
+vise. My eyes began to swim; I was about to faint, but a frightful
+vision so stirred my soul at that moment that I seemed to revive. The
+melee left in its wake upon the field of carnage the dead, the dying,
+and the wounded among whom I lay. The spectacle I saw took place not far
+from my right. A few paces from me, my father, unhorsed by the arquebus
+of young Odet of Plouernel, raised himself livid, and sank again in a
+sitting posture, carrying his hands to his cuirass which a bullet had
+perforated. That same instant the diabolical cry smote my ears:</p>
+
+<p>"Kill all! Kill all!"</p>
+
+<p>And then, in the midst of the roll of thunder overhead, and across the
+surrounding sheen of lightning flashes, there appeared before my
+eyes&mdash;Fra Hervé, mounted upon a small black horse with long flowing
+mane, clad in his<a name="page_vol-2-156" id="page_vol-2-156"></a> brown frock rolled up to his knees, and exposing his
+fleshless legs, naked like his feet which were strapped in spurred
+sandals wherewith he kicked his horse's flank and urged it onward. A
+fresh bandage covered his recent wound and girded his hairless skull.
+His hollow eyes sparkled with savage fury. Armed with a long cutlass
+that dripped blood he continued to cry:</p>
+
+<p>"Kill all! Kill all!"</p>
+
+<p>The monk led to carnage a band of gallows-birds, the scum and refuse of
+the Catholic army, whose duty it was to despatch the wounded with iron
+maces, axes and knives. Hervé recognized his brother Odelin, who, with
+one hand upon his wound and the other on the ground, was essaying to
+rise to his feet. An expression of satanic hatred lighted the face of
+the Cordelier. He jumped down from his horse, and emitted a roar of
+ferocious triumph. My father gave himself up for lost. Nevertheless he
+made an attempt to soften the heart of his executioner, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Hervé, brother! I have a wife and children. Last night I saved your
+life!"</p>
+
+<p>"Lord!" cried the priest, gasping for breath and raising his fiery eyes
+and blood-stained cutlass to the thundering and lightning-lighted heaven
+above. "God of Vengeance! God of the Catholics! Receive as a holocaust
+the blood of Cain!"</p>
+
+<p>And Fra Hervé precipitated himself upon his brother, threw him down,
+squatted upon his chest, seized his hair with one hand and with the
+other brandished the cutlass. Odelin uttered a cry of horror, closed his
+eyes and offered<a name="page_vol-2-157" id="page_vol-2-157"></a> his throat. The fratricide was accomplished. Fra Hervé
+rose bespattered with his brother's blood, kicked the corpse with his
+foot, and jumped back upon his horse yelling:</p>
+
+<p>"Kill all! Slaughter all the wounded!"</p>
+
+<p>My senses, until then held in suspense by the very terror of the
+frightful spectacle, now abandoned me. I completely lost consciousness.
+The carnage continued.</p>
+
+<p>When I recovered from my swoon, I was lying on the straw in our smithy
+and lodging at St. Yrieix. The Franc-Taupin and Colonel Plouernel sat
+beside my couch. From them I learned the issue of the battle of
+Roche-la-Belle. It was disastrous to the royalists; they were roundly
+routed. The violent thunder storm, followed by a deluge of rain, did not
+allow Admiral Coligny to pursue the retreating Catholic army. The
+victorious Protestants re-entered St. Yrieix. The Franc-Taupin and his
+Avengers of Israel, happening to pass by the spot where I lay motionless
+under my horse, not far from my father's corpse, with his throat cut by
+Fra Hervé, recognized me and laid me upon a wagon used for transporting
+the munitions of the artillery. The field of battle was ours. With the
+help of his companions, the Franc-Taupin piously dug a grave in which
+they buried my father.</p>
+
+<p>Later I learned from the Prince of Gerolstein the sad fate that overtook
+my sister, and I also found the letter which she wrote to my father. The
+unfortunate girl, imagining herself despised and forsaken by us,
+decided, she wrote, to die, and bade us her heartrending adieus.
+Desirous that my father and his co-religionists be apprized<a name="page_vol-2-158" id="page_vol-2-158"></a> of the dark
+and bloody schemes of Catherine De Medici, Anna Bell reported in her
+letter the secret conversation which the Queen had with Father Lefevre
+on the subject of the reformers&mdash;a conversation that she overheard at
+the Abbey of St. Severin. After having thus attested her attachment to
+us to the very end, she obtained the consent of the Prince's page she
+had spoken with, to don the clothes and ride the horse of the lad who
+was killed at the skirmish of that morning. She looked forward to
+meeting death beside Franz of Gerolstein. Alas! Her wish was realized.
+She joined the Prince. As much surprised as alarmed at the girl's
+purpose, he vainly entreated her to withdraw until after the shock
+between the two mounted forces. Neither Anna Bell nor Franz of
+Gerolstein was wounded at the first encounter. But shortly after, as the
+German horsemen were re-crossing the stream in pursuit of the enemy's
+cavalry, my sister was struck in the breast by a stray bullet from the
+fleeing enemy, and fell from her horse into the river, where she was
+drowned, without Franz, who was carried along by the impetus of his
+troopers' charge, being able to return in time to save her.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, informed by my account concerning the double encounter of his
+brother, Count Neroweg, and Odet his son, with my father and myself,
+Colonel Plouernel learned later that both had perished in the fight,
+leaving him the head of the house, and sole heir of its vast domains.</p>
+
+<p>Victorious at Roche-la-Belle, the Protestants were destined to suffer a
+serious defeat in September of the same year. The royal and Protestant
+armies met in Poitou,<a name="page_vol-2-159" id="page_vol-2-159"></a> near the town of Montcontour. Coligny, much the
+inferior in numbers, manoeuvred his forces with his customary skill, and
+entrenched himself behind the River Dive. Sheltered by that almost
+impregnable position, he wished to wait for the reinforcements promised
+by Montgomery, who was in almost complete possession of Gascony. But, as
+had happened so many times before, to the misfortune of the cause, and
+despite all his firmness, Coligny saw himself constrained to yield to
+the headlong impatience of his army, the greater part of which consisted
+of volunteers. The campaign had lasted a long time. Captains and
+soldiers had left their families, their property, their farms, their
+fields and their homes to fly to the defense of their religion. They
+were anxious to return to their hearths. Accordingly, hoping by means of
+a victory to be able once more to impose peace upon Charles IX and
+reconquer the free exercise of their religion, they were loud in their
+demand for battle. Coligny yielded. On September 3, 1569, he delivered
+battle to an army almost twice the size of his own. Despite the
+prodigies of bravery displayed by the Huguenots, and although the
+royalists sustained heavy losses, victory remained with the Catholics.
+Nevertheless, after Montcontour, as after Jarnac, so far from allowing
+himself to be disheartened by a reverse that he had foreseen and that he
+had vainly sought to avoid, Coligny executed so threatening a retreat
+that the Catholic army dared not pursue him. On the very night after the
+defeat, the Protestant chieftains, assembled at Parthenay, despatched
+couriers to Scotland, Germany and Switzerland appealing to<a name="page_vol-2-160" id="page_vol-2-160"></a> their
+co-religionists for support; collected the shattered fragments of their
+armies; threw strong garrisons into Niort, St. Jean-d'Angely, Saintes
+and La Rochelle; crossed the Charente; marched into Gascony to join
+Montgomery, who was the master of that province; and Coligny renewed
+hostilities with success, choosing as the basis of his operations the
+Rivers Tarn and Garonne. Armed bands of intrepid Protestants harassed
+and tired out the royal forces. Charles IX and his mother took the
+Huguenots for annihilated after the defeats of Jarnac and Montcontour.
+It was otherwise. The defeated men reappeared more determined, more
+numerous, more zealous in the defense of their rights. Catherine De
+Medici, more and more convinced that peace, and not war, offered the
+sole means to put an end to the Huguenots, turned her thoughts more
+resolutely than ever before to the execution of the infernal project
+that Francis of Guise conceived at the time of the triumvirate, and
+which she confided to the Jesuit Lefevre. She caused overtures to be
+made to Coligny looking to a new treaty of peace. The royal advances
+were met. The Admiral, together with several other Protestant chiefs,
+deputed as the plenipotentiaries of the Huguenots, held long conferences
+with the envoys of Charles IX, and finally, on August 10, 1570, a new
+edict, the most favorable yet granted to the Protestants, was signed at
+St. Germain.</p>
+
+<p>The document provided in substance:<a name="page_vol-2-161" id="page_vol-2-161"></a></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>The memory of all past events is blotted out by both parties.
+Freedom of conscience is implicitly granted throughout the kingdom.
+None is henceforth to be constrained to commit any act forbidden by
+his conscience in religious matters. No distinction exists between
+Catholics and Protestants in the matter of admission to the
+colleges, Universities, hospitals, asylums, or any other
+institution of learning or of public charity. None shall be
+prosecuted for past actions. Coligny and all other Protestant
+chiefs are declared good and loyal subjects. Protestants are
+qualified to hold all royal, seigniorial or municipal offices. All
+decrees rendered against the Huguenots shall be stricken from the
+judicial records. Finally, and in order to guarantee the execution
+of the said edict, Charles IX places, as pledges for the term of
+two years, the cities of La Rochelle, Cognac, Montauban, and La
+Charite, in the hands of the Princes of Navarre, of Condé and of
+twenty other Protestant Princes, the said towns to be places of
+<i>refuge</i> for all those who might not yet venture to return to their
+own homes.<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a></p></div>
+
+<p>Alas! those who, in the language of the edict, <i>might not yet venture to
+return to their own homes</i>, despite the peace being signed, promulgated
+and sworn to, justly suspected some new trap concealed under the lying
+peace. Antonicq Lebrenn did not take his leave of Admiral Coligny and
+Monsieur Lanoüe until after the close of the war. They were informed by
+him of the revelations contained in Anna Bell's letter to her father
+Odelin, the letter wherein the maid of honor of Catherine De Medici
+reported the conversation which she overheard between the infamous Queen
+and the Jesuit Lefevre, in the course of which the Queen disclosed to
+the Jesuit her project of lulling the sus<a name="page_vol-2-162" id="page_vol-2-162"></a>picions of the Huguenots with
+the false appearance of a peace, to the end of taking them by surprise,
+unarmed and confiding, and exterminating them on one day throughout the
+kingdom. The project seemed so monstrous to Coligny that he looked upon
+it as only a chimera of delirious wickedness, and held it for
+impracticable, if only on the ground of there not being murderers enough
+to execute the butchery.</p>
+
+<p>The Admiral deceived himself. There never is a lack of murderers in the
+Catholic party. These rise by the thousand at the voice of the Roman
+priests. All priests are potential murderers with a patent from their
+faith.<a name="page_vol-2-163" id="page_vol-2-163"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_vol-2-VII" id="CHAPTER_vol-2-VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br />
+<br />"CONTRE-UN."<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor"><span style="font-size:70%;">[74]</span></a></h3>
+
+<p>Towards the end of the month of August in the year 1572, the Lebrenn
+family was gathered one evening in the large hall that served for
+storeroom to the arms turned out by the establishment of Antonicq
+Lebrenn, who continued his father's trade at La Rochelle. The room had
+the appearance of an arsenal. On the shelves along the walls lay arms of
+all sorts in profusion&mdash;swords, daggers, sabers, cutlasses, pikes,
+halberds, battle maces and axes; further off, long and short-barreled
+arquebuses, pistols and some firearms of a novel fashion. These were
+light and easy to handle, an invention of the celebrated Gaspard of
+Milan, who gave them the name of "muskets;" finally, there was a large
+display of casques, morions, cuirasses, corselets, brigandines, armlets,
+shields and bucklers, some of the latter made of iron, others of wood
+inlaid with sheets of steel. The workshop, with its furnaces, anvils and
+other utensils, was situated behind the storeroom, where, on this day
+the Lebrenn family, six in number, were congregated&mdash;Marcienne, Odelin's
+widow; Antonicq, her son; Theresa, his sister, married three years
+before to Louis Rennepont,<a name="page_vol-2-164" id="page_vol-2-164"></a> the nephew of Brother St. Ernest-Martyr;
+Josephin, the Franc-Taupin; Captain Mirant, Marcienne's brother; his
+daughter Cornelia, the betrothed of Antonicq; and finally John Barbot, a
+boilermaker, the widower of Jacqueline Barbot, who was the god-mother of
+Anna Bell, and who died two years previously. In the assemblage were
+also the two artisans of the establishment, Bois-Guillaume and Roland,
+besides a fifteen-year-old apprentice whom they nicknamed "Serpentin."</p>
+
+<p>Although it was the hour for rest, these different personages were not
+idle. Marcienne, Odelin's widow, spun at her wheel. Clad in black, she
+had made up her mind to remain in mourning for the rest of her life in
+memory of the tragic deaths of her husband and her daughter, Anna Bell.
+The widow's pronounced features, the cast of her face at once serious,
+firm and kind, preserved the primitive type of the women of the
+<i>Santones</i>, a race which, according to what historians tell us,
+preserved itself pure from times immemorial, almost without admixture
+with foreign strains since the olden days of Gaul. Theresa, Marcienne's
+eldest daughter, was busy sewing, and from time to time cast a glance of
+maternal solicitude upon her child, who lay asleep in a cradle that off
+and on she rocked with her foot. Theresa expected with increasing
+anxiety the return of her husband, Louis Rennepont, who, several weeks
+before, left for Paris, whither he was deputed by the Rochelois, owing
+to the vague yet increasing apprehensions entertained by the
+Protestants, due to the circumstance that Coligny, together with almost
+all the Protestant leaders,<a name="page_vol-2-165" id="page_vol-2-165"></a> was drawn to Paris on the occasion of the
+marriage of Henry of Bearn to the King's sister Marguerite. Theresa's
+headgear was the time-honored and common one of the women of the
+region&mdash;a high, white and pointed coif, adjusted to the coil of her
+tresses. Her robe, made of grey bolting-cloth, was slashed with a red
+front-piece, that partly covered her white and starched chemisette. From
+the belt of her apron hung two long silver chains, at the lower end of
+which were attached her penknife, scissors, a pin-cushion, some keys,
+and other utensils inseparable from a good housekeeper. Near Theresa
+Rennepont and behind her, Cornelia Mirant, her cousin, the betrothed of
+Antonicq, was ironing some household linen. The face of Cornelia also
+preserved in all their purity the characteristics of a Santone woman of
+the heroic days of Gaul. A luxurious head of light chestnut hair with a
+golden glint, twisted into strands and wound into a thick-topknot on her
+head; a white and ruddy skin; a small forehead; light eyebrows of a
+shade less brilliant than her hair and penciled in an almost straight
+line above her orange-brown, flashing and resolute eyes; a straight
+nose, prolonged in almost a straight line from the forehead, as seen in
+the lofty statues of antiquity; a pair of fleshy and cherry-red lips; a
+pronounced chin;&mdash;these features imparted to Cornelia's face a
+strikingly lofty stamp. The girl's tall stature, her flexible neck, her
+well rounded shoulders, her white and strong arms, the gentle contour of
+her bosom, recalled the noble proportions of the Greek Pallas Athene.
+With this virile appearance, Cornelia united the sportiveness, and<a name="page_vol-2-166" id="page_vol-2-166"></a> the
+sweet and coy charms of a maid. Dressed Rochelois fashion like her
+cousin, Theresa, she had, in order to be at greater ease, rolled up the
+sleeves of her robe, and the strong muscles of her arms, which were
+white as marble, rose and fell with every impression of the hot iron
+upon the linen that she was smoothing. Ever and anon, however, the iron
+remained inactive for a moment. At such moments Cornelia raised her head
+to listen more attentively to the reading with which Antonicq was
+entertaining the assembled family; and her eyes would then bend upon
+him, not with any furtive tenderness, but, on the contrary, endeavoring
+to meet his own gaze with the serene confidence of a betrothed bride.
+Cornelia's father, Captain Mirant, one of the most intrepid seamen of La
+Rochelle, a man still in the full strength of his years, was engaged at
+sketching some defenses that he deemed requisite to the safety of the
+port. Near the captain sat his chum, John Barbot, the boilermaker of the
+isle of Rhe. His wife, Anna Bell's god-mother, had died of grief. She
+never could pardon herself for the loss of her god-child; after long
+years of weeping over what she deemed her own negligence, the poor woman
+sank into her grave. Not wishing to sit idly by, John Barbot was
+furbishing a steel corselet with as much care as he would have done one
+of the magnificent copper basins with artistic relievos, or one of his
+tinplated iron sheets, which, set up in his boilermaker's shop, shone
+with the glitter of gold or silver. A man of exceptional courage, above
+all of great self-possession in the hour of danger, Barbot had taken
+part in the late religious wars.<a name="page_vol-2-167" id="page_vol-2-167"></a> Among other scars he wore one
+inflicted by a saber cut, dealt so furiously that, after cropping the
+boilermaker's left ear, it plowed through his cheek and carried away the
+tip of his nose. Despite the mutilation, John Barbot's face preserved an
+expression of unalterable good nature. The Franc-Taupin polished the
+barrel of an arquebus just taken, tarnished and defaced, from the forge.
+The old leader of the Avengers of Israel, the man to whom circumstances
+had imparted an implacable ferocity towards papists, still always
+carried, hanging from a string fastened to the buttonhole of his coat,
+the little piece of wood on which, by means of notches, he kept tally of
+the Catholic priests whom he killed in reprisal for the death of his
+sister and the torture of Hena. The notches had now reached the number
+of twenty-four. The implacable avenger was seated on the other side of
+the cradle of Theresa's child, and shared the mother's duties of lightly
+rocking it. Whenever the child woke up, the Franc-Taupin would drop the
+barrel of the arquebus on his knees and smile to the baby&mdash;at least as
+hard as the Franc-Taupin could smile. He lived on a small pension
+granted to him by the municipality of La Rochelle, in reward for the
+long years of service that he rendered in the capacity of sergeant of
+the city archers. Josephin transferred to Antonicq, to Antonicq's sister
+and to their mother the devoted attachment of which he gave so many
+signal proofs to Christian Lebrenn and his wife Bridget, to their
+daughter Hena and their son Odelin. Finally, the two artisans employed
+in the shop, Bois-Guillaume and Roland, as well as Serpentin the
+apprentice,<a name="page_vol-2-168" id="page_vol-2-168"></a> occupied themselves with something or other connected with
+their trade, more for the sake of keeping their hands busy than for
+actual work, while they listened to Antonicq, who was reading aloud.</p>
+
+<p>Antonicq read the <i>Contre-Un</i>, a work written by Estienne of La
+Boetie,<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> who died about nine years before. Never yet did reason,
+human dignity, the sense of justice, the holy love for freedom, the
+whole-souled horror for tyranny, speak a language more eloquent and more
+warm from the heart than the language spoken in that immortal book. It
+was a cry of execration, an anathema against oppression. The avenging
+cry, leaping from the indignant soul of a great citizen, caused all
+noble hearts to vibrate responsively. Those pages, every word of which
+breathes ardent conviction, steeled the faith of all the honorable
+people, who finally at the end of their patience with the monstrous
+crimes that royalty, the accomplice or tool of the Church of Rome, was
+still soiled with in this century, were seriously considering, the same
+as the Low Countries were doing, the advisability of following the
+example of the Swiss cantons,<a name="page_vol-2-169" id="page_vol-2-169"></a> which federated themselves in a Republic.
+The work of Estienne of La Boetie, by calling upon all the oppressed to
+resistance <i>Against-One</i> who oppresses them, laid bare to them, with
+terse and pitiless logic, the despicable causes of their <i>Voluntary
+Servitude</i>, the original title of that admirable work.</p>
+
+<p>Antonicq Lebrenn continued to read the <i>Contre-Un</i> amid the profound
+silence maintained by the assembled family:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"There are three species of tyrants, I speak of wicked princes: The
+first have the kingdom by popular election; the second by force of
+arms; the third by inheritance. Those who acquired it by the right
+of war deport themselves as on conquered territory; those who are
+born kings are usually no better; nourished in the blood of
+tyranny, they take in the tyrant's nature with their milk, and look
+upon their people as hereditary serfs. He, to whom the people
+conferred the State, should (it would seem) be more endurable, and
+so would he be, I hold, if, seeing himself raised above all others
+and flattered by the undefinable thing called grandeur, he did not
+generally bend his energies to preserve the power that the people
+loaned him, and to transmit the same to his own children.</p>
+
+<p>"Accordingly, to speak truthfully, I do perceive that there is some
+difference between these different tyrants. But if one is to
+choose, the difference ceases. The act of reigning remains
+virtually the same&mdash;the elective ones govern as if they had bulls
+to tame; the conquering ones look upon their people as their prey;
+hereditary kings see in their subjects natural slaves.</p>
+
+<p>"Speaking intelligently, it is a great misfortune to be subject to
+a master of whom one can never be certain that he will be good,
+seeing he ever has it in his power to be bad whenever it should so
+please him. I do not mean at this point to debate<a name="page_vol-2-170" id="page_vol-2-170"></a> the question, to
+wit, Whether Republics are better than monarchy? If I wished to
+consider that question, I should first wish to know, What rank
+monarchy is to take among Republics, or if monarchy can at all rank
+with Republics, considering the difficulty of believing that there
+could be anything public in a government where <i>all belongs to
+one</i>?</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I could understand how it happens that so many citizens, so
+many men, so many cities, so many nations often endure only a
+tyrant, who has no power except that given to him; who has no power
+to harm them but because of their own power to endure him! What! A
+million men, miserably held in subjection, their necks under the
+yoke, not compelled by force, but enchanted and charmed by the word
+O<small>NE</small>, neither the power of whom they need fear, seeing he stands
+alone; nor the qualities of whom they should love, seeing that, as
+to them, he is inhuman and savage! Such is the weakness among us,
+men!</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, good God! What can that be? What name shall we call the thing
+by? What peculiar calamity is it? or what vice? or, rather, what
+calamitous vice? To see a vast number, not obey, but serve! Not
+governed, but tyrannized! With neither property, nor parents, nor
+children, nor yet their own lives that they may call their own!
+Suffer plunderings, pillagings, cruelties, not at the hands of an
+army, not at the hands of a camp of barbarians, against which one
+would shed his blood and risk his life&mdash;but endure all that from
+O<small>NLY</small> O<small>NE</small>! Not from a Hercules, or a Sampson, but from a single
+mannikin, generally the most cowardly, the most effeminate of the
+nation, at that! Not accustomed to the powder of battles, but even
+hardly to the dust of tourneys! Can we give to that the name of
+cowardice? Are we to say that those who remain in subjection are
+poltroons? That two, that three, that four should fail to defend
+themselves against ONE, that would be singular enough, yet
+possible; in which case we could justly say it is
+faint-heartedness. But when a hundred, when a thousand endure
+everything from O<small>NLY</small> O<small>NE</small>, can it then be said that they do not
+want, that they dare<a name="page_vol-2-171" id="page_vol-2-171"></a> not lay hands upon him, and that it is not a
+case of cowardice, but rather of disdain and contempt? If so, what
+monstrous vice is this that deserves not the title of cowardice,
+that finds no name villainous enough to designate it by, that
+nature disowns having brought forth, and that the tongue of men
+refuses to name?"</p></div>
+
+<p>The eloquent malediction of the blindness of subjugated peoples drew a
+unanimous cry of admiration from the Lebrenn family. Antonicq
+interrupted his reading for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, the book is right!" gravely observed Odelin's widow. "What
+monstrous vice can that be that bends under the yoke of O<small>NLY</small> O<small>NE</small>? It is
+not cowardice! The most cowardly, when they see they are a thousand
+against one, will not be afraid to attack him. That book is right. What
+may be the name of the nameless vice?"</p>
+
+<p>Antonicq proceeded:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"It is the people who subjugate themselves; who cut their own
+throats; who, having the choice between being subject or free,
+leave their freedom for a yoke; who give their consent to their own
+ruin, or rather purchase the same. If the recovery of their freedom
+would have to cost something, it is not I who would press them to
+the act, although that which man should hold dearest is the
+recovery of his natural rights, or, to be accurate, from beast to
+return to man's estate.</p>
+
+<p>"But no! I do not demand such boldness from the people. What! If,
+in order to have its liberty, the people need but to will it, can
+there be a nation on earth to consider the price too dear, being
+able to regain the boon by wishing? Who would hesitate to recover a
+boon that should be redeemed with the<a name="page_vol-2-172" id="page_vol-2-172"></a> price of his blood, a boon,
+which if lost, all honorable men must esteem life a burden and
+death a relief?</p>
+
+<p>"But no! The more do tyrants pillage, the more do they exact, the
+more do they ruin, the more do they destroy,&mdash;all the more are they
+paid to do it, all the more are they served, and all the more do
+they fortify themselves.</p>
+
+<p>"And yet, if nothing were to be allowed to them, if no obedience
+were to be yielded to them, and that without combat, without
+striking a blow, they would remain naked, undone, and would cease
+to be anything&mdash;like roots, that, lacking nourishment, become a
+dry, dead branch."</p></div>
+
+<p>"Right!" put in the Franc-Taupin. "Again that book is right. There are
+donkey-men and lion-men. Say to a donkey: 'Roar, jump, bite your enemy!'
+He will not listen. Say to the brute: 'Donkey you are, donkey you will
+be, remain donkey. One does not even expect of you that you rise to the
+Caesarian heroism of a kick! No, you peaceful beast! All that we ask is
+that you remain quiet, motionless, stubborn, and do not go to the mill!
+Aye, my donkey friends, what could the millers do, and their helpers,
+if, despite all their cudgels, the millions of donkeys, having passed
+the word along the line, refused point blank to march? Will the millers
+and their helpers shower blows upon you? Perhaps, but are you spared any
+blows when you do march? Beaten whether you march or stand still, you
+might as well stand still and ruin the miller.' Yes," added the
+Franc-Taupin, his face assuming a sad expression; "but how was this
+unhappy people even to conceive the bare thought of such an inert
+resistance? Have the monks not monked their brains from the cradle to
+the<a name="page_vol-2-173" id="page_vol-2-173"></a> grave: 'Go, thou beast of burden, lick the hand that smites
+you&mdash;bless the burden that crushes your limbs, and galls your spine to
+the quick&mdash;thy salvation hereafter is to be bought by the torments you
+endure on earth&mdash;to the monks belong thy broad back&mdash;they straddle it in
+order to lead you to paradise!' And," proceeded the Franc-Taupin, more
+and more incensed, "should anyone attempt to wrest the besotted wretches
+from the grip of the monkery, why, then, quick, and quicker than
+quick!&mdash;the jail, the cutlass, the pyre, and torture! Thus came my
+sister Bridget to die in prison, and her daughter to be burned alive,
+and Christian to die of grief, and Odelin, his son, to have his throat
+cut by his own brother, Fra Hervé, the Cordelier! That is the long and
+short of it!"</p>
+
+<p>These words, which recalled so many painful losses to the memory of the
+Lebrenn family, were followed by a mournful silence. Tears rolled down
+the cheeks of Marcienne, Odelin's widow; her wheel stopped whirring; her
+head dropped upon her breast and she muttered:</p>
+
+<p>"My mourning will be like my sorrow, eternal! Oh, my children, there are
+two places that will ever remain vacant at our hearth&mdash;your father's and
+your sister's. The poor girl doubted our indulgence and our love for
+her!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Catherine De Medici! Infamous Queen! Mother of execrable sons! Will
+the hour of vengeance ever sound!" exclaimed Captain Mirant. "Even the
+perversest of people shudder at the crimes of the crowned monsters!
+Their acts are endured, and yet a breath could throw them down! Oh, well
+may we ask in the language of La Boetie's book:<a name="page_vol-2-174" id="page_vol-2-174"></a> 'What is the nameless
+vice that causes millions of people to submit voluntarily to a power
+that is abhorred?'"</p>
+
+<p>"We Huguenots, at least, showed our teeth to the monsters," put in
+Barbot the boilermaker. "Nevertheless, to talk shop, I must confess our
+mistake. It was our duty to throw into the furnace and melt once for all
+that old royal boiler in which for a thousand and odd years the Kings
+have been boiling Jacques Bonhomme, and serving him up in all manner of
+sauces for their repasts. Once that boiler is melted, the devil's
+kitchen would be done for!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, indeed, comrade," replied Captain Mirant, "we made that mistake,
+and yet we were the most daring among the oppressed! And we made the
+mistake notwithstanding we were repeatedly imposed upon and betrayed by
+treacherous edicts. May it please God that this last edict do not fare
+like the previous ones, and that Louis Rennepont may speedily bring us
+tidings from Paris to dispel our apprehensions!"</p>
+
+<p>"Brother," observed Marcienne, "I can not but mistrust the pledges of
+Charles IX and his mother. Alas, I can not forget the revelations made
+in the letter to her father by my poor daughter before she leaped
+voluntarily to death at the battle of Roche-la-Belle. Catherine and her
+sons are well capable of scheming the massacre that she confided to the
+Jesuit Lefevre. At the same time we must not forget that Admiral
+Coligny, so prudent, so wise, so experienced a man, in short, better
+qualified than anyone else to appreciate the situation, seeing he is in
+close touch with the court, reposes full confidence in the peace.<a name="page_vol-2-175" id="page_vol-2-175"></a> Did
+he not give us positive proof of his sense of security by inducing the
+Protestants to restore to the King, before the date fixed by the edict,
+the fortified towns of asylum that were placed in their power?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, sister, sister!" interjected Captain Mirant. "I shall ever
+congratulate myself upon having been on the Board of Aldermen among
+those who most decidedly opposed the relinquishing of La Rochelle! Thank
+God, this fortified place remains to us. Here at least we may feel safe.
+I very much fear the loyalty of the Admiral may not be a match for the
+duplicity of the Italian woman."</p>
+
+<p>"I must say that I am increasingly impatient for my husband's return
+home," observed Theresa. "He will have had an interview with Admiral
+Coligny; he will have expressed to him the fears and misgivings of the
+Rochelois. At least we shall know for certain whether we are to feel
+safe or not."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you call that living?" cried Captain Mirant. "Why should we,
+honorable people, be kept ever in suspense as though we were criminals!
+Mistrust ever sits in our hearts! Our ears ever are on the watch, our
+hands on our swords! Whence come these mortal alarms? The reason is
+that, despite our old municipal franchises, despite the ramparts of our
+town, we are, after all, the subjects of the King, instead of belonging
+to ourselves, like the Swiss cantons, that are freely federated in a
+Republic! Oh, liberty! liberty! Shall our eyes ever see your reign among
+us?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes!" answered Antonicq. "Yes! We would see that beautiful reign if the
+admirable sentiments of La Boetie<a name="page_vol-2-176" id="page_vol-2-176"></a> could be made to penetrate the souls
+of our people! But listen, I shall read on:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Oh, liberty! So great, so sweet a boon, that, once lost misfortune
+follows inevitably, and even the enjoyments that may remain behind
+wholly lose their taste and flavor, being tainted with servitude!
+Liberty is not desired by men for no other reason, it seems to me,
+than that, if they were to desire it, they would have it! One would
+think they refuse the priceless conquest only because it is so
+easily won! The beasts (may God help me!) where men are too deaf to
+hear, scream in their ears&mdash;<i>Long live Freedom!</i> Many animals die
+the moment they are captured. Fishes lose their lives with their
+element: they die unable to survive their natural franchise! If
+animals recognized rank in their midst they would turn liberty
+into&mdash;<i>nobility!</i> From the largest to the smallest, when caught,
+they offer so emphatic a resistance with nails, horns, feet, or
+beaks that they sufficiently declare how highly they prize what
+they are losing. When caught, they give us so many manifest tokens
+of how thoroughly they realize their misfortune that, if they
+continue to live, it is rather to mourn over their lost freedom
+than to accommodate themselves to servitude.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor, miserable people! Poor senseless beings! Oh, ye nations
+stubbornly addicted to your own evil! Blind to your weal! You allow
+yourselves to be carried away, to be ravished of the best that you
+have, of the prime of your revenue; your fields to be pillaged;
+your homes to be robbed; your paternal furniture and heirlooms to
+be taken for spoils! Your life is such that you may say nothing is
+your own. Would it be that wise unless you are tolerant of the
+thief who plunders you, and the accomplice of the murderer who
+slays you? Are you not traitors to yourselves? You sow your fields
+for him to gorge himself! You furnish your houses in order to
+furnish matter for his burglaries! You bring up your daughters that
+there may be food<a name="page_vol-2-177" id="page_vol-2-177"></a> for his debauches! You bring up your sons that
+he may lead them to slaughter and turn them into the instruments of
+his greed and the executors of his revenges. You stint your bodies
+that he may revel in the delights you are deprived of, and wallow
+in lecherous and vile pursuits!</p>
+
+<p>"True enough, physicians advise not to lay hands upon wounds that
+are incurable. Perhaps I act not wisely in seeking to give advice
+to the people in this matter. They have long lost consciousness;
+they are no longer aware of their ailment; the disease is mortal!"</p></div>
+
+<p>"The reproach is severe, and, I think, unmerited," objected Odelin's
+widow. "Did not Estienne of La Boetie himself, who died only nine years
+ago, see the Protestants thrice run to arms in the defense of their
+faith?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sister," asked Captain Mirant, "did the whole people run to arms? Alas,
+no! The majority, the masses&mdash;blind, ignorant, wretched, and dominated
+by the monks&mdash;have they not ever risen at the command of their clerical
+misleaders, and fallen with fanatical rage upon what they call the
+'heretics'? Even among ourselves, is it not a small majority that
+realizes the truth of what Christian your husband's father used to say,
+when he warned the Protestants that neither religious nor any other
+freedom could ever be permanently secured so long as royalty, the
+hereditary accomplice of the Church, was left standing? Do not the
+majority of Protestants, even Admiral Coligny himself, entertain respect
+and love, if not for Kings, at least for the monarchy? Do they not seek
+to place that institution beyond the reach of the religious wars?
+Sister, Boetie's book tells the truth: The masses of the people,
+degraded, brutified,<a name="page_vol-2-178" id="page_vol-2-178"></a> besotted and kept in ignorance by hereditary
+serfdom no longer feel the gall of servitude. Does it, therefore, follow
+the disease is incurable, and fatal? No! No! In that respect I look to
+better things than does La Boetie. History, in accord therein with the
+chronicles of your husband's family, proves that a slow and mysterious
+progress is taking its course across the ages. Serfs replaced slaves;
+vassals replaced serfs; some day, vassalage also will disappear as did
+slavery and serfdom! The religious wars of our century are another step
+toward ultimate freedom. The revolt against the throne will closely
+follow the revolt against the Church. But, alas! how many years are yet
+to elapse before the arrival of the day foretold by Victoria the
+Great&mdash;as narrated in your family history!"<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, the genius of tyranny is so resourceful in infernal plans to
+protect its empire!" exclaimed Antonicq. "Do you remember, uncle, how
+surprised you and I were at the account, given us by some travelers who
+returned from Paris, of the infinite number of public
+festivities&mdash;tourneys, tilts, processions&mdash;gotten up to keep the people
+amused?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and we listened to their report as to a fairy tale," interjected
+Cornelia. "We wondered how the people could feel so giddyheaded in
+Paris; how they could crowd to festivities given upon places that were
+still dyed red with the blood of martyrs, and still warm with the ashes
+of pyres!"</p>
+
+<p>"Cornelia," replied Antonicq, proud of the noble words of his bride,
+"tyrants rule less, perhaps, through force that<a name="page_vol-2-179" id="page_vol-2-179"></a> terrorizes than through
+corruption that depraves. Listen to these profound and awful words of La
+Boetie upon this very subject:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"No better insight can be got into the craftiness of tyrants to
+brutify their subjects than from the measure that Cyrus adopted
+towards the Lydians after he took possession of Sardis, the
+principal city of Lydia, and reduced to his mercy Croesus, the rich
+King, and carried him off a prisoner of war. Cyrus was notified
+that the people of Sardis rose in rebellion. He speedily reduced
+them to order, but unwilling to put so beautiful a place to the
+sack, and also to be himself put to the trouble of garrisoning the
+city with a large force in order to keep it safe, he hit upon a
+master scheme to make sure of his conquest. He set up in Sardis a
+large number of public houses for debauchery, and issued a decree
+commanding the people to frequent these brothels. That garrison
+answered his purpose so well that never after did he have to draw
+the sword against the Lydians.</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, no bird is more easily caught with bird-lime, no fish is
+more securely hooked with an appetizing bait, than the masses of
+the people are lured to servitude by the tickle of the smallest
+feather, which, as the saying goes, is passed over their lips.
+Theaters, games, farces, spectacles, gladiators, strange beasts,
+medals, pictures and other trifles were, to the peoples of
+antiquity, the charms of servitude, the price of their freedom, the
+instruments of tyranny.</p>
+
+<p>"These lures kept the people under the yoke. Thus, mentally
+unnerved, they found the pastimes pleasant, they were amused by the
+idle spectacles that were paraded before their eyes, and they were
+habituated to obedience as fully, but not as usefully to
+themselves, as little children, who, in order to gladden their eyes
+with the brilliant pictures of illuminated books insensibly learn
+to read.</p>
+
+<p>"The tyrant Romans furthermore resorted to the plan of<a name="page_vol-2-180" id="page_vol-2-180"></a> feasting
+the populace, which can be led by nothing so readily as by the
+pleasures of the mouth. The cleverest of them all would not have
+dropped his bowl of soup to recover the liberty of the Republic of
+Plato. The tyrants made bountiful donations of wheat, of wine and
+corn. Whereupon the cry went up lustily&mdash;<i>Long live the King!</i> The
+dullards did not realize they were receiving but a small portion of
+what belonged to them, and that even the portion which they
+received the tyrant would not have it to give, but for his first
+having taken it away from themselves."</p></div>
+
+<p>"<i>The cleverest of them all would not have dropped his bowl of soup to
+recover the Republic</i>," repeated Captain Mirant. "The fact is
+shockingly, distressfully true! Men become animals when they sacrifice
+everything to perverse instincts and vulgar appetites. Nevertheless, a
+curse upon all tyrants! It is they who incite these very appetites, in
+order to rule the heart through the stomach, and the mind through the
+eyes, by attracting the peoples to tourneys, tilts and such other
+pageants, amusements that are but disgraceful badges of servitude, and
+must be paid for by the fruit of the labor of the slaves themselves!"</p>
+
+<p>"Go to, poor Jacques Bonhomme!" added the Franc-Taupin. "Fill up your
+paunch, but bend your back! Pay for the gala! Gnaw at the bones cast to
+you, and cry 'Thanks!' Oh, if only you knew! If only you wanted to! With
+one shake of your shoulders, both the tyrants and their cohorts would be
+thrown to the ground!"</p>
+
+<p>"No! No!" interjected Antonicq. "Do not imagine that our tyrants
+Catherine De Medici and Charles IX are defended mainly by the
+arquebusiers of their bodyguards,<a name="page_vol-2-181" id="page_vol-2-181"></a> their light mounted horse and their
+footmen in arms! Not at all! Just listen to this passage from La
+Boetie's book:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"I shall now touch upon a point that is the secret spring of the
+sway, the support and the foundation of tyranny. He who imagines
+that the halberdiers of the guard constitute the safety and the
+bulwark of tyrants is, I hold, greatly in error. No; it is not arms
+that defend a tyrant. At first blush the point may not be granted,
+nevertheless it is true. It is only four or five men among his
+accomplices who uphold a tyrant and who keep the country in
+servitude to him. It has ever been only five or six who have a
+tyrant's ear, and are invited by him to be the accomplices of his
+cruelties, the sharers in his amusements, the go-betweens in his
+debaucheries, the co-partners in his plunder, these five or six
+hundred have, in turn, under them five or six who are to them what
+they themselves are to the tyrant&mdash;and these five or six hundred
+have, in turn, under them five or six thousand thieves among whom
+they have caused the government of the provinces and the
+administration of the funds to be distributed, in order that they
+may cater to the avarice and the cruelty of the tyrant, in order
+that they may promptly execute his orders, and be ready to do so
+much mischief that they can hold their places only under the shadow
+of his authority, nor be able to escape the just punishment of
+their offences but through him. Wide and long is the train that
+follows these latter ones. Whoever cares to amuse himself in
+tracing the threads of this woof will see that, not the six
+thousand only, but hundreds of thousands, aye millions depend
+through that cord upon the tyrant, who, with the aid of the same,
+can (as Jupiter boasts in Homer) pull over to himself all the gods
+by pulling at the chain."</p></div>
+
+<p>"Well put! Never before has the centralized power of royalty, that
+fearful engine of tyranny, been more lucidly laid bare!" cried Captain
+Mirant. "I am more and more convinced&mdash;the federation of the provinces,
+each independent as to itself, but mutually united by the common bond of
+their common interests, like the Republic of the Swiss cantons, is the
+sole guarantee of freedom. <span class="smcap">Commune and Federation</span>!"</p>
+
+<p>"Now," said Antonicq, "do not fail to admire the penetration with which
+Estienne of La Boetie traces back the secret punishment that is visited
+upon tyrants, and the awful consequences of tyranny itself. He says:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"From the moment a King has declared himself a tyrant, then, not
+merely a swarm of thieves and skip-jacks, but all those who are
+moved by ardent ambition, or overpowering greed, gather around him,
+and assist him in order to have a share in the booty, and to be,
+under the great tyrant, petty tyrants themselves. Thus it happens
+with highwaymen and pirates. One set holds the roads, the other
+rifles the travelers; one set lies in ambush, the other is on the
+watch; one set massacres, the other plunders.</p>
+
+<p>"Hence it comes that the tyrant is never loved, and never loves.
+Friendship is a sacred gift, a holy boon! It never exists but among
+honorable people, it never arises but through mutual esteem. It is
+preserved, not so much through gifts as by upright conduct. That
+which makes one friend feel sure of another is the knowledge he has
+of the other's integrity. The security he holds from his friend is
+the latter's good character, his faith, his constancy. No
+friendship can exist where cruelty, disloyalty and injustice hold
+sway. When malignant people meet, they meet to plot, not for
+companionship! They do not mutually aid<a name="page_vol-2-183" id="page_vol-2-183"></a> if they mutually fear one
+another. They are not friends, they are accomplices in crime and
+felony.</p>
+
+<p>"This is the reason why, as the saying goes, there is honor among
+thieves at the distribution of the booty. They supplement one
+another, and they are unwilling, by falling out, to reduce their
+strength.</p>
+
+<p>"In that begins the punishment of tyrants. When they die, their
+execrated name is blackened by the ink of a thousand pens, their
+reputation is torn to shreds; even their bones, pilloried by
+posterity, chastise them for their wicked lives. Let us then learn
+to be upright; let us raise our eyes to heaven; let us implore it
+to bestow upon us the love of virtue. As to me, meseems nothing is
+so contrary to God as tyranny, and that He reserves for tyrants
+some special chastisement."</p></div>
+
+<p>"Oh, my children!" exclaimed Odelin's widow, "that book which breathes
+such hatred for tyranny and such generous indignation towards cowards
+that one must doubt divine justice if he can lightly submit to
+iniquity;&mdash;that book, every page of which bears the imprint of the love
+of virtue and the execration of evil;&mdash;that book should be placed in the
+hands of every lad about to enter manhood. It would be a wholesome and
+strong nourishment to their souls. From it they would gather a horror
+for that cowardly and blind voluntary servitude, and then all, in the
+name of justice, of human dignity, of right, and of honesty, would rise
+<i>Against-One</i>, the title of those sublime pages, and they would proclaim
+everywhere&mdash;Commune and Federation!"</p>
+
+<p>"But, aunt," timidly suggested Cornelia, "should not<a name="page_vol-2-184" id="page_vol-2-184"></a> that book be also
+for girls who reach maturity? They become wives and mothers. Should not
+they also be nourished in the love of justice and in the abhorrence of
+tyranny, to the end that they may bring up their children to virile
+principles, regain for woman equal rights with man, and share both the
+self-denial and the dangers of their husbands when the hour of battle
+and of sacrifice shall have come?"</p>
+
+<p>Cornelia looked so beautiful as she gave utterance to these patriotic
+sentiments that all the members of the Lebrenn family turned their eyes
+admiringly toward the young girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my brave one!" exclaimed Antonicq, rising and taking Cornelia's
+hands in his own with a transport of love. "How proud I am of your love!
+What generous duties does it not impose upon me! Well, it is to be
+to-morrow&mdash;the happy day for you and me&mdash;the day when we are to be
+joined in wedlock!"</p>
+
+<p>Hardly had Antonicq finished his sentence when the tramp of a horse's
+hoofs was heard in the street. It stopped at the armorer's door. Theresa
+Rennepont rose with a start, and ran to the door crying: "My husband!"<a name="page_vol-2-185" id="page_vol-2-185"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_vol-2-VIII" id="CHAPTER_vol-2-VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br />
+<br />ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S NIGHT.</h3>
+
+<p>The presentiment of the young wife did not deceive her. The door opened
+and Theresa fell into the arms of Louis Rennepont.</p>
+
+<p>The joy of the Lebrenn family over the return of one of its members from
+a distant journey dominated at first all other feelings and thoughts.
+Immediately after the first outpourings of affection the same question
+escaped at once from all lips:</p>
+
+<p>"What tidings from Paris, and about Admiral Coligny?"</p>
+
+<p>Alas! it was only then that the members of the Lebrenn family noticed
+the profound alteration of Louis Rennepont's appearance, and his wife,
+who had been scrutinizing the young man's face with eager and uneasy
+curiosity, suddenly cried:</p>
+
+<p>"Great God! Louis, your hair has turned grey!"</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, when Louis Rennepont left La Rochelle towards the end of the
+previous month, not a thread of silver whitened his raven locks. Now
+they were streaked with broad bands of grey! He seemed to have aged ten
+years. Such a change must have been produced by some terrible and sudden
+emotion. Theresa's exclamation was followed by<a name="page_vol-2-186" id="page_vol-2-186"></a> a mournful silence. All
+eyes were fixed upon Louis Rennepont with increasing anxiety. He
+answered his wife with a trembling voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Theresa; yes, my friends; my hair turned grey in one night&mdash;the
+night before St. Bartholomew's day&mdash;the night of the 23d of this month
+of August, of this year, 1572!"</p>
+
+<p>And still shuddering with terror, his chest convulsed with repressed
+sobs, the young man hid his face in his hands and muttered: "My God! My
+God!"</p>
+
+<p>Presently the young man recovered sufficient composure to proceed.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you all remember," he said, solemnly addressing the stupefied
+members of his family, "the infernal scheme of Catherine De Medici that
+our poor Anna Bell overheard during the Queen's conversation with
+Loyola's disciple Lefevre at the Abbey of St. Severin?"</p>
+
+<p>"Great God!" cried Antonicq. "The scheme of massacring all the
+Protestants, disarmed by the peace?"</p>
+
+<p>"The massacre, begun in Paris under my own eyes, during the night before
+St. Bartholomew," answered Louis Rennepont with an effort, "that
+massacre is proceeding at this very hour in almost all the large cities
+of France!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" exclaimed Captain Mirant. "In sight of such a stupendous crime
+one's head is seized with vertigo&mdash;one is not certain of himself&mdash;one
+asks himself whether he is awake, or dreams."</p>
+
+<p>"By my sister's death! We are not dreaming!" ejaculated the
+Franc-Taupin. "Friends, if we look down at a stream running under our
+feet, it often happens that, for<a name="page_vol-2-187" id="page_vol-2-187"></a> a moment, our head turns. That is what
+we are now experiencing. We see at our feet a torrent flowing, a torrent
+of blood&mdash;the blood of our brothers!"</p>
+
+<p>"A curse upon my head," thundered the boilermaker Barbot, raising his
+clenched fist to the ceiling, "if the blood of the Catholics does not
+run, if not in torrents, at least drop by drop, before La Rochelle! Let
+them come and attack us!"</p>
+
+<p>"They will come," put in Captain Mirant. "They are surely on the march
+now! Our ramparts shall be our grave! God be thanked, we shall not be
+slaughtered like cattle in the shambles! We shall die like men!"</p>
+
+<p>Cornelia, pale and motionless like a statue of sorrow, her arms crossed
+over her palpitating bosom, and her face bathed in tears, remained in
+mute consternation until this moment. The girl now took two steps
+towards her betrothed and said to him in a trembling voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Antonicq, to-morrow we were to be married&mdash;people in mourning do not
+marry. From this instant I wear mourning for our brothers, massacred on
+St. Bartholomew's night! A woman owes obedience to her husband,
+according to our laws&mdash;iniquitous, degrading laws! I wish to remain free
+until after the war."</p>
+
+<p>"Cornelia, the hour of sacrifices has sounded," answered Antonicq with a
+trembling voice; "my courage shall vie with yours."</p>
+
+<p>"We have paid our tribute to human weakness," observed Odelin's widow,
+smothering a sob; "let us now bravely face the magnitude of the disaster
+that has smitten<a name="page_vol-2-188" id="page_vol-2-188"></a> our cause. Louis, we listen to your account of St.
+Bartholomew's night."</p>
+
+<p>"When a few weeks ago I left for Paris, I concluded I would, in passing
+through Poitiers, Angers and Orleans, visit several of our pastors in
+order to ascertain whether they also shared our apprehensions. Some I
+found completely set at ease by the loyal execution of the last edict,
+above all by the certainty of the marriage of Henry of Bearn with the
+sister of Charles IX. They looked upon this as a pledge of the good
+intentions of the King, and of the end of the religious conflicts. Other
+pastors, on the contrary, felt vaguely uneasy. Being convinced that Joan
+of Albert was poisoned by Catherine De Medici, they saw with no little
+apprehension what they considered the heedless confidence that Admiral
+Coligny placed in the court. But in short, the vast majority of our
+brothers felt perfectly at ease.</p>
+
+<p>"Immediately upon my arrival at Paris I proceeded to Bethisy Street, the
+residence of Admiral Coligny. I expressed to him the fears that agitated
+the Rochelois concerning his life, so precious to our cause, and their
+mistrust of Charles IX and his mother. The Admiral's answer was: 'The
+only thing that keeps me back at court is the almost positive prospect
+of Flanders and the Low Countries rising against the bloodthirsty
+tyranny of Philip II. Only the support of France could insure the
+success of the revolt. If those rich industrial provinces secede from
+Spain, they will be the promised land to our brothers. These will find
+there a refuge, not as to-day, behind<a name="page_vol-2-189" id="page_vol-2-189"></a> the ramparts of a very few cities
+of safety, but either in the Walloon provinces, which will have become
+French territory under solid guarantees for their freedom, or in the Low
+Countries, which will be federated upon a republican plan, in imitation
+of the Swiss cantons, under the protectorate of the Prince of Nassau. By
+family tradition, and on principle, I am attached to the monarchic form
+of government. But I am well aware that many of our brothers, you of La
+Rochelle among them, shocked at the crimes of the reigning house, are
+strongly inclined towards a republic. To these, the federation of the
+Low Countries, should the same be established, will offer a form of
+government to their taste.' 'But, Admiral,' I replied, 'suppose our
+suspicions prove true, and the help that the King and his mother have so
+long been holding out the prospect of proves to be but a lure to hide
+some new trap?' 'I do not think so,' rejoined Admiral Coligny, 'although
+it may be. One must be ready for anything from Catherine De Medici and
+her son.' 'But,' I cried, 'Admiral, how can you, despite such doubts
+entertained by yourself, remain here at court, among your mortal
+enemies! Do you take no precautions to protect yourself against a
+possible, if not probable, act of treachery?' 'My friend,' was the
+Admiral's reply given in a grave and melancholy tone, 'for long years I
+have conducted that sort of war which, above all others, is the most
+frightful and atrocious&mdash;civil war. It inspires me with insurmountable
+horror. An uprising in Flanders and the Low Countries offers me the
+means of putting an end to the shedding of French blood and of<a name="page_vol-2-190" id="page_vol-2-190"></a> securing
+a new and safe country to our brothers. It will be one way or the
+other&mdash;either the King's promises are sincere, or they are not. If they
+are I would consider it a crime to wreck through impatience or mistrust
+the success of a plan that promises so favorable a future to the
+Protestants.' 'And if the King should not be sincere,' I inquired, 'if
+his promises have no object other than to gain time to the end of
+insuring the success of some new and frightful treachery?' 'In that
+event, my friend, I shall be the victim of the treachery,' calmly
+answered Coligny. 'Is it my life they are after? I have long since
+offered it up as a sacrifice to God. Moreover, only day before
+yesterday, I declared to the King that, after the suppression of the
+revolt at Mons, as a consequence of which Lanoüe, my best friend, fell a
+prisoner into the hands of the Spaniards, France should no longer
+hesitate to give her support to the insurrection of the Low Countries
+against Philip II.' 'And what did the King say to that? Did he give you
+any guarantee of his honest intentions?' 'The King,' Coligny answered
+me, 'said this to me: "<i>My good father, here are the nuptials of my
+sister Margot approaching; grant me only a week longer of pleasures and
+enjoyment, after which, I swear to you, by the word of a King, you and
+your friends will all be satisfied with me.</i>"'"</p>
+
+<p>At this passage Louis Rennepont interrupted his narrative and cried with
+a shudder:</p>
+
+<p>"Would you believe it, my friends, Charles IX addressed these ambiguous
+and perfidious words to Coligny on the<a name="page_vol-2-191" id="page_vol-2-191"></a> 13th of August&mdash;and on the night
+of the 23rd the massacre of our brothers took place!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, these Kings!" exclaimed Marcienne, raising her eyes to heaven.
+"These Kings! The sweat of our brows no longer suffices to slake their
+thirst. They are glutted with that&mdash;they now joke preparatorily to
+murder!"</p>
+
+<p>"By my sister's death!" shouted the Franc-Taupin, furiously. "The
+Admiral must have been smitten with blindness. Acquainted as he was from
+a long and bitter experience with that tyrant whelp, that tiger cub, how
+is it he did not take warning from the double sense that the King's
+words carried! What imprudence!"</p>
+
+<p>"Alas, far from it!" said Louis Rennepont. "In answer to the remarks I
+made to him, calling his attention to the suspiciousness of the King's
+words, a suspiciousness rendered all the more glaring by reason of the
+tyrant's character, the Admiral merely replied: 'If they are after my
+life, would they not long ago have killed me, in the course of these six
+months that I have been at court?' 'But monsieur,' I observed, 'it is
+not your life only that is threatened; they probably aim also at the
+lives of all our Protestant leaders. Our enemies rely upon your example,
+upon your presence at court, and upon the festivities of the marriage of
+Henry of Bearn, to attract our principal men to Paris&mdash;then to strike
+them all down at the giving of a signal, and to massacre the rest of our
+brothers all over France. Do you forget the scheme that Catherine De
+Medici talked over with the Jesuit Lefevre?' 'No, no, my friend,' he
+replied serenely, 'my heart and my judgment<a name="page_vol-2-192" id="page_vol-2-192"></a> refuse to believe such a
+monstrous plan possible; it exceeds the bounds of human wickedness. The
+most reckless tyrants, whose names have caused the earth to grow pale,
+never dreamed of anything even remotely approaching such a horrible
+crime&mdash;it would be nameless!"</p>
+
+<p>"That crime now has a name&mdash;it is called 'St. Bartholomew's Night'!"
+said Cornelia with a shudder. "What will be the name of the vengeance?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mayhap the vengeance will be called the 'Siege of La Rochelle'!"
+answered Captain Mirant, the girl's father. "Our walls are strong, and
+resolute are our hearts."</p>
+
+<p>"The war will be a bloody one!" interjected Master Barbot the
+boilermaker.</p>
+
+<p>Louis Rennepont proceeded with his narrative: "I left Admiral Coligny,
+unable to awaken his suspicions. He went to his Chatillon home, spent
+two days in that retreat so beloved of him, and returned to Paris on the
+17th of August, the eve of the marriage of Henry of Bearn and Princess
+Marguerite. The union of a Protestant Prince with a Catholic Princess,
+in which so many of us saw the end of the religious struggles, drew to
+Paris almost all the Protestant leaders. I shall mention, among those
+whom I visited, Monsieur La Rochefoucauld, Monsieur La Force, and brave
+Colonel Piles. Apprehending no treason, they all shared the expectations
+of Coligny with respect to the revolt in the Low Countries. The feeling
+of safety that prevailed among my brothers gained upon me also. The
+marriage of Henry of Bearn and Princess Marguerite took place on the
+18th of this month. From that day to the<a name="page_vol-2-193" id="page_vol-2-193"></a> 21st there was a perpetual
+round of splendid festivities and general merrymaking at court and in
+the city. I took up my lodgings at the sign of the Swan, on St.
+Thomas-of-the-Louvre Street, not far from the residence of Monsieur
+Coligny. The inn-keeper was of our people. On the 22d he came to my room
+at about nine in the morning and said to me with surprise not unmixed
+with alarm: 'Something strange is going on. I just learned that the
+provosts of each quarter of the city are going from house to house
+inquiring about the religion of the tenants, and noting down the
+Huguenots. The reason given is that a general census of the population
+is wanted. Subsequently,' the inn-keeper proceeded to say, 'the regiment
+of the Arquebusiers of the Guard entered Paris. Finally, I learn that
+last night a large number of arms, especially cutlasses and daggers,
+were transported to the City Hall. I received this information from my
+niece. She is a Catholic and a chamber maid of the Duchess of Nevers.
+The taking of a list of the Huguenots in town, the arrival of a whole
+regiment of Arquebusiers of the Guard, and finally the conveying of such
+large stores of arms to the City Hall, seem to me to foreshadow some
+plot against the Protestants. I wish you would notify the Admiral of
+these occurrences.' The inn-keeper's advice seemed wise to me. I
+hastened to Bethisy Street and knocked at the Admiral's house. He was
+not home. As was his habit, he had departed early in the morning to the
+Louvre. His old equerry Nicholas Mouche, to whom I imparted some of my
+information, seemed not a little startled. We agreed to proceed to the<a name="page_vol-2-194" id="page_vol-2-194"></a>
+entrance of the palace and wait for the Admiral. We were passing by the
+cloister of St. Germain-L'Auxerois, where several houses were in the
+course of construction, when we caught sight of Coligny returning on
+foot and followed by two of his serving men. He was reading a letter,
+and walked slowly. We hastened our steps to meet him. Suddenly we were
+blinded by the flash of a firearm, fired from the ground floor window of
+one of the houses contiguous to the cloister. Nicholas Mouche rushed to
+his master, screaming: 'Help! The Admiral is assassinated! Help! Help!'"</p>
+
+<p>A cry of horror leaped from the lips of all the members of the Lebrenn
+family, who followed breathlessly the report of Louis Rennepont. Captain
+Mirant exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"Murder and treason! To kill that great man in such a way! Vengeance!
+Vengeance!"</p>
+
+<p>"No," put in Louis Rennepont with a painful effort. "Monsieur Coligny,
+killed by a bullet, would at least have met a soldier's death. I
+followed close upon the heels of Nicholas Mouche and reached him at the
+moment when Coligny, pale but calm, pointed to the window from which the
+shot was fired, and said: 'The shot came from there.' The arquebus was
+loaded with two balls. One carried off the Admiral's left thumb, while
+the other lodged in his arm near the elbow. Weakened by the loss of
+blood, that ran profusely, Coligny said to Nicholas Mouche: 'If I leaned
+upon your arm I could walk to my house&mdash;proceed!' In fact, he walked
+home. Several Protestant officers happened to be not far behind. Upon
+learning of the crime<a name="page_vol-2-195" id="page_vol-2-195"></a> that was committed, they forced their way into
+the house where the would-be assassin had lain in ambush. They were
+informed that he fled through a rear door, where a saddled horse, held
+by a page in the Guise livery, stood waiting for him. Their searches
+proved vain. No trace of the assassin could they find."</p>
+
+<p>"The Guises! Always the Guisards, either directly guilty, or the
+accomplices of assassins!" exclaimed Odelin's widow with a shudder.
+"With how much blood have not those Lorrainian Princes reddened their
+hands since the butcheries of Vassy! But did Monsieur Coligny's wound
+prove fatal?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, unfortunately for the Admiral&mdash;because the very next day&mdash;" Louis
+Rennepont broke off suddenly. "Do you want to know, mother, whether the
+Guises were accomplices in the attempted murder upon the Admiral? Yes,
+they had their hands in that fresh misdeed, at the instigation of the
+Queen-mother. And here a plot begins to unroll itself, the deep villainy
+of which would seem incredible if Catherine De Medici and her son were
+not known. Presently I shall tell you from whom I have my information;
+it is reliable. In line with the conversation which she had with the
+Jesuit Lefevre, and which Anna Bell overheard, Catherine De Medici hated
+and feared the Guises no less than she did the Admiral. Her scheme was
+to cause the Admiral to be assassinated by the Guises; then to rid
+herself of them through the Protestants; and finally to rid herself of
+the Protestants by the King's soldiers. Does such an infernal
+combination seem impracticable to<a name="page_vol-2-196" id="page_vol-2-196"></a> you? Well, it came near succeeding.
+This was the plot: The Guises continued to slander the Admiral by
+accusing him of having suborned Poltrot who killed Francis of Guise at
+the siege of Orleans; the old family hatred burned as implacable as
+ever. On the day after the marriage of Henry of Bearn, the Queen and her
+son Charles IX said with much unction to Henry of Guise that, in order
+to preserve the confidence of the Huguenots and the Admiral, it was
+necessary to seem to give him a pledge of reconciliation, to request of
+him that the flames of hatred, so long burning in the breasts of the two
+families, be extinguished, and to offer him the hand of friendship. All
+the more reassured by the cordial advance, the Admiral was expected to
+be thrown still more off his guard, and his assassination was considered
+all the more certain! The Queen offered for the deed a man after her own
+and the King's heart&mdash;Maurevert, surnamed the 'King's Killer,' since his
+assassination of brave Mouy, a crime for which the felon received the
+collar of the Order of St. Michael. The Queen's advice was relished.
+Young Guise gave his hand to the old Admiral, and two days later
+Monsieur Coligny, on his return from the Louvre, received a load of
+arquebus shot from&mdash;Maurevert!"</p>
+
+<p>Louis Rennepont stopped for a moment, and then proceeded amid the
+profound silence of the family:</p>
+
+<p>"By wounding, instead of killing Coligny, the 'King's Killer' ruined the
+project of the Queen and her son. They had counted upon the murder of
+the Admiral to incite a great tumult in Paris; their agents were to
+scatter among<a name="page_vol-2-197" id="page_vol-2-197"></a> the mob the information that the heinous murder was the
+work of the Guisards; the exasperated Huguenots were expected to run to
+arms and avenge Coligny's death with the massacre of the whole Guise
+family and their partisans; that done, the royal troops were in turn to
+overwhelm the Protestants, on the pretext of being guilty of a flagrant
+breach of the edict of pacification. The last massacre was to extend
+from Paris all over France, under the guise of a vindication of the
+outraged edict of pacification. Machiavelli could not have plotted
+better. The arquebus shot of Maurevert would have rid Charles IX at once
+of Coligny, the Guises and the Protestants. The 'King's Killer' having
+missed fire, another course had to be pursued, and, above all, the
+reformers had to be convinced that Maurevert's attempt was merely an act
+of individual vengeance. Accordingly Charles IX hastened to the
+Admiral's residence. The tiger-cub wept. He called the old Admiral his
+'good father.' He promised, 'upon the word of a King, however high the
+station of the would-be murderers, they should not escape just
+punishment.' I was an eye-witness of those tears and royal
+protestations; many of our brothers, myself among them, remained near
+the bed where Coligny lay while awaiting the surgeon. We were present at
+that interview with Charles IX&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Then you saw him, Louis, that tiger with the face of a man?" asked
+Cornelia with a curiosity born of disgust and horror. "How does the
+monster look?"</p>
+
+<p>"Pale and atrabilious of face, with dull, glassy eyes, and a sleepy
+look, as if the fervent Catholic and crowned<a name="page_vol-2-198" id="page_vol-2-198"></a> murderer were ever
+dreaming of crime," answered Louis Rennepont. "Now watch the sanguinary
+craftiness of that pupil of Machiavelli's, to whom neither pledge nor
+oath is aught but a more effective form of perfidy. Would you believe
+it, that after having expressed sympathy for the wounds of his 'good
+father,' and after having pledged his royal word to secure justice, the
+first words of Charles IX were: 'I shall forthwith issue orders to close
+the gates of Paris, so that none shall leave the city; the murderer will
+not be able to flee. Moreover, I authorize, or rather I strongly urge
+the Protestant seigneurs, to whom I have offered the hospitality of the
+Louvre during the nuptial festivals of my sister Margot, to summon their
+friends near them for safeguard.'"</p>
+
+<p>"I perceive the trick of the tiger," broke in Captain Mirant. "By
+closing the gates of Paris he prevented the escape of the Huguenots whom
+he had consigned to death!"</p>
+
+<p>"No doubt," added Master Barbot the boilermaker, "the same as by
+inducing the Protestant seigneurs, who were lodged at the Louvre, to
+summon their friends to them, Charles IX only aimed at having them more
+ready at hand for his butchers!"</p>
+
+<p>"The issue proved that such were the secret designs of the King,"
+replied Louis Rennepont. "But haste was urgent. If tidings of the
+attempted murder of the Admiral reached the provinces, the Huguenots
+would be put on their guard. The Queen assembled her council that very
+night, and presided at its meeting. These were the members at the
+council: The King Charles IX; his brother,<a name="page_vol-2-199" id="page_vol-2-199"></a> the Duke of Anjou; the
+Bastard of Angouleme; the Duke of Nevers; Birago and Gondi, the Queen's
+messengers of evil. It was decided that the butchery should start at
+early dawn. The provosts of the merchants, all exemplary Catholics, had,
+under pretext of taking a general census, drawn up full lists of all the
+Huguenots in the city. Their places of residence being thus accurately
+indicated, the assassins would know exactly where to go. The next
+question that came up was whether Henry of Bearn also was to be killed.
+Catherine De Medici and her son, the King, were strongly in favor, and
+urged the necessity of the murder. The other councillors, however, more
+scrupulous than their monarchs, objected that the whole world would be
+shocked at the assassination of a Prince whose throat was cut, so to
+say, under the very eyes of the mother and brother of his wife.
+Moreover, the young Prince was lightheaded, unsteady of purpose, they
+thought, and without any rooted religious belief. It would be easy, they
+concluded, either by means of promises or threats to cause him to abjure
+the Reformed religion. The death of the Prince of Condé was also long
+discussed. Twice the decision was in favor. But his brother-in-law, the
+Duke of Nevers, saved him by guaranteeing the Prince's abjuration. For
+the rest, the lad, only the rallying ground of the Huguenots and without
+personal valor, inspired but little fear, especially if compared with
+Coligny. Towards one o'clock in the morning, the young Duke of Guise was
+summoned to the Louvre and introduced to the council. The principal
+leadership of the carnage was offered to and <a name="page_vol-2-200" id="page_vol-2-200"></a>accepted by him. A strange
+thing happened. At the last moment, Charles IX was assailed by some
+slight qualms of conscience at the thought of the murder of the Admiral,
+the old man whom that very morning he had addressed with the title of
+'my good father.' But the King's hesitance was short-lived. His last
+words were: 'By the death of God! Seeing you think the Admiral should be
+killed, I will it, too; but I demand that all the Huguenots be killed,
+all, to the last one, that there may not be one left alive to reproach
+me with the Admiral's death'!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, just God!" exclaimed Odelin's widow, raising her hands to heaven.
+"Since you consented to the unheard-of deed, Oh, God of Vengeance, You
+must have reserved some frightful punishment for him! Oh, You gave Your
+consent to that palace plot! to that nocturnal council! There Charles
+IX, armed with sovereign power, and certain of the ferocious obedience
+of his soldiers and his minions, like an assassin in ambush in the edge
+of a forest, laid in the dark the infamous, bloody and cowardly trap
+into which, when they awoke, so many of our brothers, who went to sleep
+confiding in the law, in their right and in the oath of that Prince,
+fell to their death! How many times did he not swear in the presence of
+God and man to respect the edict of peace! Yes, You allowed those
+horrors, O, God of Vengeance, to the end that this Frankish royalty and
+the Roman Church, its eternal accomplice, soon may fall under the
+general execration that the massacre of St. Bartholomew will arouse!
+Death to Kings! Death to their infamous accomplices, the nobles and
+priests!"<a name="page_vol-2-201" id="page_vol-2-201"></a></p>
+
+<p>The Lebrenn family joined with hearts and lips in the widow's
+imprecations. When the excitement again subsided Louis Rennepont
+proceeded:</p>
+
+<p>"Before retiring that night to my inn, I walked through a large number
+of streets. At least in appearance they were quiet. I met many of our
+brothers. Alarmed at the attempted murder of the Admiral, several had
+tried to leave Paris. They found the gates rigorously closed by orders
+of Charles IX. Back at night in my inn, I did not find the keeper, upon
+whom I relied for further information. Broken with fatigue and agitated
+by vague fears, I threw myself in my clothes upon my bed and fell
+asleep. At about three in the morning I was awakened by my inn-keeper.
+He was trembling with terror. 'The death of all the Protestants of Paris
+is decreed,' he whispered to me; 'the massacre is to begin at daybreak.
+My niece, the chambermaid of the Duchess of Nevers, overheard some words
+about the plot; she hastened to warn me. I have notified all our
+brothers who are lodged here. They have all fled. Your only chance to
+escape the carnage is to join the first gang of the cut-throats whom you
+may run across; you must pretend to be of them; you may in that way be
+able to reach some place of safety. For a sign among themselves they
+have a white paper cross attached to their hats, and a white shirt
+sleeve slipped like an armlet over the sleeve of their coats. Their
+password is: "God and the King!" Flee! Flee! May the Lord protect you!
+Thanks to my niece I have a safe retreat in the palace of Nevers.' While
+the inn-keeper was giving me these last<a name="page_vol-2-202" id="page_vol-2-202"></a> directions, there came through
+my window, which I had left open on that hot and sultry night of August,
+the measured tintinnabulation of the large bell in the tower of the
+palace. The sound seemed to leap strangely from the depths of the
+silence in which the city was shrouded. 'It is the signal for the
+massacre!' cried my inn-keeper, leaving the room precipitately and
+whispering his last warnings to me: 'Flee! You have not a minute to
+spare; my house is marked! It will be instantly assaulted by the
+butchers!'"</p>
+
+<p>"Great God!" cried Theresa, Louis Rennepont's young wife, pressing her
+child distractedly to her breast, and unable to hold back her tears. And
+addressing her husband: "You are here, near us, safe and sound, poor
+friend! and yet I shiver. I weep at the thought of the cruel agonies
+that you must have undergone. Did you follow the inn-keeper's advice,
+and assume the signs of the Catholics?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was my only safety. I cut a cross of white paper and stuck it in my
+hat; I cut off a shirt sleeve and thrust my right arm through it; I then
+sallied out into the street. It was still silent and deserted. But the
+funeral knell from all the Paris churches had by that time joined the
+clangor of the tower bell, which then was ringing at its loudest.
+Windows were thrown open. Little by little lights appeared in them."</p>
+
+<p>"Malediction upon the people of Paris!" cried Odelin's widow. "It seems
+most of them were accomplices in the butchery!"</p>
+
+<p>"Alas, yes, mother! To their eternal shame, the fact<a name="page_vol-2-203" id="page_vol-2-203"></a> must be admitted;
+the people of Paris were the accomplices of Charles IX, and our
+butchers! The people and a considerable portion of the bourgeoisie,
+being drugged by the fanaticism of the monks, did take part in the
+massacre. Some, yielding to the fear of being suspected, obeyed the
+orders of the provosts, and placed lights at their windows at the sound
+of the first strokes of the bells that they heard. My first thought was
+to run to the residence of the Admiral and notify him of the projected
+butchery. As I entered Bethisy Street I saw men emerging from several
+houses; all carried white crosses in their hats and their arms in shirt
+sleeves. They brandished pikes, swords and cutlasses, and cried: 'God
+and the King! Kill! Kill all the Huguenots!' They then gathered into
+groups, drew themselves up before certain doors that bore the mark of a
+cross in white chalk, beat upon and broke them down, and rushed in
+yelling: 'Kill! Kill the Huguenots!'</p>
+
+<p>"I was rushing towards the residence of the Admiral when I saw a
+battalion of Arquebusiers of the Guard turn into Bethisy Street. The
+troop was headed by the young Duke Henry of Guise, accompanied by his
+uncle Aumale and the Bastard of Angouleme, brother of Charles IX. All
+three were clad in war armor. Pages carrying lighted torches preceded
+them. Among the soldiers were interspersed a large number of Catholic
+cut-throats, recognizable by the signs which I also wore. I mixed with
+them. The crowd arrived before Coligny's residence. The soldiers knocked
+at the main door with the butts of their arquebuses. It was instantly
+opened. Despite the prompt<a name="page_vol-2-204" id="page_vol-2-204"></a> obedience shown, all the serving-men of
+Coligny found in the corridor and the yard were promptly done to death.
+The Guises and the Bastard of Angouleme, surrounded by their pages,
+remained outside in front of the facade of the house at the foot of the
+porch, the stairs of which led to the vestibule. Duke Henry of Guise
+made a sign; instantly his equerry Besmes, followed by Captains
+Cosseins, Cardillac, Altain and Petrucci, rushed forward with a
+detachment of soldiers and dashed up the stairs to the first floor, on
+which the Admiral's room was. I realized the Admiral was lost, and
+remained unobserved below among the Catholics, where the details of the
+murder were soon reported. Awakened by the outcry of his servants, and
+the tumult on the street, the Admiral guessed the fate that awaited him.
+His faithful Nicholas Mouche and Pastor Merlin were with him. They had
+watched all night at his bedside. 'Our hour has come; let us commend our
+souls to God!' said Coligny, with which words he rose from his bed,
+threw a morning gown over his shoulders and knelt down. The minister and
+his old servant knelt down beside him. The three began to pray. The door
+was broken in. Besmes, the equerry of Henry of Guise, was the first to
+enter, sword in hand, leading in his captains. He walked straight to
+Coligny, who, having finished his prayer was rising from the floor
+serene and dignified. 'Is it you who are the Admiral?' shouted Besmes;
+'Well, you shall die!' 'The will of God be done! Young man, you shorten
+my life only a few days,' answered Coligny. These were that great man's
+last words. Besmes seized him by<a name="page_vol-2-205" id="page_vol-2-205"></a> the throat with one hand, and with the
+other thrust his sword through him. The old man sank on his knees.
+Captain Cardillac threw him down, and opened his throat with one slash
+of his dagger. The other officers despatched Merlin and Nicholas Mouche.</p>
+
+<p>"I had remained below. There I witnessed an even more execrable scene.
+Only a minute or two after the murderers had rushed upstairs, the Duke
+of Guise stepped closer to the facade of the house and called out
+impatiently in a ringing voice: 'Well, Besmes! Is it done?' Thereupon a
+casement was thrown open on the first floor; the equerry appeared at the
+window holding his bloody sword in his hand, and answered: 'Yes,
+monseigneur! It is done! He is dead!' 'Then throw the corpse down to us
+that we may see it!' commanded Henry of Guise. Besmes vanished, and
+reappeared dragging, with the aid of Captain Cosseins, the corpse of
+Admiral Coligny; the two raised it&mdash;meseems I still behold the grey head
+of the venerable old man, pale and limp, as the body was pushed out of
+the window, with his lifeless arms swinging in space. Besmes and the
+captain made a final effort; the corpse was precipitated upon the
+pavement, where it rolled down at the feet of the Duke of Guise. Coligny
+was clad only in the morning gown that he had hurriedly put on. Thus
+half-naked and still warm he was hurled out of the window. The venerable
+head rebounded upon the cobblestones and reddened them with blood. The
+victim had fallen on his face. The Duke of Guise stooped down, and,
+aided by the Bastard of Angouleme, turned the corpse<a name="page_vol-2-206" id="page_vol-2-206"></a> over on its back,
+wiped with his sash the blood that covered the Admiral's august visage,
+contemplated it for a moment with ferocious glee, and then kicked the
+white head with the tip of his boot, crying: 'At last! Dead at
+last&mdash;thoroughly dead!' The Duke then turned to his henchmen: 'Comrades,
+let us proceed with our work! The Pope wills it! the King so orders it!'
+Almost fainting with sickening horror and unable to move, I witnessed
+this cannibal scene&mdash;it was only the prelude for another and still more
+horrifying one. The Dukes of Guise and of Aumale and the Bastard of
+Angouleme departed with their soldiers from Monsieur Coligny's
+courtyard. Almost immediately the same was invaded by a band of men,
+women and children in rags. They were a troop hideous to look upon, as
+they brandished their sticks, butcher knives and iron bars, under the
+leadership of a Cordelier monk who held a jagged cutlass in one hand and
+a crucifix in the other, yelling at the top of his voice: 'God and the
+King!' The howlings of the mob kept time to the monk's yells. Two men
+with hang-dog looks carried torches before the monk. The moment that he
+recognized the corpse of our martyr, the Cordelier emitted a screech of
+infernal glee, threw himself upon the lifeless body of the Admiral,
+squatted down upon its chest, sawed at the neck with his cutlass,
+severed the head from the trunk, seized it by its grey locks, and held
+it up to the mob, crying in a resonant, though cracked voice: 'This is
+the share of the<a name="page_vol-2-207" id="page_vol-2-207"></a> Holy Father! I shall send him Coligny's head to
+Rome!'<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a>&mdash;That monk," added Louis Rennepont in a tremulous voice, and
+answering a cry of execration that leaped from the hearts of his
+listeners, "that monk, O shame and O misfortune!&mdash;that monk was the
+assassin of Odelin! Oh, may God have pity upon us!"</p>
+
+<p>"Fra Hervé!" exclaimed all the members of the Lebrenn family in chorus.
+A silence of terror and horror reigned in the armorer's hall.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish to come quickly to an end with these monstrosities," proceeded
+Louis Rennepont, catching his voice. "After the tiger come the jackals,
+after the ferocious beasts the unclean ones. Hardly had Fra Hervé
+severed the Admiral's head from his trunk, amid the hideous acclamations
+of the ragged crew, when they fell upon the corpse. Its feet and hands
+were cut off. The entrails were torn out of the abdomen and were
+struggled for by the human jackals. The sacrilegious mutilations seemed
+to go beyond the boundaries of the horrible, and yet the limit was not
+reached. Women, veritable furies, pounced upon the bleeding limbs,
+and&mdash;but I dare say no more before mother, or before Cornelia, nor
+before you, my wife. The stentorian voice of Fra Hervé finally silenced
+the tumult and quelled the anthropophagous orgie. 'Brothers!' he cried,
+'to the Pope I shall send the head of this Huguenot carrion, but let us
+carry the stripped carcass to the gibbet of Montfaucon!<a name="page_vol-2-208" id="page_vol-2-208"></a> It is there
+that should be exposed the remains of the villain who has infested
+France with his heresy, and lacerated the bosom of our holy mother the
+Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church!' 'To Montfaucon with the Huguenot
+carrion!' howled the ferocious band. A procession was improvised. Fra
+Hervé sheathed his cutlass, planted the Admiral's head on the point of a
+pike, and raised the trophy in one hand. In the other he waved aloft his
+crucifix, and, lighted by his two torch-bearers, headed the procession.
+The now shapeless remnants of the corpse were tied to a rope, a team of
+cut-throats harnessed to it, and the bloody lump was dragged through the
+gutters. The procession marched to the cry of 'To Montfaucon with the
+Huguenot carrion! God and the King!' At that moment, and despite the
+terror that held me rooted to the ground, my inn-keeper's last
+suggestions occurred to me. Montfaucon was situated outside of the walls
+of Paris. No doubt some city gate would be opened to the Cordelier's
+band. I joined it, in the hope of escaping from Paris. We left the
+courtyard of Monsieur Coligny's house. It was now broad day. Before
+proceeding to Montfaucon, Fra Hervé wished to exhibit his bloody trophy
+to the eyes of Charles IX and his mother. We directed our course to the
+Louvre. Other scenes of carnage were taking place there. The Protestant
+seigneurs and officers who came in the suite of the Princes of Bearn and
+Condé to participate in the wedding festivities of the King's sister,
+were lodged at the palace. Relying upon the royal hospitality, they were
+taken by surprise while asleep, dragged half naked to the<a name="page_vol-2-209" id="page_vol-2-209"></a> courtyard,
+and there either brained or stabbed to death. Among others whom I
+recognized at a distance were Morge, Pardillan, St. Martin, besides the
+brave veterans Piles, Baudine and Puy-Vaud. They struggled in their
+shirts against the soldiers who beat them down with their halberds, and
+then stripped the corpses of their last shreds of clothing. The
+moanings, the imprecations of the victims, the streams of steaming blood
+through which we tramped, and that often reached our ankles, made my
+head reel. The butchers laid the corpses out in rows in front of the
+facade of the Louvre. The bodies were yet warm; many a bloody limb still
+seemed to palpitate; the corpses lay stripped naked, upon their backs. I
+counted over four hundred. Suddenly there appeared Catherine De Medici
+accompanied by her maids of honor and other ladies of the court. She
+mounted a terrace from which a full sight of the carnage could be had.
+They came&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Louis Rennepont stopped short. He hid his face in his hands. "Alas! I
+have to inform you of something still more horrible than anything I have
+yet said! The furies who profaned the corpse of Coligny were beings,
+who, depraved by misery and ignorance, and besotted by a brutish
+paganism, yielded obedience to fanatic promptings. But Catherine De
+Medici and the women of her suite were brought up in the splendors of
+court life, and yet they came to mock and insult the bodies of the dead.
+And would you believe it&mdash;" but again Louis Rennepont found it
+impossible to proceed. "No!" he cried; "I shall not soil your ears with
+the nameless infamies of those worse<a name="page_vol-2-210" id="page_vol-2-210"></a> than harpies.<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> While Catherine
+De Medici, her maids of honor and a bevy of court ladies were amusing
+themselves on the terrace, Fra Hervé, still carrying Coligny's head on
+the point of the pike, addressed to the Queen a few words that I did not
+hear, my attention being at that moment diverted by the appearance of
+Charles IX at the balcony of one of the windows of the Louvre. The King
+held a long arquebus in his hand; a page carried another of identical
+shape and stood behind his master ready to pass it over to him. Suddenly
+I saw the King lower the arm, take aim, blow upon the fuse on the cock,
+approach it to the pan&mdash;and the shot departed. Charles IX raised his
+arquebus, looked into the distance, and started to laugh&mdash;pleased as a
+hunter who has brought down his game. The monster with a human face was
+firing upon the Huguenots who were fleeing from the butchery in the St.
+Germain quarter, and were attempting to escape death by swimming across
+the Seine.</p>
+
+<p>"After haranguing Catherine De Medici, Fra Hervé resumed his march to
+Montfaucon at the head of his band, dragging behind them the now
+shapeless remains of the Admiral. I had to cross Paris almost from one
+end to the other in the wake of Fra Hervé's procession. In the course of
+the march my eyes encountered fresh horrors. We ran across Marshal
+Tavannes, the commander of the royal army at the battle of
+Roche-la-Belle. At the head of a<a name="page_vol-2-211" id="page_vol-2-211"></a> regiment of the guards he was urging
+his men and the mobs to massacre, shouting to them: 'Kill! Bleed them!
+Bleed them! A bleeding is good in August as well as in May!' And his men
+did the bleeding. They bled so well that the gutters ran no longer water
+but blood. The smoldering hatreds of neighbors against neighbors were
+now given a loose to, under the pretext of religious fervor. Among a
+thousand atrocities that I witnessed on that frightful day, I shall
+mention but one, because it exceeds any other that I have yet mentioned.
+When I first arrived in Paris, and despite the apprehensions that were
+uppermost on my mind, I often went to the lectures of the illustrious
+scientist Remus. The man's renown, he being one of the most celebrated
+professors at the University, besides enjoying the reputation of a
+foremost philanthropist of these days, attracted me. I found students,
+grown-up men and even greyheads crowding around his chair. Well, holding
+close to Fra Hervé's band, I passed by the house of Remus, which the
+cut-throats had invaded. A large concourse of people blocked our way,
+and interrupted our march for awhile. The mob clamored aloud for the
+life of the celebrated scientist. The most frantic in their cries for
+the murder were a bunch of pupils, between fourteen and fifteen years of
+age, whom two monks&mdash;a Carmelite and a Dominican&mdash;had in lead. The
+assassins finally pushed Remus, half naked, out of his house. The
+unhappy man, already wounded in many places, and blinded by the blood
+that streamed down his face, staggered like a drunken man, and held his
+hands before him. I see him yet&mdash;<a name="page_vol-2-212" id="page_vol-2-212"></a>he falls to the ground, they despatch
+him, and thereupon the pupils, boys yet, throw themselves upon the
+corpse of the scientist, rip his bowels open, tear out the steaming
+entrails, turn the body around, raise the bloody shirt that barely
+covered it, and thrash the corpse with its own intestines amid roars of
+laughter, while they shout: 'Remus has whipped enough of us, it is now
+our turn to whip him.'</p>
+
+<p>"Fra Hervé's band again resumed its march. It arrived at one of the city
+gates that leads to the gibbet of Montfaucon. As I had hoped, the gate
+was thrown open before the Cordelier. I slackened my pace, fell to the
+rear of the procession, and, at the first practicable turn on the road,
+I jumped aside and blotted myself out of sight in a wheat field. The
+tall stalks concealed me completely. I waited till Fra Hervé's band was
+a safe distance away. I crept to the road that encircles the ramparts
+and towards sunset I arrived, worn out with fatigue, at an inn where I
+spent the night, giving myself out for a good Catholic. Early in the
+morning I started for Etampes. They had just finished the carnage when I
+arrived! It was still going on in Orleans when I passed that city. At
+Blois, at Angers, at Poitiers&mdash;the same massacres of our brothers. Thus,
+after long years of hypocrisy and craftiness, the pact of the
+triumvirate inspired by Francis of Guise, the butcher of Vassy, was
+finally carried out. Oh, my friends! Not for nothing did Catherine De
+Medici say to the Jesuit Lefevre: 'Induce the Holy Father and Philip II
+to be patient; let us lull the reformers with a false sense of safety; I
+shall hatch the bloody egg that the Guise laid&mdash;on one<a name="page_vol-2-213" id="page_vol-2-213"></a> day, at the same
+hour, the Huguenots will be exterminated in France.' The Italian woman
+kept her promise. The shell of the egg, nursed in her bosom, has broken,
+and the extermination has leaped out full armed."</p>
+
+<p>Odelin's widow rose to her feet pale and stately. She raised one of her
+venerable hands to heaven, and with a gesture of malediction she uttered
+these words, solemnly, amidst the profound silence of her family:</p>
+
+<p>"Be they eternally accursed of God and man, who, from this day or in the
+centuries to come, do not repudiate the Church of Rome, that infamous
+Church, the only Church that has ever given birth to such misdeeds!"</p>
+
+<p>"By my sister's death!" cried the Franc-Taupin. "Shall the voice of
+Estienne of La Boetie be hearkened to at last? Shall we at last see
+<i>all</i> leagued <i>against one?</i> the oppressed, the artisans, the plebs,
+finally annihilate the oppressor and crush royalty?"</p>
+
+<p>Hardly had the Franc-Taupin finished speaking when James Henry, the
+Mayor of La Rochelle, entered precipitately, and addressing Louis
+Rennepont, said: "My friend, the few words dropped by you to some of the
+people whom you met on your arrival, have flown from mouth to mouth and
+thrown the city into a state of alarm! Is it true that Monsieur Coligny
+has been assassinated?"</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur Coligny has been assassinated! All the Protestant leaders are
+murdered!" answered Louis Rennepont. "All the Protestants of Paris were
+massacred on St. Bartholomew's night! At Etampes, at Orleans, at Blois,
+at Tours, at Poitiers, the work of extermination is<a name="page_vol-2-214" id="page_vol-2-214"></a> still in progress.
+It was expected to steep in blood the rest of France as well. It is a
+fact!"</p>
+
+<p>"To arms! And may the Lord protect us!" shouted James Henry vigorously.
+"Let us make ready for a desperate defense. La Rochelle is now the only
+safe city left to the Huguenots. Charles IX will not be long in laying
+siege to us. I shall order the belfry to ring. The City Council shall be
+in session within an hour. It shall proclaim La Rochelle in a state of
+danger. To arms! War to the knife against the King and his Catholics,
+against the assassins of our brothers! To arms!"<a name="page_vol-2-215" id="page_vol-2-215"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_vol-2-IX" id="CHAPTER_vol-2-IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.<br />
+<br />THE SIEGE OF LA ROCHELLE.</h3>
+
+<p>For the first time in their lives did Charles IX, his mother and her
+priests discover that there was a limit to endurance. The crime so long
+elaborated, so skilfully planned, and carried out with incredible
+audacity, so far from annihilating the Reformation gave it fresh life,
+steeled its nerves, and rendered it unconquerable. Hardly had two months
+elapsed since the massacres of St. Bartholomew, when, not Huguenots
+only, but a considerable portion of the Catholic party itself, in open
+revolt at the cruel excesses of the court, the fanaticism of the papacy
+and the subjection of France to the exactions of Philip II, took up
+arms, and made common cause with the Huguenots in order to bring about
+the triumph not only of the religious but of a political reformation
+also. The new adversaries of Charles IX and his mother took the name of
+the "Politicals." Alarmed at the renewed and more threatening attitude
+of the now so unexpectedly reinforced Huguenots, the King endeavored
+once more to beguile them with false promises. He doubled and twisted,
+sought to deal and compromise. It was too late. A fourth religious<a name="page_vol-2-216" id="page_vol-2-216"></a> war
+broke out. Several provinces federated together upon a republican plan.
+La Rochelle became the fortified center of the Protestants. Against that
+city Charles IX concentrated and directed all his forces in the course
+of the last month of the year 1572&mdash;less than six months after St.
+Bartholomew's night.</p>
+
+<p>La Rochelle, situated at the further extremity of a wide and safe bay,
+presented the aspect of an elongated trapezium, the wide side of which
+was about three thousand feet in length, while the narrow one was only
+twelve hundred feet, and faced the sea. The city extended from
+north-east to southwest, and stretched between the salt marshes of
+Rompsai, Maubec and Tasdon, on the east, and those of the New Gate, on
+the west. These marshes, then partly dried or turned into meadows, were
+intersected by a large number of canals the locks of which enabled the
+land to be readily inundated, and presented an impassable barrier to any
+hostile force. The entrance of the port was at the Center of the sea
+frontage, and at the further end of the bay. It was defended by the two
+large towers of Chaine and St. Nicholas, both built of brick, equipped
+with cannon, and also used for powder magazines. To the right and left
+of the two towers, and leaving between them the narrow port entrance,
+extended a wall made of cut stone which at high tide was washed by the
+waves. The wall reached, to the east, the St. Nicholas Gate, and, to the
+west, the Lantern Gate, at the summit of which was a beacon to guide the
+sailors by night. From that side the city was unapproachable by an armed
+force except along a narrow<a name="page_vol-2-217" id="page_vol-2-217"></a> tongue of land which joined the suburb of
+Tasdon with the St. Nicholas Gate. Furthermore, besides the water-filled
+fosse, Scipio Vergano, a skilful Italian engineer, employed by us, the
+Rochelois, had raised an additional protection to this gate by a sort of
+double counter-guard made of earth, and flanking the entrance of the
+port. The eastern front which extended from the St. Nicholas Gate to the
+Congues Gate, was along its whole extent but a poor wall, flanked by two
+round towers. It was one of the weak sides of our city. The western
+front ran in a straight line from the Lantern Tower to the bastion that
+we called the Bastion of the Evangelium. This portion of the
+fortifications consisted of a wall flanked by a large number of small
+and closely built towers, with occasional terraces. In the middle of
+this long line of defenses, which the large number of canals rendered
+almost unapproachable, Scipio Vergano cut the New Gate, flanked with a
+solid bastion. Finally the north front extended from the Bastion of the
+Evangelium to the Congues Gate, a distance of nearly two thousand five
+hundred feet. The left extremity of that vast and very vulnerable front
+was defended by the Bastion of the Evangelium, which was itself
+protected by a terrace of earth. In the center and the highest spot of
+the line rose the demi-bastion of the Old Fountain. True enough, it
+commanded the whole plain, but both the slightness of its projection and
+the insufficiency of its flanks unfitted it for real purposes of
+defense. This bastion covered the ramparts but imperfectly.</p>
+
+<p>Such, Oh, sons of Joel, was the aspect of the fortifica<a name="page_vol-2-218" id="page_vol-2-218"></a>tions of La
+Rochelle, the bulwark of the Reformation and of freedom, the holy city
+against which Charles IX was about to hurl his Catholic hordes and the
+most powerful army ever commanded by his generals.</p>
+
+<p>I, Antonicq Lebrenn, kept a sort of diary of the siege of La Rochelle,
+and of the defense made by its inhabitants, among whom our own family
+combated gloriously.</p>
+
+<p>
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>S<small>EPTEMBER</small> 1, 1572.&mdash;Informed of the massacre of St. Bartholomew, and
+foreseeing that the Huguenots would once more take up arms, the
+Rochelois placed their city in a state of defense. James Henry, the
+Mayor, took an accurate census of the inhabitants. The serviceable part
+was divided into eight companies, exclusive of the Colonel, the name
+given to the ninth, in which the Mayor and aldermen, all anxious to
+share the perils of the other citizens, are enrolled. The respective
+captains elected over these bodies are: James David, Louis Gargouillaud,
+Peter Portier, John Colin, Charles Chalemont, Marie Mari, Mathurin the
+elder, and Bonneaud. These are all made members of the Council of the
+Commune. The aldermen and other Councilmen who command no company, are
+charged with inspecting the posts, and shall be on guard, day and night,
+in the ranks of the Colonel. Besides these, six other companies are
+formed of volunteer foot-soldiers, each a hundred and twenty men strong.
+The chiefs of these are: Dessarts, Montalembert, La Riviere, De Lys,
+Bretin, called the Norman, and Virolet. All these captains, men well
+known for their bravery, took a glorious part in the last<a name="page_vol-2-219" id="page_vol-2-219"></a> civil wars.
+The magistrates are engaged in increasing the food supply of the city,
+so long as the sea is still open to them. Captain Mirant, the father of
+Cornelia, my betrothed, is charged with the command of a foraging
+flotilla. He is to go for wheat to the coast of Brittany, and for
+ammunitions to England. The daring sailor will know how to elude the
+royalist corsairs, or to give them battle. Cornelia is to accompany her
+father on the voyage, and will combat like a true Gallic woman. We bade
+each other good-bye this morning.</p>
+
+<p>S<small>EPTEMBER</small> 5, 1572.&mdash;Yesterday there arrived at La Rochelle Colonel
+Plouernel, who is now head and heir of that powerful house by the death
+of Count Neroweg of Plouernel and his son Viscount Odet, both killed at
+the battle of Roche-la-Belle in the encounter with my father and myself.
+The colonel left his wife and children with his father-in-law at the
+manor of Mezlean, situated near the sacred stones of Karnak&mdash;a fief
+which includes among its dependencies a house, a large garden and
+several fields that once belonged to our ancestor Joel before the
+conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar.</p>
+
+<p>S<small>EPTEMBER</small> 9, 1572.&mdash;During the last few days a large number of fugitives
+who escaped the massacre of St. Bartholomew arrived at La Rochelle.
+There are to-day in our city fifty noblemen of the neighborhood,
+together with their families, besides sixty ministers of the Reformed
+religion. Over fifteen hundred soldiers, who deserted the royal army
+with arms and baggage, have come over to us.</p>
+
+<p>O<small>CTOBER</small> 30, 1572.&mdash;Mayor James Henry and the City<a name="page_vol-2-220" id="page_vol-2-220"></a> Council, who are
+charged with watching over the safety of the city, display marvelous
+activity. A military council has been established with Colonel Plouernel
+and my uncle the Franc-Taupin as members. My uncle is an expert in
+matters appertaining to siege work, and especially in mining and
+counter-mining. The military council is strengthening the
+fortifications, and throwing up fresh ones. New batteries have been set
+up at all the weak points that might invite an attack between the
+Congues Gate and the Bastion of the Evangelium. A redoubt is being
+raised on Notre Dame Church, and upon one of its remaining towers two
+large cannons, capable of sweeping the surrounding fields far and wide,
+are being raised and mounted. Other engines of bombardment are mounted
+upon the platforms of all the belfries that are strong enough to support
+the weight and shock of artillery. The towers of Aix, of St. Catherine,
+of Verdiere and of Crique are all armed in this way. Noticing that
+certain portions of the moat between the Congues Gate and the Evangelium
+Bastion are poorly flanked, the Franc-Taupin proposed the construction
+of what he calls <i>taupinieres</i>, that is, casemates, the protected
+embrasures of which are on a level with the ground, and can open an
+almost subterranean, and therefore destructive fire upon the enemy. The
+casemates are being constructed. Men, women and children labor at the
+fortifications with inexpressible enthusiasm.</p>
+
+<p>N<small>OVEMBER</small> 3, 1572.&mdash;A heroic decision was taken yesterday. It recalls the
+decision that our ancestors Albinik the sailor and his wife Meroë saw
+put into execution when<a name="page_vol-2-221" id="page_vol-2-221"></a> the Bretons, to the end of famishing the army
+of Julius Caesar, reduced to ashes their rich and fertile fields,
+turning the same into a desert that extended from Nantes to Vannes!<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a>
+Yesterday, by order of the Mayor of La Rochelle, all the houses of the
+suburb of St. Eloi, and of the quarters of Salines, Volliers and Patere,
+were torn down or burned by their owners. No place is to be left to the
+enemy under shelter of which they can approach the city, and render the
+investment more dangerous to us.</p>
+
+<p>N<small>OVEMBER</small> 8, 1572.&mdash;Monsieur Biron has received considerable
+reinforcements and advance supplies of siege material with which to
+invest our city. He set up his camp before the city with headquarters at
+St. André. Colonel Strozzi, one of the ablest officers of the Catholic
+army, occupies Puy-Liboreau; Colonel St. Martin occupies Gord with
+twelve hundred men under him; Colonel Goas is encamped at Rompsai with
+six companies of artillery; and Monsieur Du Guast, a minion of the Duke
+of Anjou, the brother of King Charles IX, is at Aytre with two regiments
+of veterans. We prepared for these dispositions of the enemy. The
+inhabitants of Aytre left only ruins for Du Guast to house in.</p>
+
+<p>D<small>ECEMBER</small> 8, 1572.&mdash;The enemy's army is steadily receiving
+reinforcements, and extending its lines. The land blockade is
+tightening. Every day there are bloody skirmishes between us and the
+royalists. They lose heavily at this game. Relying upon their numbers,
+they venture far into the network of our defenses. These are cut up by<a name="page_vol-2-222" id="page_vol-2-222"></a>
+moats and protected by walls, where, amid the labyrinth of hardly
+distinguishable paths across the salt marshes, we find many available
+places to hide in ambush, and our arquebusiers easily decimate the
+Catholics. When, surprised, they seek to pursue us, they are swallowed
+up in the depths of the turf-pits the surface of which is covered by a
+greenish weed that they have not learned to distinguish from the grass
+of the prairie. It has so far been a war of ambuscades, similar to the
+patriotic resistance that the Armoricans offered on their moors, their
+marshes and their forests, against the soldiers of the son of
+Charlemagne, in the days of our ancestor Vortigern.<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a></p>
+
+<p>D<small>ECEMBER</small> 13, 1572.&mdash;Yesterday was fought a stubborn encounter at the
+Font suburb where, led from rich springs, there pours into a reservoir
+the water that an aqueduct takes into the city. The Catholics took
+possession of the place for the purpose of turning off the water and
+depriving La Rochelle of it. They succeeded. My uncle, the Franc-Taupin,
+and his friend Barbot, the boilermaker of the isle of Rhe, proposed to
+enter the aqueduct, which had been allowed to run dry, and in that way
+to arrive under the camp of the enemy's troops at Font, and then blow
+them up with a mine. Unfortunately their proposition was not favored. An
+open attack was preferred. It cost us many men, and Font remained in the
+hands of the Catholics. The canals have been cut. But the village
+fountains and wells furnish us with enough water.</p>
+
+<p>J<small>ANUARY</small> 7, 1573.&mdash;In order still more to tighten the<a name="page_vol-2-223" id="page_vol-2-223"></a> land blockade, the
+enemy has erected two forts at the entrance of the bay, on the roadstead
+in front of the inside port, thereby compelling our vessels to run the
+gauntlet of those batteries in order to reach the city.</p>
+
+<p>J<small>ANUARY</small> 12, 1573.&mdash;Our friend Master Barbot, the boilermaker, achieved
+day before yesterday a deed, unmatched, I think, in the annals of
+military exploits. Not far from the counterscarp of the Evangelium
+Bastion, stands a mill which we call Brande, and where Captain Normand
+placed a small advanced day guard. At night they returned to the city,
+leaving at the mill their arms and only one sentinel. Evening before
+last, Colonel Strozzi, profiting by the moonlight, marched at the head
+of a strong detachment, supported by two light pieces of artillery, to
+the attack of the mill, where Master Barbot was alone on guard. Barbot
+decided to remain firmly at his post, which he did, discharging one
+after the other upon the assailants the arquebuses which were left
+loaded on the gunrack of the post. Our friend made simultaneously a
+great noise, counterfeiting a variety of voices, with the view of
+causing the enemy to believe that the mill was strongly defended. On
+hearing the rattle of the arquebus shots, Captain Normand ran to the
+parapet of the bastion, and shouted to Master Barbot to hold out and
+that reinforcements were hurrying to his support! The road was
+circuitous and therefore rather long. As a consequence, before our men
+could reach the bastion of the mill, which lay on the other side of the
+moat, and despite all his intrepidity, Master Barbot found himself on
+the point of<a name="page_vol-2-224" id="page_vol-2-224"></a> yielding. His ammunition had run out. He parleyed, and
+demanded quarter for himself and his pretended garrison. Colonel Strozzi
+granted quarter to our friend, who, stepping out, revealed the fact that
+his garrison consisted of himself alone. Furious at the discovery,
+Strozzi was about to hang Master Barbot, when Captain Normand's men
+arrived at the double quick, routed the royalists and snatched our
+intrepid boilermaker from their clutches.</p>
+
+<p>J<small>ANUARY</small> 15, 1573.&mdash;God be blessed! My mother, my sister Theresa
+Rennepont, Cornelia, my betrothed, and several other brave Rochelois
+women had a narrow escape last night. The brigantines of Captain Mirant,
+charged with the duty of provisioning La Rochelle with munitions of war
+and grain, frequently set sail for the shores of Brittany or for Dover,
+and re-entered our port with their cargoes of supplies. To the end of
+blocking these excursions, or rendering them too perilous to be
+frequently attempted, the royalists brought from the port of Brouage the
+hull of a large dismantled vessel. They filled the same with sand, and
+sank it at the entrance of the bay that leads to our port. The water in
+that spot being shallow, the sunken hull was thus turned into a species
+of half-submerged pontoon, and was mounted with a number of artillery
+pieces which, jointly with those on the redoubts raised by the enemy on
+the opposite sides of the bay, could cross their fires upon any of our
+ships that either left or entered the roadstead. Yesterday the City
+Council decided that during the night, at low tide, the vessel, left dry
+upon the sand banks by the outflowing sea, was to be<a name="page_vol-2-225" id="page_vol-2-225"></a> set on fire. The
+audacious stroke&mdash;audacious because those who were commissioned to
+execute it had to leave the city by the Two Mills Gate, and were forced
+to heap up the combustibles around the hull under the fire of the
+soldiers on guard&mdash;the audacious expedition did not otherwise require
+military skill. It only required stout hearts; it devolved upon the
+Rochelois women, at their unanimous and pressing demand. "The blood and
+lives of the men, already numerically inferior to the besiegers,
+should," said they, "be preserved for battle." The brave women
+assembled, about three hundred strong, together with a goodly number of
+children of about twelve years who insisted upon accompanying their
+mothers. The troop consisted of bourgeois women, noble ladies, female
+servants, and wives of artisans, fishermen and merchants. Among these,
+and foremost among them&mdash;I mention it proudly&mdash;were my mother, my sister
+Theresa, and Cornelia Mirant, recently returned from one of her father's
+foraging expeditions to Brittany. At about three in the morning they
+started from the city, carrying bundles of dry kindling wood and
+packages of hay. A strong wind was blowing. Deep darkness favored their
+march under the guidance of a fisherman's wife who bore the nickname of
+the <i>Bombarde</i>, by reason of her having extinguished one of the enemy's
+projectiles. Due to her often dragging for oysters and clams, which
+abounded on our coasts, the Bombarde was acquainted with the safe
+passages between the rocks and the quicksands that strewed the bay. She
+led the Rochelois women through<a name="page_vol-2-226" id="page_vol-2-226"></a> the darkness. The following is
+Cornelia's own and thrilling account of the affair:</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks to the darkness, the whistling wind, and our silent footsteps,
+we approached within an arquebus shot of the vessel's hull without being
+noticed by the royalists. Your mother, marching among the front ranks
+between Theresa and myself, and often, like ourselves, sinking up to her
+knees in water or mud, steadfastly refused to be relieved of the weight
+of the bundle of kindlings that she carried. We were a short distance
+from the vessel, the lights of which guided us from afar through the
+mist, when the soldier on watch took alarm, and called out: 'Who goes
+there!' 'Fire! Fire' answered your mother. It was the signal agreed
+upon. We covered on a run the short distance that separated us from the
+hull, and rapidly heaped up along its flanks the kindling wood and straw
+that we brought with us. The soldier fired upon us at haphazard in the
+dark, and called his companions to arms. They hastened upon the bridge
+with the cannoniers, but unable to take aim upon us at so short a
+distance, and from above down, they left the cannons alone and sent us
+through the darkness a shower of arquebus shots that struck several of
+us. The bullets whistled. One of them carried off my bonnet. Your
+mother, sister and myself were close together, but we could not see one
+another on account of the darkness. 'Cornelia, are you wounded?' they
+asked. 'No! and you?' 'We neither!' answered your mother; and again she
+called out: 'Firm, my daughters! Fire!' Thereupon she and the Bombarde,
+who had just lighted a link dipped<a name="page_vol-2-227" id="page_vol-2-227"></a> in sulphur set fire to the first
+bundles of wood and straw. Their example was followed simultaneously at
+a score of different places, despite fresh arquebus discharges from the
+royalists. In a minute thick clouds of smoke enveloped the hull. The
+flaming combustibles cast their reflection upon the puddles of water on
+the sandbanks, and beyond them upon the two towers of the port. We could
+see as clearly as by day. The royalists, however, blinded with the smoke
+which the wind blew upon them, together with wide sheets of flame, could
+no longer see to fire upon us. Thus protected, we threw three relays of
+combustibles upon the flames along the flanks of the accursed hull,
+which was so saturated with salt water and coated with ooze that,
+despite the heat, it could only be made to sweat by the flames. When our
+combustibles were exhausted, we were compelled, in order to effect a
+safe retreat, to profit by the last clouds of smoke that, concealing us
+from the enemy's eyes, prevented them from aiming upon us. We returned
+to the city carrying the dead bodies of five of our troop. Among these
+was Marie Caron, the worthy wife of our neighbor the mercer. She was
+shot stone dead by a bullet in the left temple. Her son, a lad of
+thirteen, had his arm broken. We also helped back a number of women and
+girls of our band who were more or less seriously wounded. There were
+fifteen of these. Our only sorrow was to have failed in carrying our
+enterprise to a successful end."<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a></p>
+
+<p>Such, sons of Joel, was the intrepidity and courage of<a name="page_vol-2-228" id="page_vol-2-228"></a> the Rochelois
+women during the siege of the city. Do they not approve themselves
+worthy daughters of the Gallic women of the old heroic times?</p>
+
+<p>F<small>EBRUARY</small> 12, 1573.&mdash;The brother of Charles IX, the Duke of Anjou,
+arrived yesterday at the royal camp to assume the supreme command of the
+army. He is accompanied by his two cousins, Henry of Bearn and Condé.
+The two apostates, after seeing their co-religionists and best friends
+slaughtered under their very eyes on St. Bartholomew's night, gave the
+kiss of peace and forgetfulness to Charles IX, and now follow his army
+to the siege of La Rochelle. These degenerate sons of Joan of Albert,
+and of Condé have come to battle beside the butchers of their families.
+Among the other seigneurs and captains in the suite of the Duke of Anjou
+are the Duke of Montpensier, the Dauphin Prince of Auvergne, the Dukes
+of Guise and Aumale, the Dukes of Longueville and Bouillon, the Marquis
+of Mayenne, the Duke of Nevers, Anthony and Claude of Bauffremont, René
+of Voyer, Viscount of Paulmy, the Duke of Uzes, the Bastard of
+Angouleme, Marshal Cossé, the Count of Retz, and many other illustrious
+seigneurs. Among the most noted captains is old Marshal Montluc, a tiger
+with a human face. The presence of the experienced general, with whom
+age has not softened his proverbial ferocity, sufficiently announces
+that, if La Rochelle should fall into the power of the enemy, we shall
+be put to the sword, to the very last one of us.<a name="page_vol-2-229" id="page_vol-2-229"></a></p>
+
+<p>F<small>EBRUARY</small> 14, 1573.&mdash;The brave Francis of Lanoüe joined us at La
+Rochelle, thanks to a curious agreement with Charles IX. The revolt of
+the Low Countries, so ardently wished for by Coligny, miscarried through
+the treachery of the French court, whose anxiety to please the Pope and
+Philip II was so thoroughly attested by the massacres of St.
+Bartholomew's night, that all expectation of seeing it give serious
+support to a republican insurrection in one of the provinces of the
+Spanish monarchy had to be abandoned. Lanoüe, deceived by the same hopes
+that deceived the Admiral, whom the lying promises of Catherine De
+Medici and her son had kept in Paris, went to Mons in order to concert
+measures with the chiefs of the proposed uprising; made an unsuccessful
+effort to call the people to arms; was taken prisoner, and thus escaped
+St. Bartholomew's night by the merest accident. Every day more alarmed
+at the indomitable attitude of the Huguenots, and aware of the influence
+Lanoüe enjoyed among them, Charles IX demanded his liberation at the
+hands of Philip II, obtained it, summoned the Huguenot leader to the
+Louvre, and said to him: "I place confidence in your word. Go to La
+Rochelle. Induce the Protestants to surrender and submit. Should they
+refuse, I want you to promise me that you will return, and surrender
+yourself to me at discretion." "I consent," was Lanoüe's answer; "I
+shall go to La Rochelle. Should it appear to me, in all conscience, that
+the resistance of the Huguenots is hopeless, I shall do all in my power
+to induce them to capitulate. But should it appear to me that the
+chances are fa<a name="page_vol-2-230" id="page_vol-2-230"></a>vorable to them, I shall induce them to persevere, shall
+tender them my services. If they decline my offer I shall return and
+surrender myself to you." Such is the confidence that an upright man
+inspires even in hardened criminals, that Charles IX accepted Lanoüe's
+word. Lanoüe sent ahead a courier to the Mayor of La Rochelle to inform
+him of his compact with the King and request admittance to the city. The
+City Council assembled. Some of the members severely condemned Lanoüe
+for lowering himself to the point of dealing with Charles IX; others, a
+considerable majority, realized the value of Lanoüe's assistance, and
+favored the acceptance of his services. He was introduced into the city.
+His patriotic words brought all dissidents over to his side. He
+inspected the defensive works of the place, and being convinced that it
+could repel the royalist attack, was invested with the supreme command
+of the troops, under the surveillance of the aldermen.</p>
+
+<p>F<small>EBRUARY</small> 23, 1573.&mdash;The presence of Lanoüe among us already bears
+magnificent fruit. He introduces discipline among our troops. No longer
+are the murderous skirmishes tolerated in which so many of our men ran
+foolhardily to death. He curbs the ardor of the hotheads; drills the
+volunteers in the handling of their arms and in the precision of
+military evolutions, and he substitutes the tactics of prudence for the
+rashness of blind bravery and unthinking enthusiasm that have been the
+bane of the Protestant arms.</p>
+
+<p>M<small>ARCH</small> 27, 1573.&mdash;Faithful to his word, Lanoüe yesterday left La Rochelle
+and returned to the camp of Charles IX where he surrendered himself a
+prisoner. From the<a name="page_vol-2-231" id="page_vol-2-231"></a> moment that he took command, our sallies caused
+great damage to the enemy, but also cost us dearly. We were not able to
+repair our losses, seeing that our communications by land are cut off,
+while the enemy is constantly receiving strong reinforcements. We now
+number only 4,500 men able to carry arms. The enemy, on the other hand,
+has to-day 28,000 men in line, and sixty cannon. The siege is conducted
+with consummate skill by Scipio Vergano, the identical engineer who
+fortified La Rochelle. The traitor knows the strong and the weak points
+of the place. Accordingly he has concentrated all the attacking forces
+of the Catholics upon the Bastion of the Evangelium. Their batteries
+keep up an incessant fire upon that side of our city. Finally we begin
+to lack for munitions of war. The works raised by the enemy at the mouth
+of the bay render difficult the entrance of the ships upon which we
+depend for provisions. Both powder and grain are running low. Captain
+Mirant's flotilla sailed to England for munitions of war, and to
+Brittany for food. The vessels are daily expected. If unfavorable winds
+should delay their return, or if they fail to run the gauntlet of the
+enemy's outer harbor fortifications, a fearful dirth will soon set in.
+Having considered the grave difficulties of our situation, Lanoüe was of
+the opinion that we could not long resist the pressure of forces five or
+six times stronger than our own. He endeavored to induce the City
+Council to parliamentarize with the Duke of Anjou, with the end in view
+of obtaining an honorable capitulation and favorable terms of peace,
+adding that he, Lanoüe had pledged his word as<a name="page_vol-2-232" id="page_vol-2-232"></a> a man to encourage and
+aid the Rochelois to resistance so long as he believed resistance to be
+effective; but that, so soon as he considered resistance futile, he
+would urge the besieged to capitulate, promising, should his advice not
+be accepted, to surrender himself a prisoner to the King. After a solemn
+session, under the presidency of Mayor James Henry, who, worn out and
+almost dying with fatigue and in consequence of his wounds, but steeled
+by his republican energy, administered his office, the City Council
+declared by a large majority that the Rochelois would resist the
+Catholics to the death. Lanoüe thereupon left the city.</p>
+
+<p>Oh, sons of Joel! Fail not to admire the resolute posture of the Mayor,
+aldermen and heads of the civic military forces of La Rochelle! Those
+generous citizens did not take up arms out of ambition, or cupidity, as
+was the case with the majority of the captains in the army of Charles
+IX&mdash;faithless mercenaries; swordsmen, who sell their skins and kill as a
+trade by which to live; fighters by profession; men to whom war, for
+whatever cause, whether just or otherwise, holy or unhallowed, is a
+lucrative pursuit. No; the Rochelois fought in defense of their freedom,
+their rights, their hearths. Only the consciousness that the struggle is
+in behalf of the most sacred of causes can beget prodigies of heroism.
+All honor to those brave men! Shame and execration upon professional men
+of war.</p>
+
+<p>
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>The above fragments on the siege of La Rochelle, written by me, Antonicq
+Lebrenn, take us down to the middle of the month of May, 1573, when the
+following events occurred.<a name="page_vol-2-233" id="page_vol-2-233"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_vol-2-X" id="CHAPTER_vol-2-X"></a>CHAPTER X.<br />
+<br />THE LAMBKINS' DANCE.</h3>
+
+<p>The City Hall of La Rochelle, an edifice that was almost wholly re-built
+nearly a century ago, in the year 1486, is one of the most beautiful
+monuments that patriotism and the love for one's city can boast.
+Catholic faith has raised up as high as the clouds the spired cathedrals
+where the priests, Oh, Christ! exalt the assassination of the Huguenots,
+and preach the extermination of heretics. The cult of the communal
+franchises has reared City Halls, the cradles of our liberties, the
+civic sanctuaries, where, upon the banner of the commune, oath is taken
+to die for freedom&mdash;as did the communiers, at whose side our ancestor
+Fergan the Quarryman fought in the days of Louis the Lusty.<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> The
+municipal monument that we, Rochelois, are so justly proud of, consists
+of a vast central building, flanked by two pavilions with pointed roofs.
+Its principal facade&mdash;ornamented with twenty-seven lofty arches, the
+triple entablature of which disappears under garlands of leaves and
+fruits chiseled in the stone&mdash;is surmounted by a crenelated terrace
+festooned with thick wreaths of acanthus leaves. From the top of each of
+the two pavilions a<a name="page_vol-2-234" id="page_vol-2-234"></a> belfry of marvelous architectural beauty pierces
+the air. The one to the left presents to the wondering eye the sight of
+a gilt iron cage, that is no less admirably constructed than its dome,
+carved on the outside as delicately as a piece of lace-work, and held up
+by three stone figures of colossal stature. One must renounce the task
+of describing the profusion of crockets that jut out from the walls, and
+represent sphinxes and chimeras executed with boldness and grace. One
+must renounce the task of describing the stone festoons that embellish
+the edifice from its base to its pinnacles, or the infinite wreaths of
+fruit or flowers that clamber up the ogive moldings, doors and windows,
+that weave their lintels together, wind themselves around the pillars
+and columns, and finally crown the capitals. The aspect is that of a
+mass of verdure&mdash;flowers and leaves in bud and full bloom&mdash;suddenly
+petrified by some magic power. This imperfect description can only
+impart a partial idea of the material beauty of the City Hall of La
+Rochelle. But the edifice had, if the word may be used, a soul, a
+breath, a voice! It was the daring soul, the powerful breath, the
+patriotic voice of the Commune that seemed to animate the mass of stone
+of which the antique edifice was built. There, especially since the war,
+and as life centers in the heart, centered the pulsations of the city.
+All energy started there and rushed back thither. It was there that the
+sovereign power of the urban republic, represented by the Mayor and
+aldermen whom the citizens<a name="page_vol-2-235" id="page_vol-2-235"></a> elected, had its seat.<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> Assembled night
+and day at the City Hall in sufficient number to meet all emergencies,
+the valiant ediles never left the hall of the council but to mount the
+ramparts, or join in sallies against the enemy's redoubts. Not
+infrequently theirs was also the task of calming, controlling or even
+suppressing popular tumults, engendered by the sufferings of these days.
+Such was the complex and arduous task reserved for Morrisson, the
+successor of James Henry, who died in consequence of his wounds and
+overexertion. Glorify the Commune, sons of Joel, and its heroic
+defenders.</p>
+
+<p>Well, on that day, towards the middle of May, 1573, a tumultuous mob,
+made up exclusively of women and children&mdash;the able-bodied men were on
+the ramparts, or taking a few hours' rest&mdash;invaded the square of the
+City Hall of La Rochelle, crying with the heartrending fury that hunger
+inspires: "Bread!" "Bread!" No less haggard, no less pinched with hunger
+than their children, a considerable number of these women, having
+combatted beside the men of La Rochelle in repelling the royalist
+attacks, had heads bandaged in blood-stained handkerchiefs, or carried
+their arms in slings. Several children, of ten or twelve years of age,
+also bore the marks of wounds received in battle whither they
+accompanied their mothers. The mob, embittered and exhausted by the
+trials and all manner of pri<a name="page_vol-2-236" id="page_vol-2-236"></a>vations that resulted from the long siege,
+saw with terror the approach of famine. Since the day before the baker
+shops had been closed for want of flour. The supply of food was nearly
+exhausted. The wretched crowd clamored aloud for bread; they also
+clamored for Morrisson, the new Mayor, and head of the commune.</p>
+
+<p>Morrisson appeared at the portico of the City Hall and stepped towards
+the mob. He was at once beloved, feared and respected. Still at the age
+of vigorous manhood, he wore an iron corselet and arm-pieces, while a
+heavy sword hung from his side. He jumped upon one of the stone
+balustrades placed at either side of the door, motioned for silence, and
+addressed the crowd in a sonorous, firm and yet paternal voice:</p>
+
+<p>"My children! The Council is in session. I have no time to lose in
+speechmaking. Delegate to me one from among you. Let her inform me what
+it is that you want. I shall answer."</p>
+
+<p>The Bombarde, acclaimed with one voice as the delegate of her
+companions, pushed her way forward and approached the Mayor: "Mayor, we
+are hungry, and want bread! The bakers have neither corn nor flour. The
+butchers' stalls are closed. Two days ago only a few handfuls of beans
+and peas were distributed. Since then nothing more has come. Before the
+siege most of us lived off our fisheries, and we asked help from nobody.
+To-day every fisherman's boat that ventures out of port is sunk under
+the cannon balls of the royalist redoubts. What are we to do? We<a name="page_vol-2-237" id="page_vol-2-237"></a> cannot
+remain without food; we are hungry; we want bread for our children and
+ourselves!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes!" echoed the Rochelois women with loud cries. "Bread! Bread!
+Morrisson, we must have bread!"</p>
+
+<p>After this explosion of outcries and complaints, silence was restored,
+and the Mayor resumed in a moved voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Poor dear women! You want bread, and how do you expect me to give you
+any? There is not a single grain of wheat in the city granary. But we
+are hourly expecting Captain Mirant's brigantines. They bring from
+England a cargo of powder, and from Brittany a cargo of wheat. They are
+anchored only eight leagues from here, near the coast, at the port of
+Redon. They cannot, in the absence of a favorable wind, run into La
+Rochelle. The chances are a hundred to one that the adverse wind, which
+has been blowing all these days, will change. It may change almost at
+any moment. It may be changing now. If it does, the city will again be
+supplied for several months. For the present, there is left to us a
+precious resource, so far neglected&mdash;the clams and oysters. We must turn
+our hands to that. You understand me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mayor! Do you know that it is now as dangerous to go out for clams as
+to march upon a battery?" answered the Bombarde. "To go out for clams is
+to run into the jaws of death!"</p>
+
+<p>"I know it&mdash;and if the brigantines of Captain Mirant do not run into
+port to-day, my wife and two daughters will go out with you to-night, at
+one in the morning, when<a name="page_vol-2-238" id="page_vol-2-238"></a> the tide will be low, and dig for clams," was
+Morrisson's stoic reply.</p>
+
+<p>"It will be done! Count upon us, Mayor!" replied the Bombarde. "If the
+brigantines of Captain Mirant do not arrive before night, we shall put
+up with hunger until night&mdash;and then we shall go out and dig for clams.
+Those of us who will be killed on the banks will no longer need
+anything. That is agreed upon, in God's name!"</p>
+
+<p>As the Bombarde was uttering these last words, the detonations of
+several discharges of artillery that shattered the window panes in the
+City Hall announced the enemy was about to renew the cannonade which it
+had suspended in the morning. Almost at the same instant the sonorous
+sound of clarion blasts was heard drawing nearer and nearer, and
+presently a large number of women of all conditions, marching at the
+heels of a pastor on a white horse, ahead of which marched the
+clarion-blower, turned into Caille Square.</p>
+
+<p>"To the ramparts, my sisters! To the ramparts!" shouted the pastor with
+martial exaltation. "The Lord of Hosts will steel your arms! Your
+husbands, your fathers, your brothers and your sons are battling for the
+triumph of liberty. Come to their help! To the ramparts! To the
+ramparts! The enemy is about to storm the Bastion of the Evangelium!
+Long live the Commune!"</p>
+
+<p>"To the ramparts, my brave women! And to-night, after clams on the
+banks, as perilous an expedition as battle itself!" cried Morrisson,
+while the Bombarde and her companions, joining the other crowd of
+Rochelois women,<a name="page_vol-2-239" id="page_vol-2-239"></a> repeated in chorus the following psalm, led by the
+pastor:</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left">"O, Lord do guide these feeble women,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">With souls ablaze, inflamed as strong men!</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Break our foes like Oreb!</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Break them like proud Zeeb!</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Throw down those wicked kings and princes,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Who in their fury, and their ire,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Laugh at our tears and distress dire,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Who devastate our glad provinces!</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Who are as a torrent wildly boiling,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">A tempest, wildly rushing, rolling,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">A hurricane, impetuous driven,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">The tops of haughty mountains lashes,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">A hellish flame that turns to ashes,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">The rooks by lightning struck and riven!</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">"May, Oh, Lord! the storm of Thy wrath</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Strew Thy foes away from our path!</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">May, Oh, Lord! Thy thunders and fire,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Smite Thy foes! Oh, smite with Thy ire!"</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>The Bastion of the Evangelium, upon which the enemy had long been
+concentrating all their forces, formed a sharply protruding angle. Its
+flanks were not sufficiently protected by other works of defense.
+Accordingly, by directing against the left flank of the bastion the fire
+of their principal batteries, the enemy had opened a breach in the
+rampart by the repeated pounding of their shots. At the place where the
+breach was effected, the upper part of the earthworks, to a width of
+about fifty feet, crumbled down into the moat, filling it up so fully as
+to render an assault practicable. Thanks to this mass of debris which<a name="page_vol-2-240" id="page_vol-2-240"></a>
+answered the purpose of a bridge, the assailants could cross the fosse
+on a run, could scale the last steps of the last wall already laid in
+ruins, and could enter the city, provided they could bear down the
+defenders who stood in the breach. From the top of the bastion the eye
+swept the plain far and wide. A cannon-shot off, the long line of the
+enemy's trenches could be seen, stretching from the suburb of St. Eloi
+on the edge of the salt marshes, to the suburb of Colombier. That line
+bounded the field from end to end; it intercepted the roads to Limoges
+and Nantes at the crossings of which the batteries were erected which
+broke a breach through the bastion. The whole stretch between the
+trenches of the besiegers and the fortifications of the city&mdash;one time
+covered with trees and houses&mdash;now lay bare, exposed, devastated, and
+deeply furrowed by the projectiles. Beyond the desert waste, lay the
+enemy's entrenchments&mdash;earthworks strengthened with gabions and trunks
+of trees, and here and there crenelated with the embrasures for their
+batteries. Behind that line of earthworks, the tops of the officers'
+tents, surmounted with bannerets and floating pennants, could be seen.
+Finally, on the extreme horizon rose the undulating and woody hills. The
+breach once made, the Catholics suspended their fire in order to open it
+again shortly before marching to the assault. It was in answer to the
+thunder of the cannonade, which announced an imminent and decisive
+attack, that the old pastor crossed the square of the City Hall at the
+head of his bevy of Rochelois women, recruited the Bombarde and her
+companions, and<a name="page_vol-2-241" id="page_vol-2-241"></a> wended his course to the Bastion of the Evangelium. At
+that place about one-half of the defenders of La Rochelle were gathered,
+ready for a stubborn conflict. The other troops, distributed in other
+places, were to be on the alert to repel other attacks. The Council of
+defense foresaw that the enemy, while hurling one column against the
+breach, would undoubtedly attempt a simultaneous assault upon other
+places; consequently women were commissioned to close up the breach as
+best they might with logs of wood and other material. Colonel Plouernel,
+upon whom the defense of the bastion that day devolved, and Captain
+Gargouillaud, in charge of the artillery, gave their last orders. The
+bourgeois cannoniers were pointing their pieces in advance upon the open
+and absolutely exposed ground which the royalists had to cross when they
+sallied from their trenches in order to reach the opposite side of the
+fosse where the breach was effected. The breach was wide; nevertheless,
+before they could reach the parapet, the besiegers would have to clamber
+over a heap of debris ten or eleven feet high, on the top of which a
+redoubtable engine of defense was mounted, and placed in charge of the
+women of La Rochelle. This engine of war, an invention of Master Barbot
+the boilermaker, received the name of the <i>censer</i>. It consisted of a
+huge copper basin, holding a ton, suspended from iron chains at the end
+of a long beam that revolved upon an axis, and was so adjusted to a post
+firmly set in the ground, that by means of a slight motion imparted to
+the beam, the huge caldron would empty upon the heads of the assailants
+the deadly fluid<a name="page_vol-2-242" id="page_vol-2-242"></a> that it was filled with, to wit, a mixture of boiling
+tar, sulphur and oil. A number of Rochelois women, Theresa Rennepont and
+Cornelia my betrothed among them, were busy either keeping up the fire
+under the copper basin, or pouring into it the oil, tar and sulphur from
+little kegs that lay near at hand. With her sleeves rolled back above
+her elbows, and leaving her strong white arms exposed, Cornelia stirred
+the steaming mixture with an iron rod supplied with a wooden handle.
+Master Barbot&mdash;his head covered with an iron morion, his chest protected
+with a brigandine, and his cutlass and dagger by his side&mdash;leaned upon
+the barrel of his arquebus and smiled complacently upon his invention.
+From time to time he would address the women and girls at work.</p>
+
+<p>"Courage, my brave girl!" he said to Cornelia. "Mix up the oil well with
+the tar and sulphur. Make the mixture thick, soft, and toothsome, like
+those omelettes made of eggs, flour and cheese that you are so skilled
+in dishing up, and which your good father and myself relish so much! But
+the devil take those dainty thoughts! In these days of dearth one may
+deem himself happy if he but have a handful of beans. By the way of
+famine and of your father&mdash;the heavy clouds that are rising yonder in
+the south almost always announce a change of wind. Mayhap we shall see
+this very day the brigantines of Captain Mirant, loaded with wheat and
+powder, sailing before the wind into port, every inch of sail spread to
+the breeze, and successfully running the gauntlet of the royalist guns.
+Long live the Commune!"<a name="page_vol-2-243" id="page_vol-2-243"></a></p>
+
+<p>"May God hear you, Master Barbot! I would then embrace my father this
+very day, and the threatened famine would be at end," answered Cornelia
+without interrupting her work of stirring the mixture, into which
+Theresa Rennepont just emptied a bucketful of sulphur&mdash;on account of
+which Master Barbot called out to her:</p>
+
+<p>"No more sulphur, my dear Theresa. The tar and oil must predominate in
+the infernal broth. The sulphur is thrown in only to improve the taste
+by pleasing the eye with the pretty bluish flame, that gambols on the
+surface of the incandescent fluid. Now, my little girls, turn the beam
+just a little to one side in order to remove the basin from the fire
+without cooling off the broth. We shall swing it back over the fire the
+instant the Catholics run to the assault&mdash;then we shall dish up the
+broth to them, hot and nice."</p>
+
+<p>While these Rochelois women were thus engaged in preparing the censer,
+others rolled enormous blocks of stone&mdash;the debris of the bastion that
+was shattered by the enemy's cannonade&mdash;and placed them in such
+positions over the breach that a child's finger could hurl them down
+upon the assaulting column. Others rolled barrels of sand, which after
+having served for protection to the arquebusiers on the ramparts, were
+likewise to be rolled down the steep declivity which the enemy had to
+climb. Finally, a large number of women were busy preparing stretchers
+for the wounded. These women worked under the direction of Marcienne,
+Odelin's widow. Theresa and Cornelia, left for a moment at leisure from
+their work on the censer,<a name="page_vol-2-244" id="page_vol-2-244"></a> came over to the widow, and were presently
+joined by Louis Rennepont and Antonicq.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother," said Antonicq, tenderly addressing Marcienne, "when I left the
+house this morning at dawn you were asleep; I could not tell you
+good-bye&mdash;embrace me!"</p>
+
+<p>Marcienne understood what her son meant. A murderous assault was about
+to be engaged. Perhaps they were not to meet again alive. She took
+Antonicq in her arms, and pressing him to her breast she said in a moved
+yet firm voice: "Blessings upon you, my son, who never caused me any
+grief! If, like your father, you should die in battle against the
+papists, you will have acted like an upright man to the very end. Should
+I succumb, you will carry with you my last blessing. And you also,
+Cornelia," added Marcienne, "I bless you, my child. I shall die happy in
+the knowledge that Antonicq found in you a heart worthy of his own in
+virtue and bravery. You have been the best of daughters to your
+parents&mdash;you will likewise be a tender wife to your husband."</p>
+
+<p>Odelin's widow was giving expression to these sentiments when Louis
+Rennepont, after exchanging in a low voice a few words with his wife
+Theresa, words such as the solemnity of the occasion prompted, cried out
+aloud: "Look yonder! there, under us&mdash;among the debris of the breach&mdash;is
+not that the Franc-Taupin? Your uncle seems to be emerging from
+underground. He must be preparing some trick of his trade."</p>
+
+<p>"It is he, indeed!" exclaimed Antonicq, no less surprised than his
+brother-in-law. "And there is my appren<a name="page_vol-2-245" id="page_vol-2-245"></a>tice Serpentin also&mdash;who is
+following the Franc-Taupin out of the hole."</p>
+
+<p>These words drew the attention of Cornelia, Theresa and Odelin's widow.
+They looked down the steep slope formed by the ruins of that portion of
+the bastion that the enemy had demolished. The Franc-Taupin had emerged
+from a narrow and deep excavation, dug under the ruins. A lad of
+thirteen or fourteen years followed him. They covered up the opening
+that had given them egress. After doing so, Serpentin, the apprentice of
+the armorer Antonicq, went down upon his knees, and moving backward on
+all fours, uncoiled, under the directions of the Franc-Taupin, a long
+thin fuse, the other end of which was deep down the excavation which
+they had just covered. Still moving towards the parapet, Serpentin
+continued to uncoil the fuse, and, upon orders from the Franc-Taupin,
+stopped at about twenty paces from the wall and sat down on a stone.</p>
+
+<p>"Halloa, uncle!" cried Antonicq, leaning over the edge of one of the
+embrasures. "Here we are; come and join us."</p>
+
+<p>Hearing his nephew's voice, the Franc-Taupin raised his head, made him a
+sign to wait, and after giving Serpentin some further directions, the
+aged soldier clambered over the ruins with remarkable agility for a man
+of his years, and walked over to where Antonicq stood waiting for him.</p>
+
+<p>"Where do you come from, uncle?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my boy, what do you expect of me? A <i>taupin</i><a name="page_vol-2-246" id="page_vol-2-246"></a> I was in my young
+days, and now in my old days I relapse into my old trade. I come from
+underground, through a shaft that I dug through the ruins with the aid
+of Serpentin, about a hundred paces from here. There I laid a mine,
+right in the middle of the breach where the good Catholics will soon be
+running to the assault. The moment I see them there I shall lovingly set
+the fuse on fire&mdash;and, triple petard! the St. Bartholomew lambkins will
+leap up in the air yelling and spitting fire like five hundred devils,
+their heads down, their legs skyward. The dance will end with a shower
+of shattered limbs."</p>
+
+<p>"Well schemed, my old mole!" said Master Barbot. "Fire below, fire
+above, like the beautiful sheets that I hammer on the anvil. The burning
+lava of my censer will blaze over the skulls of the royalists, your fuse
+will blaze under the soles of their feet, and hurl the miscreants into
+the air capering, turning somersaults, whirling, cavorting, and&mdash;" but
+suddenly breaking off, Master Barbot let himself down upon the ground,
+and joining the word to the deed, called out:</p>
+
+<p>"Down upon your faces, everybody! Look out for the bullets!"</p>
+
+<p>Master Barbot's advice was quickly followed. Everybody near him threw
+himself down flat at the very moment that a volley of bullets whistled
+overhead or struck the parapet, some ricocheting and upturning gabions
+and logs of wood, others plowing their way through the debris where the
+imperturbable Serpentin was seated near the fuse that led down to the
+mine. Despite the danger, the brave lad<a name="page_vol-2-247" id="page_vol-2-247"></a> did not budge from his post. A
+lucky accident willed it that none of the besieged was wounded by this
+first salvo of artillery. Master Barbot, the first one to rise to his
+feet, cast his eyes upon the enemy's batteries, which were still partly
+wrapped in the clouds of smoke from the first discharge, perceived the
+first ranks of the assaulting column sallying from its trenches, and
+instantly gave the signal:</p>
+
+<p>"Everyone to his post! The enemy is advancing!"</p>
+
+<p>"To arms! Rochelois, to arms!"</p>
+
+<p>Master Barbot's call, was answered by a long roll of drums, ordered by
+Colonel Plouernel. His strong and penetrating voice rose above the din,
+and his words were heard:</p>
+
+<p>"Soldiers, to the ramparts! Cannoniers, to your pieces! Fire, all along
+the line!"</p>
+
+<p>"May God guard you, mother, sister, Cornelia!" said Antonicq.</p>
+
+<p>"May God guard you, my wife!" said Louis Rennepont.</p>
+
+<p>"So long, comrade Barbot!" cried the Franc-Taupin, pulling a tinder box
+from his pocket and sliding down the slope of the breach to rejoin
+Serpentin. "I shall get myself ready to make the limbs of those St.
+Bartholomew lambkins scamper through the air."</p>
+
+<p>"And you, my brave girls, to the censer!" cried Master Barbot to the
+Rochelois women. "Replace the caldron over the fire, and, when you hear
+me give the order: 'Serve it hot!' turn it and empty it over the heads
+of the assailants. You others, hold your levers ready near those stones
+and<a name="page_vol-2-248" id="page_vol-2-248"></a> hogsheads of sand. When you hear me say: 'Roll!' push hard and let
+it all come down upon them."</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, fresh but more distant and redoubling detonations of artillery
+in the direction of the Congues Gate announced the enemy's intention of
+making a diversion by attempting two simultaneous attacks upon the city.
+The pastor arrived at that moment upon the ramparts at the head of his
+troop of women whom the Bombarde and her companions had joined. Some
+reinforced the women charged with rolling the stones upon the
+assailants; others organized themselves to transport the wounded;
+finally a third set, armed with cutlasses, pikes and axes, made ready to
+resist the assailants at close quarters. At the head of these the
+Bombarde brandished a harpoon.</p>
+
+<p>His best marksmen had been placed by Colonel Plouernel in the
+underground casemates, thereby forming, on the other side of the
+circumvallation, a second line of defense, the loop-holes of which,
+bearing a strong resemblance to the airholes of a cavern, allowed a
+murderous fire to be directed upon the enemy. Finally, the companies of
+arquebusiers were massed upon the breach, which was defended by
+heaped-up beams and gabions that the Rochelois women assisted in
+bringing together. A solemn silence reigned among the besieged during
+the short interval of time that the royalists occupied in rushing
+through the distance that separated them from the outer edge of our
+moat. All of us felt that the fate of La Rochelle depended upon the
+issue of the assault.</p>
+
+<p>Old Marshal Montluc was in chief command of the<a name="page_vol-2-249" id="page_vol-2-249"></a> Catholics. Monsieur Du
+Guast, at the head of six battalions of veteran Swiss troops, led the
+column, with Marshal Montluc in the center, and in the rear Colonel
+Strozzi, one of the best officers of the Catholic army. His task was to
+reinforce and sustain the attack in case the first companies wavered, or
+were repulsed. These troops advanced in good order, drums beating,
+trumpets blaring, colors flying, and captained by the flower of the
+nobility&mdash;the Dukes of Guise and Aumale, the Bastard of Angouleme, Henry
+of Bearn, who was now the King's brother-in-law, and Henry of Condé. The
+two renegates now were in arms against our cause. Finally, there were
+also Mayenne, Biron, Cosseins, D'O, Chateau-Vieux, and innumerable other
+noble captains, all crowding near the King's brother, the Duke of Anjou,
+who marched in the center at the side of Marshal Montluc. The moment
+that the front ranks of the vanguard reached the thither side of the
+fosse, Alderman Gargouillaud considered the enemy to be within reach of
+his cannoniers, and gave the order for a plunging and ricocheting fire.
+The effect of the salvo was deadly. The thunder-struck vanguard wavered
+and recoiled. The Rochelois gained time to reload their pieces. A second
+discharge, fully as deadly as the first, mowed down as many as before,
+and increased the indecision of the assailants. Old Marshal Montluc,
+Biron and Cosseins revived the shaken courage of their troops, held
+them, and forced them back. The dash was made. Leaving the dead and
+wounded behind, the column crossed the moat; it answered with its
+arquebuses those of the besieged as it pushed up the slope<a name="page_vol-2-250" id="page_vol-2-250"></a> of the
+breach, receiving the cross fire from the casemates upon both its
+flanks, while, from the companies ranged upon the ramparts, its front
+was met with a hailstorm of bullets. Despite severe losses, the
+royalists steadily climbed up the slope of the breach. The Franc-Taupin
+and his aide, who until that instant lay flat upon their faces behind a
+heap of debris, suddenly rose and ran towards the circumvallation as
+fast as their legs could carry them. They had fired the fuse. Hardly
+were they at a safe distance, when the mine took fire under the feet of
+the enemy. A frightful explosion threw up a spout of earth, dust and
+rocks, interspersed with jets of fire, fulgent like lightning through
+thick clouds of smoke. The smoke slowly dissipated. The slope of the
+breach reappeared to view. It was torn up and cut through by a deep and
+wide cleft, the sides of which were strewn with the dismembered bodies
+of the dead and dying. The soldiers of the vanguard who escaped the
+disaster were seized with terror, turned upon their heels, rushed back
+upon their center, trampled it down, threw it into a panic, and spread
+consternation, crying that the passage of the breach was mined under the
+feet of the besiegers. The ranks were broken; confusion reigned, the
+rout commenced. The Rochelois cannoniers now worked their pieces in
+quick succession, and plowed wide gaps into the compact mass of the
+fleeing invaders, while the Franc-Taupin, standing beside one of the
+embrasures and calmly crossing his hands behind his back, remarked to
+Master Barbot:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, comrade, there they are&mdash;heads, arms, trunks,<a name="page_vol-2-251" id="page_vol-2-251"></a> legs. They have
+danced the saraband to the tune of my mine. I have given a ball to the
+Catholics, to the defenders of the throne and the altar!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ha! Ha!" replied the boilermaker. "The St. Bartholomew lambkins are
+going back faster than they came. Should they come back again I shall
+dish up to them my steaming basin in order to comfort the lacerated
+feelings of those cut-throats whom the Pope has blessed."</p>
+
+<p>The royalist soldiers could not be rallied by their officers until they
+were beyond the reach of our guns. They were then re-formed into a new
+column. The most daring of their captains placed themselves resolutely
+at their head in order to lead them back to the assault. Preceding this
+phalanx of intrepid men by several paces, a Cordelier monk, holding a
+crucifix in one hand and a cutlass in the other, rushed forward to be
+the first to storm the breach, shouting in a piercing voice the ominous
+slogan of St. Bartholomew's night: "God and the King!" The monk's
+example and the enthusiasm of the captains carried the assailants away.
+They forgot their recent panic, and turned about face to renew the
+struggle, shouting in chorus "God and the King!" In vain did the fire of
+the besieged make havoc among them. They closed ranks; they rushed
+forward at the double quick; they ran up the slope of the breach; they
+even passed beyond the chasm produced by the late mine explosion. At
+that moment Master Barbot called out to the Rochelois women in charge of
+the censer: "Quick! Quick! my daughters! Pour it down hot upon<a name="page_vol-2-252" id="page_vol-2-252"></a> the
+Catholic vermin! Anoint the devout papists with our holy and consecrated
+oil!"</p>
+
+<p>And immediately turning to the other set of women charged with rolling
+stones down upon the enemy's heads, "To work, my brave women!" shouted
+the boilermaker. "Crush the infamous pack to dust! Exterminate the brood
+of Satan!"</p>
+
+<p>Instantly a flood of incandescent oil, bitumen and sulphur poured down
+like a wide sheet of flame upon the front ranks of the besiegers. They
+recoiled, trampled down the ranks behind them, and emitted hideous cries
+of anguish. Every drop of the molten liquid bored a hole through the
+flesh to the bone. At the same moment enormous blocks of stone and
+masses of sand rolled, rapid and irresistible, down the slope of the
+breach, overthrowing, breaking, crushing, smashing whatever stood in
+their way. Joined to this murderous defense was the frightfully
+effective fire of our arquebusiers, who shot unerringly, at close range,
+themselves safe, upon a foe in disorder. And yet, however decimated and
+broken, the royalists stuck to the assault until they finally reached
+the circumvallation. The exchange of arquebus shots then ceased and a
+furious hand-to-hand struggle ensued with swords, cutlasses and pikes.
+No quarter was given. The conflict was pitiless. The Rochelois women,
+among them Cornelia, armed with the iron rod of the censer, and the
+Bombarde, brandishing her harpoon, vied with the men in deeds of daring.
+These Rochelois women were everywhere among the male combatants, and cut
+a wide swath with their weapons, wielded<a name="page_vol-2-253" id="page_vol-2-253"></a> by their white yet nervy arms,
+after the fashion of the Gallic women who made a front to the legions of
+Caesar. Twice did Colonel Plouernel, Captain Normand, Alderman
+Gargouillaud, Master Barbot, Antonicq Lebrenn, Louis Rennepont and their
+fellow defenders drive the Catholics back beyond the breach; twice did
+the Catholics, superior in numbers, drive the Rochelois back to the
+terrace of the rampart. Thus did the battle fluctuate, when Mayor
+Morrisson came to the aid of the Protestants with a fresh troop of
+citizens. The timely reinforcement changed the face of the struggle. For
+a third time rolled back beyond the breach, the assailants were
+precipitated into the pits or whipped down the slope. Their rout then
+became complete, wild, disordered. Our arquebusiers, whose fire had
+stopped during the hand-to-hand conflict, now took aim again, and
+decimated the fleeing, while our artillery mowed them down. This time
+the royalist rout was complete&mdash;final. Those of them who escaped the
+carnage, made haste to place themselves behind the shelter of their own
+lines.</p>
+
+<p>Victory to the Rochelois! Oh, sons of Joel, victory! Long live the
+Commune!<a name="page_vol-2-254" id="page_vol-2-254"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_vol-2-XI" id="CHAPTER_vol-2-XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.<br />
+<br />CAPTURE OF CORNELIA.</h3>
+
+<p>The victory of the Rochelois was a bloody one, and dearly did we pay for
+it. We numbered over eleven hundred of our people killed or disabled,
+men and women. Cornelia Mirant received a wound upon the neck; the
+Bombarde perished in the breach. Marcienne, Odelin's widow, was struck
+by a bullet and killed near the rampart as she was bringing aid to a
+wounded soldier; Antonicq's arm was run through by a pike; Colonel
+Plouernel was carried to his house in a nearly dying condition with two
+arquebus shots in his chest. Louis Rennepont, his wife Theresa, Master
+Barbot, the Franc-Taupin and Serpentin, his assistant in mining, came
+safe and sound out of the engagement. The Rochelois gathered in the dead
+and wounded. The Lebrenn family carried to their house the corpse of
+Odelin's widow. A sad funeral march! But, alas, in these distressful
+times the exigencies of the public weal have precedence over the holiest
+of sorrows. One enjoys leisure to weep over his dead only after having
+avenged them. The triumph of a day does not remove the apprehensions for
+the morrow. The royalist assault, so valiantly repelled by the people of
+La Rochelle, might be renewed<a name="page_vol-2-255" id="page_vol-2-255"></a> the very next day, due to the large
+reserve forces of the Catholic army, only a small portion of which took
+part in the attack upon the Bastion of the Evangelium. The City Council
+urged all the remaining able-bodied citizens to proceed without delay to
+repair the breach, seeing that the moon, then at her full, would light
+them at their work during the whole night. Fresh defenses were to be
+immediately raised upon the side of the assaulted bastion. Then, also,
+famine was staring the city in the face. Precautions were needed against
+that emergency. Captain Mirant's ships, which were to revictual the city
+and replenish its magazines of war, still failed to be descried at sea,
+notwithstanding a strong wind rose from the southwest towards sunset.
+The last bags of beans were distributed among the combatants, whose
+exhaustion demanded immediate attention after the day's conflict. The
+supply barely sufficed to allay the pangs of hunger. Consequently, in
+order to insure food for the next day, the women and children were
+summoned by the aldermen to be at the Two Mills Gate by one o'clock in
+the morning, the hour of low tide, and favorable for the digging of
+clams. The gathering of these mollusks offered a precious resource to
+the besieged, but it was as perilous as battle itself. The Bayhead
+redoubt, raised by the royalists at the extremity of the tongue of land
+that ran deep into the offing, could sweep with its cannon the beach on
+which the clams were to be dug. Towards one in the morning the City Hall
+bell rang the summons. Upon hearing the agreed-upon signal, the
+Rochelois women of all conditions issued forth with those<a name="page_vol-2-256" id="page_vol-2-256"></a> of their
+children who were considered strong enough to join the expedition. Each
+was equipped with a basket. They met at the Two Mills Gate where they
+found the wife and two daughters of Morrisson the Mayor. They set the
+example of public spirit. Accordingly, while the male population of La
+Rochelle was busily engaged in repairing the breach, the women and
+children sallied forth from the city in search of provisions for all.
+Although smarting from her wound, and despite the protests of Antonicq,
+Cornelia Mirant determined to share with Theresa Rennepont the risks of
+the nocturnal expedition after clams. She joined the troop of women and
+children.</p>
+
+<p>About four or five hundred Rochelois women issued forth from the Two
+Mills Gate, situated near the Lantern Tower, in search of clams to feed
+the population. They were soon upon the beach. Bounded on the right by a
+ledge of rocks, the beach extended to the left as far as the roadstead
+in front of the inner port of La Rochelle, a roadstead narrowed towards
+its entrance by two tongues of land, each of which was armed with a
+hostile redoubt. The Bayhead redoubt could at once cover with its fire
+the narrow entrance of the bay, and sweep the full length and breadth of
+the beach upon which the Rochelois women now scattered and were actively
+engaged in picking up at the foot of the rocks, aided by the light of
+the moon, the mollusks that they came in search of. At the start the
+Bayhead redoubt gave them no trouble, although the enemy's attention
+must undoubtedly have been attracted by the large number of white
+head-covers and scarlet skirts, the<a name="page_vol-2-257" id="page_vol-2-257"></a> time-honored costume of the
+Rochelois women. Already the baskets were handsomely filling with
+clams&mdash;the "celestial manna" as Mayor Morrisson called them&mdash;when
+suddenly a bright flash of light threw its reflection upon the small
+puddles of water on the beach, a detonation was heard, and a light cloud
+of smoke rose above the redoubt. A shiver ran over the clam-digging
+Rochelois women, and profound silence took the place of their previous
+chatter.</p>
+
+<p>"The royalists have seen us!" said Theresa Rennepont to Cornelia. "They
+have begun firing upon us."</p>
+
+<p>"No!" cried Cornelia with mixed joy and alarm as she looked in the
+direction of the battery. "The enemy is firing upon my father's
+brigantines! There they are! There they are, at last! God be praised! If
+they enter port, La Rochelle is saved from famine! Do you see them,
+Theresa? Do you see, yonder, their white sails glistening in the
+moonlight? The ships are drawing near. They come laden with victory to
+us!"</p>
+
+<p>And the young maid, moved with a joy that overcame her alarm, raised her
+beautiful face to heaven, and in a voice quivering with enthusiasm
+exclaimed: "Oh, Lord! Guard my father's life! Grant victory to the
+sacred cause of freedom!"</p>
+
+<p>All thought of the clams was instantly dropped. The women pressed close
+to the water's edge; with eyes fixed upon the ships, they awaited
+anxiously the issue of the combat upon which depended the victualing of
+their city. It was a solemn moment; an imposing spectacle. The further
+extremities of the two tongues of land that enclosed<a name="page_vol-2-258" id="page_vol-2-258"></a> the outer bay and
+left but a narrow entrance to the port, threw their black profiles upon
+the waves, silvered by the moon. The four brigantines were sailing in
+single file before the wind with a full spread of canvas, towards the
+dangerous passage which they had to enter under the cross fire of the
+enemy's redoubts. A rapid and frightful cannonade followed upon the
+first shot which had startled the women. Already the first one of the
+four vessels had entered the passage, when, despite the firmness of her
+nature, Cornelia emitted a cry of distress and said in consternation to
+Theresa:</p>
+
+<p>"Look, the mast of the forward brigantine is down! It must have been
+struck by a ball! Good God, my father is lost if he should be on that
+vessel&mdash;dismantled&mdash;unable to move&mdash;exposed to the fire of the enemy!"</p>
+
+<p>"All is lost! Alas, all is lost!"</p>
+
+<p>"The brigantines are returning to the open sea!"</p>
+
+<p>"Captain Mirant flees without giving battle! without answering the
+enemy's fire! without giving back a single shot!"</p>
+
+<p>"Come, let us return to our clams&mdash;henceforth the only resource of La
+Rochelle! Let us continue picking up clams!"</p>
+
+<p>"No! My father is not fleeing from battle," answered Cornelia. "By
+sailing back he means to tow the dismantled ship out of harm's way. No,
+Captain Mirant is not fleeing from battle! Do you not see that his
+vessels are now lying to? They are not sailing away!"</p>
+
+<p>The words of Cornelia, who was long familiar with nau<a name="page_vol-2-259" id="page_vol-2-259"></a>tical manoeuvres,
+thanks to the many voyages she made on board her father's vessels,
+revived the hopes of the Rochelois women. Their eyes returned with
+renewed anxiety to the entrance of the port. But, alas, as they did so,
+none perceived that soldiers of the royal army were coming out of the
+Bayhead redoubt, and, screened by the shadows cast by the rocks that
+were strewn to the right of the beach, were silently creeping nearer
+behind the massive blocks.</p>
+
+<p>"What did I tell you?" Cornelia proceeded to explain. "The brigantines
+are sailing back again into the passage. The forward one, with the
+dismantled vessel in tow, is opening fire upon the royalist redoubt. No!
+Captain Mirant's cannons have not lost their speech!"</p>
+
+<p>And so it was. The brigantine that had the dismantled vessel in tow
+sailed intrepidly into the passage, returning the enemy's fire from both
+broadsides. The enemy's redoubts, especially the Bayhead, being the
+better equipped, replied to the brigantine. Suddenly, however, a cry of
+terror escaped from all breasts. The brigantine that led was enveloped
+in a thick smoke which here and there was reddened by the ruddy glow of
+flames.</p>
+
+<p>The agony of the women of La Rochelle redoubled. Their attention, held
+captive by the spectacle in the bay, prevented their noticing the
+Catholic soldiers, who, in increasing numbers, were approaching, hidden
+behind the last rocks of the ledge. Suddenly the echoes around the rocks
+repeated, like the reverberations of thunder, the roar of a tremendous
+explosion. The dismantled vessel, which carried a full load of powder,
+was blown into the air after<a name="page_vol-2-260" id="page_vol-2-260"></a> being set on fire, not by the enemy, but
+by Captain Mirant himself; and, as it blew up, it partly dismantled the
+Bayhead redoubt. The manoeuvre was successful. Not only was the redoubt
+crippled, but a large number of the soldiers and cannoniers who manned
+it perished under the ruins of their own batteries. So soon as the
+intrepid mariner saw one of his vessels disabled from proceeding on its
+voyage, he had taken her in tow; veered about with the end in view of
+withdrawing his flotilla from the enemy's fire long enough to enable him
+to perfect his newly conceived strategy; heaped inflammable materials
+upon the disabled ship; left the powder in her hold; transferred the
+sailors to his own bottom; veered again; sailed under full canvas before
+the wind straight into the passage; and leading in tow the floating
+incendiary machine which he had just improvised, set it on fire, and cut
+the cable just before arriving in front of the redoubt, convinced, by
+his intimate acquaintance with the currents along the coast, that they
+would drive ashore and against the redoubt the floating firebrand loaded
+with powder, which, when exploding, would shake the royalist battery to
+pieces. It happened as Captain Mirant calculated. Once the redoubt was
+in ruins, Captain Mirant had nothing to fear except from the inferior
+battery raised on the opposite tongue of land. The bold mariner now
+proceeded on his course followed by his remaining vessels, deliberately
+answering the inoffensive shots from the opposite side. Finally, with
+only the perforation of some of their sails, and a few bullets lodged in
+their sides, the three ves<a name="page_vol-2-261" id="page_vol-2-261"></a>sels steered straight towards the entrance of
+the interior port of La Rochelle, which they were to save from famine,
+and re-supply with munitions of war.</p>
+
+<p>"God be praised! The city is saved! May my father have come off safe and
+sound from the combat!" cried Cornelia, while the other Rochelois women
+loudly acclaimed with shouts of joy and hope the brilliant triumph of
+the captain.</p>
+
+<p>The last of the three brigantines had just entered the port when the
+rattle of arquebus shots resounded from behind the rocks which bordered
+the beach to the right of where the Rochelois women were assembled. It
+rained bullets. Women and children, mortally wounded, dropped dead
+around Theresa and Cornelia. The unexpected attack of the royalist
+soldiers in ambush threw the unfortunate women into a panic. They had
+come wholly unarmed, bent upon gathering clams along the beach, and not
+looking for danger except from the batteries of Bayhead. It happened
+that a part of that garrison consisted of troops of the guard of the
+Duke of Anjou, under the command of the Marquis of Montbar, one of the
+Prince's favorites, and the most noted debauchee of the whole royalist
+army. So soon as he perceived the Rochelois women spread along the
+beach, the Marquis set his soldiers in motion, ordered them to slide out
+of the redoubt, and to creep noiselessly, under cover of the rocks and
+of the shadows that they projected, with the object in view of
+massacring a large number of the heroic women, whose intrepidity the
+royalists had more than once tasted to their<a name="page_vol-2-262" id="page_vol-2-262"></a> sorrow, and of seizing
+several of them for the orgies of the Duke of Anjou's tent. Accordingly,
+after unmasking his ambuscade by the first round of arquebus shots, the
+Marquis of Montbar rushed with his soldiers upon the startled and
+panic-stricken women, crying: "Kill all the old ones! Take the
+handsomest and youngest prisoners! God's blood! You can easily
+distinguish the pretty girls from the old and ugly! The moon is bright!"</p>
+
+<p>The scene that followed was frightful to behold. Many of the "old" ones
+were ruthlessly butchered, as ordered by the Catholic captain. Others,
+having escaped the fire of the arquebuses and the ensuing carnage,
+finding themselves unarmed, and unable to resist the soldiers, sought
+safety in flight in the direction of the Two Mills Gate. Still others
+stood their ground and defended themselves with the energy of despair
+against the guards who sought to seize them. Among the latter was
+Cornelia, who, in the turmoil, was separated from Theresa Rennepont as
+both sought to reach the city. The Marquis of Montbar, happening to be
+near where Cornelia was struggling in the hands of several soldiers, and
+struck by the beauty of the girl, called out to his men: "Take care you
+do not hurt her&mdash;keep her alive! God's blood, she is a royal morsel! I
+reserve her for Monseigneur the Duke of Anjou."</p>
+
+<p>Cornelia, whose wound was re-opened in her struggle with the soldiers,
+felt herself losing strength and consciousness through loss of blood.
+She fell in a faint at the feet of Montbar. By his orders two of his
+guards raised her by her feet and shoulders, and carried her away<a name="page_vol-2-263" id="page_vol-2-263"></a> like
+a corpse. Several other Rochelois women, who were likewise carried off
+captive to the Bayhead redoubt, now lying in ruins through Captain
+Mirant's manoeuvre, were that night victims of the brutality of both
+captains and soldiers. Finally many others succeeded in reaching the Two
+Mills Gate at the moment that a company of Protestants, attracted by the
+sound of arquebus shots, sallied from the city and were hastening to the
+beach. Alas, it was too late! Already the inrushing tide was submerging
+the dead and the dying victims of the royalist ambush. Already the water
+reached the foot of the rocks and intercepted the progress of the
+Rochelois. They could not pursue the enemy who, among other prisoners,
+carried away the inanimate body of Captain Mirant's daughter at the very
+hour that the daring mariner weighed anchor in the port of La Rochelle
+amidst the acclamations of the inhabitants.<a name="page_vol-2-264" id="page_vol-2-264"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_vol-2-XII" id="CHAPTER_vol-2-XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.<br />
+<br />THE DUKE OF ANJOU.</h3>
+
+<p>The headquarters of the royal army were at the suburb of Font, now in
+ruins. The Duke of Anjou, brother of King Charles IX, occupied at Font,
+in the center of the royal encampment, a house that went by the name of
+the "Reservoir," since within its yard lay the reservoir into which the
+waters were gathered that the now destroyed aqueduct conducted into La
+Rochelle. The Prince's headquarters, although wrecked by the war, were
+repaired, and made fit for the royal guest, thanks to the industry of
+his valets, who upholstered and equipped the ruins with a mass of
+tapestries and furniture which the pack-mules carried in the wake of the
+army. The Prince's oratory, where, either in sacrilegious derision, or
+perhaps yielding to a mixture of fanaticism and lewdness, he both
+performed his orisons and indulged his debaucheries, was tapestried in
+violet velvet, garlanded with fringes that were gathered up by gold and
+silver tassels. Daylight never penetrated the voluptuous retreat, which
+only a vermillion chandelier illumined with its candles of perfumed wax.
+On one side of the apartment stood a prayer-stool surmounted with an
+ivory crucifix; on the opposite side was a thickly cush<a name="page_vol-2-265" id="page_vol-2-265"></a>ioned lounge. A
+Turkish carpet covered the floor. A velvet portiere, closed at this
+moment, communicated with an inside room.</p>
+
+<p>It was about eight in the evening. Cornelia Mirant, captured on the
+beach of La Rochelle the night before by the Marquis of Montbar, had
+just been introduced by him into the oratory of the Duke of Anjou. A
+feverish agitation imparted an unwonted glow to the countenance of the
+young girl. Her eyes glistened; her beauty was particularly radiant; a
+certain coquetish touch was noticeable in the arrangement of her hair;
+her Rochelois clothing, torn to shreds during the previous night's
+encounter, had been changed for a robe of poppy-red brocade. A broad
+embroidered scarf supported and concealed her right hand. The wound she
+received the day before on the neck had been dressed with care by one of
+the Duke's own surgeons. Monsieur Montbar&mdash;a youth barely twenty years
+of age, but whose delicate features were prematurely blighted by
+incontinence&mdash;had exchanged his war armor for the apparel of the court.
+His hair was artistically curled. From his ears hung a pair of earrings
+encrusted with precious stones; jet black frills hung down from his
+wrists and encased his hands; a short mantle was thrown over his
+shoulders; tight-fitting hose and a toque garnished with a brooch of
+rubies completed his dainty outfit. The Marquis had just brought
+Cornelia into the oratory, and was saying to her: "My pretty saucebox,
+you are now in the oratory of the Prince of Anjou, brother of our
+well-beloved King Charles IX."<a name="page_vol-2-266" id="page_vol-2-266"></a></p>
+
+<p>"One feels as if in a palace of fairies!" answered Cornelia looking
+around with feigned and childish wonderment. "Oh, what splendid
+tapestries! What gorgeous ornaments! It seems I must be dreaming,
+monseigneur! Can it be possible that the Prince, so great a Prince,
+deigns to cast his eyes upon so poor a girl as I?"</p>
+
+<p>"Come, my pretty lassy, do not cast down your eyes. Be sincere&mdash;you
+shall ever after feel the glory of having been, if but for one day, the
+mistress of the King of France's brother. But what are you thinking
+about?"</p>
+
+<p>"Monseigneur, all this that is happening to me seems a dream. No! You
+are making sport of a poor girl. Monseigneur the Duke of Anjou does not
+think of me."</p>
+
+<p>"You will see him in a minute, I assure you; he is just now in
+conference with Fra Hervé, his confessor." And turning towards the still
+closed portiere, he proceeded: "I hear the curtains drawn back, and
+steps in the neighboring room&mdash;it is monseigneur."</p>
+
+<p>Hardly had the Marquis pronounced these last words when the drapery was
+raised, giving passage to the Duke of Anjou. The Prince was then
+twenty-eight years of age; overindulgence had weakened his gait, and
+imparted to his effeminate physiognomy a wily aspect, and a suggestion
+of cruelty and hypocrisy to his smile; added to this, excessive
+ornamentation rendered his appearance trivial and even sinister.
+Monsieur Montbar took a few steps towards the Duke, whispered in his ear
+and pointed to Cornelia. The girl thrilled with suppressed emotion; her
+right hand, hidden in the wide folds of her scarf, seemed<a name="page_vol-2-267" id="page_vol-2-267"></a> to twitch
+convulsively and involuntarily to rise to her bosom. She contemplated
+the Prince with mixed horror and curiosity. Her eyes glistened, but she
+quickly lowered them before the libidinous glance of the Prince, who,
+while speaking with the Marquis, regarded her covetously. He said to his
+favorite: "You are right, my pet; her beauty gives promise of great
+delight; leave us alone; I may call you in again."</p>
+
+<p>The Marquis of Montbar withdrew. Left alone with Cornelia, the Duke of
+Anjou stepped to the lounge, stretched himself out upon it nonchalantly
+with his head resting on the cushion, pulled a gold comfit-holder from
+his pocket, took a pastille out of it, masticated it, and after a few
+minutes of silent revery said to the Rochelois:</p>
+
+<p>"Approach, my pretty girl!"</p>
+
+<p>Cornelia raised her eyes heavenward. Her countenance became inspired. A
+slight pallor overcast it. Her glistening eyes grew moist. Distress was
+stamped on her features as she muttered to herself: "Adieu, father!
+Adieu, Antonicq! The hour of self-sacrifice has sounded for me!"</p>
+
+<p>Surprised at the immobility of Cornelia, whose face he could not see
+distinctly, the Duke of Anjou sat up and repeated impatiently:
+"Approach! You seem to be deaf, as well as mute. I told you to approach.
+By God's death, hurry up! Come and lie down beside me!"</p>
+
+<p>Cornelia, without the Prince's noticing her motions, disengaged her arm
+from the folds of the scarf, and stepped deliberately towards the lounge
+on which he had again stretched himself out. Again he motioned her to
+approach,<a name="page_vol-2-268" id="page_vol-2-268"></a> saying: "Come here, I tell you. I would fear to damn myself
+forever by contact with such a satanic heretic as you, but for Fra
+Hervé's promise to give me absolution after our amorous encounter."</p>
+
+<p>And rising from his soft lounge, the Prince opened his arms to Cornelia.
+The girl approached; she bowed down; then, quick as thought she seized
+the Duke by the hair with her left hand, at the same time drawing out of
+the folds of her scarf her right hand armed with a short sharp steel
+dagger with which she struck the Prince several blows in the region of
+the heart, crying: "Die, butcher of my brothers! Die, cowardly assassin
+of women and children!"</p>
+
+<p>The Duke of Anjou wore under his jacket a coat of mail of steel so close
+meshed and well tempered that Cornelia's dagger broke under the blows
+that she dealt, while the frightened Prince called out for help,
+gasping: "Murder! She assassinates me! Murder!"</p>
+
+<p>At the Prince's cries and the noise of the struggle between them the
+Marquis of Montbar, together with several domestics of the royal
+household, hurried into the oratory, from the contiguous room where they
+always stood in waiting; they flung themselves upon Cornelia and seized
+her by the wrists, while the Prince, freed from the grasp of the brave
+maid, ran livid and demented to his prayer-stool, where he threw himself
+down upon his knees, and, with lips white with terror, shivering in
+every part of his body, and with his teeth clattering in his head, he
+stammered: "Almighty God, thanks be to Thee! Thou hast protected Thy
+unworthy servitor!" And bending low, till<a name="page_vol-2-269" id="page_vol-2-269"></a> his forehead touched the
+ground, the terrified libertine smote his chest exclaiming: "<i>Mea culpa!
+mea culpa! mea maxima culpa!</i>"<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a></p>
+
+<p>While the Duke of Anjou was thus giving thanks to his God for having
+escaped the dagger of the young Protestant girl, she, held firmly by the
+seigneurs and retainers who heaped upon her insults and threats of
+death, stood erect with proud front, defied them with steady eyes, and
+preserved a disdainful silence. Holding himself responsible for the
+conduct of the Huguenot girl, whom he had taken to his master's bed, the
+Marquis of Montbar drew his sword and was about to run her through, when
+the Prince, rising from his prayer-stool cried out: "Do not kill her, my
+pet! Oh, no, she must not die so soon!"</p>
+
+<p>The favorite re-sheathed his sword. The Duke of Anjou, now pale with
+rage, staggered to his lounge and sat down. He wiped the perspiration
+from his forehead, cast a look of implacable hatred upon Cornelia, and
+after regarding her in silence for a moment, said: "Well, my pretty
+lass&mdash;so you meant to assassinate me!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes&mdash;because you are the worthy son of Catherine De Medici, the worthy
+brother of Charles IX; because you suborned an assassin to poison
+Coligny!"</p>
+
+<p>The Duke of Anjou remained unmoved, and remarked with a cruel smile:
+"You are a resolute girl, resolute in word and deed. I came near
+learning as much at my cost! What is your name?"</p>
+
+<p>"Cornelia Mirant."<a name="page_vol-2-270" id="page_vol-2-270"></a></p>
+
+<p>"What! You are the daughter of the mariner who last night almost threw
+into utter ruins our Bayhead redoubt? You are the daughter of the
+devilish Huguenot who has just revictualed La Rochelle?"</p>
+
+<p>The Cordelier Fra Hervé had just raised the portiere and was about to
+step into the oratory, when he heard the young girl declare her name to
+be Cornelia Mirant. The monk immediately stopped. Half-hidden by the
+tapestry, he remained on the threshold of the room and listened to the
+rest of the dialogue between the Huguenot girl and the Prince.</p>
+
+<p>"You must be a girl of honorable habits. How came you to yield so
+readily to the propositions of the Marquis?"</p>
+
+<p>"In the hope of being able to strike you dead with the dagger that I
+found in the tent of your officer," boldly answered Cornelia.</p>
+
+<p>"A new Judith, you seem to see in me a modern Holofernes! Everything
+about you breathes courage, honor, chastity. By God! I am becoming
+interested in you. You have wished my death&mdash;well, I wish that you live.
+So brave a girl should not die."</p>
+
+<p>"What, monseigneur! Shall this wretch escape punishment!" cried the
+Marquis of Montbar, while Cornelia thought to herself with a shudder: "I
+dread the clemency of the son of Catherine De Medici more than I do his
+ire."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, my pet," answered the Duke of Anjou to his minion; "to-day I am in
+a merciful mood. I shall practice the evangelical morality of Jesus our
+Savior; I shall<a name="page_vol-2-271" id="page_vol-2-271"></a> return good for evil! I wish well to this haughty
+republican girl, worthy of the days of Sparta and Rome! I wish the brave
+girl so well that&mdash;here is my sentence: Pinion the virgin's arms firmly;
+have her watched carefully in order that she may not do away with
+herself; and then throw her to the common soldiers of the camp. By God's
+death! The gay fellows will have a dainty repast! Take away from my
+sight the immaculate virgin, who will not be a virgin much longer!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! Mercy! Mercy! Death sooner! The most horrible death! Mercy!"
+stammered Cornelia, aroused from her stupor; and dropping upon her knees
+at the feet of the Duke of Anjou, she raised to him her hands in
+supplication, and implored in heartrending accents: "Martyrdom! For
+mercy's sake, martyrdom!"</p>
+
+<p>The Prince turned to his favorites: "Let the pretty heretic be taken to
+the garrison on the spot&mdash;on the spot, my pets. We shall follow and
+witness the sport of our soldiers."</p>
+
+<p>Already was Cornelia being dragged away when Fra Hervé suddenly
+interposed. The courtiers bowed low before the confessor of the Duke of
+Anjou.</p>
+
+<p>"My son," said the Cordelier, stepping straight towards the Prince,
+"revoke the order you have given. The heretic should not be thrown to
+the soldiers."</p>
+
+<p>"Father," broke in the Duke of Anjou with exasperation, "are you aware
+the girl tried to assassinate me?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know it all&mdash;both the attempted crime and its failure. You shall
+revoke your order."<a name="page_vol-2-272" id="page_vol-2-272"></a></p>
+
+<p>"God's blood! Reverend Father, seeing you know it all, I declare,
+notwithstanding my profound respect for you, that I insist upon my
+revenge. My orders shall be executed."</p>
+
+<p>"My son, you are but a child," answered Fra Hervé in a tone of
+disdainful superiority; and leaning towards the Prince the monk
+whispered in his ear, while Cornelia, now recognizing Fra Hervé,
+shuddered from head to foot.</p>
+
+<p>"I dreaded the clemency of the Prince&mdash;the monk's mercy terrifies me.
+Oh, Lord God, my only hope lies in You!"</p>
+
+<p>"As God lives, my reverend Father, you are right! I am but a child!"
+cried the Duke of Anjou, beaming with infernal joy after listening to
+the confidential remarks whispered to him by the monk. He then again
+addressed his favorites: "Take the heretic girl to the reverend Father's
+cell. But, good Father, keep a watchful eye upon her. Her life is now as
+precious to you as to me."</p>
+
+<p>Cornelia was led away upon the steps of the fratricidal monk.<a name="page_vol-2-273" id="page_vol-2-273"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_vol-2-XIII" id="CHAPTER_vol-2-XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.<br />
+<br />THE BILL IS PAID.</h3>
+
+<p>Fra Hervé lived in the house of the Reservoir of the Font suburb in a
+sort of cellar that was vaulted, somber and damp as a cave, and which
+one time served as the direct communication to the aqueduct by means of
+a stone staircase, closed from above by a trap door. The monk's gloomy
+lodging was reached through a corridor that opened into one of the rooms
+situated on the ground floor, and, since the siege, transformed into a
+hall reserved for the officers of the Duke of Anjou.</p>
+
+<p>The interior of Fra Hervé's retreat revealed the austerity of the man's
+cenobitic habits. A wooden box, filled with ashes and resembling a
+coffin, served him for bed. A stool stood before a rough hewn table on
+which were an hour-glass, a breviary, a skull and an iron lamp. The
+latter cast a pale light over the cave, in a corner of which a heavy
+trap door masked the now disused stone staircase, the entrance to which
+had been walled from within by the royalists, in order to prevent a
+surprise from that quarter, seeing the water was turned off.</p>
+
+<p>Taken to the gloomy cell, Cornelia found herself alone with the monk.
+She was aware there was no hope of es<a name="page_vol-2-274" id="page_vol-2-274"></a>cape or of mercy for her. The cell
+had no issue other than the corridor that connected with the hall of the
+Prince's officers of the guard, which was constantly crowded with the
+Prince's retinue. Fra Hervé's face was emaciated. His forehead, over
+which a few locks of grey hair tumbled in disorder, was bony and
+lustrous as the skull upon his table. Except for the somber luster of
+his hollow eyes, one would at first sight take the scarred and fleshless
+head of the monk for that of a corpse. He was seated on the stool.
+Cornelia, standing before him, shuddered with horror. She found herself
+alone with the monster who, at the battle of Roche-la-Belle, cut the
+throat of Odelin, the father of Antonicq, her betrothed. Fra Hervé
+remained meditative for a moment, and then addressed the young girl in a
+hollow voice:</p>
+
+<p>"You are aware of the fate that Monseigneur the Duke of Anjou reserved
+for you in punishment for your attempted murder? You were to be thrown
+to the soldiers of the garrison&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I am in your power&mdash;what do you want of me?" interrupted Cornelia.</p>
+
+<p>"The salvation of your soul."</p>
+
+<p>"My soul belongs to God. I have lived and I shall die in my faith, and
+in execration for the Catholic church."</p>
+
+<p>"This is but another evidence of the impiousness of the Lebrenn family,
+a family of reprobates, of accursed people, to whom this poor creature
+was soon to be joined by even closer bonds than those that already join
+her to them!"</p>
+
+<p>"What! You know&mdash;?"<a name="page_vol-2-275" id="page_vol-2-275"></a></p>
+
+<p>"A Rochelois prisoner informed me that you were the betrothed of
+Antonicq, the son of him who was my brother."</p>
+
+<p>"Monk, I shall not invoke to you the bonds of family&mdash;you have reddened
+your hands with your brother's blood. I shall not invoke your pity&mdash;you
+are pitiless. But, seeing that no heretics have been burnt for quite a
+while, I hope you will consent to cause me to be condemned to the pyre
+for a hardened heretic. I abhor the Pope, his Church and his priests! I
+abhor them as I do Kings. I execrate all monks, and the whole tonsured
+fraternity."</p>
+
+<p>Cornelia calculated upon exasperating the Cordelier to fury, and thus to
+wrest from him the order to be taken to immediate execution&mdash;her only
+refuge from the threats of the Duke of Anjou. But the unfortunate girl
+deceived herself. Fra Hervé listened to her impassively, and resumed:</p>
+
+<p>"You are cunning. You aspire to martyrdom because death will protect you
+from the outrage that you fear. I am not your dupe. There will be no
+pyre for you!"</p>
+
+<p>"Woe is me!" murmured the young girl, seeing her last hope dashed. "Woe
+is me! I am lost!"</p>
+
+<p>"You are saved&mdash;if you will!" Fra Hervé proceeded to say.</p>
+
+<p>"What do I hear?" cried Cornelia perceiving a new glimmer of hope. "What
+must I do? Speak!"</p>
+
+<p>"Publicly abjure your heresy! Renounce Satan and your father! Humbly
+implore our holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church to receive you into
+her bosom at her<a name="page_vol-2-276" id="page_vol-2-276"></a> mercy and discretion. The soilure, now upon you, being
+washed off, you shall take the eternal vows and shall bury in the shadow
+of the cloister the criminal life you have led in the past. Choose:
+either immediate abjuration, or&mdash;to the soldiers. These pious Catholics
+will slake their amorousness upon you."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Lord! Oh, Lord!" exclaimed Cornelia, seized with terror, and her
+head reeling. "Am I awake? Am I dreaming? Can a man, a priest, outrage a
+woman's modesty to such an extent? A curse upon you, wretch!"</p>
+
+<p>"What audacity! 'Outrage' a 'woman'!" put in Fra Hervé with a wild and
+diabolical guffaw. "Is there such a thing as a heretic being a
+'<i>woman</i>'? No! A heretic is a female, like the she-wolf in the jungle.
+Is there such a thing as outrage with a she-wolf?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mercy!" stammered Cornelia in despair. "Have mercy upon me!"</p>
+
+<p>"No mercy!" answered Fra Hervé sententiously. "You shall enter a
+cloister, or&mdash;you shall be given over to the lust of the soldiers. It
+shall be so! And now, keep your eyes upon this hour-glass," added the
+monk, pointing to the instrument for marking time that stood near the
+dead man's skull. "Should you, when the water is run down, not have
+decided instantly to abjure and to depart this very night to a convent,
+you shall be delivered to the Catholic soldiers!"</p>
+
+<p>And the monk, resting his elbow on the table and his chin on his hand,
+remained silent as he looked with fixed eyes at the running of the water
+from the upper into the<a name="page_vol-2-277" id="page_vol-2-277"></a> lower bulb of the clepsydra, while fondling his
+heavy chaplet with the hand that remained free.</p>
+
+<p>"What am I to do?" the Protestant girl asked herself. "What am I to do
+in this extremity? Almighty God, have mercy upon me!"</p>
+
+<p>"One-half of the water has run down!" observed Fra Hervé in his
+sepulchral voice. "Decide! There is still time!"</p>
+
+<p>At the lugubrious announcement Cornelia's mind began to wander; still,
+one lucid thought rose clear above the growing vertigo that obsessed the
+young girl's thoughts&mdash;the thought of putting an end to her life. Her
+bewildered eyes sought to penetrate here and there the dark recesses of
+the cell, which the dim light of the lamp threw heavily into the shade.
+They sought mechanically for some article that she might use as a weapon
+with which to inflict death upon herself. Suddenly Cornelia's eyes
+bulged out in amazement. She held her breath and remained petrified,
+thinking herself the sport of a vision. Fra Hervé, because of his eyes
+being fixed upon the hour-glass and his back turned to the trap door
+that masked the stone stairs leading to the aqueduct, could not take in
+what was happening. But Cornelia saw the trap door rise noiselessly,
+inexplicably; presently, in the measure that it rose, the two hands and
+then the two arms that raised it heaved in sight; simultaneously there
+appeared the top of an iron casque, and an instant later the face under
+the casque&mdash;and Cornelia recognized Antonicq&mdash;her betrothed, Antonicq
+Lebrenn!</p>
+
+<p>"The water will run out before you have time to say an<a name="page_vol-2-278" id="page_vol-2-278"></a> <i>Ave</i>," warned
+the Cordelier in a hollow voice, without removing his eyes from the
+clepsydra, and he added: "Heretic! Heretic! Make haste! Abjure your
+idolatry! If not you shall be thrown to the soldiers, you shall be given
+to the good Catholics of the whole army!"</p>
+
+<p>The imminence of the danger and the prospect of safety restored the
+young girl's presence of mind. The instant her eyes discovered her
+betrothed she became silent, motionless, watchful. The last threats of
+the monk reached Antonicq's ears at the moment when he had completely
+raised the trap door, and wrung from him despite himself an exclamation
+of fury. Fra Hervé turned sharply around and bounded from his seat in
+bewilderment at the sight of the young man leaping into the room from
+underground. Cornelia, in full control of herself, and remembering that
+the monk's cell was separated from the hall of the officers of the guard
+by a short corridor of only about twenty paces, ran back to the door
+that opened on the corridor intending to close it, and bolt it from
+within. Fra Hervé divined the young girl's purpose, and, meaning to
+prevent it, precipitated himself upon her. That instant Antonicq reached
+his betrothed, disengaged her from the clutches of the monk, seized him
+by the shoulders and flung him back violently. Free once more, Cornelia
+quickly carried out her purpose. She closed the door gently, and bolted
+and barred it from within, thus shielding herself and Antonicq behind a
+barrier that the officers of the Duke of Anjou would consume
+considerable time before they could succeed in breaking down. At the
+very moment that Cornelia closed<a name="page_vol-2-279" id="page_vol-2-279"></a> the door Fra Hervé sounded the alarm
+in a sufficiently penetrating voice to be heard in the hall of the
+guards:</p>
+
+<p>"Help! Treason! To arms! Help! The Huguenots!"</p>
+
+<p>But instantly the Cordelier's voice expired upon his lips. A vigorous
+hand seized him by the throat, the blade of a dagger shone in the air
+and twice plunged into the fratricide's breast. He fell over backward,
+bathed in his own blood, straightened himself for an instant, foamed at
+the mouth, and breathed his last;&mdash;and a muffled voice cried
+"<i>Twenty-five</i>&mdash;the bill is paid. Now I can die in peace. My sister and
+her daughter are avenged! The ransom of the crime is paid in full."</p>
+
+<p>The Franc-Taupin had emerged from under ground after Antonicq, and
+preceded Captain Mirant, who rushed to his daughter's embrace while the
+Franc-Taupin stabbed the fratricidal monk to death.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us flee!" said Cornelia to her father and her betrothed, after
+responding to their demonstrations of tenderness. "The monk's cries
+reached the hall of the guards at the head of the corridor. I hear them
+coming. Do you hear those steps? The sound of those approaching voices?"</p>
+
+<p>"We have nothing to fear. Your presence of mind, my dear girl, has
+insured our safe retreat. They will find it no easy task to enter the
+cell. The door is thick, the bolt solid," remarked the Franc-Taupin,
+examining and fastening more tightly the bolt with imperturbable
+calmness. "Cornelia, Antonicq, and you, Captain Mirant, descend to the
+aqueduct quickly, and wait for me just this side of the mine that I
+planted in the underground passage, and near<a name="page_vol-2-280" id="page_vol-2-280"></a> which Master Barbot and
+the sailors are waiting for our signal."</p>
+
+<p>Turning to Serpentin, the apprentice, who also came in after Captain
+Mirant the Franc-Taupin said:</p>
+
+<p>"Come here, my gay fellow&mdash;bring me the little machine and implements.
+We shall serve up a peppery broth to the royalists."</p>
+
+<p>Cornelia, her father and Antonicq hastened to descend the stairs of the
+underground passage that the trap door masked. Hardly had they
+disappeared, leaving the Franc-Taupin and the apprentice behind in Fra
+Hervé's cell, when they heard violent knocks given at the door, and a
+confused noise of voices calling out:</p>
+
+<p>"Fra Hervé! Fra Hervé!"</p>
+
+<p>The Marquis of Montbar was heard saying: "A minute ago he cried: 'Help!
+Treason!' He now makes no answer. The witch may have strangled the
+reverend Father!"</p>
+
+<p>And the voices outside continued to cry tumultuously: "Fra Hervé! Fra
+Hervé! We can not get in! The door is bolted from within. The devil take
+it! Open to us, Fra Hervé! We come to help you!"</p>
+
+<p>"Quick! Bring levers and an axe&mdash;or, better yet, let us break in the
+door!" the voice of the Marquis of Montbar was again heard to say. "Run
+for a company of my soldiers! We shall wait here. Hurry up!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! Oh!" observed the Franc-Taupin, after silently listening to the
+observations from the other side of the door, to which he had glued his
+ears. "The royalists are inviting themselves in large numbers to the
+banquet that<a name="page_vol-2-281" id="page_vol-2-281"></a> I am preparing for them! And why not? When there is broth
+for five guests, there is enough for ten, if the housekeeper is
+economical. Just wait, my friends! My broth is cooking! It is so
+toothsome that a single spoonful will do the work for twenty or thirty
+persons."</p>
+
+<p>"Master Josephin, here are the implements and the little machine," said
+Serpentin in a low voice, as he drew out of a bag that he brought
+suspended from his shoulders and handed over to the Franc-Taupin a heavy
+iron box about one foot long and six inches high and wide. The box,
+filled full with powder, was pierced in the center by a narrow slit
+through which a sulphured fuse was inserted. The Franc-Taupin took in
+his hands the redoubtable petard, examined the structure of the door
+minutely, and after a moment's reflection inserted the iron box with no
+little difficulty under the lower hinge. The Franc-Taupin then rose, and
+patting the apprentice upon the cheek said to him in a low voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me, my lad, why do I place the little machine so tightly between
+the floor and the hinge?"</p>
+
+<p>Serpentin reflected for a moment, scratched his ear, and then reeled off
+his answer after the fashion of a boy who recites his lesson:</p>
+
+<p>"Master, you place the little machine in that way in order that, when it
+blows up, it may tear up the door along with the hinge; the torn up
+hinge will tear up the masonry in which it is fastened; the torn up
+masonry will tear up a part of the wall; and the torn up wall will bring
+down the ceiling. As a result of all this the debris will roll down<a name="page_vol-2-282" id="page_vol-2-282"></a>
+upon the St. Bartholomew lambkins, whose flesh will have been scratched
+by the flying fragments of the little machine which will have been
+hurled in all directions, and will have whistled and ricocheted like
+artillery balls."</p>
+
+<p>"Wise&mdash;wise answer, my lad," observed the Franc-Taupin pinching the
+apprentice's ear with a satisfied look. "Continue to profit by my
+lessons in this manner, and you will become an accomplished miner, and
+you then will be able to contribute handsomely towards the scattering
+into fragments of a goodly number of papists and royalists. Now, off
+with you, hurry down the stone steps, and wait for me at the bottom."</p>
+
+<p>Serpentin obeyed. The Franc-Taupin knelt down at the threshold of the
+door, took from his belt a horn of powder and spilt along the floor a
+sufficient quantity to quite cover up the fuse. Thereupon, retreating on
+his knees, he laid down a long train of powder. The train skirted Fra
+Hervé's corpse and ended at the opening of the trap door, down which he
+descended. Josephin stopped on the stair so that only his head appeared
+above the level of the flooring. Listening in the direction of the door,
+behind which he could hear a confused noise of voices, he said to
+himself: "The Catholic vermin is swarming behind the door, but I still
+have time to cut my <i>twenty-fifth</i> notch."</p>
+
+<p>He took the little stick which he habitually carried hung on a string
+from a buttonhole of his jacket, pulled out his dagger, and cutting into
+the wood, the aged soldier said:</p>
+
+<p>"Hena, my sister's daughter, was plunged twenty-five times into the
+flames by the priests of the Church of Rome.<a name="page_vol-2-283" id="page_vol-2-283"></a> I have just put to death
+my twenty-fifth Roman Catholic and Apostolic priest!"</p>
+
+<p>As he murmured these words to himself, Josephin contemplated the corpse
+of Fra Hervé, stretched out upon his back in a pool of blood, with
+stiffened arms, clenched fists and half bent knees. The light from the
+lamp shed its pale luster upon the monk's face upon which the agony of
+death was still stamped. The jaws were close set; foam oozed out at the
+lips; the corpse's glassy and fixed eyes still seemed to preserve their
+threatening aspect from the depth of their cavities.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" exclaimed the Franc-Taupin with a terrible sigh, "How many times,
+alas! how very many times, seated at the hearth of my poor sister, when
+the unfortunate being who lies there dead and still foaming at his mouth
+with rage was a little boy, how often I took him and his younger brother
+Odelin upon my knees! caressed their little blonde heads! kissed their
+plump cheeks! Joining in their infantine amusements, I entertained them,
+I gladdened them with my Franc-Taupin songs! In those days Hervé
+equalled his brother in the gentleness of his character and the kindness
+of his heart. The two were the joy, the pride, the hope of my sister and
+of Christian! But one day a monk, a demon, Fra Girard, took possession
+of the mind of unhappy Hervé, dominated it, led it astray, corrupted it,
+and debased it forever! Oh! priests of Rome! priests of Rome! A curse
+upon you! Alas! out of the sweet boy, whom I loved so dearly, you made a
+bloodthirsty fanatic, a wrathful madman, a fratricide&mdash;and it became my
+duty<a name="page_vol-2-284" id="page_vol-2-284"></a> to smite him with my dagger&mdash;him&mdash;him&mdash;my own sister's child!"</p>
+
+<p>The Franc-Taupin was drawn from his revery by the ringing sound of blows
+struck with maces and the butts of arquebuses against the door from
+without, and splintering its woodwork, while, rising above the tumult,
+the voice of the Marquis of Montbar was heard crying: "To work! Strike
+hard! Harder still! Break in the door!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well! The hour has come for the St. Bartholomew lambkins to dance in
+the air!" said the Franc-Taupin. Without hurrying, without losing his
+calmness, he pulled from his pocket a tinder box, a wick and a flint and
+steel. Striking upon the flint with the iron, he hummed between his
+teeth the old song that the memories of Odelin's and Hervé's infancy had
+recalled to his mind:</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left">"A Franc-Taupin had an ash-tree bow,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">All eaten with worms, and all knotted its cord;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">His arrow was made out of paper, and plumed,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">And tipped at the end with a capon's spur.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><i>Derideron, vignette on vignon! Derideron!</i>"</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>During the song of the old soldier, who calmly continued to strike at
+the flint, the blows aimed at the door redoubled in violence. Presently
+it was heard to crack, yield, break, and one of its fragments fell
+inside the apartment. Immediately thereupon Josephin applied the lighted
+wick to the train of powder and vanished underground letting down the
+heavy trap door over his head. The train of powder took fire, shot along
+its course as rapid as a flash<a name="page_vol-2-285" id="page_vol-2-285"></a> of lightning, and reached the fuse of
+the petard, which exploded with a great crash at the very moment when
+the door, finally broken through, offered a passage to the Marquis of
+Montbar, closely followed by his henchmen. Like himself, they were blown
+up, mutilated or killed by the fragments of the iron box which flew into
+pieces. The masonry of the door, being torn down by the explosion,
+ripped the rest of the wall after it, bringing down the ceiling which
+fell in a heap upon the heads of the royalists.</p>
+
+<p>Cornelia, Antonicq, Master Barbot, Captain Mirant and six resolute
+mariners who accompanied him but whose help was not needed, were soon
+joined at the bottom of the aqueduct by the apprentice and the
+Franc-Taupin. Josephin forthwith blew up the mine that he had laid at
+that place in order completely to obstruct the passage of the royalists
+in case they attempted to pursue the fugitives. The whole party soon
+arrived safe and sound at La Rochelle, where they met Louis Rennepont
+and his wife, a prey to mortal anxiety upon the issue of the enterprise,
+which had that morning been planned, upon Theresa's bringing back from
+the beach the news of Cornelia's capture and reservation for the Duke of
+Anjou.</p>
+
+<p>
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>The bloody defeat, sustained by the royalists at the assault of the
+Bastion of the Evangelium, was the presage of the raising of the siege
+of La Rochelle. After two other stubbornly contested encounters, at
+which the royalist forces were again repulsed, the Duke of Anjou
+commissioned several seigneurs as parliamentarians to the Roch<a name="page_vol-2-286" id="page_vol-2-286"></a>elois
+with propositions of peace. The majority of the City Council took the
+stand that the Huguenots refused to lay down arms until a new royal
+edict consecrated their rights and their liberty. The minority of the
+City Council, aware of the worthlessness of all royal edicts, favored
+breaking with royalty for all time. The view of the majority prevailed.
+Commissioners were appointed by both sides, to agree upon the bases of a
+new edict. The Catholic commissioners were the Seigneur of La Vauguyon,
+René of Villequier, Francis of La Baume, the Count of Suze, the Seigneur
+of Malicorne, Marshal Montluc, Armand of Gontaut-Biron, and the Count of
+Retz. The Rochelois commissioners were two bourgeois, Morrisson the
+Mayor, and Captain Gargouillaud. The reformers stoutly maintained their
+position, and stipulated for the same, not in the name of their own city
+only, but in the name of all the reformers of the Protestant Republican
+Union. These stipulations were subsequently rejected by the Union, so
+soon as they became known, upon the just ground of the rest of the
+Union's not having been consulted, and of its declining to recognize the
+royal authority. Thus, thanks to their bold insurrection and their
+heroic resistance the Rochelois imposed upon Charles IX the new edict of
+July 15, 1573. This edict consecrated and extended all the rights
+previously conquered by the reformers. A clause in this edict, which was
+a crushing document to the Catholic party, provided: "That all armed
+insurrections which took place <span class="smcap">after the night of August 23, 1572</span>, are
+amnestied." Thus Charles IX was made to admit that the re<a name="page_vol-2-287" id="page_vol-2-287"></a>formers had
+justly drawn the sword to avenge the crime of St. Bartholomew's night!</p>
+
+<p>Thus the siege of La Rochelle was disgracefully raised by the Catholic
+army. This expedition cost the King immense sums of money, and he lost
+in the course of the several assaults upon the city, and also from
+sickness, about twenty-two thousand men. Among the seigneurs and
+captains killed during the siege were the Duke of Aumale, Clermont,
+Tallard, Cosseins, Du Guast, etc., besides over three hundred subaltern
+officers.</p>
+
+<p>Thus you see, Oh, sons of Joel! the glorious issue to the Rochelois of
+the siege of their city once more consecrates this truth, so often
+inscribed in the annals of our plebeian family: "Never falter! Let us
+struggle, let us battle without flagging. It is fatedly decreed that,
+only and ever through force, arms in hand, through I<small>NSURRECTION</small>, we can
+conquer our freedom and our rights, which are ever denied to us, ignored
+and violated by our eternal foes&mdash;<span class="smcap">Royalty and the Church of Rome</span>."<a name="page_vol-2-288" id="page_vol-2-288"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="EPILOGUE" id="EPILOGUE"></a>EPILOGUE.</h3>
+
+<p>On this day, the 29th of September, 1609, I, Antonicq Lebrenn, now in my
+sixty-first year, close, on our farm of Karnak, this legend of our
+family, which is the continuation of the narrative written and
+bequeathed to us by my grandfather Christian the printer and friend of
+Robert Estienne.</p>
+
+<p>Immediately upon the raising of the siege of La Rochelle I married
+Cornelia Mirant. Shortly after I put into execution a project that I had
+long been fondly nursing&mdash;that of moving to Brittany and establishing
+myself in the neighborhood of the cradle of my family. Before leaving La
+Rochelle, Colonel Plouernel, who recovered from his wounds sustained in
+the siege, renewed his offer of leasing out to me a farm belonging to
+the seigniorial estate of Mezlean, a patrimony of his wife's father, and
+known as the Karnak farm by reason of its being in the close
+neighborhood of the druid stones that bear that name. These stones are
+still extant, ranged in wide avenues, as they stood in the days of
+Julius Caesar, when our ancestress Hena, the Virgin of the Isle of Sen,
+offered herself to the gods as a holocaust, in the hope of causing them
+to render the arms of the Gauls victorious in their impending struggle
+for independence. I accepted Colonel Plouernel's<a name="page_vol-2-289" id="page_vol-2-289"></a> offer, an offer that
+also pleased Cornelia and her father, who, as he continued almost
+constantly to travel by water between La Rochelle and Vannes, a port
+located near Karnak, foresaw, as happened in fact, that he would spend
+near us all the time that he did not spend aboard ship. I sold my
+armorer's shop. Leaving my sister Theresa and her husband Louis
+Rennepont at La Rochelle, where the latter practiced the profession of
+law, and taking with us my uncle the Franc-Taupin, who promised to
+himself the pleasure of rocking our children on his knees and singing to
+them his Franc-Taupin songs, as he had done to my father Odelin, my
+ill-starred aunt Hena, and my uncle Hervé of sad memory, we departed
+from La Rochelle and settled down on our farm of Karnak on October 20 of
+the year 1573.</p>
+
+<p>My sister Theresa and her husband Louis Rennepont still reside in the
+old Protestant city. Every year they come to see us. Thanks to the
+numerous trips that his profession compelled him to make to Paris, my
+brother-in-law came in contact with several Huguenots who were well
+informed on current events. His conversations with them, together with
+extracts from several books that were published concerning leading
+public men and important occurrences, furnished him with copious
+materials which he left with me. These materials enable me here to make
+a summary sketch of the leading events since the siege of La Rochelle
+was raised:</p>
+
+<p>The edict of pacification of La Rochelle was not wholly satisfactory to
+the Huguenots of the other provinces. The<a name="page_vol-2-290" id="page_vol-2-290"></a> example of the Low Countries,
+then in successful revolt against the monarchic-clerical power of Spain,
+and organized upon the republican pattern, inspired their brothers in
+France to renewed efforts. The "Politicals" gained new recruits every
+day. The Prince of Condé, ashamed of his act of desertion, fled the
+court and issued a manifesto from Strasburg repudiating his abjuration.
+Measures were in train to renew the war, and to overthrow Charles IX,
+when his death gave a new turn to affairs.</p>
+
+<p>The monster expired in 1574, barely twenty-four years of age and haunted
+by his bloody deeds. "Oh! nurse, nurse!" he would cry in agonies of
+terror; "Oh! nurse, how much blood&mdash;it is St. Bartholomew's blood! Oh!
+how many murders&mdash;how many victims struggling to escape under the sword.
+I see them&mdash;Oh! what wicked councillors I had! Oh, God! Oh, God! have
+mercy upon me!"<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a></p>
+
+<p>Charles IX was followed by his brother the Duke of Anjou, who, in the
+meantime, had been elected King of Poland. Apprized by his mother of his
+brother's decease, he fled his Polish kingdom, and mounted the French
+throne under the name of Henry III. True to his family traditions, Henry
+III sought at first to violate the Edict of La Rochelle. Finding this
+act of treachery unfeasible, he vacillated between extreme reaction and
+progress. This course earned for him the suspicion of the Catholic
+clergy and he was assassinated by a Dominican monk, James Clement, in
+1589.<a name="page_vol-2-291" id="page_vol-2-291"></a></p>
+
+<p>War again broke out, with Henry of Bearn now at the head of the
+Huguenots, to whom he returned during the reign of Henry III. Henry of
+Bearn now claimed the crown by inheritance as Henry IV, besieged Paris,
+and was finally crowned, but not until he once more abjured
+Protestantism. His reign was benign and favorable to the Reformation. In
+1598 the Edict of Nantes was signed, granting the Huguenots absolute
+freedom of conscience. The policy of Henry IV enraged the priesthood,
+and he also fell a victim to the assassin's knife. The assassin's name
+was Francis Ravaillac. "Nine days after the death of Henry IV, on
+Tuesday, May 23, 1610, an altercation took place between Monsieur
+Leomenie and Father Cotton in full council. Leomenie said to the Jesuit
+that it was he <i>and his Society of Jesus that murdered the King</i>. On
+that same day, Ravaillac, being interrogated by the commission, answered
+<i>in accordance with the maxims of the Jesuits Mariana, Becanus and
+others, whose writings recommend the killing of a tyrant</i>."</p>
+
+<p>The death of Henry IV conjured away the danger that Rome, the Empire and
+Spain saw themselves threatened with&mdash;the Christian Republic and the
+perpetual peace of Europe. The fresh murder, also committed at the
+instigation of the disciples of Loyola, had fatal consequences. But
+sooner or later Right triumphs over Wrong, Justice over Iniquity.
+Therefore, Oh, sons of Joel! no faltering. Some day the Universal
+Republic will unfurl the red banner of freedom, and will break the yoke
+both of the Roman<a name="page_vol-2-292" id="page_vol-2-292"></a> Church and of this royalty that has oppressed Gaul
+for so many centuries.</p>
+
+<p>As to our own family, Cornelia Mirant with whom I have now been married
+thirty-seven years, gave me after twenty years of our wedded life, a son
+whom I have named Stephan. We have lived on our farm near the sacred
+stones of Karnak, and not far from Craigh, the high hill upon which,
+according to our family traditions, stood the house of our ancestor Joel
+in the days of Julius Caesar. My uncle the Franc-Taupin remained with us
+to the end of his long and eventful life. He died on the 12th of
+November, 1589.</p>
+
+<p>My brother-in-law Louis Rennepont continues to exercise his profession
+at La Rochelle. The youngest of his sons, Marius Rennepont, embraced the
+career of merchant mariner and sailed away, when still very young, on
+board a merchant vessel commanded by one of Captain Mirant's friends.
+Captain Mirant died in 1593. That same year we lost our old friend
+Master Barbot, the boilermaker of the isle of Rhe.</p>
+
+<p>I preserved amicable relations to the end with Colonel Plouernel, since
+the battle of Roche-la-Belle the head of his house. Shortly before his
+death we visited upon his invitation the old Castle of Plouernel, where
+our ancestor Den-Brao the mason was buried alive together with other
+serfs in the donjon constructed by themselves, and out of which Fergan
+the Quarryman, Den-Brao's son, rescued his own child, a poor boy whose
+blood was to assist the incantations of Azenor the Pale, the mistress of
+Neroweg VI.<a name="page_vol-2-293" id="page_vol-2-293"></a> Nothing is left to-day of that feudal edifice but imposing
+ruins. Its place is now taken by a magnificent castle built in the style
+of the Renaissance, and raised at the foot of the mountain. Colonel
+Plouernel's son remained faithful to the Reformed religion, but, after
+his death, his son abjured Protestantism and took up his residence at
+the court of Louis XIII, the successor of Henry IV, with whom he became
+a favorite. The new head of the family never returned to his own castle,
+which, together with the vast domains attached to it, is ruled by the
+bailiffs of the seigniories of Plouernel and Mezlean.</p>
+
+<p>Once, on the occasion of a trip to the port of Vannes, I met a traveler
+just arrived from Germany, who informed me of the death of Prince
+Charles of Gerolstein, a descendant of one of the branches of our
+plebeian family whose ancestor was Gaëlo, one of the companions of old
+Rolf, the chief of the Northman pirates. Prince Charles left a son
+behind, heir of his principality, who remains faithful to the Reformed
+religion.</p>
+
+<p>Our life has run peaceful and happy at this place. We cultivate our
+fields, and they satisfy our wants. My son Stephan, now sixteen years of
+age, helps me in my field labors. He is of a kind, timid and diffident
+disposition, although born of so intrepid a mother as Cornelia. He will,
+I hope, live peacefully here, unless the civil discords, which already
+begin to threaten the minority of Louis XIII, should extend into
+Brittany.</p>
+
+<p>I shall here close this narrative which my grandfather Christian the
+printer began under the reign of Francis I.<a name="page_vol-2-294" id="page_vol-2-294"></a> I shall join it to the
+archives and relics of our family together with the pocket Bible printed
+by my grandfather, and which his daughter Hena, baptized in religion
+Sister St. Frances-in-the-Tomb, held in her hands before she was plunged
+twenty-five times into the flames on the 21st of January, 1535, under
+the eyes of King Francis I, to the greater glory of the Roman Catholic
+and Apostolic Church.</p>
+
+<p class="c">THE END.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Tire-Laines means literally Wool-Pluckers.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Tire-Soies: literally Silk-Pluckers.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Mauvais-Garçons; literally Bad Boys.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a>
+</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left">From the bowels of the earth I have cried up to thee, O, Lord;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">O, Lord, give ear unto my voice.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">May thy ears be ready to listen</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">To the voice of my supplications.</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> This whole sermon la a reproduction from the records of the
+time. See Merle d'Aubigné, <i>History of the Reformation in the XVI
+Century</i>, vol. 1. p. 332. (Pp. 86, 87, edition H. W. Hagemann Publishing
+Co., New York, 1894.)</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> We consider it our duty to cite literally the monstrous
+fact against which the heart rises in revolt, and reason feels
+indignant:
+</p><p>
+"Sub commissariis insuper ac praedicatoribus veniarum imponere ut si
+quis, per impossibile. <i>Dei genetricem</i>, semper virginem violasset, quod
+eundem indulgentiarum vigore absolvere posset luce clarius
+est...."&mdash;(l'ositiones fratris J. Tezelil, quibus defendit indulgentias
+contra Lutherum. Theses 99, 100 and 101). Cited by Merle d'Aubigné,
+<i>History of the Reformation in the XVI Century</i>, p. 86, edition H. W.
+Hagemann Publishing Co., New York, 1894.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Merle d'Aubigné. <i>History of the Reformation in the XVI
+Century</i>, vol. I, pp. 328, 329. (P. 88, edition H. W. Hagemann
+Publishing Co., New York, 1894.)</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> The seat of the University of Paris.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> For these horrible calumnies spread by the clergy against
+the Reformation, see De Thou, vol. I, book II, p. 97.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> In Spanish, as well as French, "woman" and "wife" are the
+same word. Loyola punned upon the word.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> For a thrilling account of one of these invasions, see
+"The Iron Arrow Head," the tenth of this series.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> "Executio ad alios pertinet."&mdash;Bellarmin, vol. I, chap.
+VII, p. 147.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Mariana, <i>De Rege, vol. I</i>, chap. VI, p. 60.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> "'Alas', the monk explained, ' ... men have arrived at
+such a pitch of corruption now-a-days, that unable to make them come to
+us, we must e'en go to them, otherwise they would cast us off
+altogether; ... our casuists have taken under consideration the vices to
+which people of various conditions are most addicted, with a view of
+laying down maxims which ... are so gentle that he must be a very
+impracticable subject indeed who is not pleased with them.'"&mdash;Blaise
+Pascal, <i>Letters to a Provincial</i>, Letter VI, pp. 219, 220, edition
+Houghton, Osgood &amp; Co., Boston, 1880.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> <i>Practice According to the School of the Society of Jesus
+(Praxis ex Societatis Jesu Schola).</i> The passage reads: "Si habitum
+dimmittat ut furetur occulte, vel fornicetur."&mdash;Treatise 6, example 7,
+number 103. Also in Diana: "Ut eat incognitus ad lupanar."&mdash;Cited by
+Blaise Pascal, <i>Letters to a Provincial</i>, Letter VI, p. 215, edition
+Houghton, Osgood &amp; Co., Boston, 1880.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Father Gaspar Hurtado, <i>On the Subject of Sins (De Sub.
+Pecc.</i>), diff. 9; Diana, p. 5; treatise 14, r. 99.&mdash;Cited by Blaise
+Pascal, <i>Letters to a Provincial</i>, Letter VII, p. 234, edition Houghton,
+Osgood &amp; Co., Boston, 1880.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Father Anthony Escobar of Mendoza, <i>Exposition of
+Uncontroverted Opinions in Moral Theology</i>, treatise 7, example 4, no.
+223.&mdash;Cited by Pascal, <i>Letters to a Provincial</i>, Letter VI, p. 226,
+edition Houghton, Osgood &amp; Co., Boston, 1880.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Father Etienne Bauny, <i>Summary of Sins</i> (1633), sixth
+edition, pp. 213, 214.&mdash;Cited by Pascal, <i>Letters to a Provincial</i>,
+Letter VI, p. 226, edition Houghton, Osgood &amp; Co., Boston, 1880.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> "Non ut malum pro malo reddat, sed ut conservet honorem."
+are the words of Reginaldus, in <i>Practice According to the School of the
+Society of Jesus</i>, book 21, no. 62, p. 260. Also Lessius, <i>Concerning
+Justice (De Justitia)</i>, book 2, chap. 9, division 12, no. 79.&mdash;Cited by
+Pascal, <i>Letters to a Provincial</i>, Letter VII, pp. 233, 234, edition
+Houghton, Osgood &amp; Co., Boston, 1880.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Sanchez, <i>Moral Theology</i>, book 2, chap. 39, no. 7.&mdash;Cited
+by Pascal, <i>Letters to a Provincial</i>, Letter VII, p. 237, edition
+Houghton, Osgood &amp; Co., Boston, 1880.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Molina, vol. 1, treatise 2, division 88, no. 6. Also
+Escobar, <i>Moral Theology</i>, treatise 6, example 6, no. 48.&mdash;Cited by
+Pascal, <i>Letters to a Provincial</i>, Letter VIII, pp. 249, 250, edition
+Houghton, Osgood &amp; Co., Boston, 1880.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Father Bauny, <i>Summary of Sins</i>, chap. 14.&mdash;Cited by
+Pascal, <i>Letters to a Provincial</i>, Letter VIII, p. 252, edition
+Houghton, Osgood &amp; Co., Boston, 1880.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> "Media benevolentia."&mdash;Escobar, <i>Moral Theology</i>, treatise
+3, example 5, no. 4.33,34.&mdash;Cited by Pascal, <i>Letters to a Provincial</i>,
+Letter VIII, p. 253, edition Houghton, Osgood &amp; Co., Boston, 1880.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Lessius, confirmed by Escobar, treatise 3, example 2, no.
+163.&mdash;Cited by Pascal, <i>Letters to a Provincial</i>, Letter VIII, pp. 254,
+255, edition Houghton, Osgood &amp; Co., Boston, 1880.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> Lessius, book 2, chap. 14, division 8; approved and
+endorsed by Escobar: "Quamvis mulier illicite acquirat, licite tamen
+retinet acquisita." treatise 1, example 8, no. 59.&mdash;Cited by Pascal,
+<i>Letters to a Provincial</i>, Letter VIII, pp. 257, 258, edition Houghton,
+Osgood &amp; Co., Boston, 1880.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> Lessius, book 2, chap. 14, division 8. Also Escobar,
+treatise 1, example 9, no. 9.&mdash;Cited by Pascal, <i>Letters to a
+Provincial</i>, Letter VIII, p. 256, edition Houghton, Osgood &amp; Co.,
+Boston, 1880.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> Vasquez, <i>Treatise upon Alms</i>, chap. 4. So, also,
+Diana.&mdash;Cited by Pascal, <i>Letters to a Provincial</i>, Letter VI, p. 214,
+edition Houghton, Osgood &amp; Co., Boston, 1880.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Escobar, treatise 3, example 1, no. 23; treatise 5,
+example 5, no. 53.&mdash;Cited by Pascal, <i>Letters to a Provincial</i>, Letter
+VIII, p. 258, edition Houghton, Osgood &amp; Co., Boston, 1880.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Sanchez, part 2, book 3, chap. 6, no. 13; Filiutius,
+treatise 25, chap. 11, nos. 331, 328.&mdash;Cited by Pascal, <i>Letters to a
+Provincial</i>, Letter IX, pp. 276, 277, edition Houghton, Osgood &amp; Co.,
+Boston, 1880.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Father Bauny, <i>Summary of Sins</i>, p. 148.&mdash;Cited by Pascal,
+<i>Letters to a Provincial</i>, Letter IX, p. 279, edition Houghton, Osgood &amp;
+Co., Boston, 1880.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Escobar, chapter on thieving, treatise 1, example 9, no.
+13.&mdash;Cited by Pascal, <i>Letters to a Provincial</i>, Letter IX, p. 281,
+edition Houghton, Osgood &amp; Co., Boston, 1880.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> "Ob naturalem fastus inclinationem"&mdash;Escobar, treatise 1,
+example 8, no. 5.&mdash;Cited by Pascal, <i>Letters to a Provincial</i>, Letter
+IX, pp. 279, 280, edition Houghton, Osgood &amp; Co., Boston, 1880.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> Father Bauny, <i>Summary of Sins</i>, p. 165.&mdash;Alluded to by
+Pascal, <i>Letters to a Provincial</i>, Letter IX, p. 279, edition Houghton,
+Osgood &amp; Co., Boston, 1880.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> To the greater glory of God.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> Confession of Faith of the English Reformers.&mdash;Theodore de
+Beze, <i>Ecclesiastical Annals</i>, vol. 1, pp. 109-118.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> This charming passage is to be found in <i>The Book of
+Master Bernard Palissy</i>; quoted in the <i>Protestant Review</i>, vol. I, p.
+23.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> Form adopted by the Consistory</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> Protestant marriage service, according to the Psalms of
+David; translated into French by Clement Marot, Geneva.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> <i>History of the Town of Paris</i>, by Dom Felibien, of the
+congregation of St. Maur; Paris, 1725, vol. V, p. 343. Also given in the
+<i>Registers of the Town Hall of Paris</i>, and the <i>Registers of the
+Parliaments</i>, folios 507-686.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Dom Felibien, <i>History of the Town of Paris</i>, vol. V, pp.
+343-347; <i>French Ceremonial</i>, pp. 940 and following; <i>Registers of the
+Town Hall of Paris</i>, etc.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> De Thou, <i>History of France</i>, book I, p. 271.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> These monstrosities seem to exceed the boundaries of the
+possible. Let us quote literally the text of the historians:
+</p><p>
+"On the evening of the same day (January 21, 1535) the six culprits were
+taken to the parvise of Notre Dame, where the fires were prepared to
+burn them. Above the pyres rose a sort of scaffolding on which the
+patients were tied fast. The fire was then lighted under them, and the
+executioners, G<small>ENTLY</small> slacking the rope of the lever, allowed the
+miscreants to dip down to the level of the flames, in order that they be
+caused to feel the sharpest smart; they were then raised up again, kept
+hanging ablaze in midair, and, after having been several times put
+through that painful torment, they were dropped into the flames where
+they expired." (<i>History of France</i> by Father Daniel of the Society of
+Jesus, vol. IV, page 41, Paris, 1751.)
+</p><p>
+"On the said day (January 21, 1535) in the presence of the King, the
+Queen and all the court, and after the aforesaid remonstrances, the six
+heretics were brought forward to make the <i>amende honorable</i> before the
+church of Notre Dame of Paris, and immediately after they were burned
+alive." (<i>Acts and Deeds of the Kings of France and England</i>, by Jean
+Bouchet. Poitiers, 1557, in-folio, pp. 271-272.)
+</p><p>
+"In order to purge their sin, the said heretics were burned to death on
+the said day (January 21, 1535) at several places, as the King passed
+by, while in vain the poor sufferers cried and implored him for mercy."
+(<i>History of the State of Religion</i>, by Jean Sleidan. 1557, vol. IX, p.
+137). (Quotations from Catholic works.)</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> <i>Exhortation of the King of France against the Heretics</i>,
+Jean Bouchet, Poitiers, 1557, in-folio, p. 272.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> On the subject of this decree, which was later forcibly
+annulled, see <i>Extracts of the Registers of the Parliament of Paris</i>,
+LXXVI, folio 113, collated and extracted by M. Taillandier.&mdash;Cited in
+the introduction to the <i>History of the Printing Press in Paris, Memoirs
+of the Society of Antiquaries</i>, vol. XII.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> It was no infrequent occurrence to cause the tongues of
+heretics to be cut out, in order to prevent them from confessing aloud
+the Evangelical doctrine as they marched to the stake.&mdash;See the
+following citation, from Theodore of Beze.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> "Among those burnt at Paris that day, January 21, 1535,
+were: John Dubourg, a merchant-draper of Paris, living in St. Denis
+Street, at the sign of the Black Horse; Etienne Laforge, of Tournay, but
+long an inhabitant of Paris, a man very rich and very charitable; a
+schoolmistress named Mary La Catelle; and Anthony Poille, an architect
+formerly of Meaux, and blessed of God in that he carried off the palm
+among the martyrs, for having been the most cruelly treated. He had his
+tongue cut out, as more fully it is set forth in the book of the
+martyrs."&mdash;<i>Ecclesiastical Chronicles</i>, Theodore of Beze, vol. I, p. 1.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> "Jacques Bonhomme," literally Goodman Jack, or Jack
+Drudge.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> Contribution in forced labor.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> Latin: "Let us pray."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> Brantoine, <i>Illustrious Women</i>, vol. IX, p. 171.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> <i>Register Journal of L'Etoile</i>, p. 28.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> The queen's words are historical. The book was <i>Marvelous
+Discourses on Catherine De Medici</i>, by Robert Estienne, Geneva, 1565.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> <i>Register Journal of L'Etoile</i>, p. 30.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> That was the familiar appellation at court of Princess
+Marguerite, the daughter of Catherine of Medici and Henry II, so famous
+for her excesses. She married Henry IV, who later divorced her.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> De Thou, <i>History of France</i>, book LXXIV, p. 240.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> <i>Register Journal of L'Etoile</i>, supplement, p. 57.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> <i>Register Journal of L'Etoile</i>, supplement, p. 198.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> <i>Register Journal of L'Etoile</i>, p. 234. It is impossible
+to cite in full this all too true satire on the abominable morals of the
+court of France in the sixteenth century.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> <i>Register Journal of L'Etoile</i>, supplement, pp. 236, 239.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> <i>Register Journal of L'Etoile</i>, supplement, p. 239.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> "Driven thereto by the Cardinal of Lorraine, who blamed
+the conduct of the Duke of Anjou, the Queen came to the army in person
+in order to enlighten herself upon the mistake of not having engaged
+battle before the enemy's forces had effected a junction, that is, after
+the death of the Duke of Deux-Ponts, who was poisoned by some wine
+presented to him by a wine merchant of Avallon. Her Majesty wished to
+take the field with Marshal Tavannes."&mdash;<i>Memoirs of Gaspard of Sault,
+Seigneur of Tavannes.</i> pp. 322-323.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> Letters of Pius V. March 23-April 13, 1569, at
+Catena&mdash;<i>Life Of Pius</i> V, p. 85.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> De Thou, <i>History of France</i>, LXXXV, p. 129.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> Machiavelli, <i>The Prince</i>, chap. 18.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> <i>Journal and Memoirs of Francis of Lorraine</i>, Duke of
+Aumale and of Guise, containing the affairs of France and the
+negotiations with Scotland, Italy and Germany, pp. 664-665.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> Exodus 21, 23-25.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> Morning prayer of the guard, 1569.&mdash;<i>Protestant Review</i>,
+vol. I, p. 105.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> The document, here reproduced, is the literal testament of
+Admiral Coligny, taken from the original manuscripts of the National
+Library, Collection of Puy, vol. LXXXI. This document, of so great a
+historic value, was first published in full in 1852 by the Historical
+Society of French Protestants, vol. I. p. 263. That which, in our
+estimation, imparts a double interest to the testament, is the
+circumstance that it was written by the Admiral during the war (June,
+1569) after the battle of Jarnac and before the battle of Montcontour.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> <i>Register Journal of L'Etoile</i>, p. 217. The original of
+this monstrous letter was deposited among the manuscripts of the
+National Library of France by decree of the Convention, the 11th,
+Ventose, year II of the Republic. The immortal Constitutionals wished
+thus to nail royalty once more to the pillory of history.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> "While the admiral was in camp, Dominic, one of his
+chamber valets, convicted of having tried to poison his master, was
+hanged.... Having been captured by La Riviere, captain of the guard of
+the Duke of Anjou, he was overwhelmed with promises; he was made to
+expect everything, if he would poison his master. Dominic yielded,
+received money and a poisonous powder, and returned to the camp of
+Monsieur Coligny."&mdash;De Thou, <i>History of France</i>, vol. V, p. 626-627.
+See the same historian on the poisoning of the Duke of Deux-Ponts, of
+Dandolet, and others.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> Inhabitants of the fortified city of La Rochelle.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> For the details of this battle, see De Thou, vol. V. p.
+500; <i>Memoires of Gaspard of Sault</i>, Seigneur of Tavannes, vol. I, p.
+323 and following. <i>Memoires of Francis of Lanoüe</i>, vol. I, p. 623, and
+following.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> <i>Memories of the State of France under Charles IX</i>, vol.
+1, pp. 5-12.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> "Contre-Un" (Against-One) is the title at a book written
+in the sixteenth century by Estienne of La Boetie against monarchy.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> La Boétie is to-day known mainly through the friendship
+that united him to Montaigne, and which inspired the latter to write one
+of his most charming passages.
+</p><p>
+La Boétie was born in Sarlat, November 1, 1530; he died in Germignat,
+near Bordeaux, August 18, 1563. He left several works, all of which are
+to-day almost unknown. Unquestionably the most curious of his
+productions is the one mentioned by Montaigne in these terms:
+</p><p>
+"My power of handling not being such that I dare to offer as a fine
+piece richly painted and set off according to art, I have therefore
+thought best to borrow one of Estienne of La Boetie, and such a one as
+will honor and adorn all the rest of my work: namely, a discourse that
+he called <i>Voluntary Servitude</i>, which others have since further
+baptized the <i>Contre-Un</i>, a piece written in his younger years, by way
+of essay, in honor of liberty against tyranny, and which has since been
+in the hands of several men of great learning and judgment, not without
+singular and merited commendation, for it is finely written and as full
+as anything can possibly be."&mdash;Montaigne, Essays, Book I, chap. 27.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> An allusion to the Vision of Victoria, depicted in "The
+Casque's Lark," the fifth of this series.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> It is certain that Admiral Coligny's head departed for
+Rome; whether it ever arrived there is not known. Mandelot, the Governor
+of Lyons, acknowledged receipt of a letter from Charles IX ordering the
+nobleman "<i>to arrest the carrier of the head, and to take the same away
+from him</i>."&mdash;Extracts from the correspondence of Mandelot, published by
+M. Paulin, Paris, 1845, p. 119.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> Out of respect for our female readers we dare not here
+quote the <i>Register Journal of L'Etoile</i>, page 81, where is found <i>in
+extenso</i> the conversation, marked by a savage obscenity, between the
+Queen and the court ladies who accompanied her. The conversation is
+confirmed by all contemporaneous historians.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> See "The Brass Bell," number two in this series.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> See "The Carlovingian Coins," the ninth of this series.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> See, on the siege of La Rochelle, the daring manoeuvres of
+Captain Mirant; the combat sustained by Barbot the boilermaker,
+single-handed against two companies; the firing of the stranded ship
+<i>L'Ensensoir</i> by the Rochelois women, and their heroism in the combats
+in which they took part, <i>History of La Rochelle and of the Country of
+Aunis</i>, by Arcère 1756, 2 vols. in quarto. I refer my readers to that
+excellent work in order that those who would wish to certify the facts
+may see that all the episodes herein narrated concerning the siege of La
+Rochelle are strictly historic.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> As thrillingly recounted in "The Pilgrim's Shell," the
+twelfth work of this series.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> As an instance of the proud and noble bearing of the
+staunch republicans in this Council, the story is told that when it was
+found that in the passport issued by the Duke of Anjou the Rochelois
+were designated as "rebels," they refused to accept it, and Anjou was
+forced to send another passport.&mdash;<i>History of La Rochelle</i>, by Arcere,
+p. 417.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> "I am guilty, I am guilty, I am very guilty."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> <i>Register Journal of L'Etoile</i>, p. 34.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+
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+
+
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+
+
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+Project Gutenberg's The Pocket Bible or Christian the Printer, by Eugene Sue
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+
+
+Title: The Pocket Bible or Christian the Printer
+       A Tale of the Sixteenth Century
+
+Author: Eugene Sue
+
+Translator: Daniel De Leon
+
+Release Date: January 25, 2011 [EBook #35067]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POCKET BIBLE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was
+produced from scanned images of public domain material
+from the Google Print project.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE POCKET BIBLE
+
+
+THE FULL SERIES OF
+
+The Mysteries of the People
+
+::OR::
+
+History of a Proletarian Family
+
+Across the Ages
+
+By EUGENE SUE
+
+_Consisting of the Following Works_:
+
+  THE GOLD SICKLE; or, _Hena the Virgin of the Isle of Sen_.
+  THE BRASS BELL; or, _The Chariot of Death_.
+  THE IRON COLLAR; or, _Faustina and Syomara_.
+  THE SILVER CROSS; or, _The Carpenter of Nazareth_.
+  THE CASQUE'S LARK; or, _Victoria, the Mother of the Camps_.
+  THE PONIARD'S HILT; or, _Karadeucq and Ronan_.
+  THE BRANDING NEEDLE; or, _The Monastery of Charolles_.
+  THE ABBATIAL CROSIER; or, _Bonaik and Septimine_.
+  THE CARLOVINGIAN COINS; or, _The Daughters of Charlemagne_.
+  THE IRON ARROW-HEAD; or, _The Buckler Maiden_.
+  THE INFANT'S SKULL; or, _The End of the World_.
+  THE PILGRIM'S SHELL; or, _Fergan the Quarryman_.
+  THE IRON PINCERS; or, _Mylio and Karvel_.
+  THE IRON TREVET; or, _Jocelyn the Champion_.
+  THE EXECUTIONER'S KNIFE; or, _Joan of Arc_.
+  THE POCKET BIBLE; or, _Christian the Printer_.
+  THE BLACKSMITH'S HAMMER; or, _The Peasant Code_.
+  THE SWORD OF HONOR; or, _The Foundation of the French Republic_.
+  THE GALLEY SLAVE'S RING; or, _The Family Lebrenn_.
+
+
+Published Uniform With This Volume By
+
+THE NEW YORK LABOR NEWS CO.
+
+28 CITY HALL PLACE NEW YORK CITY
+
+
+
+
+THE POCKET BIBLE
+OR
+CHRISTIAN THE PRINTER
+
+A Tale of the Sixteenth Century
+
+By EUGENE SUE
+
+In Two Volumes
+Vol. I.
+
+TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL FRENCH
+By DANIEL DE LEON
+NEW YORK LABOR NEWS COMPANY. 1910
+
+Copyright 1910, by the
+NEW YORK LABOR NEWS CO.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+Volume 1
+
+PART I. THE SOCIETY OF JESUS.
+
+INTRODUCTION                                1
+
+CHAPTER.
+
+    I. THE THEFT                            7
+
+   II. THE NEOPHYTE                        18
+
+  III. THE SALE OF INDULGENCES             33
+
+   IV. THE "TEST OF THE LUTHERANS"         53
+
+    V. MONSIEUR JOHN                       78
+
+   VI. THE FRANC-TAUPIN                    87
+
+  VII. BROTHER ST. ERNEST-MARTYR          112
+
+ VIII. IN THE GARRET                      128
+
+   IX. THE PENITENT                       133
+
+    X. LOYOLA AND HIS DISCIPLES           138
+
+   XI. MOTHER AND DAUGHTER                166
+
+  XII. HERVE'S DEMENTIA                   176
+
+ XIII. CALVINISTS IN COUNCIL              193
+
+  XIV. HENA'S DIARY                       231
+
+   XV. DIARY OF ST. ERNEST-MARTYR         244
+
+  XVI. THE TAVERN OF THE BLACK GRAPE      252
+
+ XVII. THE COTTAGE OF ROBERT ESTIENNE     266
+
+XVIII. FOR BETTER AND FOR WORSE           286
+
+  XIX. ON THE ROAD TO PARIS               304
+
+   XX. JANUARY 21, 1535                   323
+
+
+Volume 2
+
+PART II--THE HUGUENOTS.
+
+INTRODUCTION                                1
+
+CHAPTER
+
+    I. THE QUEEN'S "FLYING SQUADRON"        7
+
+   II. ANNA BELL                           32
+
+  III. THE AVENGERS OF ISRAEL              71
+
+   IV. GASPARD OF COLIGNY                  90
+
+    V. FAMILY FLOTSAM                     112
+
+   VI. THE BATTLE OF ROCHE-LA-BELLE       132
+
+  VII. "CONTRE-UN"                        163
+
+ VIII. ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S NIGHT            185
+
+   IX. THE SIEGE OF LA ROCHELLE           215
+
+    X. THE LAMBKINS' DANCE                233
+
+   XI. CAPTURE OF CORNELIA                254
+
+  XII. THE DUKE OF ANJOU                  264
+
+ XIII. THE BILL IS PAID                   273
+
+EPILOGUE                                  288
+
+
+
+
+
+TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
+
+
+The epoch covered by this, the 16th story of Eugene Sue's dramatic
+historic series, entitled _The Mysteries of the People; or, History of a
+Proletarian Family Across the Ages_, extends over the turbulent yet
+formative era known in history as the Religious Reformation.
+
+The social system that had been developing since the epoch initiated by
+the 8th story of the series, _The Abbatial Crosier; or, Bonaik and
+Septimine_, that is, the feudal system, and which is depicted in full
+bloom in the 14th story of the series, _The Iron Trevet; or, Jocelyn the
+Champion_, had been since suffering general collapse with the approach
+of the bourgeois, or capitalist system, which found its first open, or
+political, expression in the Reformation, and which was urged into life
+by Luther, Calvin and other leading adversaries of the Roman Catholic
+regime.
+
+The history of the Reformation, or rather, of the conflict between the
+clerical polity which symbolized the old and the clerical polity which
+symbolized the new social order, is compressed within the covers of this
+one story with the skill at once of the historian, the scientist, the
+philosopher and the novelist. The various springs from which human
+action flows, the various types which human crises produce, the virtues
+and the vices which great historic conflicts heat into activity--all
+these features of social motion, never jointly reproduced in works of
+history, are here drawn in vivid colors and present a historic canvas
+that is prime in the domain of literature.
+
+In view of the exceptional importance of some of the footnotes in which
+Sue refers the reader to the pages of original authorities in French
+cited by him, the pages of an accessible American edition are in those
+cases either substituted or added in this translation.
+
+DANIEL DE LEON.
+
+New York, February, 1910.
+
+
+
+
+PART I
+
+THE SOCIETY OF JESUS
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+What great changes, sons of Joel, have taken place in Paris since the
+time when our ancestor Eidiol the Parisian skipper lived in this city,
+in the Ninth Century, at the time of the Northman invasion! How many
+changes even since 1350, when our ancestor Jocelyn the Champion fell
+wounded beside Etienne Marcel, who was assassinated by John Maillart and
+the royalists!
+
+The population of this great city now, in the year 1534, runs up to
+about four hundred thousand souls; daily new houses rise in the suburbs
+and outside the city walls, whose boundaries have become too narrow,
+although they enclose from twelve to thirteen thousand houses. But now,
+the same as in the past, Paris remains divided into four towns, so to
+speak, by two thoroughfares that cross each other at right angles. St.
+Martin, prolonged by St. James Street, traverses the city from east to
+west; St. Honore, prolonged by St. Antoine Street, traverses it from
+north to south. The Louvre is the quarter of the people of the court;
+the quarter of the Bastille, of the Arsenal, filled with arms, and of
+the Temple is that of the people whose profession is war; the quarter of
+the University is that of the men of letters; finally the quarter of
+Notre Dame and St. Germain, where lie the convents of the Cordeliers, of
+the Chartreux, of the Jacobins, of the Augustinians, of the Dominicans
+and of many other hives of monks and nuns besides the monasteries that
+are scattered throughout the city, is that of the men of the Church. The
+merchants, as a general thing, occupy the center of Paris towards St.
+Denis Street; the manufacturers are found in the eastern, the shabbiest
+of all the quarters, where, for one liard, workingmen can find lodging
+for the night. The larger number of the bourgeois houses as well as all
+the convents are now built of stone, and are no longer frame structures
+as they formerly were. These modern buildings, topped with slate or lead
+roofs and ornamented with sculptured facades, become every day more
+numerous.
+
+Likewise with crimes of all natures; their increase is beyond measure.
+With nightfall, murderers and bandits take possession of the streets.
+Their numbers rise to twenty-five or thirty thousand, all organized into
+bands--the _Guilleris_, the _Plumets_, the _Rougets_, the
+_Tire-Laines_,[1] the latter of whom rob bourgeois, who are inhibited
+from carrying arms. The _Tire-Soies_,[2] a more daring band, fall upon
+the noblemen, who are always armed. The _Barbets_ disguise themselves as
+artisans of several trades, or as monks of several Orders and introduce
+themselves into the houses for the purpose of stealing. Besides these
+there are the bands of _Mattes_ or _Fins-Mattois_, skilled cut-purses
+and pick-pockets; and finally the _Mauvais-Garcons_,[3] the most
+redoubtable of all, who publicly, for a price chaffered over and
+finally agreed upon, offer their daggers to whomsoever wishes to rid
+himself of an enemy.
+
+Nor is this the worst aspect presented by the crowded city. Paris runs
+over with lost women and courtesans of all degrees. Never yet did
+immorality, to which the royal court, the Church and the seigniory set
+so shocking a pace, cause such widespread ravages. A repulsive disease
+imported from America by the Spaniards since the conquests of
+Christopher Columbus poisons life at its very source.
+
+Finally, Paris presents a nameless mixture of fanaticism, debauchery and
+ferocity. Above the doors of houses of ill fame, images of male and
+female saints are seen in their niches, before which thieves, murderers
+and courtesans uncover and bend the knee as they hurry by, bent on their
+respective pursuits. The Tire-Laines, the Guilleris and other brigands
+burn candles at the altars of the Virgin or pay for masses for the
+success of their crimes in contemplation. Superstition spreads in even
+step with criminality. Pious physicians are cited who regularly take the
+weekly communion, and who, bought by impatient heirs, poison with their
+pharmaceutical concoctions the rich patients, whose decease is too slow
+in arriving. The most horrid felonies have lost their dreadfulness,
+especially since the papal indulgences, sold for cash, insure absolution
+and impunity to the criminals. The virtues of the hearth and all good
+morals seem to have fled to the bosom of those families only who have
+discarded the paganism of Rome and, although styled heretics, practice
+the simplicity of evangelical morality. One of these families is that
+of Christian the Printer, the great-grandchild of Jocelyn the
+Champion's son, who, due to the rapid progress made by the printing
+press, which rendered manuscript books useless and unnecessarily
+expensive, found it ever more difficult to earn his living at his trade
+of copyist and illuminator of manuscripts.
+
+Accordingly, after the death of his father, who was the son of Jocelyn
+the Champion and continued to live at Vaucouleurs after witnessing the
+martyrdom of Joan of Arc, Allan Lebrenn moved to Paris, induced thereto
+by John Saurin, a master-printer of this city who, having during a short
+sojourn at Vaucouleurs been struck by the young man's intelligence at
+his trade, promised to aid him in finding work in the large city. He
+accepted the offer and speedily succeeded in his new field. He married
+in 1465, died in 1474, and left a son, Melar Lebrenn, who was born in
+1466 and was the father of Christian the Printer.
+
+Melar Lebrenn followed his father's occupation, and worked long after
+his father's death in John Saurin's establishment, where his services
+were highly appreciated. But after John Saurin's death, Melar Lebrenn,
+who had in the meantime married and had three children, Christian and
+two daughters, was dismissed by Saurin's successor, a man named Noel
+Compaign. Compaign was a religious bigot. He was incensed at what he
+termed Melar Lebrenn's unbelief, hounded him with odious calumnies, and
+spoke of him to the other members of the guild as dishonest and
+otherwise unfit. Melar Lebrenn soon felt the effect of these calumnies;
+his trade went down; his savings were consumed; his family was
+breadless; he had nothing left to him but the legends and relics of his
+family, that were handed down from generation to generation.
+
+Under these circumstances Melar Lebrenn made one more and desperate
+effort to rise to his feet. He knew by reputation Henry Estienne, the
+most celebrated printer of the last century. Estienne's goodness of
+heart as well as his knowledge were matters of common repute. Melar
+Lebrenn decided to turn to him, but he found Estienne strongly
+prejudiced against him through the calumnies that Compaign had
+circulated. But Melar Lebrenn was not yet discouraged. He explained to
+Estienne circumstantially the reason of Compaign's hatred, and offered
+Estienne to serve him on trial. The offer was accepted, and Melar
+Lebrenn soon acquitted himself so well both as a typesetter and a reader
+of proof, that Master Henry Estienne, judging from the falseness of the
+accusations concerning Melar Lebrenn's skill at his trade, concluded he
+was equally wronged in his private character. From that time on,
+Estienne took a deep interest in Melar and was soon singularly attached
+to him, as much by reason of his skill, as for the probity of his
+character and the kindness of his heart.
+
+The two daughters of Melar Lebrenn were carried away by the pest that
+swept over Paris in 1512; his wife survived them only a short time; and
+Melar himself died in 1519. His only surviving child, Christian, married
+Bridget Ardouin, an embroiderer in gold and silver thread. Christian
+entered the printing establishment of Henry Estienne as an apprentice at
+his twelfth year. After the death of the venerated Henry Estienne,
+Christian remained under the employ of Robert Estienne, his father's
+heir in virtue and his superior in scientific acquirements. The editions
+that Robert Estienne issued of the old Greek, Hebrew or Latin authors
+are the admiration of the learned by the correctness of the text, the
+beauty of the type, and the perfection of the printing. Among other
+things he published a pocket edition of the New Testament, translated
+into French, a veritable masterpiece of typography. The bonds that
+united Master Robert Estienne and his workman Christian Lebrenn became
+of the closest.
+
+Three children were born of the marriage of Christian Lebrenn with
+Bridget Ardouin--a boy, born in 1516, and at the commencement of this
+history eighteen years of age; a girl in 1518, and a boy in 1520. The
+latter is named Odelin; he is an apprentice in the establishment of
+Master Raimbaud, one of the most celebrated armorers of Paris. The
+eldest son is named Herve, in memory of his mother's father, and he
+follows his father Christian's profession of printer. The girl is named
+Hena in remembrance of the Virgin of the Isle of Sen.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE THEFT.
+
+
+It was one evening towards the middle of the month of August of 1534.
+Christian Lebrenn occupied a modest house situated at about the center
+of the Exchange Bridge. Almost all the other bridges thrown over the two
+arms of the Seine are, like this one, lined with houses and constitute a
+street under which the river flows. The kitchen, where the meals were
+taken, was on the first floor, even with the street; behind this room,
+the door and window of which opened upon the public thoroughfare, was a
+smaller one, used for bed chamber by Herve, Christian's eldest son, and
+the younger brother Odelin, the apprentice at Master Raimbaud's. At the
+time, however, when this narrative opens, Odelin was absent from Paris,
+traveling in Italy with his master, who had gone to Milan in order to
+study the process by which the Milanese armors, as celebrated as those
+of Toledo, were manufactured. The upper floor of Christian's house
+consisted of two rooms. One of these he occupied himself with his wife
+Bridget; his daughter Hena occupied the other. Finally, a garret that
+served as storeroom for winter provisions, topped the house and had a
+window that opened upon the river.
+
+On this evening Christian was in an animated conversation with his wife.
+It was late. The children were both asleep. A lamp lighted the room of
+the husband and wife. Near the window, with its small lozenge-shaped
+panes fastened between ribs of lead, lay the embroideries at which
+Bridget and Hena had been at work. In the rear of this rather spacious
+chamber stood the conjugal bed, surmounted with its canopy and enclosed
+by its curtains of orange serge. A little further away was a little
+book-case containing in neat rows the volumes in the printing of which
+Christian and his father contributed at the printing establishment of
+Masters Henry and Robert Estienne. In the same case Christian kept under
+lock his family legends and relics, together with whatever else that he
+attached special value to. Above the case an old cross-bow and battle
+axe hung from the wall. It was always well to have some arms in the
+house in order to repel the attacks of bandits who had of late grown
+increasingly bold. Two flat leather covered coffers for clothes and a
+few stools completed the humble furnishings of the room. Christian
+seemed greatly troubled in mind. Bridget, looking no less concerned than
+her husband, dropped the work that she expected to finish by lamp-light,
+and stepped towards her husband. With his eyes fixed upon the ground,
+his elbows upon his knees and his head in his hands, the latter
+observed:
+
+"There can be no doubt. The person who stole the money, here, in this
+room, out of that case, and without breaking the lock, must be familiar
+with our house."
+
+"I can assure you, Christian, since yesterday when we discovered the
+theft, I have been in a continuous fever."
+
+"None but we and our children enter this room."
+
+"No, excepting our customers or their employees. But as I am well aware
+that the Barbets are bold and wily enough to put on the disguise of
+honest merchants, whenever occasion demands it, in order to gain access
+to a house and steal, and that they might play that trick upon me under
+the pretext of bringing an order for some embroidery, neither Hena nor I
+ever leave the room when a stranger is with us."
+
+"I am ransacking my mind for the intimate acquaintance who could have
+entered the room," the printer proceeded as if communing with himself
+with painful anxiety. "Occasionally, Lefevre spends an evening with us;
+I have come up into this room with him several times when he requested
+me to read some of our family legends to him."
+
+"But, my friend, it is a long time since we have seen Lefevre; you
+yourself were wondering the other day what may have become of him;
+moreover, it is out of all question to suspect your friend, a man of
+austere morals, always wrapt in science."
+
+"God prevent my suspecting him! I was only going over the extremely
+small number of persons who visit us familiarly."
+
+"Then there is my brother. The fellow is, true enough, a soldier of
+adventure; he has his faults, grave faults, but--"
+
+"Ah, Bridget, Josephin has for you and our children so tender a love, so
+touching--I hold him capable of doing almost anything in a hostile
+country, as is customary with people of his vocation; but he, who almost
+every day sits at our hearth--he, commit a theft in our house? Such a
+thought never crossed my mind--and never will!"
+
+"Oh, I thank you for these words! I thank you!"
+
+"And did you suppose that I suspected your brother? No! A thousand
+times, no!"
+
+"What shall I say? The vagabond life that he has led since his early
+youth--the habits of violence and rapine with which the 'Franc-Taupins,'
+the 'Pendards,' and the other soldiers of adventure who are my brother's
+habitual companions are so justly reproached, might have caused
+suspicion to rise in some prejudiced mind, and--but my
+God--Christian--what ails you, tell me what ails you?" cried Bridget,
+seeing her husband hide his face between his hands in utter despair, and
+then suddenly rise and pace the room, as if pursued by a thought from
+which he sought to flee. "My friend," insisted Bridget, "what sudden
+thought has struck and afflicts you? There are tears in your eyes. Your
+face is strangely distorted. Answer me, I pray you!"
+
+"I take heaven to witness," cried the artisan, raising his hands
+heavenward with a face that betrayed the tortures of his heart, "the
+loss of the twenty gold crowns, that we gathered so laboriously, is a
+serious matter to me; it was our daughter's dower; but that loss is as
+nothing beside--"
+
+"Beside what? Let me know!"
+
+"No. Oh, no! It is too horrible!"
+
+"Christian, what have you in mind?"
+
+"Leave me! Leave me!" but immediately regretting the involuntary
+rudeness, the artisan took Bridget's hands in his own, and said to her
+in a deeply moved voice: "Excuse me, poor, dear wife. You see, when I
+think of this affair I lose my head. When, at the printing shop, to-day,
+the horrible suspicion flashed through my mind, I feared it would drive
+me crazy! I struggled against it all I could--but a minute ago, as I was
+running over with you our intimate acquaintances who might be thought
+guilty of the theft, the frightful suspicion recurred to me. That is the
+reason of my distress."
+
+Christian threw himself down again upon his stool; again a shudder ran
+over his frame and he hid his face between his hands.
+
+"Tell me, my friend, what is the suspicion that assails you and that you
+so violently resist? Impart it to me, I pray you."
+
+After a painful struggle with himself that lasted several minutes, the
+artisan murmured in a faint voice as if every word burnt his lips:
+
+"Like myself, you noticed, recently--since about the time of Odelin's
+departure for Milan--you noticed, like myself, that a marked change has
+been coming over the nature and the habits of Herve."
+
+"Our son!" cried Bridget stupefied; and she added: "Mercy! Would you
+suspect him of so infamous an act?"
+
+Christian remained steeped in a gloomy silence that Bridget, distracted
+with grief as she was, did not at first venture to disturb. Presently
+she proceeded:
+
+"Impossible! Herve, whom we brought up in the same principles as his
+brother--Herve, who never was away from us--"
+
+"Bridget, I told you, the suspicion is horrible; I have struggled
+against it with all my might," and the artisan's voice was smothered
+with sobs. "And yet, if after all it should be so! If our son is indeed
+the guilty one!"
+
+"My friend, your suspicion bereaves me of my senses. You love Herve so
+dearly, and your judgment is always so sound, your mind so penetrating,
+that I can not conceive how so unjustifiable a thought could take
+possession of you. Our son is continuously at the printing shop, at your
+side, as Hena is at mine; better than anyone else should you know your
+son's heart." Bridget remained silent for a moment and then proceeded
+while scalding tears rolled down her cheeks: "Oh, I feel it, even if
+your suspicion is never justified, it will embitter the rest of my life!
+Oh, to think our son capable of stealing!"
+
+"And for that very reason there is no one else in the world but you, and
+you alone, to whom I confide the horrid suspicion. Oh, Bridget, it is
+more than a suspicion. Let us not exaggerate matters; let us not be
+unnecessarily cast down; let us calmly look into the affair; let us
+carefully refresh our memories; we may arrive--may God hear my words--at
+the conclusion that the suspicion is unfounded. As I was just saying, a
+great change has lately come over Herve. You noticed the singular
+manifestations as well as I."
+
+"Yes, recently, he, who formerly was so cheerful, so open, so
+affectionate, has of late been cold and somber, dreamy and silent. He
+has grown pale and thin; he is quickly irritated. Shortly before the
+departure of our little Odelin, he often and without cause scolded the
+poor boy, for whom he always before had only kind words. And often since
+then, have I had occasion to reproach Herve for his rudeness, I should
+almost say harshness towards his sister, whom he dearly loved. He now
+seems to avoid her company. At times I simply cannot understand his
+conduct towards her. Why, only yesterday, when you and he came home from
+the printing shop, after embracing you, as is her custom, Hena offered
+her forehead to her brother--but he rudely pushed her aside."
+
+"I did not notice that; but I did notice the growing indifference of
+Herve towards his sister. What mystery can lie below that?"
+
+"And yet, my friend, we love all our children equally. Herve might feel
+hurt if we showed any preference for Hena or Odelin. But we do not. We
+are equally kind to all the three."
+
+"Yes, indeed. We shall have to look elsewhere for the cause of the
+change that afflicts us. Can it be that, without our knowledge, he keeps
+bad company? There is one circumstance in this affair that has struck
+me. Paternal love does not blind me. I see great aptitudes in Herve.
+Not to mention the gift of an easy flowing eloquence that is
+exceptional at his age, he has become an excellent Latinist. Owing to
+his aptitude in that direction he has more than once been chosen to
+gather precious manuscripts at the houses of some men of letters, who
+are the friends of Master Robert Estienne. Usually our son attended to
+such work with accuracy and despatch. Of late, however, his absence from
+the shop on such errands is often long, unnecessarily so and also
+frequent, and he does not attend properly to his errands, sometimes does
+not attend to them at all. Master Robert Estienne has complained to me
+in a friendly way, saying that Herve should be watched, that he was
+drawing near his eighteenth year and might contract acquaintances that
+would be cause of trouble for us later."
+
+"On that very subject, my friend, only a few days ago I was reproaching
+Herve for his estrangement from the friends of his boyhood, all of whom
+are good and honest lads. He flees their company and spurns their
+cordial advances. The only person with whom he seems to be intimate is
+Fra Girard, the Franciscan friar and son of our neighbor the mercer."
+
+"I would prefer some other company for our son, but not that I accuse
+Fra Girard of being, like so many other monks, an improper person to
+associate with. He is said to be of austere morals, but being older than
+Herve, he has, I am afraid, gained considerable influence over him, and
+rendered him savagely intolerant. Several of the artisans at the shop of
+Master Estienne are, like he himself, partisans of the religious
+reform; some are openly so, despite the danger that their outspokenness
+entails, others more privately. More than once did our son raise his
+voice with excessive violence against the new ideas which he calls
+heresies. And yet he knows that you and I share them."
+
+"Alas! my friend, what woman, what mother would not share the reform
+ideas, seeing that they reject auricular confession? Did we not find
+ourselves compelled to stop our daughter from attending the confessional
+on account of the shameful questions that a priest dared to put to her
+and which, in the candor of her soul, she repeated to us? But to return
+to Herve, even though, in some respects, I dislike his intimacy with Fra
+Girard and fear it may tend to render him intolerant, the influence of
+the monk, the austerity of whose morals is commented upon, must have had
+the effect of keeping far from our son's mind an act so ugly that we can
+not mention it without shedding tears of sorrow," added Bridget wiping
+her moist eyes; "Herve's piety, my friend, becomes daily more fervent;
+as you know, the unhappy boy imposes upon himself, at the risk of
+impairing his health, ever longer fasts. Did I not discover from the
+traces of blood upon his shirt that on certain days he carries close to
+his skin a belt that is furnished within with sharp iron pricks? That is
+not the conduct of a hypocrite! He sought to conceal from all eyes the
+secret macerations that he inflicts upon himself in penitence. It was
+only accidentally that I discovered the fact. I deplore such fanaticism;
+but his fanaticism may also be a safeguard. The very exaggeration to
+which Herve carries his religious principles must strengthen him
+against temptation. Heaven be blessed! You were right, Christian; by
+closely considering the circumstances, we can come at no other
+conclusion than that such suspicions are unfounded. Our son is innocent,
+do you not think so, Christian?"
+
+Gloomy and pensive the artisan listened to his wife without interrupting
+her. He replied:
+
+"No, dear wife; fanaticism is no safeguard against evil. Alas!
+differently from you, the more I consider the facts that you adduce--I
+hardly dare say so to you--my suspicions, so far from being removed,
+grow in weight. Yes, I believe our son guilty."
+
+"Great God! What a horrible thought!"
+
+"I believe our son is sincere in his devout practices, however
+exaggerated these may be. But I also know that one of the most frightful
+consequences of fanaticism is that it clouds and perverts the most
+elemental principles of right and wrong, of justice and injustice, with
+those whom it dominates. Religious faith substitutes morality."
+
+"But theft, seeing that I must mention the word--theft--how can
+fanaticism excuse that? You must be mistaken upon that subject!"
+
+"Listen, Bridget. A few days ago--and it was the recollection of the
+circumstance that first awoke my suspicions--a few days ago one of our
+fellow workmen at the shop expressed himself with indignation at the
+traffic of indulgences that has recently been carried on in Paris, and
+he said emphatically that besides the immorality of the trade that was
+being practiced in the Pope's name, the extortion of money by such means
+from ignorance and from popular credulity was nothing short of a fraud
+practiced upon the people. And do you know the answer that our son made?
+'That is a lie! It is impious! The money that is devoted to a pious
+deed, even if it be the fruit of a theft, of a murder, is purified and
+sanctified from the moment that it is employed to the greater glory of
+the Lord!'"
+
+Bridget grew pale, and murmured in a voice smothered by sobs:
+
+"Oh! now I fear--I also fear! May God have mercy upon us!"
+
+"Do you now understand how, if our son is indeed guilty of the shameful
+act which we hesitate to impugn to him, in his blind fanaticism the
+unhappy boy will have believed that he was doing a meritorious act if he
+employed the money in some such work of devotion as ordering the saying
+of masses?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE NEOPHYTE.
+
+
+As Christian was saying these words, he heard, first at a distance and
+soon after on the Exchange Bridge itself, the loud clang of several
+bells and the sharp twirl of metal rattles, intercepted with a
+lugubrious psalmody, at the close of which the noise of bells and
+rattles became deafening. No less astonished than his wife, the artisan
+rose from his seat, opened the window, and saw a long procession filing
+before the house. At its head marched a detachment of archers carrying
+their cross-bows on their left shoulders and long thick wax candles in
+their right hands; behind them came several Dominican monks in their
+white robes and black cowls, ringing the bells and turning the rattles;
+after these followed a cart drawn by two horses caparisoned in black and
+silver network. The four sides of the cart were of considerable height
+and constituted a huge quadrangular transparency, lighted from within,
+and representing the figures of men and women of all ages, together with
+children, plunged up to the waist in a sea of flames, and, amid
+desperate contortions, raising their suppliant arms towards an image of
+God seated on a throne. On each of the four sides of the wagon and above
+the painting the following inscription was to be seen, printed in thick
+black and red letters:
+
+                    PRAY
+          FOR THE SOULS IN PURGATORY
+                  TO-MORROW
+                      AT
+    THE CHURCH OF THE CONVENT OF ST. DOMINIC
+              THE INDULGENCE
+            WILL RAISE ITS THRONE.
+                PRAY AND GIVE
+    FOR THE POOR SOULS THAT ARE IN PURGATORY.
+
+Four monks equipped with long gilded staves, topped with glass
+lanthorns, on which also souls in torture were painted, marched on
+either side of the cart. A large number of other Dominican monks
+carrying a large silver crucifix at their head, followed the cart. The
+monks chanted in a loud voice the following lugubrious psalm of
+penitence:
+
+    _"De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine;_
+    _Domine, exaudi vocem meam._
+    _Fiant aures tuae intendentes_
+    _In vocem deprecationis meae!"_[4]
+
+Every time, at the close of the funereal chant, the clatter of bells and
+rattles was struck up anew as the procession marched along. Finally, a
+second detachment of archers brought up the rear. A crowd of ragged men
+and women, all with cynic and even ruffianly faces, almost all
+night-strollers, if not worse, followed in the wake of the march. They
+held one another by the arms, sang, crossed themselves and shouted:
+
+"Glory to the Holy Father!"
+
+"He sends us indulgences!"
+
+"We need them!"
+
+"Blessings upon him!"
+
+Interspersed between these exclamations, coarse and even obscene jokes
+were exchanged. The mob nevertheless bore the impress of conviction in
+the most deplorable of superstitions. A large number of the inhabitants
+of the houses built upon the bridge threw open their windows as the
+procession filed by; some of these reverently knelt down at their
+windows. After the procession had passed and the noise sounded only from
+a distance, Christian re-shut the window of his room, and said to his
+wife in voice that was even sadder than before:
+
+"Alas, this procession seems to me to bode us only ill."
+
+"I do not understand you, my friend."
+
+"You saw, Bridget, the picture on the transparency of the cart that
+these monks surrounded. It represented the souls in purgatory, writhing
+in flames. The Dominican monks, whom the Pope has delegated to sell
+plenary indulgences, also sell the ransoming of souls in pain. All those
+who share that belief are convinced that, by means of money, they are
+able to snatch from the flames of purgatory, not only the near
+relatives or friends whom they imagine exposed to such torture, but also
+strangers to them. Could not Herve have thought to himself: 'With the
+gold that I purloin from my father I shall be able to ransom twenty
+souls--fifty souls from purgatory'?"
+
+"Say no more, Christian, say no more!" cried Bridget with a shudder;
+"say no more! My doubts, alas! almost turn into certainty;" but suddenly
+interrupting herself and listening in the direction of the door of the
+room, she added in a low voice: "Listen--listen."
+
+Husband and wife remained silent. In the midst of the profound silence
+of the night they heard a noise that sounded like the intermittent
+strapping of a body. A thought flashed through Christian's mind; he
+motioned his wife not to stir; took up the lamp, and gently opened the
+door leading to the wooden staircase through which the lower floor was
+reached. Leaning over the banister with his hand shading the lamp,
+Christian saw Herve, whom, no doubt, the clatter of bells and rattles of
+the procession had awakened, kneeling in only his shirt and trousers
+upon the floor and inflicting a rude discipline upon his sides and
+shoulders by means of a cat-o'-nine-tails, the thongs of which ended in
+knots. The lad flagellated himself with such intense exaltation that he
+did not notice the proximity of his father on the staircase, although
+the light shed by the lamp projected its rays into the lower hall.
+Bridget had followed her husband with tears in her eyes, walking on
+tip-toe. He felt the trembling hand of his wife upon his shoulder and
+in his ear the whispered words of distress that forced themselves
+through her sobs:
+
+"Oh, the unhappy boy!"
+
+"Come, my dear wife; the moment is favorable to obtain a confession from
+our son."
+
+"And if he confesses, let everything be pardoned," replied the indulgent
+mother. "He must have succumbed to an impulse of fanatical charity."
+
+With the lamp in his hand the artisan descended into the kitchen with
+his wife without seeking to conceal their approach. The sound of their
+steps and the creak of the wooden staircase under their feet finally
+attracted Herve's attention. He suddenly turned his head, and, seeing
+his father and mother, rose from the floor with a start as if propelled
+by a spring. In his surprise the lad dropped his instrument of torture.
+
+Christian's son was almost eighteen years of age. His once open, happy
+and blooming face, that breathed frankness, had become pale and somber;
+his unsteady, restless eyes seemed to eschew observation. The unexpected
+presence of his parents seemed at first to cause him a painful
+impression; he looked embarrassed; but doubtlessly calling himself to
+account for the unguarded impulse of false shame, he said resolutely
+without raising his eyes:
+
+"I was administering a discipline to myself--I thought I was alone--I
+was fulfilling a penance--"
+
+"My son," replied the artisan, "seeing that you are up, sit down upon
+that chair--your mother and I have serious matters to speak about with
+you; we shall be better here than upstairs, where our voice might wake
+up your sister."
+
+Not a little astonished, the lad sat down, on a stool. Christian also
+sat down; Bridget remained standing near her husband, leaning upon his
+shoulder, with her eyes resting compassionately upon her son.
+
+"My boy," said Christian, "I wish, first of all, to assure you that
+neither I nor your mother have ever thought of crossing you in the
+religious practices that you have of late been indulging in with all the
+impetuous ardor of a neophyte. But seeing that the occasion presents
+itself, I wish to make some observations to you upon the subject in all
+fatherly love."
+
+"I listen, father; speak."
+
+"You, as well as your sister and brother, have been brought up by us in
+the evangelical doctrine--love one another, do not unto others what you
+would not like to be done to, pardon those who trespass against you,
+pity the sinners, help the sorrowful, honor those who repent, be
+industrious and honest. These few words sum up the eternal morality that
+your mother and myself have preached and held up to you since your
+infancy as the example to be followed. When you reached riper years of
+intelligence I sought to inculcate in your mind that belief of our
+fathers that we are immortal, body and soul, and that after what is
+called death, a moment of transition between the existence that ends and
+that which begins, we are born again, or, rather, continue to live,
+spirit and matter, in other spheres, thus rising successively, at each
+of those stages of our eternal existence, towards infinite perfection
+equal to that of the Creator."
+
+"That, father, is heresy, and flies in the face of Catholic dogma."
+
+"Be it so. I do not force the belief upon you. Every man is free to
+strive in his religious aspirations after his own ideal of the relations
+between the Creator and the creature. The freedom to do so is the most
+priceless attribute of the soul, the sublimest right of human
+conscience."
+
+"There is no religion in the world beside the Catholic religion, the
+revealed religion," put in Herve in a sharp voice. "All other belief is
+false--"
+
+"My friend," said Christian interrupting his son, "I do not wish to
+enter into a theological discussion with you. You have of late lost your
+former happy disposition, you seem to mistrust us, you grow more and
+more reserved and taciturn, your absences from the printing shop are
+becoming frequent and are prolonged beyond all measure; your nature,
+once so pleasant and buoyant, has become irritable and sour, even to the
+point of rudeness towards your brother Odelin before his departure for
+Milan. Besides that and since, your asperity towards your sister is ever
+more marked--and yet you know that she loves you dearly."
+
+At these last words a thrill ran over Herve's frame. At the mention of
+his sister, his physiognomy grew more intensely somber and assumed an
+undefinable expression. For a moment he remained silent, whereupon his
+voice, that sounded sharp and positive shortly before in his answers
+regarding religious matters, became unsteady as he stammered:
+
+"At times I am subject to fits of bad humor that I pray God to free me
+of. If--I have been--rude--to my sister--it is without meaning to. I
+entertain a strong affection for her."
+
+"We are certain of that, my child," Bridget replied; "your father only
+mentions the circumstance as one of the symptoms of the change that we
+notice in you, and that so much alarms us."
+
+"In short," Christian proceeded, "we regret to see you give up the
+company of the friends of your childhood, and no longer share the
+innocent pleasures that become your age."
+
+Herve's voice, that seemed so much out of his control when his sister
+Hena was the topic, became again harsh and firm:
+
+"The friends whom I formerly visited are worldly, they are running to
+perdition; the thoughts that to-day engage me are not theirs."
+
+"You are free to choose your connections, my friend, provided they be
+honorable. I see you have become an intimate friend of Fra Girard, the
+Franciscan monk--"
+
+"God sent him across my path--he is a saint! His place is marked in
+paradise."
+
+"I shall not dispute the sanctity of Fra Girard; he is said to be a man
+of probity, and I believe it. I must admit, however, that I would have
+preferred to see you form some other friendship; the monk is several
+years your senior; you seem to have a blind faith in him; I fear lest
+the fervor of his zeal may render you intolerant, and lead you to share
+his own excessive religious exaltation. For all that, I never reproached
+you for your intimacy with Fra Girard--"
+
+"Despite anything that you could have done or said, father, I would have
+seen to my own salvation. God before the family."
+
+"And do you imagine, my son, that we could be opposed to your welfare?"
+asked Bridget in an accent of affectionate reproach. "Do you not know
+how much we love you? Are not all our thoughts dictated by our
+attachment to you? Can you doubt our affection?"
+
+"Happiness lies in the faith, and the faith comes to us from heaven.
+There is no welfare outside of the bosom of the Church."
+
+"It would have become you better to answer your mother's kind words with
+other terms," observed Christian, as he saw his wife hurt and saddened
+by the harshness of Herve's words. "If your faith comes from heaven,
+filial love also is a celestial sentiment; may God forfend that it be
+weakened in your heart--in fine, may God forfend that Fra Girard's
+influence over you should tend to pervert, despite himself and despite
+yourself, your sense of right and wrong."
+
+"I do not understand you, father."
+
+The artisan cast a significant look at Bridget, who, guessing her
+husband's secret thoughts, felt assailed by mortal anguish.
+
+"I shall explain myself more clearly," Christian continued. "Do you
+remember a few days ago at the shop when some of our fellow workmen
+expressed indignation at the traffic in indulgences?"
+
+"Yes, father; and I withered the blasphemous utterances with the
+contempt that they deserved. Indulgences open the gates of heaven."
+
+"One of our fellow workingmen loudly likened the commerce in indulgences
+to a theft," Christian proceeded, unable completely to overcome his
+emotion, while Bridget in vain sought to catch the eyes of her son, who,
+from the start of this conversation held his eyes nailed to the floor.
+"Upon hearing so severe an opinion expressed upon the indulgences,"
+Christian added, "you, my son, shouted that all money, even if it
+proceeded from theft, became holy if devoted to pious works; you said
+so, did you not? You thereby justified a reprehensible action."
+
+"It is my conviction."
+
+After a momentary silence the artisan again resumed:
+
+"My boy, you were surely awakened to-night, as we ourselves were, by the
+noise of the procession. It was the procession of indulgences."
+
+"Yes, father--and in order to render my prayers for the deliverance of
+the souls in purgatory more efficacious, I macerated myself."
+
+"The monks claim that the souls in purgatory can be ransomed by money;
+do they not make the claim?"
+
+"It is the doctrine of the Catholic Church, father. The Church can not
+err."
+
+"Herve, let me suppose that you find on the street a purse full of gold;
+would you believe yourself justified to dispose of it in behalf of the
+souls in purgatory, without first inquiring after the rightful owner of
+the purse?"
+
+"I would not hesitate a minute to do what you said. I would take it to
+the Church."
+
+Christian and Bridget exchanged looks of distress at this answer. Their
+suspicions were almost confirmed. They now counted at least with Herve's
+frankness. Convinced that all means were legitimate in order to compass
+the salvation of souls in pain, he would assuredly admit the theft. The
+artisan proceeded:
+
+"My son, we never set you the example of duplicity. Particularly at this
+moment when we must appeal to your frankness, we shall speak without
+circumlocution. I have this to say to you: The fruits of your mother's
+laborious savings and my own have been recently purloined; the sum
+amounted to twenty gold crowns."
+
+Herve remained impassable and silent.
+
+"The theft was committed yesterday or the day before," pursued
+Christian, painfully affected by his son's impassiveness. "The money was
+deposited in the case in our bedroom, and could have been taken away by
+none except a person familiar in our house."
+
+With his hands crossed over his knees and his eyes on the floor, Herve
+remained silent, impenetrable.
+
+"Your mother and I first cudgeled our brains to ascertain who could have
+committed the guilty act," Christian proceeded, driving the point nearer
+and nearer home, and he added slowly, accentuating these last words:
+"It then occurred to us that, seeing the theft was justifiable by your
+convictions--that is to say, that it was legitimate if committed for the
+sake of some pious work--you might--in a moment of mental
+aberration--have appropriated the sum for the purpose of consecrating it
+to the ransoming of souls in purgatory."
+
+The husband and wife awaited their son's answer with mortal anxiety.
+Christian watched him closely and observed that, despite Herve's
+apparent impassiveness, a slight flush suffused his face; although the
+lad did not raise his eyes, he cast furtive glances at his parents. The
+somber and guilty glances, caught by Christian, surprised and distressed
+him. He no longer doubted his son's guilt, he even despaired of drawing
+from the lad a frank admission that might somewhat have extenuated the
+ugly action. Christian continued with a penetrating voice:
+
+"My son, I have acquainted you with the painful suspicions that weigh
+upon our hearts--have you no answer to make?"
+
+"Father," said Herve firmly and tersely, "I have not touched your
+money."
+
+"He lies," thought the desolate artisan to himself; "it is our own son
+who committed the theft."
+
+"Herve," cried Bridget with her face bathed in tears and throwing
+herself at the feet of her son, around whom she threw her arms, "my son,
+be frank--we shall not scold you! Good God, we believe in the sincerity
+of your new convictions--they are your only excuse! You certainly must
+have believed that with the aid of that money, which lay idle on the
+shelf of the book-case, you might redeem poor souls from the tortures of
+purgatory. The charitable purpose of such a superstition might, aye, it
+is bound to, carry away a young head like yours. I repeat to you; we
+shall look upon that as your excuse; we shall accept the excuse, in the
+hope of leading you back again to more wholesome ideas of good and evil.
+From your point of view, so far from your action being wrongful, it must
+have seemed meritorious to you. Why not admit it? Is it shame that
+restrains you, my poor boy? Fear not. The secret will remain with your
+father and me." And embracing the lad with maternal warmth, Bridget
+added: "Do not the principles in which we brought you up make us feel
+sure that, despite your temporary blindness, you will know better in the
+future? Could you possibly become confirmed in dishonesty, you, my son?
+You who until now gave us so much cause for happiness? Come, Herve, make
+a manly effort--tell us the truth--you will thereby change our sorrow
+into joy; your confession will prove your frankness and your confidence
+in our indulgence and tenderness. You still are silent?--not a word--you
+have not a word for me?" cried the wretched woman, seeing her son
+remaining imperturbable. "What! we who should complain, are imploring
+you! You should be in tears, and yet it is I alone who weep! You should
+be at our feet, and I am at yours! And yet you remain like a piece of
+icy marble! Oh, unhappy child!"
+
+"Mother," repeated Herve with inflexible voice without raising his eyes,
+"I have not touched your money."
+
+In despair at such insensibility, Bridget rose and threw herself
+convulsively sobbing into the arms of her husband: "I am a mother to be
+pitied."
+
+"My son," now said Christian in a severe tone, "if you are guilty--and I
+regret but too deeply that I fear you are--learn this: Even if you
+should have employed the money that has been purloined from my room in
+what you term 'pious works,' you would not therefore be less guilty of a
+theft, do you understand?--a theft in all the disgraceful sense of the
+word! I was not mistaken! It has turned out so! By means of unworthy
+sophisms, your friend Fra Girard has perverted your one-time sense of
+right and wrong! Oh, whatever insane or impostor monks may say to the
+contrary, human and divine morality will always condemn theft, whatever
+the disguises or hypocritical pretexts may be under which it is
+committed. To believe that such a disgraceful action deserves no
+punishment--worse yet, that it is meritorious--by reason of the fruits
+thereof being consecrated to charitable works, is about the most
+monstrous mental aberration that can ever insult the conscience of an
+honest man!" Christian thereupon supported and led Bridget in tears back
+towards the staircase, took up the lamp, and walked upstairs with these
+parting words to his son: "May heaven open your eyes, my son and inspire
+you with repentance!"
+
+Imperturbable as ever, Herve did not seem to hear his father's last
+words. When the latter re-entered his own room with his wife and closed
+the door, the young man, who had remained in the dark, threw himself
+down upon his knees, picked up his instrument of discipline and began
+flagellating himself with savage fury. The lad smothered the cries that
+the pain involuntarily forced from him, and, a prey to delirious
+paroxysms, only murmured from time to time, with bated breath, the name
+of his sister Hena.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE SALE OF INDULGENCES.
+
+
+The morning after the trying night experienced by Christian and his
+wife, a large crowd filled the church of the Dominican Convent. It was a
+bizarre crowd. It consisted of people of all conditions. Thieves and
+mendicants, artisans, bourgeois and seigneurs, lost women and devout old
+dames, ladies of distinction and plebeian women and children of all
+ages, elbowed one another. They were all attracted by that day's
+religious celebration; they crowded especially near the choir. This
+space was shut off by an iron railing four feet in height; it was to be
+the theater of the most important incidents in the ceremony. Among the
+spectators nearest to the choir stood Herve Lebrenn together with his
+friend Fra Girard. The Franciscan monk was about twenty-five years of
+age, and of a cadaverous, austere countenance. The mask of asceticism
+concealed an infernal knave gifted with superior intelligence. The monk
+enveloped his young companion, so to speak, with a fascinating gaze; the
+latter, apparently a prey to profound preoccupation, bent his head and
+crossed his arms over his breast.
+
+"Herve," said Fra Girard in a low voice, "do you remember the day when
+in a fit of despair and terror you came to me to confession--and
+confessed a thing that you hardly dared admit to yourself?"
+
+"Yes," answered Herve with a shudder and dropping his eyes still lower;
+"yes, I remember the day."
+
+"I then told you," the Franciscan proceeded to say, "that the Catholic
+Church, from which you were separated from childhood by an impious
+education, afforded consolation to troubled hearts--even better, held
+out hope--still better than that, gave positive assurance even to the
+worst of sinners, provided they had faith. By little and little our long
+and frequent conversations succeeded in causing the divine light to
+penetrate your mind, and the scales dropped from your eyes. The faith
+that I then preached to you, has since filled and now overflows your
+soul. Fasting, maceration and ardent prayer have smoothed the way for
+your salvation. The hour of your reward has arrived. Blessed be the
+Lord!"
+
+Fra Girard had hardly uttered these words when the deep notes of the
+organ filled with a melancholic harmony the lugubrious church into which
+the light of day broke only through narrow windows of colored glass. A
+procession that issued from the interior of the Dominican cloister
+entered the church and marched around the aisles. The cortege was headed
+by four footmen clad in red, the papal livery, who held aloft four
+standards upon which the pontifical coat-of-arms was emblazoned; they
+were followed by priests in surplices surrounding a cross and chanting
+psalms of penitence; behind these came another platoon of papal
+footmen, bearing a stretcher covered with gold cloth, and in the center
+of which, on a cushion of crimson velvet, lay a red box containing the
+bull of Leo X empowering the Order of St. Dominic to dispense
+indulgences. Several censer-bearers walked backward before the
+stretcher, and stopped from time to time in order to swing their copper
+and silver censers from which clouds of perfumed vapor issued and
+circled upward. A Dominican prior walked behind the stretcher clasping a
+large cross of red wood in his arms; this dignitary--a man in the full
+vigor of age, tall of stature and so corpulent that his paunch
+threatened to burst his frock--was the Apostolic Commissioner entrusted
+with the sale of indulgences; a heavy black beard framed in his
+high-colored face; the monk's triumphant gait and the haughty looks that
+he cast around him pointed him out as the hero of the approaching
+ceremony. He was followed by a long line of penitentiaries and
+sub-Apostolic Commissioners with white wands in their hands. A last
+squad of papal footmen, holding by leather straps a huge coffer also
+covered with crimson velvet and locked with three gilded clasps, closed
+the procession. A slit, similar to that of the poor-boxes in churches,
+was cut into the lid of the coffer. Through it the moneys were to be
+dropped by the purchasers of indulgences, or by the faithful, anxious to
+redeem the souls in purgatory.
+
+When the procession, at the passage of which the crowd prostrated itself
+religiously, completed the circuit of the church, the papal footmen who
+bore the banners grouped them as trophies upon the main altar, before
+which the stretcher, covered with gold cloth, the bull, and the big
+coffer were processionally borne. The Apostolic Commissioner with the
+cross of red wood in his hand placed himself near the coffer; the
+penitentiaries ranked themselves in front of several confessionals that
+were set up for the occasion near the choir, and all of which bore the
+pontifical arms.
+
+The excitement and curiosity awakened by the procession together with
+the peals of the organ and the chant of the priests excited a
+considerable agitation in the church. By degrees quiet was restored, the
+kneeling faithful rose again to their feet, and all eyes turned
+impatiently towards the choir. Herve, who had been one of the first to
+prostrate himself, was among the last to rise; the lad was a prey to
+profound agony; perspiration bathed his now livid face; he was hardly
+able to breathe. Turning his wandering eyes towards Fra Girard, he said
+to the monk in broken accents:
+
+"Oh, if I only can rely upon your promises! The moment has arrived when
+I must believe. I tremble!"
+
+"Oh, man of little faith!" answered the Franciscan with severity and
+pointing to the papal commissioner, who was preparing to speak;
+"listen--and repent that you doubted. Ask God to pardon you."
+
+The silence became profound; the dealer in indulgences deftly rolled up
+the sleeves of his robe, just as a juggler in the market would have done
+in order not to be hindered in the tumultuous motions of his
+performance, and pointing to the red cross which he placed beside him,
+he cried in a stentorian voice fit to make the glass windows of the
+building rattle:
+
+"In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, Amen![5] You see
+this cross, my beloved brothers? Well, this cross is as efficacious as
+the cross of Jesus Christ! You will ask me, How so? My answer is that
+this is, so to speak, the symbol of the indulgences that our Holy Father
+has commissioned me to dispense. But what are these indulgences? you
+will then ask? What they are, my brothers? They are the most precious
+gift, the most miraculous, the most wonderful that the Lord has ever
+bestowed upon His faithful! Therefore, I say unto you--Come, come to me;
+I shall give you letters furnished with the seal of our Holy Father, and
+thanks to these letters, my brothers--would you believe it?--not only
+will the sins that you have committed be pardoned, but they will give
+you absolution for the sins that you desire to commit!"
+
+"Did you hear that?" Fra Girard whispered to Herve. "One can obtain
+absolution both for the sins that he has committed, and for the sins
+that he intends to commit!"
+
+"But--there--are--things--crimes and outrages," stammered Herve with
+secret horror, "that, may be, one can not obtain absolution for! Oh, woe
+is me! I feel myself sliding down a fatal slope!
+
+"Listen," replied the Franciscan, "listen to the end; you will then
+understand."
+
+The mass of people that were crowded in the church received with
+indescribable signs of satisfaction the words uttered by the Dominican
+seller of indulgences; especially did those whose purses were well lined
+hail with delight the prospect of their salvation if they but took the
+precaution of equipping themselves in advance with an absolution that
+embraced the past, the present and the future. The Apostolic
+Commissioner observed the magic effect that his words produced; in a
+jovial and familiar tone he proceeded to harangue the audience amidst
+violent contortions of both face and limbs:
+
+"Now, let us have a heart-to-heart talk, my brothers; let us reason
+together. Let us suppose that you wish to undertake a voyage into some
+strange country that is infested with thieves; fearing that you will be
+rifled of all that you carry about you before you attain the end of your
+journey, you do not wish to take your money with you. What do you do?
+You take your money to a banker, do you not? You allow him a slight
+profit, and he furnishes you with a draft, by means of which the money
+that you deposited with him is paid over to you in the strange country,
+upon your arrival there. Do you understand me well, my beloved
+brothers?"
+
+"Yes," answered several of the faithful; "we understand--proceed with
+your discourse."
+
+"Miserable sinners!" replied the Dominican suddenly changing his jovial
+tone into a thundering voice. "Miserable sinners! You understand me, say
+you? and yet you hesitate to buy from me for the small price of a few
+crowns a draft of salvation! What! Despite all the sins that you may
+render yourselves guilty of during the voyage of life, infested as that
+road is with diabolical temptations that are infinitely more dangerous
+than thieves, this draft will be paid to you in paradise in the divine
+money of eternal salvation by the Almighty, upon whom we, the bankers of
+souls, have drawn in your name--and yet you hesitate to insure to
+yourselves at so small a cost your share of the celestial enjoyments
+reserved for the blissful! No! No! You will not hesitate, my brothers!
+You will buy my indulgences!" the Dominican now proceeded to say with a
+resumption of familiar and even paternal solicitude. "Nor is this all,
+my brothers; my indulgences do not save the living only, they redeem the
+dead! Aye, the dead, be they even as hardened as Lucifer himself! But,
+you may ask, how can your indulgences deliver the dead?" cried the
+merchant of salvation again shouting at the top of his voice, "How will
+my indulgences save the dead? Can it be that you do not hear the voices
+of your parents, your friends, even of strangers to you--but what does
+that matter, seeing that you are Christians?--can it be that you do not
+hear their frightful concert of maledictions, of groans, of gnashing of
+teeth which rises from the bottom of the abyss of fire, where those poor
+souls are writhing in the furnace of purgatory--where they writhe,
+waiting for the mercy of God or the pious works of man to deliver them
+from their dreadful tortures? Can it be that you do not hear those
+miserable sinners, the piteous meanings of those unhappy people, who
+from the bottom of the yawning gulf where the flames are devouring them
+cry out to you: 'Oh, ye stony hearts! we are enduring frightful torture!
+An alms would deliver us! You can give it! Will you refuse to give it?'
+Will you refuse, my brothers? No! I know you will give the alms. I know
+you will give it when you consider that the very instant your gold
+crowns drop into this trunk," (pointing to it) "crack--psitt--the soul
+pops out of purgatory and flies into heaven like a dove liberated from
+its cage! Amen! Empty your purses, empty your purses, my friends!"
+
+The majority of the audience before the Dominican seemed little
+concerned about the deliverance of souls in pain. However blind their
+superstitious belief, it had a certain charitable side, but that side
+had no attraction whatever for the faithful ones who were attracted only
+by the expectation of being able, by means of indulgences, to give a
+loose, in perfect security of conscience, to whatever excesses or crimes
+they had in mind.
+
+A man with a gallows-bird face named Pichrocholle, one of the
+Mauvais-Garcons who hired out their homicidal daggers to the highest
+bidder, said in a low voice to a Tire-Laine, another bandit, and one of
+the worst of his kind:
+
+"As truly as the Franc-Taupin whom I was speaking about to you a short
+time ago saved my life at the battle of Marignan, I would not give six
+silver sous for the redemption of the souls in purgatory! Oh, if I only
+were rich enough to purchase a good letter of absolution--'sdeath!--I
+would pay for it gladly and spot-cash, too! Once the papal absolution
+is in your pocket, your hand is firmer at its work; it does not tremble
+when dispatching your man! With an absolution duly executed, you can
+defy the fork of Satan on the Judgment Day. But by St. Cadouin, what do
+I care for the souls in purgatory! I laugh at their deliverance! And
+you, Grippe-Minaud?"
+
+"I confess," answered the Tire-Laine, "I bother as little about the
+souls in purgatory as about an empty purse. But tell me, Pichrocholle,"
+added Grippe-Minaud with a pensive air, "letters of absolution are too
+dear for poor devils like ourselves--suppose we stole one of those
+blessed letters from the commissioner, would the theft be a sin?"
+
+"'Sdeath! How could it be? Does it not give absolution in advance? But
+those jewels are kept too safely to be pilfered."
+
+While the Mauvais-Garcon and the Tire-Laine were exchanging these
+observations, the Apostolic Commissioner rolled his sleeves still
+higher, and continued his sermon, interspersing his words with smiles or
+violent gestures according as the occasion demanded:
+
+"But, my brothers, you will say to me: You puff your indulgences a good
+deal; nevertheless there are such frightful crimes, crimes that are so
+abominable, so monstrous that your indulgences could never reach them!
+You are mistaken, my brothers. No! A thousand times no! My indulgences
+are so good, they are so sure, they are so efficacious, so powerful that
+they absolve everything--yes, everything! Do you want an example? Let us
+suppose an impossible thing--let us suppose that someone were to rape
+the holy Mother of God--an abominable act of sacrilege!"[6]
+
+A long murmur expressive of dreadful suspense and hope received these
+last words of the trafficker in indulgences; a boundless horizon was
+opened for all manner of the blackest and most unheard-of felonies.
+Among others in the crowd, Herve remained hanging upon the lips of the
+Dominican; the lad was seized with dizziness; he imagined himself
+oppressed by a nightmare. The hollow-sounding voice of Fra Girard awoke
+him to reality. With a triumphant accent the Franciscan whispered to his
+disciple:
+
+"An insult to the Mother of God herself would be pardoned! Even such a
+crime would be reached by an indulgence! Did you hear him? Did you? An
+indulgence would cover even that!"
+
+A tremor ran through Herve from head to foot; he made no answer, hid his
+face in his hands, and feeling himself reel like an intoxicated man and
+even his knees to yield under him, the lad found himself obliged to lean
+upon the arms of the Franciscan, who contemplated him with an expression
+of infernal joy.
+
+The merchant of indulgences had paused for a moment upon uttering his
+abominable supposition in order the better to assure himself of its
+effect; he then proceeded in a stentorian voice:
+
+"You tremble, my brothers! So much the better! That proves that you
+appreciate in the fulness of its horror the sacrilege which I cited as
+an example! Now, then, the more horrible the sacrilege, all the more
+sovereign is the virtue of my indulgences, seeing that they give
+absolution therefor! Yes, my brothers, whatever the sacrilege that you
+may commit, you will be pardoned--provided you pay for it--provided you
+pay bountifully for it! That is clearer than day! Our Lord God will have
+no power over you, he ceases to be God, having assigned His pardoning
+power to the Pope. But, you may still ask, why does our Holy Father so
+bountifully distribute the boon of his indulgences? Why?" repeated the
+Dominican in a voice of deep lament; "why? Alas! alas! alas! my
+brothers, it is in order to be enabled, thanks to the returns from the
+sales of these indulgences, to rebuild the Basilica of St. Peter and St.
+Paul in Rome with such splendor that there is none to match it in the
+world. Indeed, none other must be like that basilica, which contains the
+sacred bodies of the two apostles! And this notwithstanding--would you
+believe it, my brothers?--the Cathedral of Rome is in such a state of
+dilapidation that the holy bones, the sacrosanct bones of St. Peter and
+St. Paul are so constantly exposed to the peltings of rain and hail,
+they are so soiled and dishonored by dust and vermin that they are
+falling to pieces!"
+
+A shudder of painful indignation ran over the faithful crowd assembled
+before the Dominican when thus informed that the relics of the apostles
+were exposed to the inclemencies of the weather and the soilure of
+vermin as a result of the dilapidated state of the Basilica of Rome,
+while, since then, the most marvelous monument of architecture that
+immortalizes the genius of Michael Angelo, was reared to the admiration
+of the world. Perceiving the effect made by his peroration, the
+Dominican proceeded in a thundering voice:
+
+"No, my brothers! No! The sacred ashes of the apostles shall no longer
+remain in dirt and disgrace! No! Indulgence has set up its throne in the
+Church of St. Dominic!" and pointing to the large coffer and beating
+with his fists a tattoo upon the lid, the Apostolic Commissioner added
+with the roar of a bull: "Now, bring your money! Bring it, good people!
+Bring plenty! I shall put you the example of charity. I consecrate this
+gold piece to the redemption of souls in purgatory!"
+
+And pulling out of his pocket a half ducat which he held up glistening
+to the eyes of the crowd, he dropped it into the coffer through the slit
+in the lid, upon which he continued to strike with his fists, keeping
+time to his words as he cried:
+
+"Fetch your money! Fetch it, good people! Fetch your ducats!"
+
+The front ranks of the crowd broke in response to the summons of the
+trafficker in indulgences and hastened to empty their purses. But the
+Dominican held back the surging crowd with a gesture of his hand and
+said:
+
+"One more word, my dear brothers! Do you see these confessionals
+decorated with the armorial bearings of the Holy Father? The priests who
+will take your confessions represent the apostolic penitentiaries of
+Rome on the occasions of grand jubilees. All those who wish to
+participate in the three principal indulgences will proceed to these
+confessionals and will conscientiously notify the confessor of the
+amount of money that they are disposed to deprive themselves of in order
+to obtain the following favors:
+
+"The first is the absolute remission of all sins--past, present and
+future.
+
+"The second is freedom from participation in the works of the Holy
+Church, such as fasts, prayers, pilgrimages and macerations of all
+nature.
+
+"The third--listen carefully, my brothers, pay particular attention to
+the last words, as the saying is--this indulgence exceeds all that the
+most faithful believers can wish for!"
+
+"Listen," whispered Fra Girard to Herve; "listen, and repent your having
+doubted the resources of the faith."
+
+"Oh, I doubt no longer, and yet I hardly dare to hope," murmured the son
+of Christian with bated breath, while the Dominican proceeded to
+announce aloud:
+
+"The third favor, my brothers, gives you the right to choose a
+confessor, who, every time that you fear you are about to die, will be
+bound--by virtue of the letter of absolution that you will have
+purchased and which you will display before him--to give you absolution
+not only for your ordinary sins, but also for those greater crimes the
+remission of which is reserved to the apostolic See, to wit, bestiality,
+the crime against nature, parricide and incest."
+
+The Dominican had hardly pronounced these words when Herve's features
+became frightful to behold. The lad's eyes shot fire, and a smile of the
+damned curled his lips as Fra Girard stooped down to him and whispered
+in his ear:
+
+"Did I deceive you? The indulgence is absolute, even for incest."
+
+"Finally, my brothers," the Apostolic Commissioner proceeded to say,
+"the fourth favor consists in redeeming souls from purgatory. For this
+favor, my brothers, it is not necessary, as for the three first ones, to
+be contrite of heart and to confess. No, no! It is enough if you drop
+your offerings in this coffer. You will thereby snatch the souls of the
+dead from the tortures that they are undergoing; and you will be
+moreover contributing towards the holy work of restoring the Basilica of
+St. Peter and St. Paul at Rome. Now, then, my brothers," he added,
+thumping anew upon the coffer, "come forward with your money! Come
+forward with your ducats! Come!"
+
+Upon this last exhortation the railing of the choir was thrown open. The
+small number of the charitably disposed who wished to deliver the souls
+in pain began filing before the coffer into which they dropped their
+offerings after making the sign of the cross; the confessionals,
+however, in which the pontifical penitentiaries took their seats, ready
+to issue letters of absolution, were immediately besieged by a mob of
+men and women, anxious to obtain impunity in the eyes of heaven and of
+their own conscience for sins ranging from the most venial up to
+monstrous deeds that cause nature to shudder. It was a frightful sight,
+the spectacle presented by the mob around these confessionals crowding
+to the quarry of impunity for crime.
+
+Good God! Your vicars order and exploit the traffic! Behold human
+conscience upturned, shaken at its very foundation, losing even the
+sense of discrimination between vice and virtue! The moral sense is
+perverted, it is smothered by sacrilegious superstition! Mankind is
+lashed to a vertigo of folly and evil by the assurance of impunity,
+feeling certain, Oh, God of justice! of having You for an accomplice!
+Souls, until then innocent, no longer recoil before any passion however
+execrable, the bare thought of which is a crime! Does not the Pope of
+Rome absolve for all eternity, in exchange for a few gold crowns, even
+parricide and incest? If only its faith is strong enough the incestuous
+or parricidal heart knows, feels itself absolved! Oh, in honor at least
+to the religious sentiment--the divine gift implanted in man's heart,
+whatever the dogma may be in which it is wrapped--there are Catholic
+priests of austere morals who, despite their intolerance, have, in these
+accursed times, indignantly repudiated the monstrous idolatries and
+savage fetichism that even ancient paganism knew nothing of! No! No!
+Christ, your celestial gospel is and will remain the most scathing
+condemnation of the horrors that are committed in your venerated name.
+Those papal penitentiaries in the confessionals emblazoned with the
+pontifical arms, those new dealers in merchandise in the Temple dare to
+sell for cash patents of salvation! Alas! After a few hurried words
+exchanged with Fra Girard, Herve was one of the first to hurry to the
+confessionals and kneel down; he did not long remain there; those near
+him heard the papal penitentiary first utter a cry of surprise; silence
+ensued, broken by the intermittent sobs of the lad; the chinking of the
+money that was being counted out to the priest in the confessional
+announced the close of the absolutional conversation. Herve issued out
+of the tribunal of penitence holding a parchment with a convulsive
+clutch, closely followed by Fra Girard; he cleaved the compact mass of
+people, and withdrew to one of the lateral chapels; there he knelt down
+before a sanctuary of the Virgin that a lamp illumined, and by its light
+read the letter of absolution that he had just bought with his father's
+money. The pontifical letter was couched in the following terms:
+
+     May our Lord Jesus Christ have mercy upon you [here followed a
+     blank space into which the name of the owner of the letter was to
+     be inserted]; may He absolve you by the virtue of the Holy Passion.
+     And I, in virtue of the apostolical power in me vested, do hereby
+     absolve you from all ecclesiastical censures, judgments and
+     punishments that you may have deserved; furthermore _of all
+     excesses, sins and crimes that you may have committed, however
+     grave and enormous these may be, and whatever the cause thereof_,
+     even if such sins and crimes be those reserved to our Holy Father
+     the Pope and to the apostolic See--_such as bestiality, the sin
+     against nature, parricide and incest_. I hereby efface from you all
+     traces of inability, all the marks of infamy that you may have
+     drawn upon yourself on such occasions; I induct you anew as a
+     participant of the sacraments of the Church; I re-incorporate you
+     in the community of saints; I restore you to the innocence and
+     purity that you were in at the hour of your baptism, so that, at
+     the hour of your death, the door through which one passes to the
+     place of torments and pain shall be closed to you, while on the
+     contrary, the gate that leads to the Paradise of joy shall be wide
+     open to you, _and should you not die speedily, Oh, my son! this
+     token of mercy shall remain unalterable until your ultimate end_.
+
+     In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, Amen!
+
+     BROTHER JOHN TEZEL,
+
+     Apostolic Commissioner, signed by his own hand.[7]
+
+Without rising from his knees Herve frequently interrupted the reading
+of the document with suppressed signs of pleased and blissful
+astonishment. The absolution that he was now the owner of extended to
+the past, it covered the present, it reached the future. As Fra Girard
+called the purchaser's attention to the fact, the document bore no date
+and thereby extended the apostolic efficacy over all the sins, all the
+crimes that the holder of the indulgence might commit to the end of his
+days. Herve folded the parchment and inserted it into the scapulary that
+hung from his neck under his shirt, bowed down till his forehead touched
+the slab of the floor at the foot of the sanctuary and kissed it
+devoutly. Alas! The unfortunate lad was sincere in his frightful
+thankfulness towards the divine power that granted him the remission.
+His mind being led astray by a detestable influence, he felt himself,
+he believed himself, absolved of all the wrongs that his delirious
+imagination raved over. Fra Girard contemplated the prostrate lad with
+an expression of sinister triumph. The latter suddenly rose and, as if
+seized with a vertigo, staggered towards the railing of the chapel. The
+Franciscan held him back by the arm, and pointing at the image of the
+Virgin, arrayed in a flowing robe of silver cloth studded with pearls,
+and her head crowned with a golden crown that glistened in the
+semi-darkness of the dimly-lighted sanctuary, said in a solemn voice:
+
+"Behold the image of the mother of our Savior, and remember the words of
+the Apostolic Commissioner. Even if the horrible sacrilege that he
+mentioned were a feasible thing, it could be absolved by the letter that
+you now own. If that is so, and it may not be doubted, what then becomes
+of the remorse and the terrors that have assailed you during the last
+three months? Since the day when, distracted with despair by the
+discovery of the frightful secret that had lain concealed in the bottom
+of your heart, you came to me, and yielding, despite yourself, to the
+irresistible instinct that whispered to you: 'Only in faith will you be
+healed,' you confessed your trials to me--since that day you have hourly
+realized that your instinct guided you rightly and that my words were
+true. To-day you are assured of a place in paradise. Herve--do you hear
+me?"
+
+"I hear," and after a moment of pensiveness: "Oh, celestial miracle for
+which, with my forehead in the dust, I rendered thanks to the mother of
+our Savior. Yes, since a minute ago, from the moment that I became the
+owner of this sacred schedule, my conscience has regained its former
+serenity, my mind is in peace, my heart is full of hope. I now only need
+to will and to dare--I shall will, I shall dare! Mine is the bliss of
+paradise!"
+
+Herve uttered these words with calm conviction. He did not lie. No, his
+conscience was serene, his mind at peace, his heart full of hope, even
+the lines on his face seemed suddenly transfigured; their savage and
+tormented expression made room for a sort of blissful ecstasy, a slight
+flush again enlivened the cheeks that frequent fasts, macerations and
+mental conflicts had paled. The monk smiled silently at the
+metamorphosis; he took Herve by the arm, walked with him out of the
+church, and as the two stepped out upon the street said to him:
+
+"You have now entered upon the path of salvation; your faith has been
+tried--will you still hesitate to join the ranks of the militants, who
+openly preach and cause this faith to triumph, the miraculous efficacy
+of which you have yourself experienced this day? Think of the glory of
+our holy mother the Church."
+
+"Speak not now to me of such things. My thoughts are elsewhere--they are
+near my sister Hena."
+
+"Very well; but, Herve, never forget what I have often told you, and
+that your modesty makes you disregard. Your intelligence is exceptional;
+your erudition extensive; heaven has endowed you with the precious gift
+of a persuasive eloquence; the monastic Orders, especially the one to
+which I belong, I say so in all humility, recruit themselves carefully
+with young men whose gifts give promise of a brilliant future; this is
+enough to tell you of what priceless value you would be to our Order;
+you could make with us a rapid and brilliant career; you might even
+become the prior of our monastery. But I shall not pursue this subject;
+you are not listening to me; we shall take up the matter later. Where
+are you going so fast?"
+
+"I am going back to my father, to the printing shop of Master Robert
+Estienne."
+
+"Be prudent--above all, no indiscretion!"
+
+"Girard," answered Herve with a slightly moved voice and after a
+second's reflection, "I know not what may happen during the next few
+days; I will, and I shall dare; can I at all events count upon obtaining
+asylum in your cell?"
+
+"Whatever the hour of the day or night may be, you may ring at the
+little gate of the convent, where the faithful repair who come to ask
+our assistance for the dying; ask the brother gateman for me; that will
+let you in and you will find an inviolable asylum within our walls; you
+will there be sheltered from all pursuit."
+
+"I thank you for the promise, and I rely upon it. Adieu. Think of me in
+your prayers."
+
+"Adieu, and let me see you soon again," answered the Franciscan as he
+followed with his eyes the rapidly retreating figure of Herve. "Whatever
+may happen," added Fra Girard to himself, "he now belongs to us, body
+and soul. Such acquisitions are precious in these days of implacable
+struggle against heresy. God be praised!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE "TEST OF THE LUTHERANS."
+
+
+At the time of this narrative there rose at about the middle of St. John
+of Beauvais Street a large, new house built in the simple and graceful
+style recently imported from Italy. Upon a gilt sign, ornamented with
+the symbolical arms of the University of Paris, and placed immediately
+over the door, the inscription: ROBERT ESTIENNE, PRINTER was painted in
+bold letters. Heavy iron bars protected the windows of the ground floor
+against any bold attempts that might be contemplated by the bandits that
+the city was infested with, and the defensive precaution was completed
+by a heavy sheet of iron fastened with heavy nails to an already solid
+and massive door that was surmounted by a sculptured allegory of the
+Arts and Sciences, an elegant piece of work from the chisel of one of
+the best pupils of Primaticio, a celebrated Italian artist whom Francis
+I called to France. The house belonged to Master Robert Estienne, the
+celebrated printer, the worthy successor of his father in that learned
+industry, and one of the most erudite men of the century. Profoundly
+versed in the Latin, Greek and Hebrew languages, Master Robert Estienne
+raised the art of printing to a high degree of perfection. Passionately
+devoted to his art, he lavished so much care upon the publications that
+issued from his establishment, that not only did he himself correct the
+proofs of the Latin, Greek and Hebrew works which he printed, but he
+furthermore stuck the revised proofs to his office door and kept them
+there for a certain time with the offer of a reward to whomsoever should
+point out an error or blemish. Among the handsomest works published by
+Master Robert Estienne were a Bible and a New Testament, both translated
+into French. These two productions were the admiration of the learned
+and the source of profound uneasiness to the Sorbonne[8] and the clergy,
+who felt as alarmed as irritated to see the press popularize the textual
+knowledge of the holy books that condemned a mass of abuses, idolatrous
+practices and exactions which the Church of Rome had for centuries been
+introducing into the Catholic cult.
+
+Robert Estienne was recently wedded to Perrine Bade, a young and
+handsome woman, the daughter of another learned printer, and herself
+well versed in the Latin. The home of Robert Estienne presented the
+noble example of those bourgeois families whose pure morals and virile
+domestic virtues so strongly contrasted with the prevalent corruption of
+those days. Accused of being a partisan of the religious Reformation,
+and both the Sorbonne and parliament, both of which were bound by
+personal and material interests to the Catholic cause, having expressed
+their anger at him, Robert Estienne would long before have been dragged
+to the pyre as a heretic, but for the powerful protection of Princess
+Marguerite of Valois, the sister of Francis I, a woman of letters, of
+daring spirit, a generous nature, and withal secretly inclined to the
+reform. The King himself, who loved the arts and letters more out of
+vanity and the desire to imitate the princes of Italy than out of true
+intellectual loftiness, extended his protection to Robert Estienne, whom
+he considered an illustrious man whose glory would reflect upon his
+prince as a Maecenas. His rare mental equipment, his talent, and, last
+not least, the considerable wealth that he had inherited from his father
+and increased by his own labor, had won for the celebrated printer
+numerous and bitter enemies: his fellow tradesmen were jealous of the
+inimitable perfection of his works: the members of the Sorbonne, of the
+parliament and of the court, among all of whom the King and his evil
+genius, the Cardinal and Chancellor Duprat, distributed the goods
+confiscated from the heretics, had many times and oft expected to be
+about to enrich themselves with the plunder of Robert Estienne's
+establishment. But ever, thanks to the potent influence of Princess
+Marguerite, the printer's adversaries had remained impotent in their
+machinations against him. Nevertheless, knowing but too well how
+capricious and precarious royal favor is, Robert Estienne was ever ready
+for the worst with the serenity of the wise man and the clear conscience
+of a man of honor, while the affection of his young wife was a source of
+inexhaustible support in his struggle with the evil-minded.
+
+The workshop of Master Robert Estienne occupied the ground floor of the
+house. His artisans, all carefully selected by himself, and almost all
+of whom were the sons of workmen whom his father had employed before
+him, were worthy of the confidence that he reposed in them. More than
+once did they have to repel with arms the assaults of fanatical bandits,
+egged on by the monks, who pointed at the printing shop as a hot-bed of
+diabolical inventions that should be demolished and burned down. The
+populace, ignorant and credulous, rushed upon the house of Robert
+Estienne, and but for the courage displayed by the defenders of the
+establishment, the place would have been looted. Due to such
+possibilities many employers felt under the necessity of building around
+themselves a sort of bodyguard composed of their own workmen. The famous
+goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini, whom Francis I invited from Florence to
+settle in Paris, was in such constant dread of the jealousy of the
+French and Italian artists, that he never went out upon the street
+without being accompanied by several of his pupils, all armed to the
+teeth. And not long ago he had sustained a regular siege in the little
+Castle of Neste of which the King had made him a present. The fray
+lasted two full days; victory remained with Benvenuto and his private
+garrison; and Francis I was highly amused at the occurrence. Such is the
+order that reigns in the city, such the security enjoyed by the citizens
+in these sad days.
+
+Robert Estienne's establishment resembled an arsenal as much as it did a
+printing shop. Pikes, arquebuses and swords hung near the presses, the
+composers' cases or the stone tables. Although it was night, Christian
+remained on this evening at the shop; he remained behind upon his
+master's request, and was waiting for him. The artisan's face, which had
+borne the marks of worry since the conversation that he had with his son
+Herve on the preceding night, now looked cheerful. When Herve returned
+from the Church of St. Dominic, long after the customary hour for work
+to be begun at Master Estienne's shop, and saw his father surprised and
+displeased at the renewed absence from work, he said hypocritically:
+
+"Please do not judge me by appearances; be sure, father, that I shall
+again be worthy of you--you will pardon me a fatal slip. I begin to
+realize the danger of the influence that I was blindly yielding to."
+
+Saying this, the lad had hastened to make good the lost time, and
+diligently set to work. Shortly after, the conversation among the
+workingmen turned accidentally upon the sale of indulgences, which they
+condemned with renewed energy. So far from violently taking up the
+cudgels for the nefarious traffic, as he had done on previous occasions,
+Herve remained silent and even looked confused. Christian drew favorable
+conclusions from his son's embarrassment.
+
+"Our last night's conversation must have borne good fruit," thought the
+artisan to himself; "the poor boy's eyes must have been opened; he must
+have realized that fanaticism was driving him down into an abyss.
+Patience! The principles in which I brought him up will win the upper
+hand. I may now hope for the better."
+
+When towards the close of the day's work he was notified by Master
+Estienne that he wished to speak with him, and was asked to remain
+behind, Christian told his son to inform Bridget of the reason of his
+anticipated delay, in order that she be not alarmed at not seeing him
+home at the usual hour. When he was finally left alone at the shop, he
+continued the paging of a Latin book by the light of a lamp. In the
+midst of this work he was interrupted by one of his friends named
+Justin, a pressman in the shop. Some urgent presswork had kept him in a
+contiguous room. Surprised at finding Christian still at work, Justin
+said:
+
+"I did not expect to find you here so late, dear comrade. The hour for
+rest has sounded."
+
+"Master Estienne sent me word asking that I wait for him after the shop
+closed. He wishes to speak with me."
+
+"That fits in with my plans. I had meant to call at your house this
+evening and propose a trip for to-morrow to Montmartre, in order to
+visit the place that you know of--the more I think of the matter, the
+more convinced am I that we could select no better place for our
+purpose."
+
+"I am inclined to believe you after all the details that you have given
+me upon the matter. But are you quite certain that the place offers us
+all the requisite guarantees of secrecy and safety?"
+
+"In order to convince ourselves fully upon the matter, I wished to
+examine the place once more with you. It is a long time since I was
+there. Maybe the place is no longer what it was. Well, shall we make the
+investigation to-morrow evening?"
+
+"Yes; I think it is high time for us to set to work, and organize our
+army, Justin! I can see no other means to combat our powerful enemies;
+they seem almost all-powerful. From day to day they become more
+threatening. On their side they have force, numbers, power, audacity,
+the judges, the trained soldiers, the priests, the jailers and
+executioners, moss-grown tradition, the ferocious fanaticism of a
+populace whose mind is poisoned and who are misled by the monks. And we,
+what have we? This," added Christian pointing to a printing press that
+stood in the center of the shop, "that instrument, that lever of
+irresistible force--thought--the mind! Courage, my friend! Let us,
+humble soldiers of reason, know how to wait. The printing press will
+change the face of the earth--and all our casqued, mitred and crowned
+tyrants will have seen their day! The printing press will be the weapon
+of emancipation!"
+
+"As well as you, Christian, I have faith in that future, whether it be
+near or far away. Thought, subtle as light itself, will penetrate
+everywhere. The midnight darkness of ignorance will be dispelled, and
+freedom will dart its rays upon all. Let us to work, Christian. The
+moment we shall have chosen our place, we will put our projects into
+execution. I shall be at your house to-morrow evening. The moon will be
+up late; her light will guide us; and--" here Justin interrupted himself
+saying: "Here is our master; I shall leave you. Until to-morrow! I
+shall be promptly on time."
+
+"Till to-morrow," answered Christian as his friend left by a door of the
+shop that opened upon a deserted side street.
+
+Master Robert Estienne, a man of about thirty years of age, was of
+middle size, and of a firm, kind and at once serious physiognomy. His
+eyes sparkled with intelligence; a few premature lines furrowed his wide
+forehead; study and concentration of mind had begun to thin out his
+hair. He wore a coat and puffed-out hose of black taffeta; a white
+crumpled cap sat upon his head, and seemed fastened under his chin by a
+light and closely cropped beard that ended in a point.
+
+"Christian," said Robert Estienne, "I have a service to ask of you, a
+great service."
+
+"Speak, Master Estienne; you know the feelings that I entertain for your
+house and all that concerns you; I am as devoted to you as my father was
+to yours. If it pleases God," added the artisan smothering a sigh, "it
+will be so with my son towards yours."
+
+"These long-continued relations between our two families honor them
+both, Christian. It is for that reason that I do not hesitate to ask a
+great service from you. This is the matter: As you know, my house is a
+thorn in the side of my enemies; without mentioning the assault that it
+had to sustain against the wretched fanatics whom the monks aroused
+against it, the place is constantly spied upon. The persecutions
+redouble in number and vehemence against all those who are suspected of
+favoring the religious Reformation, especially since printed placards
+violently hostile to the Church of Rome were posted over night in the
+streets of Paris. John Morin, the Criminal Lieutenant and worthy
+instrument of Cardinal-Chancellor Duprat, who keeps himself informed by
+the miserable spy who goes under the name of Gainier, keeps Paris in a
+state of terror through his police searches. Only the other day he
+issued an order by which the sergeants of the gendarmes are empowered at
+all hours of the day or night to search from cellar to garret the
+residence of whomsoever is accused of heresy. I am among these. Despite
+the protection of Princess Marguerite, it may happen that, at any
+moment, my domicile is invaded by the lackeys of Duprat's lieutenant."
+
+"That is unfortunately true; your enemies are powerful and numerous."
+
+"Well, now, Christian, a man whom I love like my own brother, an
+honorable man, foe to the priests, and proscribed by them, has asked me
+for asylum. He is here since last evening, in hiding. I am in constant
+apprehension of having my house searched, and my friend's place of
+refuge discovered. His life is at stake."
+
+"Great God! I can understand your uneasiness. Your friend is, indeed, in
+great peril."
+
+"Driven to this extremity, I determined to turn to you. It occurred to
+me that your happy obscurity saves you from the espionage that pursues
+me. Could you extend hospitality to my friend for two or three days, and
+take him this very evening to your house? You would be running no
+risk."
+
+"With all my heart!"
+
+"I shall never forget this service," said Master Robert Estienne, warmly
+pressing the artisan's hand; "I knew I could count upon your
+generosity."
+
+"All I wish to remind you of, sir, is that the asylum is as humble as it
+is safe."
+
+"The proscribed man has for several months been accustomed to travel
+from city to city; more than once, the generous apostle has spent the
+night in the woods and the day in some dark cavern. Any place of refuge
+is good to him."
+
+"That being so, I have this proposition to make to you. I live, as you
+know, on the Exchange Bridge; there is a garret under the roof of the
+house; it is so very low one can hardly stand in it; but it is
+sufficiently ventilated by a little window that opens upon the river.
+To-morrow morning, after my son and I shall have left the house to come
+to the shop, my wife--I shall have to take her into the secret, but I
+answer for her as for myself--"
+
+"I know it, Bridget deserves your full confidence; you may tell her
+everything."
+
+"Well, then, to-morrow morning, after we shall have left the house, my
+wife will send my daughter on some errand or other, and will, during her
+absence, transport to the garret a mattress, some bed linen and whatever
+else may be necessary in order to render the refuge bearable. To-night,
+however, our guest will have to resign himself to a simple quilt for
+bedding; but a night is soon over--"
+
+"That matters little. But how is he to be taken to your house to-night
+without the knowledge of your family? I know your domestic habits. Your
+wife and children are now waiting for you to take supper in the ground
+floor room, the door of which opens on the bridge. They will all see you
+come in with the stranger. Then also, it occurs to me, does not your
+wife's brother, the old Franc-Taupin, join you almost every evening at
+meals? That is an additional difficulty to be overcome."
+
+"That is true; and I do not intend to take him into the secret, although
+his faults--and these are numerous with the poor soldier of
+adventure--are wholly counterbalanced in my eyes by his devotion to my
+family; he fairly worships his sister and her children."
+
+"How, then, shall we manage this evening?"
+
+"I shall take the proscribed man to my house as an old friend whom I met
+and invited to supper. As customary, my son and daughter will withdraw
+to their rooms after the meal, and my wife, her brother the
+Franc-Taupin, if he calls this evening, and I will remain alone with my
+guest. I shall then request my wife's brother to go out for a pot of
+wine in order that we close the day pleasantly. The wine is sold at a
+tavern near the wharf and at some little distance from my house. I shall
+profit by the Franc-Taupin's absence in order to apprize my wife in a
+few words of the secret; my guest will go up into the garret: and when
+my brother-in-law returns I shall tell him that our guest feared it
+would grow too late, and left, requesting me to present his regards to
+the Franc-Taupin and bid him adieu. As you see, the matter can be safely
+and secretly arranged."
+
+"Yes, very well. But, Christian, there is a matter that I must seriously
+call your attention to. It is not an impossible thing that, despite all
+your precautions, the proscribed man may be discovered in your house by
+the police of Duprat's lieutenant; it is my duty to remind you that, in
+such an event, you run the risk of imprisonment, perhaps even of a
+severer, more terrible punishment; remember that justice can not be
+relied upon in these days. The ecclesiastical tribunals are implacable;
+it is with them--torture or death."
+
+"Master Estienne, do you think me accessible to fear?"
+
+"No, I know your devotion to me. But I wish you to feel sure that were
+it not for the strictness of the surveillance that is kept over my
+house, and that renders it impossible for me to offer asylum to the
+friend whom I entrust to you, I would not then expose you to dangers
+that I would otherwise be anxious myself to brave. I first thought of
+hiding him in my cottage at St. Ouen; that country-seat is secluded and
+far enough from the village. But for several reasons that I am not yet
+free to communicate to you, my friend should remain hidden in the very
+heart of Paris. I repeat it, Christian: if, however improbable, it
+should betide that you are put to trouble, if harm should come to you by
+reason of the service that you will have rendered me, your wife and your
+children will find protection and support in my family."
+
+"Master Estienne, I shall never forget that my father, laboring under
+the shameless calumnies of the successor of the printer John Saurin,
+would have himself and his family died of hunger and despair but for the
+generous assistance of your father. Whatever I may do, never could I pay
+that debt of gratitude to you and yours. My modest havings and myself
+are at your disposal."
+
+"My father acted like an upright man, that was all; but if you
+absolutely insist upon considering yourself in our debt, your noble
+assistance in this instance will be to us one more proof of your
+gratitude. But I have not yet told you all, worthy Christian. Yielding
+no doubt to a feeling of delicacy, you have not asked me in behalf of
+whom I solicited asylum with you."
+
+"The proscribed man is worthy of your friendship; he is an apostle,
+Master Estienne; need I know more?"
+
+"Without imparting to you a secret that is not mine, I feel free to
+inform you that this proscribed man is the bravest of the apostles of
+the Reformation. I owe only to your personal attachment the service that
+you render to me, seeing that, in granting asylum to my friend, you are
+not yet aware whether you are in accord with his ideas. Your generous
+action is dictated by your affection towards me and mine; in my turn, I
+now contract a debt of gratitude towards you and yours. And once upon
+this subject, Christian," added Master Estienne in penetrating accents,
+"allow me frankly to state my thoughts to you with respect to your son.
+We have recently talked more than once upon the worry that he caused
+you; I regret the circumstance doubly; I expected great things from
+Herve. He has developed a variety of aptitudes in other directions
+besides the mechanical part of our art in which he begins to excel. The
+lad's precocious knowledge, his exceptional eloquence--all these
+qualities ranked him in my eye among that small number of men who are
+destined to shine in whatever career they embrace. Finally, that which
+enhanced with me Herve's intellectual powers was the goodness of his
+heart and the straightforwardness of his character. But his habits have
+latterly become irregular; his one-time affectionate, open and
+communicative nature has undergone a change. I have hitherto refrained
+from letting him perceive the grief that his conduct caused me. In the
+midst of all this I imagine he has preserved some love and respect for
+me. Would you authorize me to have a serious and paternal conversation
+with him? It may have a salutary effect."
+
+"I thank you, Master Estienne, for your kind offer. I am glad to be able
+to say that I have reasons to think that since to-day my son has turned
+to better thoughts; that a sudden and happy change has come over him,
+because--" Christian could not finish his sentence. Madam Estienne, a
+handsome young woman of a sweet and grave countenance, precipitately
+entered the shop and handing to her husband an open letter said to him
+in a moved voice:
+
+"Read, my friend; as you will see, there is not a minute to lose;" and
+turning aside to Christian: "Can we count with you?"
+
+"Absolutely and in all things, madam."
+
+"There is no longer any doubt!" cried Master Estienne after he read the
+letter. "Our house will be searched, this very night perhaps; they are
+on my friend's tracks."
+
+"I shall run for him," said Madam Estienne; "Christian and he will go
+out by the side street. I think the house is watched on the St. John of
+Beauvais Street side."
+
+"Master Estienne," said the artisan to his employer, "in order to make
+assurance doubly sure I shall go down to the end of the side alley and
+reconnoiter whether the passage is clear; I shall explore it
+thoroughly."
+
+"Go, my friend, you will find us in the small yard with the proscribed
+man."
+
+Christian left the shop, crossed the small yard, drew the bolt of a door
+that opened into the side alley and stepped out. He found the lane
+completely deserted, from end to end not a soul was in sight. Although
+it was night there was light enough to see a long distance ahead. Having
+convinced himself that the issue was safe, Christian returned to the
+door of the yard where he found Master Estienne pressing in his own the
+hand of a man of middle size and clad in plain black.
+
+"Master Estienne," said Christian to his employer, "the alley is
+deserted; we can go out without being seen by anyone."
+
+"Adieu, my friend," said Master Estienne in a trembling voice to the
+proscribed man. "You may rely upon your guide as upon me. Follow him
+and observe all that he may recommend to you for your safety. May heaven
+protect your precious life!"
+
+"Adieu! Adieu!" answered the unknown who seemed to be no less moved than
+the printer; saying which he followed Christian. After issuing from the
+alley and walking for a while in the direction of the Exchange Bridge,
+the two men arrived at a gate which they had to pass in order to cross
+the Cour-Dieu. At that place their progress was delayed by a compact
+mass of people who were gathered near the gate, in the center of which
+was a turnstile intended to keep horses and wagons from entering the
+square. Many patrolmen were seen among the crowd.
+
+"What is the meaning of this gathering?" inquired Christian from a man
+of athletic carriage, with the sleeves of his shirt turned up, a
+blood-bespattered apron and a long knife by his side.
+
+"St. James!" exclaimed the butcher in a tone of pious satisfaction; "the
+reverend Franciscan fathers of the Cour-Dieu have been struck by a good
+idea."
+
+"In what way?" again Christian asked. "What is their idea? Inform us of
+what is going on."
+
+"The good monks have placed upon the square in front of the door of
+their convent a lighted chapel at the foot of a beautiful station of the
+Holy Virgin, and a mendicant monk stands on either side of the statue,
+with a club in one hand and a purse in the other--"
+
+"And what is the purpose of the chapel and the mendicant monks and their
+clubs?"
+
+"St. James!" and the butcher crossed himself; "thanks to that chapel the
+Lutheran dogs can be discovered as they pass by."
+
+"How can they be recognized?"
+
+"If they pass before the chapel without kneeling down at the feet of the
+Holy Virgin, and without dropping a piece of money into the purse of the
+mendicant monks, it is a proof that the painim are heretics--they are
+immediately set upon, they are slain, they are torn to shreds. Listen!
+Do you hear that?"
+
+Indeed, at that moment, piercing shrieks half drowned by an angry roar
+of many voices went up from the interior of the Cour-Dieu. As the
+turnstile allowed a passage to only one person at a time, the approaches
+of the square were blocked by a crowd that swelled from moment to moment
+and that was swayed with the ardent desire to witness the _Test of the
+Lutherans_, as the process was called. Every time that the cries of a
+victim ceased, the clamor subsided, and the mob awaited the next
+execution. The butcher resumed:
+
+"That painim has ceased to scream--his account is settled. May the fire
+of St. Anthony consume those laggards who are getting so slowly through
+the gate! I shall not be able to witness the killing of a single one of
+those accursed fellows!"
+
+"My friend," said the mysterious companion of Christian to the butcher,
+"those Lutherans must be very great criminals, are they not? I ask you
+because I am a stranger here--"
+
+A score of voices charitably hastened to answer the unknown man, who,
+together with Christian was so completely hemmed in by the crowd that
+they had no choice but patiently to wait for their turn at the
+turnstile.
+
+"Poor man, where do you come from?" said some, addressing the unknown.
+"What! You ask whether the Lutherans are criminals? Why, they are
+infamous brigands!"
+
+And thereupon they vied with one another in citing the felonies that the
+reformers were guilty of:
+
+"They read the Bible in French!"
+
+"They do not confess!"
+
+"They do not sing mass!"
+
+"They believe neither in the Pope, nor the saints, nor in the virginity
+of Mary, nor in holy relics!"
+
+"Nor in the blood of our Savior!--nor in the drop of milk of his holy
+mother!--nor in the miraculous tooth of St. Loup!"
+
+"And what do those demons substitute for the holy mass? Abominable
+incantations and orgies!"
+
+"Yes, yes--it is so!"
+
+"I, who now speak to you, knew the son of a tailor who was once caught
+in the net of those ministers of the devil. I'll tell you what he
+saw--he told me all about it the next day. The Lutherans assembled at
+night--at midnight--in a large cave, men, young girls and women to
+celebrate their _Luthery_. A rich bourgeois woman, who lived on the same
+street with the tailor attended the incantation with her two daughters.
+When all the canting hypocrites were assembled, their priest donned a
+robe of goatskin with a headgear of spreading oxhorns; he then took a
+little child, spread the poor little fellow upon a table lighted by two
+tall wax candles, and, while the other heretics sang their psalms in
+French, interspersed with magical invocations, their priest cut the
+child's throat!"
+
+"The assassins! The monsters! The demons!"
+
+"The priest of Lucifer thereupon gathered the child's blood in a vase
+and sprinkled the assembly with the warm gore! He then tore out the
+child's heart and ate it up! That closed the celebration of the
+Luthery."
+
+"Holy St. James, and shall we not bleed these sons of Satan to the last
+man?" cried the butcher, carrying his hand to his knife, while the
+proscribed man exchanged significant glances with Christian and remarked
+to those standing near him:
+
+"Can such monstrosities be possible? Could such things have happened?"
+
+"Whether they are possible! Why, Brother St. Lawrence-on-the-gridiron, a
+reverend Carmelite who is my confessor, told me, Marotte, there never
+was an assembly of those heretics held without at least one or two
+little children being sacrificed."
+
+"Jesus, God! Everybody knows that," pursued the first narrator; "the
+tailor's son that I am talking about witnessed the heretical orgy; he
+saw everything with his own eyes; then, after the Lutherans had been
+sprinkled with the child's blood as a sort of baptism, their priest
+spoke up and said: 'Now, take off your clothes, and pray to God in our
+fashion. Long live hell and the Luthery!' As soon as he said this, he
+put out the two wax candles, whereupon all the he and she canting
+hypocrites, with as much clothing on as Adam and Eve, men, women and
+young girls, all thrown helter-skelter in the dark--well, you
+understand--it is an abomination!"[9]
+
+"What a horror! Malediction upon them!"
+
+"Mercy! May God protect us from such heretics!"
+
+"Confession! Such infamies portend the end of the world!"
+
+"Brother St. Lawrence-on-the-gridiron, the reverend Carmelite friar, my
+confessor, told me, Marotte, that all the Lutheries closed in the same
+fashion. The good father felt so indignant that he gave me accurate
+details upon the devilish heretics; they were details that made my
+cheeks burn red and hot like a piece of coal."
+
+These snatches of reports, that summed up the stupid and atrocious
+calumnies spread about by the monks against the reformers, were
+interrupted by new shrieks and vociferations that went up from the
+Cour-Dieu. Listening with secret disgust and silent indignation to the
+calumnious indignities that were huckstered about by an ignorant and
+credulous populace, Christian and the unknown man in his charge had
+followed the stream of the crowd, and presently found themselves under
+the vault of the gate that led to the square, whence they could take in
+at a glance what was happening there. A sort of altar lighted with wax
+candles rose in front of the main entrance to the Franciscan Convent; a
+life-sized statue of the Virgin wrought in wood and gorgeously attired
+in a robe of gold brocade and with her face painted like a picture,
+surmounted the altar. Several Franciscan monks, among whom Christian
+recognized Fra Girard were stationed near the lighted chapel. Two of
+them, holding large velvet purses in their hands, were posted one on
+either side of the statue. A large crowd of tattered men and women, of
+cynical, repulsive or brutal countenances, all armed with clubs and
+grouped near the door of the convent, stood waiting for the moment when,
+at a signal from the monks, they were to rush upon the ill-starred
+passer-by who was designated as suspected of heresy. Each passer-by had
+inevitably to cross the square at only a slight distance from the statue
+of the Virgin. If they knelt down before it and dropped their alms into
+the purse of the mendicant friars, no danger threatened them. But if
+they failed to fulfil this act of devotion, the ferocious band that
+stood in waiting would be let loose at the signal from the monks, and
+would rush upon the Lutheran, beat him with their sticks, and not
+infrequently leave him lying dead upon the square. All the persons who
+were just ahead of Christian and the unknown man proceeded straight to
+the altar, and either out of fear or out of piety knelt down before the
+image of the Virgin and then rose and deposited their offerings in the
+purse held out by the Franciscans. A man, still young but frail and
+short of stature, behind whom Christian stood, said to himself in an
+undertone just as he was about to thread the turnstile and emerge into
+the square:
+
+"I am a Catholic, but by the blood of God! I prefer to be cut to pieces
+rather than submit to such extortion. May the devil take the monks!"
+
+"You will be wrong," said Christian to him in a low voice. "I revolt as
+much as you at the indignity. But what is to be done against force?
+Submit to the ignominy."
+
+"I shall protest at the peril of my life! Such excesses dishonor
+religion," the man answered Christian, and stepping out of the gate into
+the square with a firm step, he crossed the place without turning his
+head in the direction of the altar. Hardly, however, had he passed by
+when the tattered mob who stood near the monks, ready at the latters'
+beck, rushed forward in pursuit of the unhappy fellow; they overtook
+him, surrounded, and bawled at him: "Heretic!" "Lutheran!" "He insults
+the image of the mother of the Savior!" "Down on your knees!" "The
+canting hypocrite!" "Down on your knees!" "Death to the heretic!"
+
+While these fanatics surrounded their victim, Christian said to his
+companion:
+
+"Let us profit by the tumult to escape from these ferocious beasts;
+unfortunately it were idle to seek to snatch that senseless but
+stout-hearted man from the clutches of his assailants."
+
+Christian and the unknown man in turn stepped out of the gate into the
+square and were hurriedly walking towards the opposite issue without
+stopping at the altar when, being caught sight of by the monks, the
+latter cried out:
+
+"There go two other heretics! They are trying to escape without kneeling
+before the holy Virgin! Stop them! Bring them back and make them empty
+their purses!"
+
+The voices of the Franciscans did not reach the ears of the demoniac
+pack, greedy as it was for its prey; they emitted savage yells as they
+beat to death, not a heretic, but a Catholic, whose sin consisted in
+refusing to submit to an adoration imposed upon him in a brutal manner,
+and which he otherwise would cheerfully have complied with. After the
+unhappy fellow had bravely defended himself with his cane, the only
+weapon that he carried, he was finally overwhelmed by numbers and fell
+livid, bleeding, and almost unconscious upon the pavement. A
+horrid-looking shrew seized him by the hair and while she dragged the
+almost lifeless body towards the altar other dastards from the dregs of
+the mob struck him in the face with their feet.
+
+"Mercy!" cried the unhappy fellow in a faint voice. "Jesus!--My
+God!--Have pity upon me!--They are murdering a good Catholic!"
+
+These were the brave fellow's last words. His voice was soon heard no
+more. The butcher with whom Christian had exchanged a few words ran
+towards and joined the assassin mob. He piously knelt down before the
+statue of the Virgin, then rose, drew his knife, and brandishing it in
+the air cried:
+
+"St. James! Let me bleed the damned Lutheran! It will be worth an
+indulgence to me! You know, bleeding is my profession!"
+
+The sanguinary sally was received with loud outbursts of laughter; room
+was made for the butcher near the bleeding body; he squatted upon its
+still palpitating chest, slashed his knife through the prostrate man's
+throat, cut the head from the trunk, seized it by the hair, and, holding
+up the shocking trophy to the gaze of the mob, he cried with wild
+ecstasy:
+
+"The heretic dog would not bow down before the mother of the Savior--he
+shall now plant his forehead on the pavement at her feet!"
+
+So said, so done. Followed by the demented band at his heels, the
+butcher ran back to the altar, holding the livid head in his hands, red
+and streaming with the warm blood of the victim; he knelt down himself,
+and slammed the head face down upon the ground at the feet of Mary,
+amidst the savage acclaim of his fellow assassins, all of whom piously
+threw themselves down upon their knees like himself.
+
+"Oh, monsieur, this is frightful!" murmured Christian suffocating for
+breath as his companion and he stepped out of the square. "To think that
+such horrors are perpetrated in the name of the benign mother of Christ!
+Oh, the wretches, as stupid as they are bloodthirsty!"
+
+"Ignorance, misery and fanaticism!--that is their excuse. Let us not
+blame these unhappy people; they are what the monks have made them,"
+answered the unknown with a bitter and desolate smile. "Oh, these monks,
+these monks! When will society be finally purged of the infernal breed!"
+
+Christian and his companion hastened their steps towards the artisan's
+house, nor dared they to turn and look behind.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+MONSIEUR JOHN.
+
+
+"Fear not; I have a certain means of regaining the good graces of my
+family"--such were among the last words said by Herve to Fra Girard as
+they stepped out of the Church of St. Dominic, where he purchased the
+letter of indulgence that absolved him in advance from all his future
+misdeeds. Herve was, alas! true to his promise. Back long in advance of
+his father that evening under the paternal roof, he pursued his plan of
+infernal hypocrisy, and succeeded in awaking in his mother's breast the
+same hopes for the better that he awoke in the breast of Christian.
+Seeing Herve pray her feelingly to suspend her judgment with regard to
+himself on the theft that he was suspected of; seeing him admit that,
+however late, he now realized the fatal effect of a dangerous influence
+over himself; finally, seeing her son respond with unexpected
+effusiveness to the affectionate greeting of his sister, Bridget said to
+herself, as Christian had done: "Let us hope; Herve is returning to
+better sentiments; the painful conversation of last night has borne its
+fruit; our remonstrances have had a salutary effect upon him; the
+principles that we have inculcated in him, will regain their sway. Let
+us hope!"
+
+With a heart, now as brimful of joy as it was of distress on the
+previous evening, the happy mother busied herself with preparing the
+evening meal. No less joyful than Bridget at the return of Herve's
+tenderness, Hena was radiant with happiness, and the sentiment enhanced
+her beauty. Barely in her seventeenth year, lithesome and generously
+built, the young girl wore her golden-blonde hair braided in two strands
+coiled over her head and crowning her blooming cheeks. The gentleness of
+her features, that were of angelic beauty, would have inspired the
+divine Raphael Sanzio. White as a lily, she had a lily's chaste
+splendor; candor and kindness stood out clear in the azure of her eyes.
+Often did those eyes rest upon that naughty yet so dearly beloved
+brother, of whom the poor child had feared she was disliked. Seated
+beside him, and engaged at some needle-work, she now felt herself, as in
+former days, filled with sweet confidence in Herve, while the latter,
+once more affectionate and jovial as ever before, entertained himself
+pleasantly with his sister. By a tacit accord, neither made any allusion
+to the recent and painful past, and chatted as familiarly as if their
+fraternal intimacy had never suffered the slightest jar. Despite his
+self-control and profound powers of dissimulation, Herve was ill at
+ease; he felt the necessity of speaking, and sought distraction in the
+sound of words in order to escape the obsession of his secret thoughts.
+He rambled at haphazard from one subject to the other. Brother and
+sister were thus engaged as Bridget absented herself for a moment on
+the floor above in pursuit of some household duty.
+
+"Herve," the young girl was saying to her brother, thoughtfully, "your
+account interests me greatly. How old would you take that monk to be?"
+
+"I could not tell; perhaps twenty-five."
+
+"He had a face that was at once handsome, sad and benign, did he not?
+His beard is of a somewhat lighter hue than his auburn hair; his eyes
+are black, and he is very pale; he has a sympathetic countenance."
+
+While thus chatting with her brother, Hena proceeded to sew and could
+not notice the expression of surprise that Herve's face betrayed. His
+feelings notwithstanding, he answered:
+
+"That is a very accurate description. One must have observed a person
+very attentively in order to preserve so life-like a picture of him. But
+what induces you to believe that the monk in question is the handsome
+auburn-haired monk, whose picture you have just sketched?"
+
+"Why, did you not just tell me, dear brother, that you recently
+witnessed a touching action of which a monk was the author? Well, it
+struck me that probably he was the friar that I described. But proceed
+with the story."
+
+"But who is that monk? Where did you see him? How did you happen to know
+him?" Herve interrogated his sister in short, set words, inspired by an
+ill-suppressed agonizing feeling of jealousy. The naive girl, however,
+mistaking the sentiment that prompted her brother's question, answered
+him merrily:
+
+"Oh! Oh! Seigneur Herve, you are very inquisitive. First finish your
+story; I shall tell you afterwards."
+
+Affecting a pleasant tone, Herve replied as he cast upon his sister a
+sharp and penetrating look: "Oh! Oh! Mademoiselle Hena, you twit me with
+being inquisitive, but, it seems to me, that you are no less so. Never
+mind, I shall accommodate you. Well, as I was saying, when passing this
+morning by the porch of St. Merry's Church, I saw a crowd gathered, and
+I inquired the reason. I was answered that a babe, six months old at the
+most, had been left over night at the portal of the church."
+
+"Poor little creature!"
+
+"At that moment a young monk parted the crowd, took up the child in his
+arms, and with tears in his eyes and his face marked with touching
+compassion, he warmed with his breath the numb hands of the poor little
+waif, wrapped the baby carefully in one of the long sleeves of his robe,
+and disappeared as happy as if he carried away a treasure. The crowd
+applauded, and I heard some people around me say that the monk belonged
+to the Order of the Augustinians and was called Brother St.
+Ernest-Martyr."
+
+"Why 'Martyr'--and he so charitable?"
+
+"You do not seem to know, sister, that when taking orders a monk
+renounces his family names and assumes the name of some saint--such as
+St. Peter-in-bonds, or St. Sebastian-pierced-with-arrows, or St.
+Lawrence-on-the-gridiron, or St. Anthony-with-the-pig--"
+
+"Oh, what mournful names! They make one shudder. But the last one is
+really grotesque."
+
+"Well," proceeded Herve, without detaching his prying eyes from Hena,
+"Brother St. Ernest-Martyr was hastily walking away with his precious
+burden when I heard someone remark:
+
+"'I am quite sure the good monk will take the poor little one to Mary La
+Catelle'--"
+
+"I thought so!" exclaimed Hena ingenuously; "I knew it was he; it is my
+monk!"
+
+"How, your monk?" asked Bridget smiling, her heart dilating with joy as
+she descended the stairs and saw her son and daughter engaged in cordial
+conversation as was their former wont. "Of what monk are you talking,
+Hena, with so much unction?"
+
+"Do you not know, mother, La Catelle and her school? Do you remember
+that charming woman?"
+
+"Certainly, I do. I remember the young widow Mary La Catelle. The school
+that she founded for poor children is a work of touching charity, which,
+however, also owes a good deal to John Dubourg, the linen draper of St.
+Denis Street, and to another rich bourgeois, Monsieur Laforge. They both
+generously sustain La Catelle and her sister Martha, the wife of Poille,
+the architect, who shares with her the maternal cares that she bestows
+upon poor orphans whom she takes up in her house--a place which has
+justly earned the name of 'the house of God'."
+
+"Do you remember, mother," Hena proceeded with her reminiscences, "that
+when we went to the house of La Catelle, it happened to be school hour?"
+
+"Yes, an Augustinian monk was instructing a group of children who stood
+around him or sat at his feet, and some were seated on his knees."
+
+"Well mother, I listened to the monk as he was explaining to the
+children the parable of: 'Wicked are they who live on the milk of a
+sheep, who clothe themselves in her fleece, and yet leave the poor beast
+without pasture.' He uttered upon that subject words imprinted with such
+sweet and tender charity, and yet so easy for the intelligence of
+children to grasp, that tears came to my eyes."
+
+"And I shared your sister's emotion, Herve," replied Bridget, addressing
+her son, who, silent and absorbed in his own thoughts, had dropped out
+of the conversation. "You can not imagine with what charming benignity
+the young monk instructed those little ones; he measured his words to
+their intelligence, in order to indoctrinate them with the simple and
+pure evangelical morality. Mary La Catelle assured us that his knowledge
+was no less than his virtue."
+
+Two raps at the street door from without interrupted the conversation.
+
+"At last!" said Bridget to Herve. "This is surely your father. The
+streets are not quite safe at night. I prefer to see him indoors. I
+hardly think we shall see my brother this evening. The hour for supper
+is long gone by," observed Bridget, stepping towards her husband, to
+whom Herve had opened the house door.
+
+Christian came in accompanied with the unknown personage, a young man
+of, however, a striking countenance by reason of its expression of
+deliberate firmness. His black eyes, instinct with intelligence and
+fire, were set so close that they imparted a singular character to his
+pale and austere visage. At the sight of the unexpected visitor Bridget
+made a gesture of surprise.
+
+"Dear wife," said Christian, "I have brought Monsieur John along for
+supper. He is an old friend whom I accidentally met to-day."
+
+"He is welcome to our house," answered Bridget, while the two children
+looked at the stranger with curiosity. As was her custom, Hena embraced
+her father affectionately; but Herve, looking at him with a timid and
+repentant eye, seemed doubtful whether to follow his sister's example.
+The artisan opened his arms to his son and whispered in his ear as he
+pressed him to his heart:
+
+"I have not forgotten your fair promises of this morning," and turning
+to his guest: "This is my family--my daughter is an embroiderer, like
+her mother; my eldest son is, like myself, a printer in Monsieur Robert
+Estienne's workshop; my second son, who is apprenticed to an armorer, is
+now traveling in Italy. Thanks to God our children are wise and
+industrious, and deserve to be loved as my worthy wife and I love them."
+
+"May the blessing of God continue upon your family," answered Monsieur
+John in an affectionate voice, while Hena and her brother arranged the
+covers and set upon the table the dishes that had been prepared for the
+family meal.
+
+"Bridget," said Christian, "where is your brother?"
+
+"I had just been wondering at his absence, my friend; I would feel
+uneasy, if it were not that I rely upon his bravery, his long sword--in
+short, upon his general appearance, which is not exactly attractive to
+sneaking night thieves," added Bridget with a smile. "Neither
+Tire-Laines nor Guilleris will be very anxious to attack a Franc-Taupin.
+We need not wait for him; if he comes he will know how to make up for
+lost time at table, and will take double mouthfuls."
+
+The family and their guest sat down to table, with Monsieur John placed
+between Christian and Bridget. Addressing her, he said:
+
+"Such order and exquisite propriety reigns in this house, madam, that
+the housekeeper deserves to be complimented."
+
+"Household duties are a pleasure to me and to my daughter, monsieur;
+order and cleanliness are the only luxuries that we, poor people, can
+indulge in."
+
+"_Sancta simplicitas!_" said the stranger, and he proceeded with a
+smile: "It is a good and old motto--Holy simplicity. You will pardon me,
+madam, for having spoken in Latin. It was an oversight on my part."
+
+"By the way of Latin," put in the artisan, addressing his wife, "did
+Lefevre drop in during the day?"
+
+"No, my friend; I am as much surprised as yourself at the increasing
+rareness of his calls; formerly few were the days that he did not visit
+us; perhaps he is sick, or absent from Paris. I shall inquire after him
+to-morrow."
+
+"Lefevre is a learned Latinist," said Christian, addressing Monsieur
+John; "he is one of my oldest friends; he teaches at the University. He
+is a rough and tough mountaineer from Savoy. But under his rude external
+appearance beats an excellent heart. We think very highly of him."
+
+Christian was about to proceed when he was interrupted by the following
+ditty that came from the street, and was sung by a sonorous voice:
+
+    "A Franc-Taupin had an ash-tree bow,
+    All eaten with worms, and all knotted its cord;
+    His arrow was made out of paper, and plumed,
+    And tipped at the end with a capon's spur.
+    _Derideron, vignette on vignon! Derideron!_"
+
+"It is uncle! His favorite song announces him!" said Hena joyfully, as
+she rose to open the house-door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE FRANC-TAUPIN.
+
+
+Josephin, Bridget's brother, surnamed Tocquedillon the Franc-Taupin,
+stepped into the room. A soldier of adventure since his fifteenth year,
+he had run away from the paternal home, and soon thereafter enrolled
+with the Franc-Taupins, a sort of irregular militia, whose duty it was
+to dig the trenches intended to cover the approaches of the assailants
+at the siege of a city. These mercenary soldiers were named
+"Franc-Taupins" because, like the franc archers, they were "frank" or
+free from taxation, and because their underground work bore great
+resemblance to that of the _taupe_--mole. Once out of their trenches,
+the saying was, the Franc-Taupins displayed but little courage. Whether
+justly or unjustly, the poltroonery of the Franc-Taupin became
+proverbial, as evidenced by the favorite song of Bridget's brother. This
+personage, however, was anything but a poltroon. Just the reverse. After
+he had twice or three times turned up the earth at as many sieges, he
+disdained to belong to a corps of such cowardly renown, and enrolled in
+another irregular militia, one that stood in general dread--the
+Adventurers or Pendards, of whom a contemporaneous writer drew the
+following and, unfortunately, but too truthful picture:
+
+"What a vagabond, flagitious, murderous set are these Pendards! They are
+deniers of God, ravishing wolves, violators of women, devourers of the
+people! They drive the good man out of his house, empty his pot of wine
+and sleep in his bed. Their garb matches their disorderly habits. They
+wear shirts with long sleeves, open in front and exposing their hirsute
+chests; their streaked hose do not cover their flesh; their calves are
+left bare and they carry their socks in their belts for fear of wearing
+them out. Poultry trembles in the hen-coops at their approach, and so
+does bacon in the pantry. Brawling, roistering, audacious, ever with
+their mouths wide open, they love nothing better than to guzzle in
+company the wine that they have jointly stolen."
+
+Despite his intrepidity in war, and without resembling at all points
+this picture of the Pendards, Tocquedillon the Franc-Taupin, preserved
+strong features of the same. For all that, however, he adored, venerated
+his sister, and from the moment that he sat down at her hearth he would
+seem metamorphosed. Nothing in either his words or his conduct would
+then recall the audacious adventurer. Timid, affectionate, realizing how
+unbecoming the slang of the tavern or of even worse places would be in
+the presence of Bridget's children, of whom he was as fond as of her
+herself, he always controlled himself and never uttered in their
+presence any but decorous language. For Christian he had as much love as
+respect. As the saying goes, he would have gone through fire for the
+family. The Franc-Taupin was at this time about thirty years of age; he
+was lean, bony and about six feet high. Scarred with innumerable wounds,
+and partly blinded in battle, he wore a large black patch over his left
+eye. He kept his hair close cropped, his beard cut into a point under
+his chin, and his moustache twisted upward. His nose was pimply through
+excessive indulgence in wine, and his thick-lipped mouth, slit from ear
+to ear, exposed two rows of desultory shark's teeth every time that, as
+a true roisterer, he gave a loose to his imperturbable mirthfulness.
+
+The moment he stepped into the room, the Franc-Taupin deposited his old
+and weather-beaten sword in a corner, embraced his sister and her two
+children, shook hands cordially with Christian, bowed respectfully to
+the unknown man, and timidly took his usual place at the family table.
+
+Christian came to the relief of his brother-in-law's embarrassment and
+said to him jovially:
+
+"We would have felt uneasy at your absence, Josephin, if we did not know
+that you are of those who, with their swords at their side, defy the
+world and are able to defend themselves against all assailants."
+
+"Oh, brother, the best sword in the world will not protect one against a
+surprise; the surprise that I have just experienced has knocked me down.
+As my surprise tastes strongly of salt, I am dying with thirst--allow me
+to empty a cup." After his cup was emptied the Franc-Taupin proceeded
+with a scared look: "By the bowels of St. Quenet, what did I see! I'm
+quite certain that I am not deceived; I have only one eye left, but it
+is good for two. By all the devils, I saw him! I saw him distinctly! A
+singular encounter!"
+
+"Whom did you see, Josephin?"
+
+"I saw, just now, just before nightfall, here, in Paris, Captain Don
+Ignatius Loyola, a Spanish nobleman--a devil of a fighter and an
+inveterate lover of amorous adventures--a terrible man."
+
+At the mentioning of Ignatius Loyola's name the guest at Christian's
+table shuddered, while Christian himself asked the Franc-Taupin:
+
+"But who is that Spanish captain the sight of whom in Paris affects you
+so greatly?"
+
+"Did you really know the man?" inquired Monsieur John in an accent of
+deep interest. "Did you know Ignatius Loyola personally?"
+
+"I should think I did! I was his page."
+
+"And so, Loyola was a captain?" again inquired Monsieur John, more and
+more interested in what the Franc-Taupin said. "You must, then, have
+some information on the man's life, his character, his habits. Please
+tell us something about him."
+
+"By the bowels of St. Quenet! I was continuously with him for three
+whole months! By all the devils, I never left his side, either day or
+night!"
+
+"What were his morals?"
+
+"Oh! Oh! friend guest, I would not like to answer that question in my
+sister's presence--it is too racy a story."
+
+"Friend Christian," said Monsieur John, "I notice that you are
+surprised at my curiosity concerning the Spanish captain. You will some
+day understand that the information in question interests you as well.
+It will be an interesting history for you to know."
+
+"Hena, Herve," said the artisan, "supper is nearly ended, my children;
+it is growing late; you may retire."
+
+"And I," put in Bridget, "have some embroidery to finish; I shall go
+upstairs and work at it with Hena; I shall come down later and put away
+the dishes. You can call for me, Christian, if you need anything. You
+and Josephin can entertain our guest."
+
+Herve embraced his father with an affectation of increased tenderness,
+and withdrew to his bedroom; Bridget and her daughter went upstairs. The
+unknown man and Christian remained alone with the Franc-Taupin, and the
+latter proceeded, laughing:
+
+"My sister and her children being out of the way, my tongue is at
+freedom. Tell me, brother, did you ever hear the story of the greyhound?
+The handsomest bitches sighed after him; he remained insensible to all
+their tender growls; one day a monk's frock was thrown upon him, and he
+immediately became as amorous as one possessed. Well, Captain Loyola was
+as possessed for love adventures as the greyhound in the story, without,
+however, having need of a monk's frock to give him the start; and--but I
+was almost forgetting. Do you know, brother, in whose company I saw the
+fire-eater and hell-rake this evening? With your friend Lefevre."
+
+Christian remained for an instant speechless with astonishment; and
+turning to Monsieur John, he said:
+
+"I must admit that great is my astonishment. Lefevre, whose name I
+mentioned to you before, is an austere man, wholly absorbed in
+scientific pursuits and in study. What can he have in common with the
+Spanish libertine? I am unable to explain the mystery."
+
+"If you are surprised, brother, no less so am I," replied the
+Franc-Taupin. "Captain Loyola, whom fourteen or fifteen years ago I knew
+as the handsomest, gayest and most dissolute of cavaliers, dressed in
+velvets, silks and lace, looks to-day as tattered as any tramp or
+starving beggar. The transformation is so radical, that I never would
+have thought of looking for my frisky Spanish captain under the black
+smock-frock of a halepopin, had it not been for Lefevre, who, stopping
+me near the booths of the market place, which I was then crossing,
+inquired after you. It was then that I looked more attentively at his
+seedy companion and recognized--Don Ignatius!"
+
+"The man's relations astonish me so much, Josephin, that I am no less
+impatient than our guest to hear you."
+
+"Well, it was in the year 1521, during the siege of Pampeluna," the
+adventurer began, "and shortly after my enrollment with the
+Franc-Taupins. I was digging a trench with them before the place; we
+were throwing up the earth like veritable moles. The Spaniards made a
+sortie in order to destroy our works. At the first shot of the Spanish
+arquebuses, all my companions threw themselves flat down, with their
+noses in the hole. Their cowardice angered me. I took up my pick and
+rushed into the melee, plying my improvised weapon upon the Spaniards. A
+blow with a mace over my head knocked me down half dead. When I
+recovered consciousness I found myself lying upon the battle field among
+several of our men, all prisoners like myself. A company of Spanish
+arquebusiers surrounded us. Their captain, with the visor of his casque
+raised and mounted upon a Moorish horse as black as ebony, the housings
+of which were of red velvet embroidered with silver, was wiping his
+long, blood-stained sword upon the animal's mane. The captain was Don
+Ignatius Loyola. Moustache turned up in Castilian style, goatee, an
+olive complexion, intrepid mien, haughty and martial bearing--such was
+his portrait. He had noticed me pounding his soldiers with my pick, and
+took a fancy both to my pick and my youth. When he saw that I had
+regained consciousness, he started to laugh and addressed me in French:
+'Will you be my page? Your wideawake face denotes an intelligent
+scapegrace; I shall furnish you a silver-embroidered red livery and a
+ducat a month, and you can eat your fill at my residence.' Oh, brother,
+an offer to eat my fill, to me whose stomach had long been as hollow as
+the barrel of St. Benoit and as open as an advocate's purse! The
+prospect of putting on a beautiful silver-embroidered livery, when my
+hose had for some time been reporting to me from which corner the wind
+blew! The thought of pocketing every month a ducat, when all my earnings
+during the whole campaign had so far been a wooden bowl that I plundered
+somewhere, and that I used for a hat! In token of glad acceptance I
+seized my pick that lay near me, threw it as far away as I could, and I
+told Don Ignatius that I accepted, and would follow him to the very
+devil's residence. The long and short of the affair was that I entered
+Pampeluna with my new master."
+
+"I feel more and more mystified," interjected Christian; "what service
+could a page, ignorant of the country's language, render to Don
+Ignatius?"
+
+"The devil take it! That was the very reason why I was employed by the
+cunning slyboots of a Don Ignatius. No sooner did I arrive at his
+residence, than an old majordomo, the only one of his men who spoke
+French, rigged me up in new clothes, from my feet to my head,--puffed
+hose of red velvet, white satin jacket, short cloak with silver
+trimmings, ruffs and bonnet after the Spanish style. Thus behold me,
+brother, attired as a genuine court page. In those days I had both my
+eyes--two luminaries of deviltry, besides the cunning nose of a fox cub.
+Thus dressed up in spick and span dashing new clothes, the majordomo led
+me to Captain Loyola, 'Do you know,' he asked me, 'why I take you, a
+Frenchman, for my page? It is because, as you do not know Spanish, you
+can not choose but be discreet towards the people in my house and those
+outside.'"
+
+"That is not badly planned," remarked Christian; "Don Ignatius had, I
+suppose, many amorous secrets to conceal?"
+
+"By the bowels of St. Quenet! I knew him to have as many as three
+sweethearts at a time: a charming merchant's wife, a haughty
+marchioness, and a bedeviled gipsy girl, the most beautiful daughter of
+Bohemia that ever trilled a tambourine. But Captain Loyola, a veritable
+Franc-Taupin in matters of love, courted behind concealed trenches. He
+reveled in mystery. 'What is not known does not exist' was, with him, a
+favorite maxim that the old majordomo, his master's echo, often repeated
+to me."
+
+"'What is not known does not exist,'" repeated Monsieur John pensively.
+"Yes, judging by the motto, the man must be just what he has been
+described to me to be."
+
+"Just listen," Josephin proceeded; "I shall describe to you the
+experiences that I made the first evening that I served Don Ignatius as
+page. You will then be able to judge of the scamp's calibre. A
+fifteen-days' truce was agreed upon between the French and the
+Spaniards, as a result of the sortie at which I was taken prisoner. As a
+longheaded man, Captain Loyola proposed to profit by the truce in his
+amorous intrigues. Towards midnight he summoned me to his side. The
+devil! If the fellow looked martial in battle outfit, he looked frisky
+in his court costume! A jacket slashed with gold-embroidered velvet,
+puffed hose of white satin, shoes turned like a crawfish, plumed bonnet,
+a gold bejeweled chain on his neck! What shall I say? He shone and
+glittered, and besides, smelled of balsam! A veritable muskrat! He hands
+for me to carry a silken ladder and a guitar; takes his dagger and
+sword; and wraps himself up to the eyes in a taffeta mantle of light
+yellow. The old majordomo opens a secret door to us; we issue out of the
+house; after crossing a few narrow streets, we arrive at a deserted
+little square. My master glides under a balcony that is shut with
+lattices, takes the guitar from my hands, and there you have him
+warbling his roundelay. In response to the carol of the moustachioed
+nightingale, one of the shutters of the balcony opens slightly, and a
+bouquet of pomegranate blossoms drops at our feet. Don Ignatius picks it
+up, extracts from amidst the flowers a little note concealed among them,
+and gives me the guitar together with the bouquet to hold for him. I
+imagined our evening performance concluded. By the bowels of St. Quenet,
+it had only commenced! Don Ignatius fanned the sparks of his
+libidinousness with his guitarade, on the same principle that one fans
+the sparks of his thirst by chewing on a pork-rind dipped in mustard.
+But by the way of thirst, brother, let us imbibe that pot; appetite
+comes with eating, but thirst goes with drinking. He who drinks without
+being thirsty drinks for the thirst that is to come. Thirst is an
+animal's quality, but to crave for drink is a quality of man. By St
+Pansard and St. Goguelu, let's moisten, let's moisten our whistles! Our
+tongues will dry up soon enough! Unhappy Shrove-Tuesday, the patron of
+pots and sausages--and the devil take the Pope and all his friarhood!"
+
+"Josephin," said Christian, smiling and filling the Franc-Taupin's cup,
+as he broke into the midst of the latter's flow of bacchic invocations,
+"I know you to be an expert in the matter of quaffing, but our guest and
+myself are more curious about the end of your story."
+
+"God's head! As truly as the mere shadow of a Carmelite convent is
+enough to cure any woman of sterility, I shall not allow the end of the
+adventure of Don Ignatius to drown at the bottom of this cup! There, it
+is now empty!"
+
+Saying this, the Franc-Taupin passed the back of his hand over his
+moustache, moist with wine, wiped it dry, and proceeded:
+
+"Well, as I was saying, after his guitarade, Don Ignatius proceeded with
+his nocturnal adventure on the streets of Pampeluna. We moved away, and
+pulled up next before a pretentious dwelling. My master plants himself
+under a balcony at some distance from the main entrance; passes his long
+sword over to me to keep with the guitar, and retains no weapon other
+than his dagger; he then disengages himself of his mantle also, which he
+throws over my arm and says to me: 'You will hold the lower end of the
+ladder while I climb up to the balcony; you will then keep a sharp
+lookout near the door of this house; if you see anyone go in, you will
+run quickly under this window and clap your hands twice; I shall hear
+your signal.' This being agreed upon, Don Ignatius himself claps his
+hands three times. Immediately thereupon I see through the darkness of
+the night, a white form lean over the balustrade and drop us a cord. My
+master ties his ladder to it; the white form draws it up; the upper end
+of the ladder is fastened to the balcony; I steady it by holding the
+lower rung in my hands; and there you have Captain Loyola clambering up
+nimbly and light of heel, like a tom-cat running over a roof-pipe. As to
+myself, no less distressed than the dog of the cook who is turning the
+roast on the spit over a fire, and looks at the savory meat out of the
+corner of his eyes without partaking of it, I run and place myself in
+ambush near the door. The devil! A few minutes later, what is that I
+see? Several seigneurs, lighted by lackeys with torches in their hands
+turn into the street. One of them walks straight to the door near which
+I stand on the watch, and enters the house where my master is regaling
+himself. Obedient to the watchword, but forgetting that the flames of
+the torches are lighting me, I run to the balcony and clap my hands
+twice. By the bowels of St. Quenet, I am perceived! Two lackeys seize me
+at the moment when, notified by my signal, Captain Loyola is straddling
+the balustrade in order to descend into the street. He is recognized by
+the light of the torches. 'It is he!' 'There he is!' cry the seigneurs
+who stand in a bunch in the street. Although discovered, Don Ignatius
+glides bravely down the ladder, touches ground and calls: 'Halloa,
+there, page, my sword!' 'Don Ignatius of Loyola, I am Don Alonzo, the
+brother of Donna Carmen,' says one of the cavaliers. 'I am ready to give
+you satisfaction,' answers the captain proudly. But by the bowels of St.
+Quenet, it was with Don Ignatius's duels as with his amorous
+appointments: before the one was well finished the next commenced.
+Suddenly, the man whom I had seen enter the house, in short, the
+husband, Don Hercules Luga, appeared at the balcony; he held a bleeding
+sword in his hand. He leans forward into the street and cries: 'Friends,
+justice is done to the woman! There now remains justice to be done to
+her accomplice. Hold him. I am coming down!'"
+
+"Poor woman!" said Christian. "The death that he was the cause of must
+have horrified the libertine."
+
+"Him? The devil! Horrified at so little? Judge for yourself. At the
+moment he learned of the death of his inamorata he receives his sword
+from the hands of Don Alonzo, who had taken it away from me. Don
+Ignatius pricks its point into the tip of his shoe, and without winking
+bends the blade in order to satisfy himself on its temper. That shows
+how frightened he was at the death of his lady-love. The husband, Don
+Hercules, comes out of the house, steps up to my master and says to him:
+'Don Ignatius of Loyola, I received you as a friend at my hearth; you
+have led my wife astray; you are a felon, unworthy of knighthood!' And
+what do you imagine, brother, is the answer that Captain Loyola made to
+that? If you can guess, I shall be willing to die of thirst. But no; a
+pox on these funereal prognostics! I prefer to drink, to drink until my
+soles sweat wine!"
+
+"Proceed, Josephin; proceed with your story."
+
+"'Don Hercules,' answers Captain Loyola loftily, 'in leading Carmen
+astray, it was not _your_ woman[10] that I led astray, but _a_ woman, as
+any other! You insult me by accusing me of a felony. You shall pay
+dearly, and on the spot, for such an insult. I shall kill you like a
+dog.'"
+
+"Did you grasp that? Can you imagine a more odious subtlety?" asked
+Christian of Monsieur John. "What a hypocritical distinction! The
+libertine seduced the unfortunate woman, but not his friend's wife--only
+the _woman_, as a _woman_! Just God, such subtle quibbling! and that
+while his victim's corpse is still warm!"
+
+"That is, indeed, the man as he has been described to me," repeated the
+guest, with a pensive air. "What I am learning is a revelation to me."
+
+"The issue of the duel could not be doubtful," proceeded the
+Franc-Taupin. "Captain Loyola enjoyed the reputation of being the most
+skilful swordsman in Spain. He fully deserved his reputation. Don
+Hercules drops dead upon the ground. Don Alonzo endeavors to avenge his
+sister and brother-in-law, but the young man is readily disarmed by Don
+Ignatius, who, raising his sword, says: 'Your life belongs to me; you
+have insulted me by sharing the unworthy suspicions of Don Hercules, who
+accused me of having betrayed his friendship. But go in peace, young
+man, repent your evil thoughts--I pardon you!' After which Captain
+Loyola repaired to the gypsy girl and spent with her the rest of the
+night. I heard the two (always like the cook's dog) laugh, sing and
+carouse, clinking their glasses filled with Spanish wine. We returned
+home at dawn. Now tell me, brother Christian, what do you think of the
+gallant? You may judge by the experience of that night the number of
+pretty women whom the captain Loyolized!"
+
+"Oh, the man's infernal hypocrisy only deepens the blackness of his
+debaucheries and swordsman's prowess!"
+
+Absorbed in his private thoughts, Monsieur John remained in a brown
+study. Presently he said to the Franc-Taupin:
+
+"You followed Loyola to war. Was the captain's regiment well
+disciplined? How did he treat his soldiers?"
+
+"His soldiers? By the bowels of St. Quenet! Imagine, not men, but iron
+statues, that, with but a gesture, a wink of his eye, Don Ignatius
+either moved or petrified, as he chose. Broken in and harnessed to his
+command like so many machines, he said: 'Go!'--and they went, not only
+into battle but whithersoever he ordered. They were no longer
+themselves, but he. What the devil, Captain Loyola controlled men and
+women like horses--by the identical methods."
+
+"What methods, let us hear them, Josephin."
+
+"Well, one day a wild stallion of Cordova was brought to him; the animal
+was savage, a veritable demon; two strong stablemen were hardly able to
+hold him by the halter. Don Ignatius ordered the wild beast to be taken
+to a small enclosed yard, and remained there alone with him. I was
+outside, behind the gate. First I heard the stallion neigh with fury,
+then with pain, and then there was silence. Two hours later Captain
+Loyola issued from the yard mounted on the animal which steamed with
+foam and still trembled with fear, but as docile as a curate's mule."
+
+"That is wonderful!" cried Christian. "Was the man possessed of a magic
+charm with which to curb wild beasts?"
+
+"Exactly so, brother, and his talisman consisted in a set of reins so
+fearfully and skilfully contrived that, if the horse yielded passive
+obedience to the hand that guided him, he felt no pain whatever; but at
+the slightest show of resistance, Captain Loyola set in motion a certain
+steel saw contrivance supplied with sharp points and fastened in the
+bit. Immediately the animal would neigh with pain, remain motionless and
+sink down upon his haunches, whereupon Don Ignatius would pat it with
+his hand and give it some cream cakes. By the bowels of St. Quenet! Iron
+reins and cream cakes--this was the trick wherewith the captain
+Loyolized men, women and horses!"
+
+"And did his soldiers love him, despite his inflexible yoke?" asked
+Monsieur John.
+
+"Did they love him? The devil! Do you forget the cream cakes? Puddings,
+sausages, capons, fatted geese, pouches filled with Val-de-Penas wine,
+gay wenches, high jinks in the barracks; in the enemy's country, free
+pillage, free rape, fire, blood and sack, and long live the saturnalia!
+These were the cream cakes of Captain Loyola. Whenever occasion
+required, he would treat his soldiers to these dainties out of his own
+pocket like a magnificent seigneur; but to allow his soldiers to
+reflect, to think, to reason, to will?--Never! To ask why this and why
+that? Never! 'Kill,' the captain would say, and the response was:
+'Listen, he says kill--we kill!' But it is your friend, your brother,
+your father, your sister, your mother that he orders you to kill. 'Makes
+no difference, he said kill--we kill, and we kill;' and then come the
+cream cakes and more cream cakes, otherwise the reins begin to play, and
+they play so severely--clubbings, strappings, croppings of ears,
+hanging by the limbs and other devices of the devil. 'Our dear master,'
+often did the old majordomo say to me, 'our dear master is everything to
+all of us, provided all of us let him have his own will untrammeled;
+omnipotence is the secret joy of the dear Don Ignatius; to possess a
+woman, curb a mettlesome horse, manoeuvre his men of iron as one bends a
+reed--that is his enjoyment! He delights in absorbing souls. As to
+bodies, he fondles, caresses, indulges, dandles, fattens and greases
+them--provided they move at his will.' It is ever so, he who holds the
+soul holds the body."
+
+Christian hesitated to believe the account of the Franc-Taupin; he could
+hardly give credence to the monstrous description. Monsieur John looked
+less surprised, but more alarmed. He said to Josephin, who, having
+wished to help himself to some more wine, sighed at finding the pot
+empty:
+
+"But by what combination of circumstances could Ignatius Loyola, such as
+you described him to us and such as, I do believe, he was, metamorphose
+himself to the extent of coming here, to Paris, and seat himself on the
+benches of the Montaigu College among the youngest of the students?"
+
+"What!" cried Christian, stupefied. "Is Ignatius Loyola to-day a simple
+student?"
+
+"He attended the College," replied Monsieur John; "and one day he
+submitted to be publicly whipped in punishment for a slip of memory.
+There is something unexplainable, or frightful, in such humility on the
+part of such a man."
+
+"Ignatius Loyola! the debauchee, the skilful swordsman! The haughty
+nobleman, did he do that?" cried Christian. "Can it be possible?"
+
+"By the bowels of St. Quenet, brother," put in the Franc-Taupin in his
+turn, "as well tell me that the monks of Citeaux left their kegs empty
+after vintage! Even such a thing would sound less enormous than that
+Captain Loyola slipped down his hose to receive a flogging! The devil
+take me!" cried the Franc-Taupin vainly trying to extract a few more
+drops from the pot. "I am choked with surprise!"
+
+"But you must not be allowed to choke with thirst, good Josephin," put
+in Christian, smiling and exchanging a look of intelligence with
+Monsieur John. "The pot is empty. As soon as your story is ended, and in
+order to feast our guest, I shall have to ask you to go to the tavern
+that you know of and fetch us a pot of Argenteuil wine. That is agreed,
+brother."
+
+"St. Pansard, have pity upon my paunch! By my faith, brother, the pots
+are empty. I guess the reason why. One time I used to drink it all--now
+I leave nothing. Did you say a pot of wine? Amen!" said the Franc-Taupin
+rising from his seat. "We shall furnish our guest with a red border,
+like a cardinal! Yes, brother, it is agreed. And so I shall go for the
+pot, but not for one only--for two, or three."
+
+"Not so fast, first finish your story; I am interested in it more than
+you can imagine," said Monsieur John with great earnestness. "I must
+again ask you: To what do you, who knew Loyola so well, attribute this
+incredible change?"
+
+"May my own blood smother me; may the quartain fever settle my hash, if
+I understand it! A few hours ago I strained my remaining eye fit to give
+it a squint, in contemplating Don Ignatius. Seeing him so threadbare, so
+wan, so seedy and leaning upon his staff, I had not the courage to
+remind him of me. By the bowels of St. Quenet, I felt ashamed of having
+been page to the worn-out old crippled hunch-back."
+
+"How is that! You described him as having been such a fine-looking
+cavalier and such a skilful swordsman--and yet he was hunch-backed?"
+
+"He was crippled through two wounds that he received at the siege of
+Pampeluna. The devil! All the fathers, all the brothers, all the
+husbands whose daughters, sisters and wives the captain Loyolized, would
+have felt themselves thoroughly revenged if, like myself, they had seen
+him writhe like one possessed and howling like a hundred wolves from the
+pain of his wounds. By the bowels of the Pope, what horrible grimaces
+the man made!"
+
+"But how could so intrepid a man display such weakness at pain?"
+
+"Not at the pain itself; not that. On the contrary. As a result of his
+wounds he voluntarily endured positive torture, beside which his first
+agonies were gentle caresses."
+
+"And why did he submit to such tortures? Can you explain that?"
+
+"Yes. The truce between the Spaniards and the French lasted several
+days. At its close Captain Loyola mounted his horse, and placing himself
+at the head of his forces ordered a sortie. He made havoc among the
+enemy; but in the melee he received two shots from an arquebus. One of
+them fractured his right leg just below the knee, the other took him
+under the left hip. My gallant was carried to his house and we laid him
+in his bed. Do you know what were the first words that Don Ignatius
+uttered? They were these: 'Death and passion, I may remain deformed all
+my life!' And would you believe it? Captain Loyola wept like a woman!
+Aye, he wept, not with pain, no, by the bowels of St. Quenet, but with
+rage! You may imagine how crossed the handsome and roistering cavalier
+felt at the prospect. Imagine a limping cripple strolling under
+balconies and warbling his love songs! Imagine such a figure running
+after the senoras! What a sight it would be to have such a disjointed
+lover throwing himself at their feet at the risk of being unable to pick
+himself up again and yelling with pain: 'Oh, my leg! Oh, my knee!' Just
+think of such a lame duck attempting to try conclusions with jealous and
+irate husbands and brothers, arms in hand! Don Ignatius must have
+thought of all that--and wept!"
+
+"It is almost incomprehensible that a man of his temper could be so
+enamoured of his physical advantages," remarked Christian.
+
+"Not at all!" replied Monsieur John thoughtfully. "Oh, what an abyss is
+the human soul! I now think I understand--" but suddenly breaking off he
+asked the Franc-Taupin: "Accordingly, Don Ignatius was dominated by the
+fear of remaining crippled for life?"
+
+"That was his only worry. But I must hurry on. I have a horror of empty
+wine pots. My present worry is about the wine spigot. Well, all the
+same, after healing, Captain Loyola's legs remained, as he feared, of
+unequal length. 'Oh, dogs! Jews! Pagan surgeons!' bawled Don Ignatius
+when he made the discovery. 'Fetch me here the robed asses! the brothers
+of Beelzebub! I shall have them quartered!' Summoned in great hurry, the
+poor wretches of surgeons hastened to Don Ignatius. They trembled;
+turned and turned him about; they examined and re-examined his leg;
+after all of which, the slashers of Christian flesh and sawers of
+Christian bones declared that they could render Captain Loyola as nimble
+of foot as ever he was. 'A hundred ducats to each of you if you keep
+your promise!' he cried, already seeing himself prancing on horseback,
+prinking in his finery, strutting about, warbling love songs under
+balconies, parading, and above all Loyolizing. 'Yes, senor; the lameness
+will disappear,' answered the bone-setters, 'but, we shall have, first
+of all, to break your leg over again, where it was fractured before; in
+the second place, senor, we shall have to cut away the flesh that has
+grown over the bone below your knee; in the third place, we shall have
+to saw off a little bone that protrudes; that all being done, no doe of
+the forest will be more agile than your Excellency.' 'Break, re-set,
+cut off, saw off, by the death of God!' cried Captain Loyola 'provided I
+can walk straight! Go ahead! Start to work!'"
+
+"But that series of operations must have caused him frightful pain!"
+
+"By the bowels of St. Quenet! When the protruding bone was being sawed
+off, the grinding of Captain Loyola's teeth drowned the sound of the
+saw's teeth. The contortions that he went through made him look like a
+veritable demon. His suffering was dreadful."
+
+"And did he heal?"
+
+"Perfectly. But there still remained the left thigh in its bandages. The
+fraternity of surgeons swore that that limb would be as good if not
+better than before the injury that it sustained. At the end of six weeks
+Captain Loyola rose and tried to walk. He did walk. Glory to the
+bone-setters! He no longer limped of the right leg; but, the devil! his
+left thigh had shrunk by two inches by reason of a tendon that was
+wounded. And there was my gallant still hobbling, worse than ever. It
+had all to be done over again."
+
+"Don Ignatius's fury must have been fierce!"
+
+"Howling tigers and roaring lions would have been as bleating lambs
+beside Captain Loyola in his boiling rage. 'Dear, sweet master,' his old
+majordomo said to him, 'the saints will help you; why despair? The
+surgeons performed a miracle on your right leg; why should not they be
+equally able to do the same thing on your left thigh?' The drowning man
+clings to a straw. 'Halloa, page, run to the surgeons!' yelled my
+master at me; 'bring them here instantly!' The surgeons came. 'Here they
+are, senor.' 'I suffered the pangs of death for the cure of my right
+leg; I am willing to suffer as much or worse for the lengthening of my
+left thigh. Can you do it?' said Don Ignatius to the bones-setters.
+Whereupon they fell to feeling, pressing, kneading and manipulating the
+twisted thigh of the patient; without desisting from their work at the
+member after a while they raised their heads and mumbled between their
+teeth: 'Senor, yes, we can free you from this limp--but, firstly, we
+shall have to strap you down upon your back, where you will have to lie,
+motionless, for two months; secondly, a strap will have to be passed
+under your arms and fastened firmly to the head of your couch; thirdly,
+a weight of fifty pounds will have to be adjusted to a ring and fastened
+to your left leg, to the end that the weight slowly, steadily, and
+constantly distend your thigh. The result will then be obtained, seeing
+you will be held firm and motionless by the two straps, the one that
+binds you down to your bed and the other, under your arms, that holds
+you to the head of your couch. With the aid of these contrivances, your
+thigh will be restored to its normal condition at the end of two months,
+and the does of the forest will then be less agile than your
+Excellency.' 'Do it!' was Loyola's answer. 'Strap, distend, stretch me
+out, blood of God, provided I can walk!'"
+
+"That is frightful!" cried Christian. "It is the 'wooden horse' torture,
+prolonged beyond the point of human endurance."
+
+"By the bowels of St. Quenet! There is nothing beyond endurance to a
+gallant who is determined not to hobble. Don Ignatius underwent the
+torture for the two months. The old majordomo and myself nursed our
+master. At times he screamed--Oh, such screams! They were heard a
+thousand feet from the house. Exhausted with pain, his eyelids would
+droop in sleep, but only to be suddenly reawakened with a start by his
+shooting pains. At such times the sounds that he emitted were screams no
+longer, but the howlings of the damned. At the end of two months of
+insomnia and continuous agony, which left nothing but the skin on his
+bones, but during which he was held up at least with the hope of final
+cure, Captain Loyola's surgeons held a consultation, and allowed him to
+leave his bed of torture. He rose, walked--but, the devil! not only was
+his left thigh not sufficiently lengthened, but his right knee, that had
+been previously operated upon, had become ossified from lying motionless
+for so long a time! Captain Loyola said not a word; he became livid as a
+corpse and dropped unconscious to the floor. We all thought he was dead.
+The next day the majordomo notified me that our master did no longer
+need a page. My wages were paid me; I left Spain and returned to France
+with other prisoners who had been set free. After all that, and after
+the lapse of fourteen or fifteen years, I ran a few hours ago across Don
+Ignatius, near a booth on the market place, in the company of your
+friend Lefevre. That, brother, ends my story. Jarnigoy! Is it not racy?
+But by the bowels of St. Quenet, my tongue is parched; it cleaves to
+the roof of my mouth; my whistle burns; it is on the point of breaking
+out into flame; help! help! wine! wine! Let the wine act as water to put
+out the fire! I shall now run out for the promised nectar of
+Argenteuil!" added the Franc-Taupin, rising from his seat. "I shall be
+back in a jiffy! And then we shall drinkedrille, drinkedraille, gaily
+clink glasses with our guest. A full pot calls for a wide throat!"
+
+So saying, Josephin went out, singing in a sonorous voice his favorite
+refrain:
+
+    "A Franc-Taupin had an ash-tree bow,
+    All eaten with worms, and all knotted its cord;
+    His arrow was made out of paper, and plumed,
+    And tipped at the end with a capon's spur.
+    _Derideron, vignette on vignon! Derideron!_"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+BROTHER ST. ERNEST-MARTYR.
+
+
+The moment the Franc-Taupin left the house the stranger said to
+Christian:
+
+"Your brother-in-law's story is a revelation to me. The past life of
+Ignatius Loyola explains to me his present life."
+
+"But who is that man? Whence the interest, curiosity and even alarm that
+he seems to inspire you with?"
+
+Christian was saying these words when his wife descended from the floor
+above. The sight of her reminded him it was urgent that the stranger be
+taken to the garret before the return of Josephin. "Bridget," he
+accordingly said to his wife, "has Hena gone to bed?"
+
+"Yes; both the dear children have retired for the night."
+
+"Master Robert Estienne has confided a secret to me and asked of me a
+service, dear Bridget. For two or three days we are to hide Monsieur
+John, our guest of this evening, in this house. The garret seems to me
+to offer a safe retreat. I have temporarily got your brother out of the
+way. Take our refugee upstairs; I shall remain here to wait for
+Josephin."
+
+Bridget took up again the lamp that she had deposited upon the table,
+and said to the stranger as she prepared to lead the way upstairs:
+
+"Come, monsieur; your secret will remain with Christian and myself; you
+may rely upon our discretion."
+
+"I am certain of that, madam," answered Monsieur John; "I shall never
+forget your generous hospitality;" and addressing the artisan: "Could
+you join me later, after your brother-in-law has gone? I should like to
+speak with you."
+
+"I shall join monsieur after Josephin's departure," Christian answered
+the stranger, who followed Bridget to the upper loft.
+
+The latter two had both withdrawn when suddenly an uproar was heard in
+the street. Peals of laughter were interspersed with the plaintive cries
+of a woman. Although quite familiar with these nocturnal disorders,
+seeing that the Guilleris, the Mauvais-Garcons, the Tire-Laines and
+other bandits infested the streets at night, and not infrequently
+disturbed the carousals of the young seigneurs bent upon their
+debauches, Christian's first impulse was to go out to the help of the
+woman whose cries resounded ever more plaintive. Considering, however,
+that no decent woman would venture outside of her house at such a late
+hour, and, above all, fearing that by interfering in the affray he might
+provoke an assault upon his house and thereby put the safety of his
+guest in jeopardy, he contented himself with partly opening the window,
+whereupon, by the light of the torches held by several pages dressed in
+rich liveries, he saw three seigneurs, evidently just come from some
+orgy, surrounding a woman. The seigneurs were in an advanced stage of
+intoxication and sought to drag the woman after them; she resisted and
+held her arms closely clasped around a large cross that stood in the
+center of the bridge. The woman cried imploringly: "Oh, leave me,
+seigneurs. In the name of heaven, leave me! Mercy! Have pity for a
+woman--mercy, seigneurs!"
+
+"May the flames of St. Anthony consume me if you do not come with us,
+strumpet!" yelled one of the seigneurs, seizing the woman by the waist.
+"A street walker to put on such airs! Come, my belle, either walk or we
+shall strip you on the spot!"
+
+"You are mistaken, seigneurs," answered the poor creature panting for
+breath in the unequal struggle; "I am an honest widow."
+
+"Honest and a widow!" exclaimed one of the debauchees. "'Sdeath, what a
+windfall! We shall marry you over again."
+
+Saying which the seigneurs tried anew to tear their victim from the foot
+of the cross to which she clung with terror and screamed aloud for help.
+Attracted by the cries, a young monk, who happened to be in a nearby
+side street, ran to the scene, saw the distressed condition of the
+persecuted woman, and rushed at her aggressors, saying in a deeply moved
+voice:
+
+"Oh, brothers, to outrage a woman at the very foot of the cross! That is
+a cowardly act, condemned by God!"
+
+"What business is that of yours, you frockist, you convent rat!" cried
+one of the assailants, stepping towards the monk with a menacing
+gesture. "Do you know whom it is that you are talking with? Do you know
+that I have the power, not only to kill you, but to excommunicate you,
+you beggar? I am the Marquis of Fleurange, the colonel of the regiment
+of Normandy, and over and above that, Bishop of Coutances. So, then, go
+your ways quickly and without further ado, you tonsured knave and
+mumbler of masses. If you do not, I shall use my spiritual powers and my
+temporal powers--I shall excommunicate you and run you through with my
+sword!"
+
+"Oh, Brother St. Ernest-Martyr! Come to my help! It is I, Mary La
+Catelle!" cried the young widow, as she recognized the monk by the light
+of the torches. "For pity's sake stand by me!"
+
+"Oh, my brothers!" cried the monk indignantly, running towards Mary.
+"The woman whom you are outraging is a saint! She gathers the little
+children that are left unprotected; she instructs them; she is blessed
+by all who know her; she is entitled to your respect."
+
+"If she is a saint, I am a bishop--and between a female saint and a
+bishop the relations are close!" answered the Marquis of Fleurange with
+a winey guffaw. "She loves children! 'Sdeath, she shall be delighted! I
+shall swell her family!"
+
+"You shall kill me before you reach her!" cried the monk, vigorously
+thrusting the marquis back. The latter, being heavily in his cups,
+reeled, swore and blasphemed, while Brother St. Ernest-Martyr threw
+himself between the widow, who clung to the cross, and her assailants.
+Crossing his arms over his chest, he looked defiantly at the seigneurs
+and said to them challengingly, as he barred their way to their victim:
+
+"Come forward, if you will; but you will have to kill me before you
+touch this woman!"
+
+"Insolent frockist! You dare threaten us and to raise your hand against
+me!" yelled the colonel-bishop furious and tottering on his unsteady
+limbs; and drawing his sword in its scabbard out of his baldric, he took
+it in both his hands, and struck so hard a blow with its heavy hilt upon
+the forehead of the monk, that the latter was dazed by the blow,
+staggered backward, and fell bleeding from an ugly scalp wound at the
+feet of Mary La Catelle.
+
+Despite the caution that his guest's safety imposed upon him, Christian
+could no longer remain a passive witness of such acts of brutality; he
+entertained a respectful esteem for the young widow whose virtuous life
+he was acquainted with; moreover, he feared lest the monk, who had so
+generously interposed between the drunken seigneurs and their victim, be
+subjected to further maltreatment. Christian shut the window, armed
+himself with a heavy iron bar, slipped quietly out of his house, shut
+the door after him without making any noise, in order to prevent its
+being known from whence he came, and, seeing several of his neighbors,
+whom the disturbance had drawn to their windows, he shouted:
+
+"To your clubs, my friends, to your clubs! Will you allow women to be
+assailed, and defenseless men to be killed? To your clubs, my friends,
+to your clubs! Let us save the victims!"
+
+Saying this, Christian ran resolutely upon the three seigneurs and their
+pages. At that very moment, the Franc-Taupin returned upon the bridge
+with the pot of Argenteuil wine that he had gone after. Seeing the
+artisan by the light of the torches and hearing him summon the neighbors
+to their clubs, the Franc-Taupin deposited the pot of wine at the
+threshold of the door, drew his sword and rushed to the fray crying:
+
+"By the bowels of St. Quenet, here I am! My fine blade has not taken the
+air for a long time! It itches in my hands! Death to the enemies of the
+good people of Paris! Death to the nobles and their pages!"
+
+Several of Christian's neighbors answered his summons and issued from
+their houses, some armed with clubs, others with pikes. For a moment the
+three seigneurs stood their ground bravely; they drew close abreast of
+one another and drew their swords. Their pages, however, as much out of
+fear of being hurt in the broil as out of mischief, suddenly put out
+their torches and screamed:
+
+"Seigneurs! There is a squad of armed constables coming this way! There,
+on the bridge! Look out! Run who run can!"
+
+Upon shouting this lie the pages ran off as fast as their legs could
+carry them and left their masters and their assailants in utter
+darkness. The three seigneurs did not feel much concern on the score of
+the constables, who never dared to suppress the disorders of the
+nobility; but realizing that they had to do with eight or ten
+determined men, the assailants of the defenseless woman profited by the
+darkness in which they found themselves to slip away upon the heels of
+their pages, while Christian's neighbors called for lanthorns in order
+to raise the wounded man. The artisan ran back into his house, lighted,
+and came out with a taper. By the light the monk was discovered
+stretched out at the foot of the cross, with his head bathed in the
+blood that ran profusely from his scalp wound. On her knees beside him,
+and weeping tears of thankfulness, Mary La Catelle sought to staunch the
+wound of her defender. Brother St. Ernest-Martyr was carried into
+Christian's house with the help of the Franc-Taupin and some neighbors.
+The artisan offered asylum also to the widow, who was almost fainting
+with fright. Commissioned by her husband to conduct the stranger to the
+garret, the only window of which opened upon the river, Bridget remained
+ignorant of what was occurring upon the street. When, however, she
+returned downstairs, great was her surprise and alarm at the sight of
+Mary La Catelle, pale, her dress thrown into disorder, and leaning
+against a table compassionately contemplating the wounded young monk.
+The latter was slowly regaining consciousness, thanks to the attention
+that he was receiving from the artisan and the Franc-Taupin.
+
+"Good God!" cried Bridget, hastening to approach the young widow. "Look
+at the poor monk covered with blood. What has happened, Mary?"
+
+"I was delayed at a friend's longer than I had expected; her maid
+servant accompanied me home; we were crossing the bridge when several
+swaggering seigneurs approached and made insulting remarks to us. The
+poor servant was frightened and ran away, leaving me alone. The men
+sought to drag me away with them. Brother St. Ernest-Martyr happening
+by, came to my rescue; he received on the forehead a blow with the hilt
+of a sword and fell bleeding at my feet. Happily your husband and
+several neighbors rushed to our help; thanks to them we escaped further
+maltreatment from our assailants; but the poor monk is wounded."
+
+"Dear sister, let me have some fresh water and some lint," said the
+Franc-Taupin to Bridget. Having often been wounded in war the soldier of
+adventure had some knowledge of the dressing of wounds.
+
+"I shall go upstairs for the lint, and bring my daughter down to help
+you," answered Bridget as she proceeded to the storey above.
+
+Slightly recovered from her own fright, Mary La Catelle drew nearer to
+the monk with deepening interest. The Franc-Taupin looked around and
+said to Christian:
+
+"What has become of your guest? Did he show the white feather? I would
+have preferred he were a braver man."
+
+"No, no, Josephin. Our guest left the house shortly before the
+disturbance on the street; he feared it was growing too late for him."
+
+"Why did he not wait for me? I would have escorted him home safely after
+emptying our pot of Argenteuil. But, coming to think of it," the
+Franc-Taupin broke off, while he left Christian to hold up the head of
+the friar, "I shall pour a few drops of wine down the wounded man's
+throat; the devil! wine has the miraculous power of being as helpful to
+the sick as to the well;" and taking up the pot he approached it to his
+own lips. "Before administering the potion to others let me try it
+myself--it is the duty of all prudent pharmacists to assure themselves
+of the quality of their own medicine."
+
+While the Franc-Taupin was thoroughly "trying" the beverage, Bridget
+came down again with her daughter. The latter had hastily put on her
+clothes. Her brother also, whom the noise had awakened, dressed himself
+and came out of his room. Herve was on the point of inquiring from his
+father what was the cause of the commotion in the house when his eyes
+alighted upon St. Ernest-Martyr, and he recognized the man whom his
+sister Hena had ingenuously called "her monk." A flash of lightning shot
+from Herve's eyes and for an instant his looks assumed a ferocious
+expression. The lad, however, controlled his sentiments and closely
+watched his sister and the friar, to the latter of whom the Franc-Taupin
+was administering a few mouthfuls of the comforting wine. Speedily
+recalled to himself by the strengthening elixir, Brother St.
+Ernest-Martyr opened his eyes. Before him he saw, like a celestial
+apparition, the angelic countenance of Hena, who, with eyes moist with
+pity, held out to her uncle with a trembling hand the lint that he was
+using to dress the wound of the monk whose head Christian held in his
+hands. When he had completely regained consciousness and collected his
+thoughts, the monk became aware of the solicitude with which he was
+surrounded by the family that had taken him in; tears of gratitude and
+tenderness welled up in his eyes and rolled down his face, which, pale
+with the loss of blood, recalled the touching beauty that painters
+impart to the image of Christ. The expression of ineffable gratitude on
+the monk's countenance gave it at the moment so sweet a charm that Herve
+trembled with suppressed rage. His anger was such that it even
+threatened to break out when he surprised the eyes of the monk and of
+his sister once as they accidentally met. The lad noticed that both
+dropped their eyes and seemed embarrassed. These circumstances escaped
+all the other members of the family. Brother St. Ernest-Martyr turned
+his head towards Christian and said to him in a feeble voice:
+
+"It is to you, no doubt, monsieur, that I owe my life. And yet I am a
+stranger to you. May heaven place it some day in my power to attest to
+you the gratitude with which I am penetrated. I thank you for your
+help."
+
+"Brother," answered the artisan, "I would have fulfilled my duty as a
+Christian by assisting you even if you were a stranger to me; but often
+did our mutual friend Mary La Catelle speak to us of you and of the
+esteem that you deserve. Besides, my wife often was present when you
+were teaching the little ones. She has preserved cherished recollections
+of the evangelical morality that you preached to them."
+
+"Oh, we could never sufficiently praise the good brother!" exclaimed
+Mary La Catelle. "What is known of him is like nothing beside the
+numerous acts of charity that he practices in secret--"
+
+"Sister, sister," said the monk, blushing with modesty and interrupting
+the widow, "do not exaggerate my poor deserts; I love little ones; to
+instruct them is a pleasure to me and their affection more than rewards
+me for the little that I do for them. My duty squares with my pleasure."
+
+"Well, brother, I shall say no more," replied Mary La Catelle; "I shall
+not say how highly I think of you, and how I but re-echo the sentiments
+of all who know you; I shall say nothing of how, a short time ago, you
+rushed to my defense at the risk of your life; I shall not say how, only
+yesterday, a man who fell into the river near the isle of Notre Dame was
+being carried down stream and about to sink when you threw yourself--"
+
+"Dear sister," insisted Brother St. Ernest-Martyr with a melancholy
+smile, and again interrupting the widow whose praises of the monk placed
+Herve upon the rack, "your style of not saying things is too
+transparent. Oblige me; draw a veil over the acts that you refer to;
+anyone else would have done as much. We all in this world owe assistance
+to our fellows." As the young monk spoke these words, his eyes
+involuntarily again encountered Hena's; he sought to flee from their
+influence upon him; he rose from his stool, and said to Christian:
+"Adieu, monsieur; I am only a poor friar of the Order of St. Augustine;
+I can only preserve the deepest gratitude for your timely help. Believe
+me, the remembrance of yourself and of your sympathetic family will
+always be present in my mind. May the blessing of God rest upon your
+house."
+
+"What, brother," interposed the artisan, "your wound is barely dressed,
+and you would leave the house so soon? Rest yourself a little longer;
+you are still too weak to proceed on your route."
+
+"It is late, and I feel quite strong enough to return to my convent. I
+went with the Superior's consent to carry some consolation to a good old
+priest of Notre Dame who lies dangerously ill. Night is now far
+advanced, allow me to withdraw. I think that the fresh air will do me
+good," and respectfully bowing to Hena and her mother, blushingly he
+said to Mary La Catelle: "To-morrow will be school day, dear sister; I
+hope I shall be able to go to your house as usual, and give the children
+their lessons."
+
+"May it please God that you can keep your promise, dear brother,"
+answered the young widow; "but I am less courageous than you; I would
+not dare to return home to-night any more; I shall request Bridget to be
+so kind as to afford me asylum for the night."
+
+"Do you imagine, dear Mary, that I would have allowed you to go?"
+answered Christian's wife. "You shall share Hena's bed."
+
+After the monk's wound was dressed, the Franc-Taupin had remained
+silent, sharing, as he did, the interest felt by the whole family,
+Herve, alas, only excepted, in poor Brother St. Ernest-Martyr. The
+latter's modest bearing, the sweetness of his countenance, the good
+words that all had for him, deeply moved Josephin, who, his soldier's
+manners and the adventurous life he led notwithstanding, was susceptible
+to generous emotions. Seeing the friar, after expressing his thanks anew
+to Christian, move towards the door, the Franc-Taupin took up his sword,
+put on his hat, and said:
+
+"My reverend man, you shall not go out alone. I shall escort you to the
+Augustinian Convent. It is common with blows received on the skull, to
+be followed after a while by dizziness. You might be seized with such a
+fit on your way. Let me offer you my arm."
+
+"Thanks, Josephin," said Bridget affectionately; "thanks for your kind
+thoughtfulness, my friend. Do accompany the worthy monk."
+
+"I am obliged to you for your offer," answered the monk to the
+Franc-Taupin; "but I can not consent to your troubling yourself by
+escorting me. The function with which I am clad, besides my robe, will
+be ample protection against marauders."
+
+"Your robe! Were it not that I know how worthy a man is inside of it, I
+would let it depart alone. By the bowels of St. Quenet! I have no love
+for frockists. Monkeys do not watch houses like dogs, they do not draw
+the plow like oxen, they do not carry loads like horses. Very much like
+the useless monkey, monks do not till the soil like the peasant, they do
+not defend the country like the soldier, they do not heal the sick like
+the physician. By the bowels of St. Quenet! These frockists deafen their
+neighborhood with the clatter of their bells, on the theory that the
+mass that is well rung is half said. They mumble their prayers in order
+to earn their fat soups, not to save souls. You, however, my reverend
+man, you who plow the field of science, you who defend the oppressed,
+you who comfort the sorrowful, you who sacrifice your life for others,
+you who are the prop of the poor, you who indoctrinate the little ones
+like a good evangelical doctor--you are not one of those mumblers of
+prayers, of those traffickers in masses, although you wear their
+costume. It might, therefore, well happen that some gang of
+Mauvais-Garcons, or of Tire-Laines, or of the associates of these _in
+partibus_, mendicant monks, might scent the honest man under your frock,
+and hurt you out of sheer hatred of good. For that reason you shall take
+my arm, by the devil, and I shall escort you whether you want it or
+not."
+
+At first alarmed at the unconventionality of the Franc-Taupin's words,
+the family of Christian soon felt easier, and, so far from interrupting
+him, took pleasure in listening to him bestowing, after his own fashion,
+praise upon the friar. Hena, above all, seemed with her ingenuous and
+delighted smile to applaud her uncle, while Herve, on the contrary, was
+hardly able to repress his annoyance, and cast jealous side glances at
+St. Ernest-Martyr.
+
+The monk answered the Franc-Taupin: "My dear brother, if the larger part
+of my brotherhood are, indeed, such as you depict them, I would request
+you rather to pity and pardon them; if they are different from what you
+take them for, if they are worthy beings, pray devoutly that they may
+persevere in the right path. You offer me your arm; I accept it. If I
+were to refuse you, you might think that I resent your satirical
+outburst."
+
+"Resent! You, my reverend man! One might as well expect ferocity from
+the lamb. Good night, sister; good night, children," added the
+Franc-Taupin as he embraced Bridget, Hena and Herve successively. "The
+only one wanting to my hugs is my little Odelin. But by the bowels of
+St. Quenet! I shall not do like the paymaster of my company, who pockets
+the pay of the absent men. When the darling apprentice to the armorer is
+back again, I shall pay him the full arrears of hugs due him."
+
+"The dear boy!" observed Bridget tenderly, as her thoughts flew to her
+absent son. "May he soon again be back in our midst! It looks so long to
+us before his return."
+
+"His absence grieves me as much as it does you," interjected Christian.
+"It seems to me so long since his place is vacant at our hearth."
+
+"You will see him return to us grown up, but so grown that we shall
+hardly know him," put in Hena. "How we shall celebrate his return! What
+a joy it will be to us to make him forget the trials of the journey!
+What a delight it will be to hear him tell us all about his trip to
+Milan, his experiences on the road, and his excursions in Italy!"
+
+Herve alone had not a word on the absence of his brother.
+
+Rising from the seat into which he had dropped for a moment, the young
+monk took leave of the artisan, saying:
+
+"May the heavens continue to bless your hospitality and your happy
+home, the sanctuary of the domestic virtues that are so rare in these
+days!"
+
+"The devil, my friend! Your words are golden!" exclaimed the
+Franc-Taupin, as he offered the monk the support of his arm. "Whenever I
+step into this poor but dear house, it seems to me I leave the big devil
+of hell behind me at the door; and whenever I go out again, I feel as if
+I am quitting paradise. Look out! Who knows but Beelzebub, the wicked
+one with the cloven hoofs, is waiting for me outside? But to-night,
+seeing me in your company, my reverend man, he will not dare to grab me.
+Come, let's start, reverend sir!"
+
+So saying, the Franc-Taupin left with the monk; Bridget led La Catelle
+to Hena's chamber; and Christian climbed up to the garret for a chat
+with Monsieur John.
+
+Left alone in the lower apartment, his fists clenched and his lips drawn
+tight together, Herve murmured moodily:
+
+"Oh, that monk--that accursed monk!" The lad relapsed into gloomy
+thoughts; suddenly he resumed: "What a scheme! Yes, yes--it will remove
+even the shadow of a suspicion. I shall follow the inspiration, whether
+it proceed from the devil or from God--"
+
+Herve did not finish his sentence. He listened in the direction of the
+staircase by which Mary La Catelle, Bridget and Hena and his father had
+just mounted to the floor above.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+IN THE GARRET.
+
+
+Cautiously climbing the ladder that led up to the garret, Christian
+found the stranger seated upon the sill of the narrow window that opened
+upon the river. The moon, then on the wane, was rising in a sky studded
+with stars, and shed her pale light upon the austere visage of the
+unknown guest. Drawn from his absorbing thoughts, he turned towards
+Christian:
+
+"I thought I heard some noise toward the bridge. Has anything happened?"
+
+"Some seigneurs, out on a carousal, attempted to do violence to a woman.
+Several of our neighbors rushed to her aid with me and my
+brother-in-law. Thanks be to God, Mary La Catelle is safe."
+
+"What!" cried Monsieur John with deep concern, breaking in upon the
+artisan's report. "Was that worthy widow, who is associated with John
+Dubourg, the draper of St. Denis Street, with Etienne Laforge, the rich
+bourgeois of Tournay, and the architect Poille in the charitable work of
+gathering abandoned orphans, in peril? Poor woman, her charity, the
+purity of her principles and her devotion to the little ones entitle
+her to the esteem of all right-minded people."
+
+"The task that she has imposed upon herself bristles with dangers. The
+monks and friars of her quarter suspect her of partaking of the ideas
+and hopes of the reformers. Already has she been locked up in the
+Chatelet, and her school been closed. Thanks, however, to the
+intervention of one of her relatives, who is in the service of Princess
+Marguerite, a protector of the reform, Mary was set at liberty and her
+school was re-opened. But the persecutions of the heretics are
+redoubling, and I apprehend fresh dangers for our friend, whose faith is
+unshakable."
+
+"Yes, the persecutions are redoubling," rejoined Monsieur John
+thoughtfully. "Monsieur Christian Lebrenn, I know I can unbosom myself
+to you with all frankness. I am a stranger in Paris; you know the city.
+Could I find within the walls, or even without, some secluded spot where
+about a hundred persons could be gathered secretly and safely? I must
+warn you, these persons belong to the Reformation."
+
+The artisan reflected for a moment and answered: "It would be difficult
+and dangerous to assemble so large a number of people within Paris.
+Gainier, the chief spy of the Criminal Lieutenant, expends undefatigable
+activity to discover and denounce all assemblages that he suspects. His
+agents are spread everywhere. So considerable a gathering would
+undoubtedly call their attention. Outside of Paris, however, we need not
+apprehend the same watchfulness. I may be able to indicate some safe
+place to you. But before proceeding farther, I should make a
+confidential disclosure to you. A friend of mine and myself contemplate
+printing secretly a few handbills intended to propagate the reform
+movement. We are in the hope that, scattered through Paris, or posted
+over night on the walls, these placards may stir public opinion. Only
+one obstacle has, so far, held us back--the finding of some safe and
+secluded place, where, without danger of being detected, we might set up
+our little printing establishment. I understand from my friend that he
+has at last found a suitable place for our purpose. It may turn out to
+be suitable for yours also."
+
+"Is the house outside the walls of Paris?"
+
+"It is not a house; it is an abandoned quarry situated on Montmartre. My
+friend was born in that suburb; his mother still lives there; he is
+familiar with every nook and corner of that rocky hill. He is of the
+opinion that a certain wide and deep grotto which he inspected will
+guarantee to us the seclusion and safety that we are in search of. If he
+is not mistaken, the meeting that you have mentioned to me might be held
+at Montmartre. To-morrow evening I am to go with my friend to look the
+place over. When I shall have done so, I shall acquaint you with the
+circumstances, and if the place is fit, you may fix the day of your
+gathering."
+
+"Suppose that your excursion to Montmartre to-morrow evening satisfies
+you that the quarry is suitable for my meeting, that it offers perfect
+safety; in what manner could the people, whom I shall convoke, be
+furnished with the necessary directions to find the place?"
+
+"I think that would be an easy matter, after the locality had been
+carefully inspected. I shall be able to furnish you to-morrow with the
+full particulars."
+
+"Monsieur Christian, could you also tell me where I could find some
+trustworthy person whom I could commission to carry the letters of
+convocation to certain persons, who, in their turn, would notify their
+friends?"
+
+"I shall carry those letters myself, if you will, monsieur. I realize
+the gravity of such a mission."
+
+"In the name of the Cause that we both serve, Monsieur Christian, I
+thank you heartily for your generous offer," replied the stranger with
+effusion. "Oh, the times bode evil. The conversation that we had this
+evening with your brother-in-law was almost a revelation to me
+concerning the singular man, the intrepid swordsman, the former runner
+of gallant adventures, whose darksome dealings I was previously
+acquainted with."
+
+"Ignatius Loyola? And what may be his scheme?"
+
+"Some slight overtures made by him to a man whom I hold worthy of all
+credence, and whom he hoped to capture, were reported to me. I was
+thereby enabled to penetrate the infernal project pursued by Ignatius
+Loyola, and--"
+
+Bridget's voice, sounding from the middle of the ladder that led up to
+the garret, and cautiously calling her husband, interrupted the unknown.
+Christian listened and heard his wife say:
+
+"Come down quick; I heard Herve come out of his room; I hear him coming
+upstairs; he may want to see us."
+
+The artisan made a sign to his guest that he had nothing to fear, and
+quickly descended the stairs into a dark closet, the only door of which
+opened into the chamber occupied by himself and his wife. Christian had
+just time to close noiselessly the door of the closet and to sit down,
+when Herve rapped gently at his father's door and called him. Bridget
+opened and said to her son:
+
+"What do you want, my child?"
+
+"Dear parents, grant me a few words with you."
+
+"Gladly," responded Christian, "but let us go downstairs. Our poor
+friend Mary La Catelle is sharing your sister's bed; the woman needs
+rest; our conversation might disturb her sleep."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE PENITENT.
+
+
+Father, mother and son proceeded downstairs to the room on the ground
+floor where the distressing scene of the night before was enacted.
+Hardly had they touched the lowermost step of the staircase when Herve
+threw himself upon his knees, took his father's hands, kissed them
+tearfully and murmured in a smothered voice:
+
+"I beg your pardon--for my past conduct--pardon me--my good parents!"
+
+"God be praised! We were not deceived in the boy," was the thought that
+rushed to the minds of Christian and Bridget as they exchanged a look of
+profound satisfaction. "The unfortunate lad has been touched by
+repentance."
+
+"My son," said the artisan, "rise."
+
+"No, not before I have obtained from you and my mother forgiveness for
+my infamous act;" and he added, amid sobs: "It was myself, I, your
+son--it was I who stole your gold!"
+
+"Herve," replied Christian, deeply moved by the manifestations of
+remorse which he took to be sincere, "last night, in this same room,
+your mother and I said to you: 'If you forgot yourself for a moment and
+committed the theft, admit it--you will be forgiven.'"
+
+"And we shall gladly keep our promise," added Bridget. "We pardon you,
+seeing that you repent. Rise."
+
+"Oh, never more so than at this moment am I penetrated with the
+unworthiness of my conduct. Good God! So much kindness on your part, and
+so much baseness on mine! My whole life shall be consecrated to the
+atonement of my infamy!" said Herve, rising from the floor.
+
+"I shall not conceal it from you, my boy," proceeded Christian with
+paternal kindness. "I was quite prepared for this admission of your
+guilt. Certain happy symptoms that your mother and myself noticed
+to-day, led us to expect your return to the right path, to the
+principles of honesty in which we brought you up."
+
+"Did I not tell you so, yesterday?" broke in Bridget. "Could our son
+really become unworthy of our tenderness, unworthy of the example that
+we set to him, as well as to his sister and brother? No; no; we will
+regain him; he will see the error of his ways. So you see, dear, dear
+boy," she added embracing him effusively, "I knew you better than you
+knew yourself! Blessed be God for your return to the path of
+righteousness!"
+
+The consummate hypocrite threw himself upon his mother's neck, and
+answering her caresses with feigned affection, said in a moved voice:
+
+"Good father, good mother, the confession of my shameful act earned your
+pardon for me. Later I hope your esteem for me may return, when you will
+have been able to judge of the sincerity of my remorse. Let me tell you
+the cause of my repentance, the suddenness of which may astonish you."
+
+"A sweet astonishment, thanks be to God. Speak, speak, my son!"
+
+"You surmised rightly, father. Yes, led astray, corrupted by the counsel
+of Fra Girard, I pilfered your money for the purpose of consecrating it
+to works that I took to be pious."
+
+"Ah, it is with pride both for us and yourself that I say it," cried
+Bridget; "never once, while we suspected you, did we believe you capable
+of the guilty act out of love for gold, out of a craving for selfish
+enjoyment, or out of cupidity! No, a thousand times no!"
+
+"Thanks! Oh, thanks, good mother, to do me at least that justice, or,
+rather, to do it to the bringing up that I owe you! No; the fruit of my
+larceny has not been dissipated in prodigality. No; I did not keep it
+like a miser, out of love for gold. The gold pieces were all thrown into
+the chest of the Apostolic Commissioner of indulgences, for the purpose
+of obtaining the redemption of the souls in purgatory."
+
+"I believe you, my son. The charitable and generous side of that
+idolatry, that is so profitable to the cupidity of the Church of Rome,
+must have had its fascination for your heart. But how did you discover
+the fraud of that monastic traffic? Explain that to me."
+
+"This morning, after I deposited my offering in the chest of indulgences
+that was set up in the Church of St. Dominic, I heard the Apostolic
+Commissioner preach. Oh, father, all the still lingering sentiments of
+honor within me revolted at his words. My eyes were suddenly opened; I
+fathomed the depth of the abyss that blind fanaticism leads to. Do you
+know what that monk, who claimed to speak in the name of the Almighty,
+dared to say to the mass of people gathered in the church? 'The virtue
+of my indulgences is so efficacious,' the monk cried out, 'so very
+efficacious, that, even if it were possible for any man to have raped
+the mother of our Savior, that crime without name would be remitted to
+him by the virtue of my indulgences. So, then, buy them, my brothers!
+Bring, bring your money! Rummage in your purses, rummage'--"
+
+Christian and his wife listened to their son's tale in silent affright.
+The sacrilegious words which the lad reported to them caused them to
+shiver with horror and their own horror explained to them the repentance
+and remorse of Herve.
+
+"Oh, I now see it all, my child!" cried Christian. "The sacrilegious
+monstrosity was a revelation to you! It shocked you back to your senses!
+Yes, your eyes were suddenly opened to the light; you conceived a horror
+for those infamous priests; you recoiled with dread from the fatal slope
+down which superstition was driving you!"
+
+"Yes, father, the monstrous thought was a revelation to me; the veil was
+torn; I regained my sight. I was to be either the dupe or the accomplice
+of these abominable frauds. Disgust and indignation recalled me to
+myself. It was to me as if I awoke from a painful dream. When I
+recalled that, for several months, I had been dominated by the influence
+of Fra Girard, I cursed the detestable charm under which the man had
+held me captive, and which was alienating me from a cherished, a
+venerated family. I cursed the devilish sophisms, which, exactly as you
+expressed it, father, were corrupting in my mind the most elemental
+principles of right and wrong, and led me to the commission of a theft,
+an act that was doubly infamous seeing that it was perpetrated under the
+trusting security of the paternal roof! Oh, mother, in the measure that
+I thus regained the possession of my soul, overwhelmed with shame as I
+was, and torn with remorse, I felt there was but one way of
+safety--repentance! Only one hope--your pardon! Only one refuge--your
+love. I have returned to you, beloved parents."
+
+Christian and Bridget could not suspect their son's sincerity. They
+reposed faith in his repentance, in the return of his filial devotion,
+in the horror that the past inspired him with. Father and mother
+devoutly rendered thanks to God for having restored their son to them.
+When the two closed their eyes in sleep that night their last thought
+concerned their son Herve--alas, a treacherous happiness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+LOYOLA AND HIS DISCIPLES.
+
+
+The day after the proscribed stranger and friend of Robert Estienne had
+found an asylum in the home of Christian, the latter sallied forth after
+dark with his friend Justin for the purpose of inspecting the abandoned
+quarry where the two expected to be able to set up their secret press.
+The secluded spot was also expected speedily to serve as the trysting
+place for the leaders of the Reformation in Paris. The late moon was
+rising when the two artisans arrived in the neighborhood of the Abbey of
+Montmartre. They struck a road to the left of the church, leading to a
+hillock crowned with a cross. Arrived there they descended a steep path
+at the bottom of which was the entrance to the quarry.
+
+"Unless the recollections of my childhood deceive me," said Justin to
+Christian, "I'm under the impression that this quarry formerly had two
+openings--one being this, through which we are about to enter, the
+other, the issue of a sort of underground gallery, located at the
+opposite slope of the hill, and through which the descent is steep down
+to the bottom of the quarry. I even recall that a portion of the
+gallery bore traces of some very ancient masonry."
+
+"It probably is one of those places of refuge that, centuries ago, were
+dug into the bowels of the earth by the inhabitants of these regions, in
+the days of the invasions of the Northman pirates."[11]
+
+"Quite probable. At the same time, seeing it is well to be prepared for
+all emergencies, this quarry can be rendered an all the safer meeting
+place for our friends of the Reformation by placing a watchman at each
+entrance. The alarm being given from either side, escape could then be
+safely made by the other. The agents of the Criminal Lieutenant have a
+hundred eyes and as many ears. We cannot take too many precautions."
+
+"If your recollections are correct, that double entrance would be a
+priceless fact. The meeting place would be doubly guarded."
+
+"We can easily make sure of that," said Justin. Saying this he fumbled
+in his pocket for his tinder and flint, while Christian drew out of his
+pocket the butt of a candle that he had provided himself with for the
+occasion.
+
+The jagged opening of the grotto was overhung by an abutting ledge of
+lime rock, covered with a few inches of earth overgrown with briars and
+furze. A rather abrupt path led to the species of platform that lay
+under the beetling rock. The two artisans stepped in. They did not light
+their candle at first for fear it would be extinguished by the wind. But
+after having groped their way through the dark for a few paces, they
+struck a light, and presently the feeble flame of the candle threw its
+light into the wide though low-arched cavern. A huge boulder, about five
+or six feet high and from eight to ten through, that doubtlessly had
+been loosened and dropped from the walls of the cave, seemed to mark the
+further extremity of the underground walk.
+
+"I now remember the place exactly," said Justin; "the inside opening of
+the gallery that I spoke of to you must be on the other side of the
+stone. Let's move on. We are on the right path."
+
+Saying this, and followed by his friend, Justin stepped into a narrow
+space left between the natural wall and the boulder. Suddenly they heard
+the noise of footsteps and the voices of several persons drawing near
+from the side of the opening through which they had themselves shortly
+before entered the cavern. As much surprised as alarmed, the first
+motion of Justin was to extinguish the candle, and approaching his lips
+to the ear of Christian he whispered: "Let us not budge from this spot.
+We may here remain unseen, should these people come this way."
+
+The two artisans held their breath and remained motionless in their
+hiding place, wondering with as much astonishment as anxiety who it
+might be that was resorting at so late an hour to so solitary a spot.
+
+The personages who penetrated into the quarry had also equipped
+themselves with lighting materials. One of them lighted a large wax
+candle, the reddish glare of which illuminated the features of the new
+arrivals, seven in number. The one who came in last, cast around him
+soon as the torch was lighted, looks indicative of the retreat being
+familiar to him. He walked with difficulty, and he stooped low as he
+leaned upon a heavy staff much resembling a crutch. Yet he seemed to be
+a man in the maturity of life. Black, threadbare and shabby clothes
+outlined his tall and robust stature. A Spanish ruff of doubtful white
+set off his long and olive-hued visage that terminated in a pointed
+beard. His head was almost bare of hair. His dominating eyes, his
+imperious brow, the haughty carriage of his head--all imparted to his
+strongly marked physiognomy the impression of absolute inflexibility.
+That personage stepped forward. It was Ignatius Loyola.
+
+His six companions were James Lainez, a Spaniard; Alfonso Salmeron,
+Inigo of Bobadilla, and Rodriguez of Azevedo, Portuguese; Francis
+Xavier, a French nobleman; and lastly, Peter Lefevre, a native of the
+mountains of Savoy, the same who, for ten years, had been the intimate
+friend of Christian Lebrenn.
+
+Francis Xavier held the lighted wax candle. Lefevre carried on his
+shoulder a large bundle. Motionless and mute the six disciples of Loyola
+fixed their eyes upon their master, not in order to discover his
+thoughts--they were incapable of such audacity--but in order to
+forestall his will, whatever it might be.
+
+Looking around in silent contemplation of the interior of the grotto,
+Loyola broke the silence in a solemn voice: "I greet thee, secret
+retreat, where, as formerly in the cavern of Manres, I have often
+meditated, and matured my purposes!" He then sat down upon a nearby
+stone, crossed his hands over his staff, leaned his chin upon his hands,
+let his eyes travel slowly over his disciples, who, impassive as statues
+stood beside him, and, after an instant of silent meditation resumed:
+"My children, I said to you this evening: 'Come!' You came, ignorant of
+whither I was leading you. Why did you follow me? Answer, Xavier. To
+hear one of my disciples is to hear them all--to hear one of them
+to-day, is to hear all those who are to follow them from age to age--all
+will be but the distant echoes of my thought."
+
+"Master, you said to us: 'Come!' We came. Command, and you shall be
+obeyed."
+
+"Without inquiring whither I led you; without even seeking to ascertain
+what I might demand of you? Answer, Lefevre."
+
+"Master, we followed you without reflecting--without inquiring."
+
+"Why without reflecting, without inquiring? Answer, Lainez."
+
+"The members of the body obey the will that directs them; they do not
+interrogate that will; they obey."
+
+"Xavier," resumed Loyola, "plant your candle in some interstice of that
+boulder. Lefevre, deposit your bundle at your feet. It contains your
+sacerdotal vestments and the articles necessary to celebrate the holy
+sacrifice of the mass."
+
+Francis Xavier planted the lighted candle firmly between two stones.
+Lefevre deposited his bundle on the ground. The other disciples remained
+standing, their eyes lowered. Still keeping his seat, and with his chin
+resting on the handle of his staff, Loyola resumed:
+
+"Francis Xavier, when I first met you on the benches of the
+University--what was then your nature? What were your habits?"
+
+"Master, I was passionately given to the pleasures of life."
+
+"And you, Inigo of Bobadilla?"
+
+"Master, all obstacles upset me. I was weak and pusillanimous. My spirit
+lacked energy. My nature was cowardly and springless."
+
+"And you, John Lainez?"
+
+"Master, I had excessive confidence in myself. Extreme vanity--"
+
+"And you, Rodriguez of Azevedo?"
+
+"Master, my heart ran over with tenderness. A touching act, an
+affectionate word, was enough to bring the tears to my eyes. I was kind
+to all, was ever eager to run to the help of our fellow men. I was of a
+confiding and accessible nature."
+
+"And you, Alfonso Salmeron?"
+
+"Master, pride dominated me. I was proud of my vigor of bone and of my
+intelligence. I deemed myself a superior man."
+
+"And you, John Lefevre?"
+
+"Master, my mountaineer tenacity never looked upon any obstruction but
+to overcome it. I brooked no contradiction."
+
+"Aye! Such were you. And what are you now? Answer, John Lefevre. To hear
+one of you is to hear all the rest."
+
+"Master, we are no longer ourselves. Your soul has absorbed ours. We are
+now the instruments of your will. We are the body, you the spirit. We
+are submissive slaves, you the inflexible master. We are the clubs, you
+the hand. Without your animating breath we are but corpses."
+
+"How did you arrive at this complete self-effacement? In what manner was
+the absorption of your personalities in mine effected?"
+
+"Master, the study of your _Spiritual Exercises_ effected the miracle."
+
+Loyola seemed satisfied. With his chin resting upon his two hands
+crossed over the head of his heavy staff, he remained silent for a
+moment. Presently he resumed: "Yes, that you were; now you are this. And
+I myself, what was I, and what have I become? I shall tell you. I was a
+haughty Grandee of Viscaya, a handsome cavalier, a valiant captain, a
+daring seducer, and lucky swordsman. The hand of God suddenly smote me
+in war and rendered me a cripple. Great was my despair! To renounce
+women, dueling, horses, the battle, the command of my regiment, which I
+had broken in, drilled and fashioned by military discipline! Nailed to a
+couch of tortures, which I welcomed in the hope of removing my
+deformity, I was seized by Grace! I felt myself full of strength and of
+energy. I was possessed of an invincible craving for dominion. At that
+juncture the Holy Ghost said to me: 'Devote thyself to the triumph of
+the Catholic Church. Thy dominion shall extend in the measure of thy
+faith.' I then asked myself what services could I render the Catholic
+Church. I looked around me. What did I see? The spirit of Liberty, that
+pestilential emanation of a fallen humanity, everywhere at war with
+Authority, that sacred emanation of Divinity. I promised to myself to
+curb the spirit of Liberty with the inflexible curb of Authority,
+identically as I had formerly subjugated indomitable horses. The goal
+being set, what were the means to reach it? I looked for them. I wished
+first to experiment upon myself, to determine upon myself the extent to
+which, sustained by faith in the idea a man pursues, he can shake off
+his former self. Rich by birth, I begged my bread; a haughty Grandee, I
+exposed myself to outrage; a skilful swordsman, I submitted to insult;
+sumptuous in my habits of dress, careful of my personal appearance, I
+have lived in rags and in the gutter. Ignorant of letters, I took my
+seat at the age of thirty among children on the benches of the Montaigu
+College, where any slight inattention was visited upon me with the whip.
+Some of my purposes, being detected by orthodox priests, earned for me
+their persecution and I was ostracised. I stood it all without a murmur.
+From that time, certain that I could demand from my disciples the
+sacrifices I imposed upon myself, I made you that which you are required
+to be. You have said it. You are the members, I the spirit; you are the
+instrument, I the will. The hour for action has come; our work calls us.
+What work is that?"
+
+"That work is the insurance of the reign of authority upon earth."
+
+"What authority?"
+
+"Master, there is but one. The authority of God, visibly incarnated in
+His vicar, the Pope, who is in Rome."
+
+"Do you understand by that the spiritual or the temporal authority?"
+
+"Master, he who has authority over the soul must have authority over the
+body also. He who dictates the Divine law must dictate the human law
+also."
+
+"What must the Pope be?"
+
+"Pontiff and Emperor of the Catholic world."
+
+"Who, under him, is to govern the nations?"
+
+"The clergy."
+
+"Must temporal authority, accordingly, also belong to the Roman Catholic
+and Apostolic Church?"
+
+"All authority flows from God. His ministers are by divine right the
+masters of the nations, and must be invested with full authority."
+
+"Is that, then, the work in hand?"
+
+"Yes, master."
+
+"Are there any obstacles to its accomplishment?"
+
+"Enormous ones."
+
+"What are they?"
+
+"First of all, the Kings."
+
+"Next?" queried Loyola impatiently. "Next?"
+
+"The indocility of the bourgeois classes."
+
+"Next?"
+
+"The new heresy known by the name of the Reformation."
+
+"Next?"
+
+"The printing press, that scourge that every day and everywhere spreads
+its ravages."
+
+"Next?"
+
+"The too publicly scandalous habits of the ecclesiastics."
+
+"And lastly?"
+
+"Often the ineptness, the feebleness, the insatiable cupidity and the
+excesses of the papacy."
+
+"These, then, are the obstacles to the absolute rule of the Catholic
+world by her Church?"
+
+"Yes, master."
+
+"Is it possible to overcome these obstacles?"
+
+"We can, master, provided your spirit speaks through our mouths, and
+your will dictates our actions."
+
+"All honor to the Lord--let's begin with the Kings. What are they with
+regard to the Popes?"
+
+"Their rivals."
+
+"What should they be?"
+
+"Their first subjects."
+
+"Would it not be preferable for the greater glory and security of the
+Catholic Church that royalty were abolished?"
+
+"That would be preferable."
+
+"How are Kings to be absolutely subordinated to the Popes? Or, rather,
+how is royalty to be destroyed?"
+
+"By causing all its subjects to rise against it."
+
+"By what process?"
+
+"By unchaining the passions of an ignorant populace; by exploiting the
+old commune spirit of the bourgeoisie; by fanning the hatred of the
+seigneurs, once the peers of Kings in feudal days; by setting the people
+against one another."
+
+"Is there a last resort for the riddance of Kings?"
+
+"The dagger, or poison."
+
+"Do you understand by that that a member of the Church may and has the
+right to stab a King; may and has the right to poison a King?"
+
+"Master, it is not the part of a monk to kill a King, whether openly or
+covertly. The King should first be paternally admonished, then
+excommunicated, then declared forfeit of royal authority. After that
+_his execution falls to others_."[12]
+
+"And who is it that declares Kings forfeit of royal authority, and thus
+places them under the ban of mankind, and outside the pale of human and
+divine law?"
+
+"Either the people's voice, or an assembly of priests and theologians,
+or the decision of men of sense."[13]
+
+"Suppose royal authority is overthrown by murder, or otherwise, will not
+the power thereby fall either into the hands of the nobility and the
+seigneurs, or into those of the bourgeoisie, or into the hands of the
+populace?"
+
+"Yes, but only for a short interval. If the power falls into the hands
+of the populace, the seigneurs, that is, the nobility and the
+bourgeoisie, are to be turned against the populace. If the power should
+fall into the hands of the bourgeoisie, then the populace and the
+nobility are to be turned against the bourgeoisie; finally, in case the
+power falls into the hands of the nobility, the bourgeoisie and the
+populace are to be turned against the nobility."
+
+"Civil war being over, what will be the state of things?"
+
+"All powers being annihilated, the one destroyed by the other, only the
+Catholic Church will remain standing, imperishable."
+
+"You spoke of operating upon the populace, upon the bourgeoisie, upon
+the nobility, to the end of using these several classes for the
+overthrow of royal power, and subsequently of letting them loose against
+one another. What lever will you operate upon them?"
+
+"The direction of their conscience, especially that of their wives,
+through the confessional."
+
+"In what manner do you expect to be able to direct their conscience?"
+
+"By establishing maxims so sweet, so flexible, so comfortable, so
+complaisant to men's passions, vices and sins that the larger number of
+men and women will choose us for their confessors, and will thereby hand
+over to us the direction of their souls.[14] To direct the souls of the
+living is to secure the empire of the world."
+
+"Let us consider the application of this doctrine," said Loyola.
+"Suppose I am a monk, you, I suppose," he added addressing his disciples
+successively, "are my confessor. I say to you: 'Father, it is forbidden,
+under penalty of excommunication, to doff, even for an instant, the garb
+of our Order. I accuse myself of having put on lay vestments.'"
+
+"'My son,' I would answer," responded one of the disciples of Ignatius,
+"'let us distinguish. If you doffed your religious garb in order not to
+soil it with some disgraceful act, such as going on a pickpocket
+expedition, or patronizing a gambling house, or indulging in debauchery,
+you obeyed a sentiment of shame, and you do not then deserve
+excommunication.'"[15]
+
+"Now," resumed Loyola, "I am a trustee, under obligation to pay a life
+annuity to someone or other, and I desire his death that I may be free
+of the obligation; or, say, I am the heir of a rich father, and am
+anxious to see his last day--I accuse myself of harboring these
+sentiments."
+
+"'My son,' I would answer, 'a trustee may, without sin, desire the death
+of those who receive a pension from his trust, for the reason that what
+he really desires is, not the death of his beneficiary, but the
+cancellation of the debt. My son,' I would answer the penitent, 'you
+would be committing an abominable sin were you, out of pure wickedness,
+to desire the death of your father; but you commit no manner of sin if
+you harbor the wish, not with parricidal intent, but solely out of
+impatience to enjoy his inheritance.'"[16]
+
+"I am a valet, and have come to accuse myself of acting as go-between in
+the amours of my master, and, besides, of having robbed him."
+
+"'My son,' I would answer, 'to carry letters or presents to the
+concubine of your master, even to assist him in scaling her window by
+holding the ladder, are permissible and indifferent matters, because, in
+your quality of servant, it is not your will that you obey, but the will
+of another.[17] As to the thefts that you have committed, it is clear
+that if, driven by necessity, you have been forced to accept wages that
+are too small, you are justified in recouping your legitimate salary in
+some other way.'"[18]
+
+"I am a swordsman. I accuse myself before the penitential tribunal of
+having fought a duel."
+
+"'My son,' I would answer, 'if in fighting you yielded, not to a
+homicidal impulse, but to the legitimate call to avenge your honor, you
+have committed no sin.'"[19]
+
+"I am a coward. I rid myself of my enemy by murdering him from ambush.
+I come to make the admission to you, my confessor, and to ask
+absolution."
+
+"'My son,' I would answer, 'if you committed the murder, not for the
+sake of the murder itself, but in order to escape the dangers which your
+enemy might have thrown you into, in that case you have not sinned at
+all. In such cases it is legitimate to kill one's enemy in the absence
+of witnesses.'"[20]
+
+"I am a judge. I accuse myself of having rendered a decision in favor of
+one of the litigants, in consideration of a present made to me by him."
+
+"'Where is the wrong in that, my son?' I would ask. 'In consideration of
+a present you rendered a decision favorable to the giver of the gift.
+Could you not, by virtue of your own will, have favored whom you
+pleased? You stand in no need of absolution.'"[21]
+
+"I am a usurer. I accuse myself of having frequently derived large
+profits from my money. Have I sinned according to the law of the
+Church?"
+
+"'My son,' I would answer, 'this is the way you should in future conduct
+yourself in such affairs: Someone asks a loan of you. You will answer:
+"I have no money to loan, but I have some ready to be honestly invested.
+If you will guarantee to reimburse me my capital, and, besides that, to
+pay me a certain profit, I shall entrust the sum in your hands so that
+you may turn it to use. But I shall not loan it to you."[22] For the
+rest, my son, you have not sinned, if, however large the interest you
+may have received from your money, the same was looked upon by you
+simply as a token of gratitude, and not a condition for the loan.[23] Go
+in peace, my son.'"
+
+"I am a bankrupt. I accuse myself of having concealed a considerable sum
+from the knowledge of my creditors."
+
+"'My son,' I would answer, 'the sin is grave if you retained the sum out
+of base cupidity. But if your purpose was merely to insure to yourself
+and your family a comfortable existence, even some little luxury, you
+are absolved.'"[24]
+
+"I am a woman. I accuse myself of having committed adultery, and of
+having in that way obtained considerable wealth from my paramour. May I
+enjoy that wealth with an easy conscience?"
+
+"'My daughter,' I would answer, 'the wealth acquired through gallantry
+and adultery has, it is true, an illegitimate source. Nevertheless, its
+possession may be considered legitimate, seeing that no human or divine
+law pronounces against such possession.'"[25]
+
+"I have stolen a large sum. I accuse myself of the theft, and ask for
+your absolution."
+
+"'My son,' I would answer, 'it is a crime to steal, unless one is driven
+thereto by extreme necessity; and even less so if grave reasons prompt
+the act.'"[26]
+
+"I am rich, but I give alms sparingly, if at all. I accuse myself."
+
+"'My son,' I would answer, 'charity towards our fellows is a Christian
+duty. Nevertheless, if superfluity is needed by you, you commit no sin
+by not depriving yourself of those things which, in your eyes, are
+necessaries.[27] I absolve you.'"
+
+"I coveted a certain inheritance. I accuse myself of having poisoned the
+man from whom I was to inherit. May I retain the property?"
+
+"'My son,' I would answer, 'the possession of property, acquired by
+unworthy means, and even through manslaughter, is legitimate, so far as
+possession is concerned. You may retain the property.'"[28]
+
+"I am summoned to take an oath. My conscience forbids, my interest
+orders me to commit perjury. You are my confessor. I wish to consult you
+on the matter."
+
+"'You can, my son, reconcile your interest and your conscience. This
+way--I suppose you will be asked: "Do you swear you did not commit such
+and such an act?" You will answer aloud: "I swear before God and man
+that I have not committed that act," and then you add mentally: "_On
+such and such a day_." Or, you are asked: "Do you swear you will never
+do such or such a thing?" You will answer: "I swear," and mentally you
+add: "_Unless I change my mind; in which case I shall do the
+thing_."'"[29]
+
+"I am an unmarried woman. I have yielded to a seducer. I fear the anger
+and reproaches of my family."
+
+"'My daughter,' I would answer, 'take courage. A woman of your age is
+free to dispose of her body and herself. Have all the lovers you please.
+I absolve you.'"[30]
+
+"I am a woman, passionately addicted to gambling. I accuse myself of
+having purloined some moneys from my husband, in order to repay my
+losses at the gaming table."
+
+"'My daughter,' I would answer, 'seeing that, between man and wife,
+everything is, or ought to be, in common, you have not sinned by drawing
+from the common purse.[31] You may continue to do so. I absolve you.'"
+
+"I am a woman. I love ornaments. I accuse myself."
+
+"'My daughter,' I would answer, 'if you ornament yourself without impure
+intentions, and only in order to satisfy your natural taste for
+ornamentation, you do not sin.'"[32]
+
+"I accuse myself of having seduced the wife of my best friend."
+
+"'My son,' I would answer, 'let us distinguish: If you treacherously
+seduced the woman just because she was the wife of your best friend,
+then you have sinned. But if you seduced her, as you might have done any
+other woman, you have not outraged friendship.[33] It is a natural thing
+to desire the possession of a handsome woman. You have not sinned. There
+is no occasion for absolution.'"
+
+"Well done!" exclaimed Loyola. "But I notice you grant absolution for
+all that human morality and the Fathers of the Church condemn."
+
+"Master, you said: 'Absolved penitents will never complain.'"
+
+"What is the object of the complaisance of your doctrines in all
+circumstances?"
+
+"At this season an incurable corruption reigns among mankind. Rigor
+would estrange them from us. Our tolerance for their vices is calculated
+to deliver the penitents to us, body and soul. By leaving to us the
+direction of their souls, this corrupt generation will later relinquish
+to us the absolute education of their children. We will then raise those
+generations as may be suitable, by taking them in charge from the cradle
+to the grave; by molding them; by petrifying them in such manner that,
+their appetites being satisfied, and their minds for all time delivered
+from the temptation of those three infernal rebels--Reason, Dignity and
+Freedom--those generations will bless their sweet servitude, and will
+be to us, master, what we are to you--servile slaves, body and soul,
+mere corpses!"
+
+"Among the obstacles that our work will, or may encounter, you mentioned
+the papacy."
+
+"Yes, master, because the elections of the sacred college may call to
+the pontifical throne Popes that are weak, stupid or vicious."
+
+"What is the remedy at such a juncture?"
+
+"To organize, outside of the papacy, of the college of cardinals, of the
+episcopacy, of the regular clergy and of the religious Orders, a society
+to whose members it shall be strictly forbidden ever to be elected Pope,
+or to accept any Catholic office, however high or however low the office
+may be. Thus this society will ever preserve its independence of action
+for or against the Church, free to oppose or uphold its Chief."
+
+"What shall be the organization of that redoubtable society?"
+
+"A General, elected by its own members, shall have sovereign direction
+over it."
+
+"What pledge are its members to take towards him?"
+
+"Dumb, blind and servile obedience."
+
+"What are they to be in his hands?"
+
+"That which we are in yours, O, master! Instruments as docile as the
+cane in the hand of the man who leans upon it."
+
+"What will be the theater of the society's work?"
+
+"The whole world."
+
+"Into what parts will it divide the universe?"
+
+"Into provinces--the province of France, the province of Spain, the
+province of Germany, the province of England, the province of India, the
+province of Asia, and others. Each will be under the government of a
+'provincial,' appointed by the General of the society."
+
+"The society being organized, what name is it to assume?"
+
+"The name of the SOCIETY OF JESUS."
+
+"In what manner is the Society of Jesus to become a counterpoise to the
+papacy, and, if need be, dominate the papacy itself, should the latter
+swerve from the route it should pursue in order to insure the absolute
+government of the nations of the world to the Catholic Church?"
+
+"Independent of the established Church, from whom it neither expects nor
+demands aught--neither the purple, nor the cross, nor benefices--the
+Society of Jesus, thanks to its accommodating and tolerant doctrines,
+will speedily conquer the empire of the human conscience. It will be the
+confessor of Kings and lackeys, of the mendicant monk and the cardinal,
+of the courtesan and the princess, the female bourgeois and her cook, of
+the concubine and the empress. The concert of this immense clientage,
+acting as one man under the breath of the Society of Jesus, and inspired
+by its General, will insure to him such a power that, at a given moment,
+he will be able to dictate his orders to the papacy, threatening to
+unchain against it all the consciences and arms over which he disposes.
+The General will be more powerful than the Pope himself."
+
+"Besides its action upon the conscience, will the Society of Jesus
+dispose over any other and secondary levers?"
+
+"Yes, master, and very effective ones. Whosoever, whether lay or
+clerical, poor or rich, woman or man, great or small, will blindly
+surrender his soul to the direction of the Society of Jesus, will always
+and everywhere, and against whomsoever, be sustained, protected,
+favored, defended and held scathless by the Society and its adherents.
+The penitent of a Jesuit will see the horizon of his most ardent hopes
+open before him; the path to honors and wealth will be smoothed before
+his feet; a tutelary mantle will cover his defects, his errors and his
+crimes; his enemies will be the Society's enemies; it will pursue them,
+track them, overtake them and smite them, whoever and wherever they may
+be, and with all available means. Thus the penitent of a Jesuit may
+aspire to anything. To incur his resentment will be a dread ordeal."
+
+"Accordingly, you have faith in the accomplishment of our work?"
+
+"An absolute faith."
+
+"From whom do you derive that faith?"
+
+"From you, master; from you, Ignatius Loyola, whose breath inspires us;
+from you, our master, him through whom we live."
+
+"The work is immense--to dominate the world! And yet there are only
+seven of us."
+
+"Master, when you command, we are legion."
+
+"Seven--only seven, my sons--without other power than our faith in our
+work."
+
+"Master, faith removes mountains. Command."
+
+"Oh, my brave disciples!" exclaimed Ignatius Loyola rising and
+supporting himself with his staff. "What joy it is to me to have thus
+imbued you with my substance, and nourished you with the marrow of my
+doctrine! Be up! Be up! The moment for action has come. That is the
+reason I have caused you to gather this evening here at Montmartre,
+where I have so often come to meditate in this hollow, this second to
+that cavern of Manres, where, in Spain, after long years of
+concentration, I at last perceived the full depth, the immensity of my
+work. Yes, in order to weld you together in this work, I have broken,
+bent and absorbed your personalities. I have turned you into instruments
+of my will as docile as the cane in the hand of the man who leans upon
+it. Yes, I have captured your souls. Yes, you are now only corpses in my
+hands. Oh, my dear corpses! my canes! my serfs! my slaves! glorify your
+servitude. It delivers to you the empire of the world! You will be the
+masters of all the men! You will be supreme rulers of all the women!"
+
+Loyola's disciples listened to him in devout silence. For a moment he
+remained steeped in the contemplation of his portentous ambition,
+meditating universal domination. Presently he proceeded:
+
+"We must prepare ourselves by means of the holy sacrifice of the mass
+for the last act of this great day. We must receive the body of Jesus,
+we who constitute his intrepid militia! We the Jesuits!" And addressing
+himself to Lefevre: "You have brought with you the necessaries for the
+celebration of mass. Yonder rock"--pointing to the boulder behind which
+Christian and Justin were concealed--"yonder rock will serve us for
+altar. Come, to work, my well-beloved disciple."
+
+Lefevre opened the bundle which he had taken charge of. He drew from it
+a surplice, a chasuble, a Bible, a stole, a chalice, a little box of
+consecrated wafers, and two small flasks with wine and water. He clothed
+himself in sacerdotal garb, while one of the disciples took the wax
+candle, knelt down and lighted the improvised altar upon which the other
+Jesuits were engaged in disposing the rest of the requisites for the
+celebration of the divine sacrifice. It was done before Loyola and his
+disciples. The voice of Lefevre, as he droned the liturgy, alone
+disturbed the silence of the solitude upon which the wax candle cast a
+flickering ruddy glow. The time for communion having come, the seven
+founders of the Society of Jesus received the Eucharist with unction.
+The service over, Loyola rose again to his feet, and with an inspired
+mien said to his disciples:
+
+"And now, come, come."
+
+He walked away, limping and followed by his acolytes, leaving behind
+them the religious implements on the block of stone.
+
+Soon as the Jesuits moved away, Christian and Justin cautiously emerged
+from their hiding place, astounded at the secret they had just had
+revealed to them. Christian could still hardly believe that Lefevre,
+one of his oldest friends, and whose sentiments inclined him to the
+Reformation, had become a priest, and was one of the most ardent
+sectarians of Loyola.
+
+"They are gone," Justin whispered to his companion; "I have not a drop
+of blood left in my veins. Let's flee!"
+
+"What imprudence! We might run against those fanatics. I doubt not they
+will come back. Let us wait till they have departed."
+
+"No, no! I will not stay here another minute. I am overcome with fear."
+
+"Then let us try to escape by the other issue, which, as you were
+telling me, runs behind this rock. Come, be brave!"
+
+"I am not sure whether that passage is not now obstructed. It would be
+dangerous to enter it without a light. A light would betray us. Let's
+return upon our steps."
+
+More and more frightened, Justin walked rapidly towards the entrance of
+the quarry. Christian followed, unwilling to leave him alone. The moment
+they were about to emerge from the subterranean cavern, their ears were
+struck by the sound of human voices coming from above. The moon was now
+high in the sky, and lighted the only path that led to the abbey.
+
+"We can not leave this place without being seen," observed Justin in a
+low and anxious voice. "Those men have gathered upon the platform above
+the entrance of the cave."
+
+"Listen," said Christian, yielding to an irresistible impulse of
+curiosity; "listen, they are talking."
+
+The artisans remained motionless and mute. For a moment a solemn silence
+reigned. Presently the voice of Ignatius Loyola reached them as if it
+descended from heaven.
+
+"Do you swear?" came from the founder of the Society of Jesus. "Do you
+swear in the name of the living God?"
+
+"In the name of God," responded the Jesuits. "We swear! We shall obey
+our master!"
+
+"My sons," Loyola's voice resumed solemnly, "from this place you can see
+the four cardinal points of that world whose empire I parcel out among
+you, valiant soldiers of the Society of Jesus. Down yonder, towards the
+north, lie the land of the Muscovite, Germany, England. To you, Germany,
+England and the land of the Muscovite--John Lainez."
+
+"Master, your will be done!"
+
+"Yonder, to the east, Turkey, Asia, the Holy Land. To you, Turkey, Asia
+and the Holy Land--Rodriguez of Acevedo."
+
+"Master, your will be done!"
+
+"Yonder, towards the west, the new America and the Indies. To you, the
+new America and the Indies--Alfonso Salmeron."
+
+"Master, your will be done!"
+
+"Yonder, to the south, Africa, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the islands of
+Corsica and Sardinia, and the Balearic Isles. To you, Africa, Italy,
+Spain, Portugal, the islands of Corsica and Sardinia and the Balearic
+Isles--Inigo of Bobadilla. Behold your empire."
+
+"Master, your will be done!"
+
+"Finally, here at our feet, Paris, the capital of France, a world in
+itself. To you, Paris, to you, France--John Lefevre."
+
+"Master, your will be done!"
+
+"Beginning with to-morrow, gird up your loins. Depart, staff in hand,
+alone, unknown. To work, soldiers of Jesus! To work, Jesuits! The
+kingdom of earth is ours! To-morrow I depart for Rome, to offer or force
+upon the Pope our invincible support."
+
+Loyola's voice died away. Hearing the sectarians descending from the
+platform, Christian and Justin hurried back to their hiding place,
+behind the huge rock upon which were the implements that Lefevre had
+used in the celebration of the mass. The latter soon came back, followed
+by his companions. He doffed his sacerdotal vestments, and approached
+the improvised altar to gather the sacred vessels. So busied, his hand
+struck against the chalice, which rolled down and fell behind the rock
+at the place where the two artisans were crowding themselves from sight.
+John Lefevre walked back of the rock after the chalice which had fallen
+close to Christian's feet. The latter saw the Jesuit approach; stoop
+down and pick up the vase, without seeming, in the demi-gloom, to notice
+his old friend, whom his hand almost touched, and rejoin the other
+disciples.
+
+"Lefevre has seen us!" thought Christian to himself. "It is impossible
+he should not have noticed us. And yet, not a word, not a gesture
+betrayed upon his countenance the astonishment and uneasiness into which
+he must have been plunged by our presence at this place, and the
+knowledge that we are in possession of the secret of his society."
+
+While Christian was absorbed by these thoughts, Lefevre, ever
+imperturbable, returned to his bag the objects which he used in
+celebrating the mass, walked out of the cavern with his companions, and
+whispered a few words into the ear of Loyola. A slight tremor ran
+through the frame of the latter, who, however, immediately recovered his
+composure, and whispered back his answer to Lefevre. The latter lowered
+his head in token of acquiescence. Thereupon the founder of the Society
+of Jesus and his disciples disappeared in the windings of the road and
+reached Paris.
+
+Such was the origin of that infernal society.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+MOTHER AND DAUGHTER.
+
+
+As soon as Christian returned home, late towards midnight, he hastened
+to communicate to his guest the occurrences at Montmartre. Monsieur John
+concluded it was urgent to assemble the chiefs of the Reformation in the
+abandoned quarry, where there was no danger of apprehending the return
+of the Jesuits, seeing that Ignatius Loyola was to depart immediately
+for Rome, while his disciples were to scatter to the distant countries
+parceled out to them. Finally, if, as Christian persisted with good
+reason in believing, Lefevre had noticed the presence of the two
+artisans at the Jesuit conventicle, it would be an additional reason to
+keep them from returning to the spot. Accordingly, Monsieur John decided
+to convoke the chiefs of the Reformation in Paris for six o'clock in the
+afternoon of the following day at Montmartre. To this effect he prepared
+a letter giving the directions to the trysting place. Justin was to
+proceed in time to make certain that the second issue was practicable.
+Furthermore, it was agreed between Bridget and her husband that she
+would absent herself together with her daughter before sunset, in order
+to allow the stranger to leave the house unnoticed by Hena. On his
+part, Christian was to pretend an invitation to supper with a friend, in
+order to engage his son's company in a walk, and was to dismiss him when
+he thought that Monsieur John had departed. The program was carried out
+as agreed. When Bridget and Hena returned home after a short walk along
+the banks of the Seine, the proscribed man had quitted his hospitable
+refuge, and betaken him to the Montmartre Gate, where Christian was to
+await him, and conduct him to the place of meeting.
+
+The artisan's wife and daughter busied themselves at their trade of
+embroidery. They worked in silence by the light of a lamp--Bridget
+musing over Herve's repentance, while Hena, lost in revery, frequently
+allowed her needle to drop inactive on her lap. The young girl was
+absorbed in her own thoughts, a stranger to what went on around her. The
+hour of nine struck from the distant clock in the tower of St.
+James-of-the-Slaughter-House.
+
+"Nine o'clock," observed Bridget to herself. "My son can not be long in
+coming back. With what joy shall I not embrace him this evening! What a
+heavy load did not his repentance roll off my heart! The dear child!"
+
+And addressing Hena without removing her eyes from her needlework:
+
+"God be blessed! Dear child, you will no longer have cause to complain
+of Herve's indifference. No, no! And when my little Odelin comes back
+from Italy we shall then all live together again, happy as of old. I am
+awaiting with impatience the return of Master Raimbaud, the armorer,
+who will bring us back our gentle Odelin."
+
+Not receiving any answer from her daughter, Bridget looked up and said
+to her:
+
+"I have been speaking to you some time, dear daughter. You do not seem
+to hear me. Why are you so absentminded?"
+
+Hena remained silent for an instant, then she smiled and answered
+naively:
+
+"Singular as it may be, why should I not tell you, mother? It would be
+the first time in my life that I kept a secret from you."
+
+"Well, my child, what is the reason of your absent-mindedness?"
+
+"It is--well, it is Brother St. Ernest-Martyr, mother."
+
+Dropping her embroidery, Bridget contemplated her daughter with extreme
+astonishment. Hena, however, proceeded with a candid smile:
+
+"Does that astonish you, mother? I am, myself, a good deal more
+astonished."
+
+Hena uttered these words with such ingenuousness, her handsome face,
+clear as her soul, turned to her mother with such trustfulness, that
+Bridget, at once uneasy and confident--uneasy, by reason of the
+revelation; confident, by reason of Hena's innocent assurance--said to
+her after a short pause:
+
+"Indeed, dear daughter, I am astonished at what I learn from you. You
+saw, it seems to me, Brother St. Ernest-Martyr only two or three times
+at our friend Mary La Catelle's, before that unhappy affair of the
+other evening on the bridge."
+
+"Yes, mother. And that is just the extraordinary thing about it. Since
+day before yesterday I constantly think of Brother St. Ernest-Martyr.
+And that is not all. Last night I dreamt of him!"
+
+"Dreamt of him!" exclaimed Bridget.
+
+So far from evading her mother's gaze, Hena's only answer was two
+affirmative nods of the head, which she gave, opening wide her beautiful
+blue eyes, in which the childlike and charming astonishment, that her
+own sentiments caused her, was depicted.
+
+"Yes, mother; I dreamt of him. I saw him picking up at the door of a
+church a poor child that shook with cold. I saw him pick up the child,
+hold it in his arms, warm it with his breath, and contemplate it with so
+pitying and tender an air, that the tears forced themselves to my eyes.
+I was so moved that I woke up with a start--and I really wept!"
+
+"That dream is singular, my daughter!"
+
+"Singular? No! The dream is explainable enough. Day before yesterday
+Herve was telling me of the charitable nature of Brother St.
+Ernest-Martyr. That same evening we saw the poor monk carried into our
+house with his face bleeding. That I should have been deeply impressed,
+and should have dreamt of him, I understand. But what I do not
+understand is that when I am awake, wide awake, I should still think of
+him. Look, even now, when I shut my eyes"--and, smiling, Hena suited the
+action to the words--"I still see him as if he stood there, with that
+kind face of his that he turns upon the little children."
+
+"But, my dear daughter, when you think of Brother St. Ernest-Martyr,
+what is the nature of your thoughts?"
+
+Hena pondered for an instant, and then answered:
+
+"I would not know how to explain it to you, mother. When I think of him
+I say to myself: 'How good, how generous, how brave is Brother St.
+Ernest-Martyr! Day before yesterday he braved the sword to defend Mary
+La Catelle; another day, on the Notre Dame Bridge, he leaped into the
+water to save an unhappy man who was drowning; he picks up little
+deserted children, or gives them instruction with so much interest and
+affection that their own father could not display more solicitude in
+them.'"
+
+"Thinking over it, dear child, there is nothing in all that but what is
+perfectly natural. The brother is an upright man. Your thoughts turn
+upon his good deeds. That's quite simple."
+
+"No, mother, it is not quite so simple as you put it! Are not you all
+that is best in this world? Is not my father as upright a man as Brother
+St. Ernest-Martyr? Are not you two my beloved and venerated parents? And
+yet--that is what puzzles me, how comes it that I oftener think of him
+than of either of you?"
+
+And after a pause the young maid added in an accent of adorable candor:
+
+"I tell you, mother, it is truly extraordinary!"
+
+Several impatient raps, given at the street door interrupted the
+conversation. Bridget said to her daughter:
+
+"Open the window, and see who it is that knocks. Probably it is your
+brother."
+
+"Yes, mother; it is he; it is Herve," said Hena, opening the window.
+
+She descended to the floor below.
+
+"My God!" thought Bridget to herself in no slight agitation. "How am I
+to interpret the confidence of Hena? Her soul is incapable of
+dissimulation. She has told me the whole truth, without being aware of
+the sentiments the young monk awakens in her. I can hardly wait to
+inform Christian of this strange discovery!"
+
+The sound of Herve's steps hurriedly ascending the stairs drew Bridget
+from her brown study. She saw her son rush in, followed by his sister.
+As he stepped into the room he cried with a troubled countenance:
+
+"Oh, mother! mother!" and embracing her tenderly he added: "Oh, mother!
+What sad news I bring you!"
+
+"Dear child, what is it?"
+
+"Our poor Mary La Catelle--"
+
+"What has happened to her?"
+
+"This evening, as I was about to leave the printing shop, father asked
+me to accompany him part of the way. He was going to a friend's, with
+whom he was to take supper this evening. Father said: 'La Catelle's
+house is on our way, we shall drop in and inquire whether she is still
+suffering from her painful experience of the other evening'--"
+
+"Yesterday morning," Bridget broke in, "after I took her home with your
+sister, we left Mary calm and at ease. She is a brave woman."
+
+"Notwithstanding her firm nature and her self-control, she succumbed to
+the reaction of that night's excitement. Last night she was seized with
+a high fever. She was bled twice to-day. A minute ago we found her in a
+desperate state. A fatal end is apprehended."
+
+"Poor Mary!" exclaimed Hena, clasping her hands in despair, and her eyes
+filling with tears. "What a misfortune! This news overwhelms me with
+sorrow!"
+
+"Unhappily her sister-in-law left yesterday for Meaux with her husband,"
+remarked Herve. "La Catelle, at death's door, is left at this moment to
+the care of a servant."
+
+"Hena, quick, my cloak!" said Bridget rising precipitately from her
+seat. "I can not leave that worthy friend to the care of mercenary
+hands. I shall run to her help."
+
+"Good, dear mother, you but forestall father's wishes," observed Herve,
+as his sister hurried to take Bridget's cloak out of a trunk. "Father
+told me to hurry and notify you of this misfortune. He said he knew how
+attached you were to our friend, and that you would wish to spend the
+night at her bed, and render her the care she stands in need of."
+
+Wrapping herself in her cloak, Bridget was about to leave the house.
+
+"Mother," said Hena, "will you not take me with you?"
+
+"How can you think of such a thing, child, at this hour of night!"
+
+"Sister, it is for me to escort mother," put in Herve; and, with a
+tender voice, accompanied with the offer of his forehead for Bridget to
+kiss, the hypocrite added:
+
+"Is it not the sweetest of my duties to watch over you, good mother?"
+
+"Oh," said Bridget, moved, and kissing her son's forehead, "I recognize
+you again, my son!" With this passing allusion to the painful incidents
+of the last few days, which she had already forgiven, the unsuspecting
+mother proceeded: "A woman of my age runs no risk on the street, my son;
+besides, I do not wish your sister to remain alone in the house."
+
+"I am not afraid, mother," Hena responded. "I shall bolt the door from
+within. I shall feel easier that way than to have you go out without
+company at this hour of night. Why, mother, remember what happened to La
+Catelle night before last! Let Herve go with you."
+
+"Mother," put in Herve, "you hear what my dear sister says."
+
+"Children, we are losing precious time. Let us not forget that, at this
+hour, our friend may be expiring in the hands of a stranger. Good-bye!"
+
+"How unlucky that just to-day our uncle should have gone to St. Denis!"
+put in Herve with a sigh. But seeming to be struck with an idea he
+added: "Mother, why could not both Hena and I accompany you?"
+
+"Oh, darling brother, you deserve an embrace, twenty embraces, for that
+bright thought," said the young girl, throwing her arms around Herve's
+neck. "It is agreed, mother, we shall all three go together."
+
+"Impossible. The house can not be left alone, children. Who will open
+the door to your father when he comes home? Besides, did not Master
+Simon send us yesterday a little bag of pearls to embroider on the
+velvet gown for the Duchess of Etampes? The pearls are of considerable
+value. I would feel very uneasy if these valuable articles remained
+without anybody to watch them. Knowing you are here, Herve, I shall feel
+easy on that score," remarked Bridget with a look of affectionate
+confidence that seemed to say to her son: "Yesterday you committed
+larceny; but you are now again an honorable boy; to-day I can entrust
+you with the guardianship of my treasure."
+
+Herve divined his mother's thoughts. He raised her hand to his lips and
+said:
+
+"Your trust in me shall be justified."
+
+"Still, this very evening, shortly before nightfall, we left the house
+all alone for a walk along the river," objected Hena. "Why should we run
+any greater risk now, if we go out all three of us?"
+
+"Dear daughter, it was then still light; the shops of our neighbors were
+still open; burglars would not have dared to make a descent upon us at
+such a time. At this hour, on the contrary, all the shops being closed,
+and the streets almost deserted, thieves are in season."
+
+"And it is just at such an hour that you are going to expose yourself,
+mother."
+
+"I have nothing about me to tempt the cupidity of thieves. Good-bye!
+Good-bye, my children!" Bridget said hastily, and embracing Hena and her
+brother: "To-morrow morning, my dear girl, your father will take you to
+La Catelle's, where you will find me. We shall return home together.
+Herve, light me downstairs."
+
+Preceded by her son, who carried the lamp, Bridget quickly descended the
+stairs and left the house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+HERVE'S DEMENTIA.
+
+
+No sooner had Herve closed the street door upon his mother than he
+slowly re-ascended the stairs to the upper chamber, saying to himself:
+
+"It will take my mother an hour to reach La Catelle's house; at least as
+long to return; father will not be home until midnight; I have two full
+hours to myself. They shall be turned to profit."
+
+Pressing with a convulsive hand against his heart the scapulary
+containing Tezel's letter of absolution, Herve entered the room in which
+Hena was left alone.
+
+From the threshold Herve saw his sister on her knees. Astonished at her
+posture, he stepped towards her and asked:
+
+"Hena, what are you doing?"
+
+"I was praying to God that He may guard mother, and restore our friend
+to health," answered the young girl, rising; and she proceeded with a
+sigh: "My heart feels heavy. May no misfortune threaten us."
+
+Saying this, the confiding girl sat down to her embroidery. Her brother
+took a seat beside her on a stool. After a few seconds he broke the
+silence:
+
+"Hena, do you remember that about three months ago I suddenly changed
+towards you?"
+
+Not a little surprised at these opening words, the young girl answered:
+
+"Why recall those evil days, brother? Thank heaven, they are over; they
+will not return."
+
+"Do you remember," Herve proceeded without noticing his sister's words,
+"do you remember that, so far from returning, I repelled your caresses?"
+
+"I do not wish to remember that, Herve; I do not think of it now."
+
+"Hena, the reason was I had made a strange discovery in my heart--I
+loved you!"
+
+The young girl dropped her needle, turned suddenly towards her brother,
+and, fixing upon him her astonished eyes, looked at him for a moment in
+silence. Thereupon, smiling, and in accents of tender reproach, she
+said:
+
+"How! Were you so long making the discovery that you loved me? And did
+the discovery seem to you--strange?"
+
+"Yes," answered Herve, ignoring the childlike reproach implied in his
+sister's words; "yes, the discovery was slow--yes, it seemed to me
+strange. Long did I struggle against that sentiment; my nights were
+passed sleepless."
+
+"You slept no more because you loved me? That's odd!"
+
+"Because I loved you--"
+
+"Come, Herve, it is not handsome to joke about so painful a subject. Do
+you forget the sorrow that fell on us all when, all of a sudden, we saw
+you become so somber, so silent, and almost to seem indifferent to us?
+Our dear little Odelin, who departed since then to Milan with Master
+Raimbaud, was probably less saddened by the thought of leaving us, than
+by your coolness for us all."
+
+"Remorse gave me neither peace, nor rest. Alas, I say correctly,
+remorse."
+
+"Remorse?" repeated the young girl stupefied. "I do not understand you."
+
+"The tortures of my soul, coupled with a vague instinct of hope, drove
+me to the feet of a holy man. He listened to me at the confessional. He
+unrolled before my eyes the inexhaustible resources of the faith. Well,
+my remorse vanished; peace re-entered my heart. Now, Hena, I love you
+without remorse and without internal struggles. I love you in security."
+
+"Well, if that is the game, I shall proceed with my embroidery," said
+the young girl; and picking up her needle, she resumed her work, adding
+in a playful tone: "Seeing that the Seigneur Herve loves me without
+remorse and in security, all is said--although, for my part, I do not
+fathom those big words 'struggles' and 'tortures' with regard to the
+return of the affection of the Seigneur Herve for a sister who loves him
+as much as she is beloved." But speedily dropping the spirit of banter
+and sadly raising her eyes to her brother's, she continued: "Here, my
+friend, I must quit jesting. You have long suffered. You seemed whelmed
+with a secret sorrow. Come, what was the cause? I am still in the dark
+thereon. Acquaint me with it."
+
+"The cause was love for you, Hena!"
+
+"Still at it? Come, Herve, I am but a very ignorant girl, beside you who
+know Latin. But when you say that the cause of your secret sorrow was
+your attachment for me--"
+
+"I said love, Hena--"
+
+"Love, attachment, tenderness--is it not all one?"
+
+"You spoke to me day before yesterday of Brother St. Ernest-Martyr."
+
+"I did. And only a short time ago I was talking about him with mother--"
+Suddenly breaking off, Hena exclaimed: "Good God! Dear, good mother!
+When I think of her being all alone at this hour on the street, without
+anyone to protect her!"
+
+"Be not alarmed. Our mother runs no danger whatever."
+
+"May heaven hear you, Herve!"
+
+"Let us return to Brother St. Ernest-Martyr, of whom you were just
+before speaking with mother. Do you love the monk in the same manner
+that you love me?"
+
+"Can the two things be compared? I have spent my life beside you; you
+are my brother--on the other hand, I have seen that poor monk but five
+or six times, and then for a minute only."
+
+"You love him--do not lie!"
+
+"My God! In what a tone you speak, Herve. I have nothing to conceal."
+
+"Do you love that monk?"
+
+"Certainly--just as one loves all that is good and just. I know the
+generous actions of Brother St. Ernest-Martyr. You, yourself, only a
+few days ago, told me a very touching deed done by him."
+
+"Do you constantly think of the monk?"
+
+"Constantly, no. But this very evening I was saying to mother that I was
+astonished I thought so frequently of him."
+
+"Hena, suppose our parents thought of marrying you, and that the young
+monk, instead of being a clergyman, was free, could become your husband
+and loved you--would you wed him?"
+
+"What a crazy supposition!"
+
+"Let us suppose all I have said--that he is not a monk and loves you; if
+our parents gave their consent to the marriage, would you accept that
+man for your husband?"
+
+"Dear brother, you are putting questions to me--"
+
+"You would wed him with joy," Herve broke in with hollow voice, fixing
+upon his sister a jealous and enraged eye that escaped her, seeing the
+embroidery on which she was engaged helped her conceal the embarrassment
+that the singular interrogatory to which she was being subjected threw
+her into. Nevertheless, the girl's natural frankness regained the upper
+hand, and without raising her eyes to her brother, Hena answered:
+
+"Why should I not consent to wed an honorable man, if our parents
+approved the marriage?"
+
+"Accordingly, you love the monk! Yes, you love him passionately! The
+thought of him obsesses you. Your grief and the sorrow that day before
+yesterday you felt when he was carried wounded into the house, the tears
+I surprised in your eyes--all these are so many symptoms of your love
+for him!"
+
+"Herve, I know not why, but your words alarm me, they disconcert me,
+they freeze my heart, they make me feel like weeping. I did not feel
+that way this evening when I conversed with mother about Brother St.
+Ernest-Martyr. Besides, your face looks gloomy, almost enraged."
+
+"I hate that monk to death!"
+
+"My God! What has he done to you?"
+
+"What has he done to me?" repeated Herve. "You love him! That is his
+crime!"
+
+"Brother!" cried Hena, rising from her work to throw herself on the neck
+of her brother and holding him in a tight embrace. "Utter not such
+words! You make me wretched!"
+
+Convulsed with despair, Herve pressed his sister passionately to his
+breast and covered her forehead and hair with kisses, while Hena,
+innocently responding to his caresses, whispered with gentle emotion:
+
+"Good brother, you are no longer angry, are you? If you only knew my
+alarm at seeing you look so wicked!"
+
+A heavy knock resounded at the street door, followed immediately by the
+sonorous and merry voice of the Franc-Taupin singing his favorite song:
+
+    "A Franc-Taupin had an ash-tree bow,
+    All eaten with worms, and all knotted its cord;
+    _Derideron, vignette on vignon!! Derideron!_"
+
+A tremor ran through Herve. Quickly recalling himself, he ran to the
+casement, opened it, and leaning forward, cried out: "Good evening,
+uncle!"
+
+"Dear nephew, I am back from St. Denis. I did not wish to return to
+Paris without telling you all good-day!"
+
+"Oh, dear uncle, a great misfortune has happened! La Catelle is dying.
+She sent for mother, who left at once. I could not accompany her, being
+obliged to remain here with Hena in father's absence. We feel uneasy at
+the thought that mother may have to come back all alone on this dark
+night."
+
+"All alone! By the bowels of St. Quenet, of what earthly use am I, if
+not to protect my sister!" replied Josephin. "I shall start on a run to
+La Catelle's, and see your mother home. Be not uneasy, my lad. When I
+return I shall embrace you and your sister, if you are not yet in bed."
+
+The Franc-Taupin hastened away. Herve shut the window, and returned in a
+state of great excitement to Hena, who inquired:
+
+"Why did you induce uncle to go to-night after mother? She is to stay
+all night at La Catelle's. Why do you not answer me? Why is your face so
+lowering? My God! What ails you? Brother, brother, do not look upon me
+with such eyes! I am trembling all over."
+
+"Hena, I love you--I love you carnally!"
+
+"I--do not comprehend--what--you say. I do not understand your words.
+You now frighten me. Your eyes are bloodshot."
+
+"The kind of love you feel for that monk--that love I feel for you! I
+love you with a passionate desire."
+
+"Herve, you are out of your mind. You do not know what you say!"
+
+"I must possess you!"
+
+"Good God, am I also going crazy? Do my eyes--do my ears deceive me?"
+
+"Hena--you are beautiful! Sister, I adore you--"
+
+"Do not touch me! Mercy! Herve, brother, you are demented! Recognize
+me--it is I--Hena--your own sister--it is I who am here before you--on
+my knees."
+
+"Come, come into my arms!"
+
+"Help! Help! Mother! Father!"
+
+"Mother is far away--father also. We are alone--in the dark--and I have
+received absolution! You shall be mine, will ye nil ye!"
+
+The monster, intent upon accomplishing his felony in obscurity, knocked
+down the lamp with his fist, threw himself upon Hena, and gripped her in
+his arms. The girl slipped away from him, reached the staircase that led
+to the lower floor, and bounded down. Herve rushed after her, and seized
+her as she was about to clear the lowest steps. The distracted child
+called for help. Holding her with one hand, her brother tried to gag her
+with the other, lest her cries be heard by the neighbors. Suddenly the
+street door was thrown open, flooding the room with moonlight, and
+disclosing Bridget on the threshold. Thunderstruck, the mother perceived
+her daughter struggling in the arms of her brother, and still, though in
+a smothered voice, crying: "Help! Help!" The wretch, now rendered
+furious at the danger of his victim's escaping him, and dizzy with the
+vertigo of crime, did not at first recognize Bridget. He flung Hena
+behind him, and seizing a heavy iron coal-rake from the fireplace, was
+about to use it for a club, not even recoiling before murder in order to
+free himself from an importunate witness. Already the dangerous weapon
+was raised when, by the light of the moon, the incestuous lad discovered
+the features of his mother.
+
+"Save yourself, mother," cried Hena between her sobs; "he is gone crazy;
+he will kill you. Only your timely help saved me from his violent
+assault."
+
+"Infamous boy!" cried the mother. "That, then, was your purpose in
+removing me from the house. God willed that half way to La Catelle's I
+met her brother-in-law--"
+
+"Be gone!" thundered back Herve, a prey to uncontrollable delirium; and
+raising the iron coal-rake which he had lowered under the first impulse
+of surprise at the sight of his mother, he staggered towards Bridget
+yelling: "Be gone!"
+
+"Matricide! Dare you raise that iron bar against me--your mother?"
+
+"All my crimes are absolved in advance! Incest--parricide--all are
+absolved! Be gone, or I kill you!"
+
+Hardly were these appalling words uttered, when the sound of numerous
+and rapidly approaching steps penetrated into the apartment through the
+door that Bridget had left open. Almost immediately a troop of
+patrolling archers, under the command of a sergeant-at-arms, and led by
+a man in a black frock with the cowl drawn over his head, halted and
+drew themselves up before the house of Christian. The Franc-Taupin had
+met them a short distance from the Exchange Bridge. A few words,
+exchanged among the soldiers, notified him of the errand they were on.
+Alarmed at what he overheard, he had quickly retraced his steps and
+followed them at a distance. The sergeant in command stepped in at the
+very moment that Herve uttered the last menace to his mother.
+
+"Does Christian Lebrenn dwell here?" asked the soldier. "Answer
+quickly."
+
+Ready to sink distracted, Bridget was not at first able to articulate a
+word. Hena gathered strength to rise from the floor where Herve had
+flung her, and ran to Bridget, into whose arms she threw herself. Herve
+dropped at his feet the iron implement he had armed himself with, and
+remained motionless, savage of mien, his arms crossed over his breast.
+The man whose face was hidden by the cowl of his black frock--that man
+was John Lefevre, the disciple of Ignatius Loyola--whispered a few words
+in the ear of the sergeant. The latter again addressed Bridget, now in
+still more peremptory tones:
+
+"Is this the dwelling of Christian Lebrenn, a typesetter by trade?"
+
+"Yes," answered Bridget, and greatly alarmed by the visit of the
+soldiers, she added: "My husband is not at home. He will not be back
+until late."
+
+"You are the wife of Christian Lebrenn?" resumed the sergeant, and
+pointing to Hena and then to Herve: "That young girl and that young man
+are your children, are they not? By order of Monsieur John Morin, the
+Criminal Lieutenant, I am commissioned to arrest Christian Lebrenn, a
+printer, his wife, his son and his daughter as being charged with
+heresy, and to take them to a safe place."
+
+"My husband is not at home!" cried Bridget, her first thought being to
+the safety of Christian, although herself stupefied with fear at the
+threatened arrest. That instant, and standing a few steps behind the
+archers, the Franc-Taupin, taller by a head than the armed troop before
+him, caught the eyes of Bridget. With a sign he warned her to keep
+silent. He then bent his long body in two, and vanished.
+
+"Do you want to make us believe your husband is not at home?" resumed
+the sergeant. "We shall search the house." Then turning to his men:
+"Bind the hands of that young man, of the young girl and of the woman,
+and keep guard over the prisoners."
+
+John Lefevre, his face still concealed under the cowl of his frock,
+could not be recognized by Bridget. He knew the inmates of the house, at
+whose hearth he had often sat as a friend. He motioned to the sergeant
+to follow him, and taking a lanthorn from the hand of one of the
+archers, mounted the stairs, entered the chamber of the married couple,
+and pointing with his finger to a cabinet in which Christian kept his
+valuables, said to him:
+
+"The papers in question must be in there, in a little casket of black
+wood."
+
+The key stood in the lock of the cabinet. The sergeant opened the two
+doors. From one of the shelves he took down a casket of considerable
+proportions.
+
+"That is the one," said John Lefevre. "Give it to me. I shall place it
+in the hands of Monsieur the Criminal Lieutenant."
+
+"That Christian must be hiding somewhere," remarked the sergeant,
+looking under the bed, and behind the curtains.
+
+"It is almost certain," answered John Lefevre. "He rarely goes out at
+night. There is all the greater reason to expect to find him in at this
+hour, seeing he spent part of last night out of the house."
+
+"Why did they not try to arrest him during the day at the printing
+office of Monsieur Estienne?" the sergeant inquired while keeping up his
+search. "He could not have been missed there."
+
+"As to that, my friend, I shall say, in the first place, that, due to
+the untoward absence of Monsieur the Criminal Lieutenant, who was
+summoned early this morning to Cardinal Duprat's palace, our order of
+arrest could not be delivered until too late in the evening. In the
+second place, you know as well as I that the artisans of Monsieur
+Estienne are infected with heresy; they are armed; and might have
+attempted to resist the arrest of their companion. No doubt the archers
+would have prevailed in the end. But Christian might have made his
+escape during the struggle, whereas the chances were a thousand to one
+he could be taken by surprise at his house, in the dark, along with his
+family."
+
+"And yet he still escapes us," observed the sergeant, after some fresh
+searches. Noticing the door of Hena's chamber, he entered and rummaged
+that room also, with no better results, and said: "Nothing in this
+direction either."
+
+"Come, let us investigate the garret. Give me the lanthorn, and follow
+me. If he is not there either, then we must renounce his capture for
+to-night. Fortunately we got the woman and the children--besides this,"
+added the Jesuit, tapping upon the casket under his arm. "We shall find
+Christian, sure enough."
+
+Saying this, John Lefevre opened the panel leading to the nook where
+stood the ladder to the attic; he climbed it, followed by the sergeant,
+arrived in the garret which had served as refuge to the unknown, noticed
+the mattress, some crumbs of bread and the remains of some fruit, pens
+and an inkhorn on a stool, and, scattered over the floor, fragments of
+paper covered with a fine and close handwriting.
+
+"Somebody was hiding here, and spent some time, too!" exclaimed the
+sergeant excitedly. "This mattress, these pens, indicate the presence of
+a stranger of studious habits;" and running to the dormer window that
+opened upon the river, he mused: "Can Christian have made his escape by
+this issue?"
+
+While the archer renewed his search, vainly rummaging every nook and
+corner of the garret, John Lefevre carefully collected the bits of paper
+that were strewn over the floor, assorted them, and kneeling down beside
+the stool, on which he placed the lanthorn, examined the manuscript
+intently. Suddenly a tremor ran over his frame, and turning to the
+sergeant he said:
+
+"There is every reason to believe that Christian Lebrenn is not in the
+house. I think I can guess the reason of his absence. Nevertheless,
+before quitting the place we must search the bedroom of his two sons. It
+is in the rear of the ground floor room. Let us hurry. Your expedition
+is not yet ended. We shall probably have to leave Paris to-night, and
+carry our investigation further."
+
+"Leave Paris, reverend Father?"
+
+"Yes, perhaps. But I shall first have to notify the Criminal Lieutenant.
+What a discovery! To be able at one blow to crush the nest of
+vipers!--_ad majorem Dei gloriam!_"[34]
+
+John Lefevre and the sergeant re-descended to the ground floor. After a
+few whispered words to the soldier, the Jesuit departed, carrying with
+him the casket in which the chronicles of the Lebrenn family were
+locked.
+
+The chamber occupied by Herve was ransacked as vainly as had been the
+other apartments of the house. During these operations Bridget had
+striven to allay the fright of her daughter. Herve, somber and sullen,
+his hands bound like his mother's and sister's, remained oblivious to
+what was happening around him. Giving up the capture of Christian, the
+sergeant returned to his prisoners and announced to Bridget that he was
+to carry both her and her children away with him. The poor woman
+implored him to take pity on her daughter who was hardly able to keep
+her feet. The sergeant answered harshly, that if the young heretic was
+unable to walk she would be stripped and dragged naked over the streets.
+Finally, addressing his archers, he concluded:
+
+"Three of you are to remain in this house. When Christian raps to be let
+in you will open the door, and seize his person."
+
+Bridget could not repress a moan of anguish at hearing the order.
+Christian, she reflected, was fatedly bound to fall into the trap, as he
+would return home unsuspecting. The three archers locked themselves up
+on the ground floor. The others, led by their chief, left the house,
+and, taking Bridget and her two children with them, marched away to lead
+them to prison.
+
+"For mercy's sake," said the unhappy mother to the sergeant, "untie my
+hands that I may give my daughter the support of my arm. She is so
+feeble that it will be impossible for her to follow us."
+
+"That's unnecessary," answered the sergeant. "On the other side of the
+bridge you will be separated. You are not to go to the same prison as
+your daughter."
+
+"Good God! Where do you mean to take her to?"
+
+"To the Augustinian Convent. You are to go to the Chatelet. Come, move
+on, move quickly."
+
+Herve, who had until then remained sullenly impassive, said impatiently
+to the sergeant:
+
+"If I am to be taken to a convent, I demand to go to the Cordeliers."
+
+"The Criminal Lieutenant is to decide upon that," replied the sergeant.
+
+After a short wait, the archers took up their march. Alas! How shall the
+pain and desolation of Hena and her mother be described at learning they
+were not to be allowed even the consolation of suffering this latest
+trial in each other's company? Nevertheless, a ray of hope lighted
+Bridget's heart. Her last words with the sergeant had been exchanged
+near the cross that stood in the middle of the bridge, and close to
+which the archers were passing at the time. Christian's wife saw the
+Franc-Taupin on his knees at the foot of the crucifix, gesticulating
+wildly, raising his head and crying out like a frantic devotee:
+
+"Lord! Lord! _Thy eye has seen everything. Thy ear has heard
+everything_; there is nothing hidden from Thee. Have pity upon me,
+miserable sinner, that I am! Thanks to Thee _he will be saved_. I hope
+so! In the name of the most Holy Trinity."
+
+"There is a good Catholic who will not fail to be saved," said the
+sergeant, making the sign of the cross and looking at the kneeling
+figure of the Franc-Taupin, who furiously smote his chest without
+intermission, while the archers redoubled their pace and marched away,
+dragging their prisoners behind them.
+
+"God be blessed!" said Bridget to herself, understanding the information
+that Josephin meant to convey. "My brother has seen everything and heard
+everything. He will remain in the neighborhood of the house. He expects
+to save Christian from the danger that threatens him. He will inform
+Christian that his daughter has been taken to the Augustinian Convent
+and I to the Chatelet prison."
+
+Such indeed was the purpose of the Franc-Taupin. When the archers had
+disappeared he drew near to Christian's house and contemplated it sadly
+and silently by the light of the moon. Accidentally his eyes fell upon a
+scapulary that had dropped near the threshold. He recognized it, having
+more than once seen it hanging on the breast of Herve. The strings of
+the relic had snapped during the struggle of Hena with her brother, and
+the bag being thus detached from Herve's neck it had slipped down
+between his shirt and his jacket, and dropped to the ground. The
+Franc-Taupin picked up the relic, and opened it mechanically. Finding
+therein the letter of absolution, he ran his eye hurriedly over the
+latter, and at once replaced it in the scapulary.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+CALVINISTS IN COUNCIL.
+
+
+While the events narrated in the previous chapter were occurring at his
+house, Christian Lebrenn was climbing in the company of his mysterious
+guest the slope of Montmartre, along the path that led to the abbey.
+
+"Monsieur Lebrenn," said Monsieur John, who had been in deep silence, "I
+should feel guilty of an act of ingratitude and of mistrust were I any
+longer to withhold from you my name. Perhaps it is not unknown to you. I
+am John Calvin."
+
+"I feel happy, monsieur, in having given asylum to the chief of the
+Reformation, to the valiant apostle who has declared war to Catholicism,
+and who propagates the new ideas in France."
+
+"Alas, our cause already counts its martyrs by the thousands. Who knows
+but I may soon be added to their number? My life is in the hands of the
+Lord."
+
+"Our enemies are powerful."
+
+"Among these, the most redoubtable ones will be the Jesuits, the
+sectarians whose secret you surprised. Their purposes were not so well
+concealed but that I already had intimation of the endeavors of their
+chief to gather around himself active, devoted and resolute men. Hence
+the lively interest I felt in the narrative of your relative, the
+one-time page of Ignatius Loyola, when the latter was still a military
+chieftain. That revelation, coupled with yours, has given me the key to
+the character of the founder of the Society of Jesus, his craving after
+power, and the means that he uses in order to satisfy his ambition. The
+military discipline, that turns the soldier into a passive instrument of
+his captain, is to be applied to the domination of souls, which are to
+be rendered no less passive, no less servile. His project is to center
+in himself, to direct and to subjugate human conscience, thanks to a
+doctrine that extenuates and encourages the most detestable passions.
+Ignatius Loyola said the word: 'The penitent of a Jesuit will see the
+horizon of his most ardent hopes open before him; all paths will be
+smoothed before his feet; a tutelary mantle will cover his defects, his
+errors and his crimes; to incur his resentment will be a dreaded
+ordeal.'"
+
+"I shuddered as I heard that man distribute the empire of the world
+among his disciples in the name of such an impious doctrine. It cannot
+choose--the painful admission must be made--but impart to the Jesuits a
+formidable power until man be regenerated. Thanks, however, to God, the
+Reformation also now counts fervent adepts."
+
+"The disciples of the Reformation are still few in number, but their
+influence upon the masses of the people is no less extensive, due to the
+moral force of our doctrine. All straightforward, pure and generous
+souls are with us. Men of learning, poets, merchants, enlightened
+artisans like yourself, Monsieur Lebrenn; rich men, bourgeois, artists,
+professors; even military men will gather this evening at our meeting to
+confess the true Evangelium."
+
+"Civil war is a fearful extremity. All the same, the day may come when
+the men of arms will be needed by the Reformation."
+
+"May that untoward day never arrive! My opinion is that patience,
+resignation and respect for the laws and the Crown should be carried to
+the utmost limit possible. Nevertheless, should the sword have to be
+drawn, not for the purpose of imposing the Evangelical church through
+violence, but for the purpose of defending our lives, and the lives of
+our brothers, I should not, then, hesitate to call upon the men of arms
+who are partisans of the Reformation. Among these, it is my belief, we
+shall number a young man who has barely emerged from adolescence, and
+who gives promise of becoming a great captain at maturer age. He is
+called Gaspard of Coligny. His father bore himself bravely in the late
+wars of Italy and Germany. He died leaving his sons still in their
+childhood. Madam Coligny raised them in the Evangelical faith. About a
+year ago I found a place of refuge under her roof, at her castle of
+Chatillon-on-the-Loing, in Burgundy. I there met her eldest son,
+Gaspard. The precocious intellectual maturity of the lad, his devotion
+to our cause, awakened in me the best of hopes. He will be one of the
+pillars of the new temple--besides a terrible enemy raised against the
+Pope and Satan."
+
+"Monsieur," put in Christian, interrupting John Calvin in a low voice,
+"we are shadowed. I have noticed for some little while three men not far
+behind us, who seem to be timing their steps to ours."
+
+"Let us stop, let us allow them to pass. We shall ascertain whether they
+are bent upon following us. They may be friends, like ourselves bound to
+our assembly."
+
+Christian and John Calvin halted. Shortly they were passed by three men
+clad in dark colors, and all three carrying swords. One of these seemed,
+as he passed closely by John Calvin, to scan his face intently in the
+moonlight. A moment later, after having proceeded a little distance with
+his friends, he left them, retraced his steps, and walking towards
+Christian and his companion, said, courteously touching his cap with his
+hand:
+
+"Monsieur Calvin, I am happy to meet you."
+
+"Monsieur Coligny!" exclaimed the reformer gladly. "You did come--as I
+hoped you would."
+
+"It was natural I should respond to the summons of him whose doctrines I
+share, and for whom my mother entertains so much esteem and affection."
+
+"Are the two gentlemen you are with of our people, Monsieur Coligny?"
+
+"Yes. One is French, the other a foreigner, both devoted to our cause. I
+have felt safe to bring them to our assembly. I vouch for them, as for
+myself. The foreigner is a German Prince, Charles of Gerolstein, a
+cousin of the Prince of Deux-Ponts, and, like him, one of the boldest
+followers of Luther. My other friend, a younger son of Count Neroweg of
+Plouernel, one of the great seigneurs of Brittany and Auvergne, is as
+zealous in favor of the Reformation as his elder brother for the
+maintenance of the privileges and dominion of the Church of Rome."
+
+"Sad divisions of the domestic hearth!" observed John Calvin with a
+sigh. "It is to be hoped the truth of the Evangelium may penetrate and
+enlighten all the hearts of the great family of Christ!"
+
+"May that era of peace and harmony soon arrive, Monsieur Calvin,"
+replied Gaspard of Coligny. "The arrival of that great day is anxiously
+desired by my friend Gaston, the Viscount of Plouernel and captain of
+the regiment of Brittany. With all his power has he propagated the
+Reformation in his province. To draw you his picture with one stroke, I
+shall add that my mother has often said to me I could not choose a wiser
+and more worthy friend than Gaston Neroweg, the Viscount of Plouernel."
+
+"The judgment of a mother, and such a mother as Madam Coligny, is not
+likely to go astray regarding her son's choice of his friends," answered
+John Calvin. "Our cause is the cause of all honorable people. I would
+like to express to your friends my great gratification at the support
+they bring to us."
+
+Gaspard of Coligny stepped ahead to inform his friends of John Calvin's
+wish that they be introduced to him.
+
+Upon hearing the name of the Viscount of Plouernel, Christian had
+started with surprise. Accident was bringing him in friendly contact
+with one of the descendants of the Nerowegs, that stock of Frankish
+seigneurs which the sons of Joel the Gaul had, in the course of
+generations, so often encountered, to their sorrow. He felt a sort of
+instinctive repulsion for the Viscount of Plouernel, and cast upon him
+uneasy and distrustful looks as, accompanied by Gaspard of Coligny and
+Prince Charles of Gerolstein, he stepped towards John Calvin. While the
+latter was exchanging a few words with his new friends, Christian
+examined the descendant of Neroweg with curiosity. His features
+reproduced the typical impress of his race--bright-blonde hair, aquiline
+nose, round and piercing eyes. Nevertheless, the artisan was struck by
+the expression of frankness and kindness that rendered the young man's
+physiognomy attractive.
+
+"Gentlemen," said John Calvin, whose voice interrupted the meditations
+of Christian, "I am happy, in my turn, to introduce you to one of ours,
+Monsieur Lebrenn, a worthy coadjutor in the printing office of our
+friend Robert Estienne. Monsieur Lebrenn has incurred no little danger
+in affording hospitality to me. Moreover, it is to him we are indebted
+for the discovery of the locality where we are to meet to-night."
+
+"Monsieur," replied Gaspard of Coligny addressing Christian with
+emotion, "my friends and I share the sentiments of gratitude that
+Monsieur John Calvin entertains for you."
+
+"Besides that, Monsieur Lebrenn," added Neroweg, the Viscount of
+Plouernel, "I am delighted to meet one of the assistants of the
+illustrious Robert Estienne. All that we, men of arms and war, have to
+place at the service of the cause of religious liberty is our sword; but
+you and your companions in your pursuit, you operate a marvelous
+talisman--the press! Glory to that invention! Light follows upon
+darkness. No longer is Holy Writ, in whose name the Church of Rome
+imposed so many secular idolatries upon the people, an impenetrable
+mystery. Its truth owes to the press its second revelation. Finally,
+thanks to the effect of the press, the hope is justified that
+Evangelical fraternity will one day reign on earth!"
+
+"You speak truly, Monsieur Plouernel. Yes, the invention of the press
+bears the mark of God's hand," observed John Calvin. "But the night
+advances. Our friends are surely waiting for us. Let us move on, and
+join them."
+
+With Gaspard of Coligny on one side, and the Viscount of Plouernel on
+the other, John Calvin, the great promoter of the new doctrines,
+proceeded to climb the slope of the hill of Montmartre.
+
+Much to his regret, the extreme astonishment that the affable words of
+the descendant of the Plouernels threw him into, deprived Christian of
+the power to formulate an answer. He followed John Calvin in silence,
+without noticing that, for some time, Prince Charles of Gerolstein was
+examining him with increasing attention. This seigneur, a man in the
+full vigor of life, tall of stature, of a strong but open countenance,
+fell a little behind his friends and joined Christian, whom he thus
+addressed after walking a few steps beside him:
+
+"Believe me, monsieur, if, a minute ago, I failed to render just praise,
+as my friends did, to the courageous hospitality you accorded John
+Calvin, I do not, therefore, appreciate any the less the generosity of
+your conduct. It was that your name fell strangely upon my senses. It
+awoke within me numerous recollections--family remembrances."
+
+"My name, Prince?"
+
+"Spare me that princely title. Christ said: 'All men are equal before
+God.' We are all brothers. Your name is Lebrenn? Is Armorican Brittany
+the cradle of your family?"
+
+"Yes, monsieur. It is."
+
+"Did your family live near the sacred stones of Karnak, before the
+conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar?"
+
+Christian looked at Charles of Gerolstein without attempting to conceal
+his astonishment at meeting a stranger acquainted with incidents that
+ran back so many centuries in his family's history. The Prince pursued
+his interrogatory:
+
+"Towards the middle of the Eighth Century, one of your ancestors, Ewrag
+by name, and son of Vortigern, one of the most intrepid defenders of the
+independence of Brittany, and grandson of Amael, who knew Charlemagne,
+left his native land to take up his home in the lands of the far North."
+
+"Yes, after the great Armorican insurrection. During that uprising the
+Bretons appealed for aid to the Northman pirates, who had established
+themselves at the mouth of the Loire. Ewrag afterwards embarked for the
+North with those sea-faring peoples."
+
+"Did he not leave behind two brothers?"
+
+"Rosneven and Gomer."
+
+"Ewrag, who first settled down in Denmark, had a grandson named Gaelo.
+In the year 912 he was one of the pirate chiefs who came down and
+besieged Paris under the command of old Rolf, later Duke of Normandy.
+Gaelo was recognized as a member of your family by Eidiol, at that time
+dean of the Parisian skippers."
+
+"Yes, indeed. Gaelo was taken wounded into the house of my ancestor
+Eidiol. While dressing the wound of the Northman pirate, the words
+'Brenn--Karnak' were discovered, traced with indelible letters on his
+arm. It was a custom, often followed in those disastrous days, when ware
+or slavery frequently scattered a family to the four winds. They hoped,
+thanks to the indelible marks, to recognize one another should fresh
+upheavals happen to throw them again in one another's way."
+
+"After wedding the Beautiful Shigne, one of the Buckler Maidens who
+joined the expedition of Rolf, Gaelo returned to the North. Since then
+there have been no tidings of him."
+
+"Yes. For all these past centuries we have remained in ignorance
+concerning that branch of our family. But, monsieur, I cannot understand
+how you, a German Prince, can possess such exact information of my
+humble family, which, besides, is of Gallic race. I wish you would
+explain yourself."
+
+Christian was interrupted by John Calvin, who, turning back, said to
+him:
+
+"Here we are at the top of the hill. Which path are we to follow now
+out of the many in sight? Be so good as to lead us out of this maze."
+
+"I shall walk ahead, and show you the path to follow," answered
+Christian.
+
+As Christian hastened his steps to take the lead of the group, the
+Prince of Gerolstein said to him:
+
+"I can not at this moment carry on the conversation that for a thousand
+reasons I am anxious to hold with you. Where could I meet you again?"
+
+"I live on the Exchange Bridge, facing the right side of the cross as
+you come from the Louvre."
+
+"I shall call upon you to-morrow evening, Monsieur Lebrenn;" and
+extending his hand to the artisan, Prince Charles of Gerolstein added:
+"Give me your hand, Christian Lebrenn, we are of the same blood. The
+cradle of my own stock is old Armorican Gaul. The course of the
+centuries, and the accidents of conquest have raised my house to
+sovereign rank, but it is of plebeian origin."
+
+After cordially clasping the hand of the amazed Christian, the Prince
+rejoined John Calvin and his friends. At that moment, Justin, who had
+been stationed on the lookout at the head of the rocky path that led to
+the quarry, walked rapidly up to his fellow workman, saying:
+
+"I had begun to feel uneasy. All the persons who have been convoked to
+the meeting have arrived long ago. I counted sixty-two. I am here on the
+lookout. Master Robert Estienne requested one of our friends to plant
+himself near the mouth of the excavation leading to the underground
+issue of the cavern. You know that gallery, cut behind the large rock,
+which recently sheltered us from the eyes of Loyola and his disciples. I
+inspected the passage this morning. It is open."
+
+"In case of danger you will run and notify the assembly. I understand."
+
+"From his side also Master Robert Estienne's friend will give the alarm
+in case of need. It is not likely the quarry will be invaded by both
+passages at once. One will always remain free. Our friends can
+deliberate in perfect safety."
+
+"If the gathering is not disturbed by some accident, friend Justin, I
+shall return by this path and we shall reenter Paris together."
+
+"Agreed. Our arrangements are made."
+
+A moment later, Christian, John Calvin and his friends entered the
+quarry. There they found assembled the leading partisans of the
+Reformation in Paris--lawyers, literary men, rich merchants, seigneurs,
+courtiers and men of arms and of science. Thus, besides Gaspard of
+Coligny, Prince Charles of Gerolstein and the Viscount of Plouernel,
+there were present the following personages of distinction: John
+Dubourg, a Parisian draper of St. Denis Street; Etienne Laforge, a rich
+bourgeois; Anthony Poille, an architect, and brother-in-law of Mary La
+Catelle, who, herself, had been invited as one of the most useful
+promoters of the Reformation; Clement Marot, one of the most renowned
+poets of those days; a young and learned surgeon named Ambroise Pare,
+the hope of his art and science, a charitable man who opened his purse
+even to the sufferers whom he attended; and Bernard Palissy, a potter,
+whose work will be imperishable, and who is as well versed in alchemy as
+he is celebrated in sculpture. A small number of chiefs of guilds were
+also present. The guilds, being plunged in ignorance, were still under
+the influence of the monks, and entertained a blind hatred for the
+Reformation. A few wax candles, brought along by several of the persons
+present, lighted the bowels of the cavern and threw a flickering glamor
+upon those grave and thoughtful faces. When John Calvin entered the
+cavern he was recognized by some of the reformers. His name immediately
+flew from mouth to mouth. Those who had not yet seen him drew nearer to
+contemplate him. The resolute stamp of his character was reflected upon
+his pensive countenance. A profound silence ensued. The reformers ranked
+themselves in a circle around their apostle. He stepped upon a block of
+stone in order to be better heard, and proceeded to address them:
+
+"My dear brothers, I have just traversed the larger portion of France. I
+have conferred with most of our pastors and friends in order to
+determine in concert with them the articles of faith of the Evangelical
+religion, the basis of which was laid by the immortal Luther. If the
+formula of our common belief is adopted by you, such as it has been
+adopted by most of our friends, the unity of the reformed church will be
+an established thing. This is our Credo:[35]
+
+"'We believe and confess that there is one only God, a sole, spiritual,
+eternal, invisible, infinite, incomprehensible, immutable essence, who
+is all-powerful, all-wise, all-good, all-just and all-merciful.'"
+
+"That we believe; that we confess," answered the reformers.
+
+"'We believe and confess,'" continued Calvin, "'that God manifests
+Himself as such to man by creation, and by the preservation and guidance
+of creation; furthermore, by the revelation of His Word, gathered by
+Moses, and which constitutes what we call Holy Writ, contained in the
+canonical books of the Old and the New Testament.'"
+
+"That is the Book; the only Book; the Code of good and evil; the
+instructor of men and of children alike; the divine source of all
+goodness, all power, all consolation, all hope!" responded the
+reformers.
+
+"Moses was a disciple of the priests of Memphis. I can well see how he
+gave out this or that Egyptian dogma, as emanating from divine
+revelation--but that remains, however, a hypothesis. I do not accept the
+pretended sacredness of the texts," said Christian Lebrenn, apart; while
+Calvin continued:
+
+"'We believe and confess that the Word contained in the sacred books,
+which proceed from God to man, is the norm of all truth; that it is not
+allowable for man to change the same in aught; that custom, judgments,
+edicts, councils and miracles must in no manner be opposed to Holy Writ,
+but, on the contrary, must be reformed by it.'"
+
+"We want the Word of God pure and simple. We want it disengaged of all
+the Romish impostures, that, for centuries, have falsified and
+perverted it," the reformers replied.
+
+"Here," said Christian, again to himself, "here starts the freedom of
+inquiry. That is the reason for my adherence to the Reformation." Calvin
+resumed:
+
+"'We believe and confess that Holy Writ teaches us that the divine
+essence consists of three persons--the Father, the Son and the Holy
+Ghost, and that this Trinity is the source of all visible and invisible
+things. That is our belief.'"
+
+"It is an article of faith with us; it is the foundation of our
+religion," chorused the reformers, while Christian Lebrenn added, to
+himself:
+
+"This also belongs to the domain of hypothesis--and of religious
+absurdities. One more article of faith to be rejected."
+
+"'We believe and confess,'" continued Calvin, "'that man, having been
+born pure and clean in the image of God, is, through his own sin, fallen
+from the grace he had received, and that all the descendants of Adam are
+tainted with original sin, down to the little children in their mothers'
+wombs. That is our belief on these subjects.'"
+
+"We are bound to accept all that is found in the sacred books. The will
+of the Lord is impenetrable--let it be done in all things. Our reason
+must humble itself before that which seems incomprehensible," was the
+response of the reformers.
+
+"Oh, God of Love and Mercy!" exclaimed Christian Lebrenn, apart. "To
+proclaim in Thy name that Thy will smites the unborn child even in its
+mother's womb! Just God! Thou who knowest all things--past, present and
+to come--Thou knewest Thy creature, man, who is not but because Thou
+hast said, Be! was bound to fall into sin. Thou knewest it. Generations
+upon generations, all guiltless of the sin of the first man, were to
+undergo the terrible chastisement that it has pleased Thee to inflict
+upon them. Thou knewest it. And yet, Thou art supposed to have said:
+'Man, you will fall into sin. The original stain shall mark your
+children even in their mothers' wombs'! Merciful God! Pardon the
+infirmity of my intellect. I cannot believe a father will devote his own
+children to eternal misery. I cannot believe a father can take pleasure
+in allowing his children's mind to waver between justice and injustice,
+especially when he knows beforehand they are fatedly certain to elect
+iniquity, and when he knows the consequence of their choice will be
+fearful to themselves and to all their posterity. Just God! What is the
+constant aim of the thoughts and efforts of every honorable man, within
+the limits of his faculties? To give his children such an education as
+will keep them from the path of vice; an education that may justify him
+to say: 'My children will be upright men!' And yet, Thou, almighty God,
+Thou art supposed to have said: 'I _will_ that the evil inclinations of
+my children carry the day over the good ones; I _will_ that they become
+criminals, and that they be forever damned!' Never shall I accept such a
+doctrine."
+
+John Calvin continued his Credo:
+
+"'We believe and confess that, as a consequence of original sin, man,
+corrupt of body, blind of mind, and depraved of heart, has lost all
+virtue, and, although he has still preserved some discernment of right
+and wrong, falls into darkness when he aspires to understand God with
+the aid of his own intelligence and human reason. Finally, although he
+should have the will to choose between right and wrong, his will being
+the captive of sin, he is fatedly devoted to wrong, is destined to
+malediction, and is not free to choose the right but by the grace of
+God.'"
+
+"Such," responded the reformers, "is the will of the Lord. We fall into
+darkness if we strive to understand God with the aid of our own reason."
+
+"No! No!" Christian said to himself, "God never said: 'My creatures,
+instead of loving Me and adoring Me in all the splendor of My glory,
+shall adore Me in the darkness of their intelligence, dimmed by My
+will.' No! God has not said: 'Man, you shall be fatedly devoted to
+wrong! You shall be for all time a captive of sin! I enclose you within
+an iron circle from which there is no escape but by My grace!' If God's
+omnipotence made man sinful or good, why punish or reward him? Another
+article of faith to be rejected."
+
+"'We believe and confess,'" Calvin proceeded, "'that Jesus Christ, being
+God's wisdom and His eternal Son, clad himself in our flesh to the end
+of being both God and man in one person. We worship Him so entirely in
+His divinity, that we strip Him of His humanity. We believe and confess
+that God, by sending us His Son, wished to show His ineffable goodness
+toward us, and by delivering Him to death and raising Him from the
+dead, wished that justice be done and heavenly life be gained for us.'"
+
+"Glory to God!" cried the reformers. "He has sent us His Son to redeem
+us with His blood! God has been crucified for the salvation of man!"
+
+Communing with himself, Christian Lebrenn only said: "Another absurdity
+laid by Calvin at the door of the Godhead. Can God condemn man for the
+pleasure of afterwards redeeming him? O, Christ! Poor carpenter of
+Nazareth, the friend of the afflicted, the penitent and the
+disinherited, you do not wrap yourself in an impenetrable cloud. I see
+your pale and sweet smile encircled by a bloody aureola, and bearing a
+stamp that is truly human. Your divine words are accessible even to the
+intelligence of children. Your Evangelical morality should and will be
+the code of all humankind. The chains of the slave will be broken, said
+you now more than fifteen hundred years ago; and yet, the Pharisees, who
+call themselves your priests, have, during all these centuries, owned
+slaves, later serfs, and to-day they count their vassals by the
+thousands. Love ye one another, said you; and yet, the Pharisees, who
+call themselves your priests, caused, and to this hour continue to
+cause, torrents of Christian blood to flow. I do not share the belief of
+the reformers, but I remain with them body and soul so long as they
+combat the cruelties, the iniquities and the idolatries of the Roman
+Church! I remain body and soul with them so long as they devote their
+lives to the triumph of your doctrine, O, Christ! in the name of
+equality and human fraternity! In that does the real strength lie, the
+real power of the Reformation. Of what concern to us are those Mosaic
+dogmas concerning original sin, the fatedness of evil, the inherent
+wickedness of man? The Reformation _acts_ valiantly, it _acts_
+generously, it _acts_ in a Christian spirit in seeking to restore your
+Church, O, Christ! to its simplicity and pristine purity by combating
+the Pope of Rome."
+
+Calvin continued: "'We believe and confess that, thanks to the sacrifice
+our Lord Jesus Christ offered on the cross, we are reconciled to God and
+fit to be held and looked upon as just before Him. Accordingly, we
+believe that we owe to Jesus Christ our full and perfect deliverance. We
+believe and confess that, without disparagement of virtues and deserving
+qualities, we depend upon them for the remission of our sins only
+through our faith, and the law of Jesus Christ.'"
+
+"The law and faith in Jesus Christ is embraced in that" responded the
+reformers. "It is our code. The law and faith in Jesus Christ--that
+means love towards our fellow men; it means equality; it means
+fraternity; it means revolt against the idolatries, in whose name the
+greatest malefactors are and believe themselves absolved of their crimes
+by the purchase of indulgences! Only through faith and the practice of
+the Evangelical law will our sins be remitted."
+
+"'We believe and confess,'" proceeded Calvin, "'that whereas Jesus
+Christ has been given us as the only intermediary between us and God,
+and since He recommends to us that we withdraw into seclusion in order
+to address, in private and in His name, our prayers to His Father, all
+the inventions of men concerning the intercession of martyred saints is
+but fraud and deception, schemed in order to lead mankind aside from the
+straight and narrow path. Furthermore, we hold purgatory to be an
+illusion of the same nature, likewise monastic vows, pilgrimages, the
+ordinance of celibacy to clergymen, auricular confession, and the
+ceremonial observance of certain days when a meat diet is forbidden.
+Finally we consider illusions the indulgences and other idolatrous
+practices through which grace and salvation are expected, and we regard
+them as human inventions calculated to shackle human conscience.'"
+
+"That is the essence of the Reformation," said Christian Lebrenn, apart.
+"The reform of action, the militant reform. Hence it is that my dignity
+as a man, my mind and my heart are with it. It is a long step towards
+the reign of pure reason, planted upon the freedom of inquiry. The road
+is cleared. Man is in direct communion and communication with God
+through prayer, without the intervention of any church. No more
+Popes--the incarnation of divine and human autocracy, as Ignatius Loyola
+understands it! No more dissolute and savage pontiffs, claiming to be
+Your vicars, O, God of mercy! No more saints, no more purgatory! Down
+goes the traffic in indulgences! No more monastic vows--the idle monks
+shall become honest and industrious citizens! No more priestly
+celibacy--the pastors shall themselves become heads of families! No more
+auricular confession--a bar to Ignatius Loyola, whose aim is to take
+possession of the conscience of mankind by means of the tribunal of
+penitence; through the conscience of mankind, the soul of man; through
+the soul, the body; and thus to rear the most frightful theocratic
+tyranny! O, sweet carpenter of Nazareth! May the Reformation triumph!
+May your Evangelical law in all its pristine purity become the law of
+the world! The power of the casqued, the mitred or the crowned
+oppressors will then have ceased to be! No more Kings, no more priests,
+no more masters!"
+
+"No more Popes! No more cardinals, or bishops! No more idolatry! No more
+celibacy! No more adoration of images! No more confession! No more
+intermediaries between God and man! Such is our confession, such our
+belief," cried the reformers in answer to Calvin, who continued:
+
+"'We believe and confess those Romish inventions to be pure idolatries.
+We reject them. Sustained by the authority of the sacred books, by the
+words and acts of the apostles--I Timothy 2; John 16; Matthew 6 and 10;
+Luke 11, 12 and 15; the Epistle to the Romans 14, and other Evangelical
+texts--we believe and confess that where the word of God is not received
+there is no Church. Therefore we reject the assemblages of the papacy,
+whence divine truth is banished, where the sacraments are corrupted,
+adulterated and falsified, while superstitious and idolatrous practices
+flourish and thrive in their midst.'"
+
+"Yes," answered the assembled reformers, "let us draw away from the
+usurping Roman Church--that impure Babylon; that sink of all vices;
+that notorious harlot; that poisoned well, whence flow all the ills that
+afflict humanity! No more Popes, bishops, priests or monks!"
+
+"'We believe and confess,'" Calvin continued, "'that all men are true
+pastors wherever they may be, provided they are pure of heart, and that
+they recognize for sole sovereign and universal bishop our Lord Jesus
+Christ. Therefore we repudiate the papacy; we protest that no church,
+even if it call itself "Catholic," can lay claim to any authority or
+dominion over any other church.'"
+
+"Therefore we do repudiate the Church of Rome! Christ is our Pope, our
+bishop! There should be no intermediary between him and us!" responded
+the reformers.
+
+"'We believe and confess,'" Calvin went on, "'that the offices of
+pastors, deans and deacons must proceed from the election of their own
+people, whose confidence they will thus show they have earned. We
+believe that, in order to exercise their functions, they should
+concentrate within them the general rules of the church, without
+attempting to decree, under the shadow of the service of God, any rules
+to bind human conscience.'"
+
+"Freedom of conscience--that means human emancipation!" Christian
+exclaimed to himself. "All honor to the Reformation for proclaiming that
+great principle! May it remain faithful thereto!"
+
+The reformers meanwhile answered: "Yes, we wish to elect our own
+pastors, as they were elected in the primitive church;" and John Calvin
+continued:
+
+"'We believe and confess that there are but two sacraments--baptism,
+that cleanses us of the soilure of original sin; and communion, which
+nourishes us, vivifies us spiritually by the substance of Jesus Christ,
+a celestial mystery accessible only through faith.
+
+"'Finally, we believe and confess that God has willed that the peoples
+on earth be governed; that He has established elective or hereditary
+kingdoms, principalities, republics and other forms of government. We
+therefore hold as unquestionable that their laws and statutes must be
+obeyed, their tributes and imposts paid, and all the duties that belong
+to citizens and subjects must be fulfilled with a frank and good will,
+even if such governments be iniquitous, _provided the sovereign empire
+of God remains untouched_. Therefore we repudiate those who would reject
+government and authority, and who would throw society into confusion
+through the introduction of community of goods among men, and thereby
+upset the order of justice.'"
+
+"No! No!" was Christian's muttered comment at these words. "Man must not
+submit to an iniquitous authority! No! No! John Calvin himself realizes
+the offensiveness to human dignity of such a resignation, and its
+contradiction to the very spirit of the Reformation. Is not the
+Reformation itself a legitimate revolt against the iniquity of the
+pontifical authority, and, if need be, against whatever temporal power
+might seek to impose the Roman cult upon the reformers? Indeed, after
+having set up the principle, 'The peoples must submit to their
+governments, even if these be iniquitous,' Calvin adds, '_provided the
+sovereign empire of God remains untouched_.' No obedience is due an
+authority that would raise its hand against the sacred rights of man, or
+aught that flows therefrom."
+
+"Such, dear brothers," concluded John Calvin, "is our confession of
+faith. Do you accept it?"
+
+"Yes, yes!" cried the reformers. "We accept it. We shall practice it. We
+shall uphold it, at the risk of our property, our freedom and our life!
+We swear!"
+
+"This, then, is the confession of faith of those 'heretics' whom the
+Catholic clergy represents to ignorant and duped people as monsters
+steeped in all manner of crimes, and vomited upon earth out of hell, as
+inveterate foes of God and man," said Calvin. "What do these 'heretics'
+confess? They confess the fundamental dogmas of the Christian Church, as
+revealed by the Divinity itself. But these 'heretics' reject the
+inventions, the abuses, the idolatries and the scandals of the Church of
+the Popes. In that lies our crime, an unpardonable crime! We attack the
+cupidity, the pride and the despotism of the priesthood!
+
+"Here, on this very spot where we are now gathered in council in order
+to confess the most sacred of rights, the freedom of conscience, seven
+priests have pledged themselves with a terrible oath to secure the
+absolute omnipotence of Rome over the souls of men, and to found the
+reign of theocratic government over the whole earth! The new
+organization is named the Society of Jesus. It is intended to and will
+become a formidable instrument in the hands of our enemies. The
+circumstance is a symptom of the dangers that threaten us. Let us
+prepare to combat that new militia everywhere it may show itself.
+
+"Our Credo, our confession of faith is fixed. This confession will be
+that of all the Evangelical churches of France. And, now, what attitude
+must we assume in the face of the redoubled persecutions that we are
+threatened with? Shall we submit to them with resignation, or shall we
+repel force with force? I request our friend Robert Estienne to express
+his views upon this head."
+
+"It is my opinion," replied Robert Estienne, "that we should address
+fresh petitions to King Francis I, praying that it may please him to
+allow us to exercise our religion in peace, while conforming ourselves
+to the laws of the kingdom. Should our petition be denied, then we
+should draw from the strength of our convictions the necessary fortitude
+to sustain persecution to the extreme limit possible. Beyond that we
+shall have to take council again."
+
+"I share the opinion of Robert Estienne," said John Dubourg. "Let us
+resign ourselves. An upright man should drain the cup of bitterness and
+pain sooner than let loose upon his country the horrors of a fratricidal
+conflict."
+
+"Monsieur Coligny, what is your opinion?"
+
+"Monsieur," replied the young noble, "I am, I think, the youngest man in
+this assemblage; I shall accept the opinion that may prevail."
+
+"Speak. You are a man of arms. We should know your opinion," returned
+Calvin.
+
+"Since you insist, monsieur," Coligny began, "I should here declare
+that my family owes a good deal to the kindness of the King. It has
+pleased him to entrust me--me who am barely passed the age of
+youth--with a company of his army. I am, accordingly, bound to him by
+bonds of gratitude. But there is to me a sentiment superior to that of
+gratitude for royal favors--that sentiment is the duty that faith
+imposes. While deploring the cruel extremities of civil war, which I
+hold in horror; while deeply regretting ever to have to draw my sword
+against the King, or, rather, against his ill-omened advisers, I should
+feel constrained to resort to that fatal extremity if, persecution
+having reached the limits of endurance, it became necessary to defend
+the lives of our brothers, driven face to face with the alternative,
+'Die, or abjure your faith!' As to pronouncing myself with regard to the
+opportune moment for the conflict, in case, which God forfend, the
+conflict must break out, I leave the decision to more experienced heads
+than my own. At the moment of action, my property, my sword, my
+life--all shall be at the service of our cause. I shall do my duty--all
+my duty."
+
+Ambroise Pare, the surgeon, was the next to speak. "Both Christ and my
+professional duties," he said, "command me to bestow my care upon friend
+and enemy alike. I could not, accordingly, brothers, bring hither any
+but words of peace. Let us be inflexible in our belief. But let us force
+our persecutors themselves to acknowledge our moderation. Let us tire
+their acts of violence with our patience and resignation. Let us leave
+the swords sheathed."
+
+"Patience, nevertheless, has bounds!" objected the Viscount of
+Plouernel. "Has not our resignation lasted long enough? Does it not
+embolden the audacity of our enemies? Would you resort yet again to
+humble petitions? Very well. Let us pray, let us implore, once more. But
+if we are answered with a denial of justice, let us, then, resolutely
+stand up against our persecutors. We are the majority, in several
+mercantile cities, and several provinces. Let us, then, repel force with
+force. Our enemies will recoil before our attitude, and will then do
+justice to our legitimate wishes. I hold that to carry our forbearance
+any further would be to expose our party to be decimated day by day.
+Then, when the hour of battle shall have come--it is fatedly bound to
+come--we shall find ourselves stripped of our best forces. In short, let
+us make one more peaceful effort to secure the free exercise of our
+religion. Should our appeal be denied--to arms!"
+
+"Brothers," advised Prince Charles of Gerolstein, "I am a foreigner
+among you. I come from Germany. I there assisted at the struggles and
+the triumph of the Reformation preached by the great Luther. In our old
+Germany we did not appeal and request. We affirmed the right of man to
+worship his Creator according to his own conscience. Workingmen,
+seigneurs, bourgeois--all proclaimed in chorus: 'We refuse to bend under
+the yoke of Rome; whosoever should seek to impose it upon us by the
+sword will be resisted with the sword.' To-day, the Reformation in
+Germany defies its enemies. Germany is not France; but men are men
+everywhere. Everywhere resolution has the name of resolution, nor are
+its consequences anywhere different. We are bound to uphold our rights
+by our arms."
+
+"Monsieur Christian Lebrenn, what is your opinion on the grave subject
+before us?" asked Calvin. The printer replied:
+
+"History teaches us that to request from Popes and Kings a reform of
+superstition and tyranny is absolutely idle. Never will the Church of
+Rome voluntarily renounce the idolatries and abuses that are the sources
+of its wealth and power. Never will a Catholic King--consecrated by the
+Church and leaning upon it for support, as it leans upon
+him--voluntarily recognize the Reformation. The Reformation denies the
+authority of the Pope. To attack the Pope is to attack royal authority.
+To overthrow the altar is to shatter the throne. All authority is
+interdependent. What is it that we demand? The peaceful exercise of our
+creed, while conforming to the laws of the kingdom. But the laws of the
+kingdom expressly forbid the exercise of all creeds, except that of the
+Catholic Church. Either we must confess our faith and then expose
+ourselves to the rigors of the law, or escape them by abjuration; or,
+yet, resist them, arms in hand. Are we to obtain edicts of tolerance? We
+should entertain no such hope. But, even granted we obtained them, our
+security would be under no better safeguard. An edict is revocable. The
+end of it all is fatedly one of three conclusions--abjuration,
+martyrdom, or revolt. The blood of martyrs is fruitful, but the blood of
+soldiers, battling for the most sacred of rights, is also fruitful. We
+neither should, nor can we, I hold, hope for either the authorization,
+or tolerance, of our cult. Sooner or later, driven to extremities by
+persecution, we shall find ourselves compelled to repel violence with
+violence. Let us boldly face the terrible fact. But, suppose, for the
+sake of our peace of conscience, we said: 'It still depends upon the
+Church of Rome and the King of France to put an end to the torture of
+our brothers, and to prevent the evils of a civil and religious war.' To
+that end a decree conceived in these terms will suffice: '_Everyone may
+freely and publicly exercise his religion under the obligation to
+respect the religion of others_.' Such a decree, so just and simple,
+consecrating, as it does, the most inviolable of rights, is the only
+equitable and peaceful solution of the religious question. Do you
+imagine that such a decree would be vouchsafed to our humble petition?"
+
+"Neither King nor Pope, neither bishops, priests nor monks would accept
+such a decree," was the unanimous answer. Christian continued:
+
+"Nevertheless, in order to place the right on our side, let us draw up
+one last petition. If it is rejected, let us then run to arms, and
+exterminate our oppressors. It is ever by insurrection that liberty is
+won."
+
+"Will Brother Bernard Palissy let us know his views?" asked Calvin when
+Christian had finished.
+
+With a candor that breathed refinement, the potter replied: "I am but a
+poor fashioner of earthen pots. Seeing the issue is to shatter them
+resolutely--according to the opinion of our friend the printer--I shall
+tell you what happened to me the other day. I was wondering how it came
+about that the Evangelical religion--benign, charitable, peaceful, full
+of resignation, asking for naught but for a modest place in the sun of
+the good God in behalf of its little flock--should have so many
+inveterate enemies. Being a little versed in alchemy, 'Let's see,' said
+I to myself, 'when, mixing the varnish, colors and enamel with which I
+decorate my pottery, I encounter some refractory substance, what do I
+do? I submit it to the alembic. I decompose it. In that way I ascertain
+the different substances of which it consists. Well now, let me submit
+the enemies of the Reformation to the alembic in order to ascertain what
+there is in their composition to render them so very refractory.' First
+of all, I submit to my philosophic alembic the brains of a canon. I ask
+him: 'Why are you such a violent enemy of the Evangelical faith?' 'Why!'
+the canon makes answer, 'because, your clergymen being men of science as
+well as preachers, our flocks will also want to hear us preach as men of
+knowledge. Now, then, I know nothing about preaching, and still less
+about reading or writing. Since my novitiate I have been accustomed to
+taking my comfort, to ignorance, to idleness. That's the reason I
+sustain the Church of Rome, which sustains my ignorance, my delightful
+comfort and my idleness.' Through with that monk, I experimented with
+the head of an abbot. It resisted the alembic. It shook itself away,
+bit, roared with vindictive choler, resisting strenuously to have that
+which it contained within seen by me. Nevertheless, I succeeded in
+separating its several parts, to wit: the black and vicious choler, on
+one side; ambition and pride, on the other; lastly, the silent thoughts
+of murder that our abbot nourished towards his enemies. That done, I
+discovered that it was his arrogance, his greed and his vindictiveness
+that kept him in a refractory temper toward the humility of the
+Evangelical church. I afterwards experimented upon a counsellor of
+parliament, the finest Gautier one ever laid eyes upon. Having distilled
+my gallant in my alembic I found that his bowels contained large chunks
+of church benefices, which had fattened him so much that he almost burst
+in his hose. Seeing which I said to him: 'Come, now, be candid, is it
+not in order to preserve your large chunks of church benefices that you
+would institute proceedings against the reformers? Isn't it damnable?'
+'What is there damnable in that?' he asked me. 'If it were damnable
+there must be a terrible lot of damned people, seeing that in our
+sovereign court of parliament, and in all the courts of France, there
+are very few counsellors or presidents without some slice of an
+ecclesiastical benefice which helps them to keep up the gilding, the
+trappings, the banquets and the smaller delights of the household, as
+well as the grease in the kitchen. Now, then, you devil's limb of a
+potter' (he was talking to me) 'if the Reformation were to triumph,
+would not all our benefices run to water, and, along with them, all our
+small and large pleasures? That's why we burn you up, you pagans!' At
+hearing which I cried: 'Oh, poor Christians, where are you at? You have
+against you the courts of parliament and the great seigneurs, all of
+whom profit from ecclesiastical benefices. So long as they will be fed
+upon such a soup they will remain your capital enemies.' That is my
+reason, brothers, for believing we shall be persecuted all our lives.
+Let us therefore take refuge with our captain and protector Jesus
+Christ, who one day will wipe out the infliction of the wicked and the
+wrong that will have been done us.[36] Therefore, let us suffer; let us
+be resigned, even unto martyrdom; and, according to the judgment of a
+poor potter, let us not break the pots. Of what use are broken pots?"
+
+"Will our celebrated poet Clement Marot acquaint us with his views?"
+asked Calvin.
+
+"Brothers," said the man thus called upon, "our friend Bernard Palissy,
+one of the great artists of these days--and of all future days--spoke to
+you in his capacity of a potter. I, a poet, shall address you on the
+profit that can be drawn from my trade for our cause. Why not make one
+more endeavor to use the methods of persuasion before resorting to the
+frightful extremity of civil war? Why not endeavor to draw the world
+over to our side by the charm of the Evangelical word? Listen, the other
+day a thought flashed through my mind. The women are better than we.
+This acknowledgment is easily made in the presence of our sister, Mary
+La Catelle, whom I see here. She is the living illustration of the truth
+of what I say. None among us, even the foremost, excels her in
+tenderness or pity for the afflicted, in delicate and touching care for
+deserted children. I therefore say the women are better than we, are
+more accessible than we to pure, lofty and celestial sentiments.
+Furthermore, to them life is summed up in one word--_love_. From
+terrestrial love to divine love it is but one aspiration higher. Let us
+endeavor to elevate the women to that sublime sphere. The common but
+just saying, Little causes often produce great results, has inspired me
+with the following thought. I asked myself: 'What do the women usually
+sing, whether they be bourgeois or workingmen's wives?' Love songs. The
+impure customs of our times have given these songs generally a coarse,
+if not obscene turn. As a rule, the mind and the heart become the echo
+of what the mouth says, of what the ear hears, of what engages our
+thoughts. Would it not be a useful thing to substitute those licentious
+songs with chaste ones that attract through love? Hence I have
+considered the advisability of putting in verse and to music the sacred
+canticles of the Bible which are so frequently perfumed with an adorable
+poetic flavor. My hope is that little by little, penetrated by the
+ineffable influence of those celestial songs, the women who sing them
+will soon be uttering their sentiments, not with the lips only but from
+the depth of their hearts. Our aspirations will then be realized."
+
+Clement Marot was about to recite some of the charming verses composed
+by himself, when Justin suddenly broke in upon the assemblage crying:
+
+"Danger! Danger! A troop of archers and mounted patrolmen are coming up
+the road to the abbey. I have seen the glitter of their casques. Flee
+by the opposite issue of the quarry!"
+
+A great tumult ensued upon the artisan's words. Justin took up one of
+the candles, ran to the gallery that was masked by the huge boulder, and
+entered the narrow passage, ordering all the others to follow him.
+
+"Brothers!" cried out the Viscount of Plouernel, "let all those of us
+who are men of arms remain here and draw our swords. The patrol will not
+dare to lay hands upon any of us. The court must reckon with our
+families. As to you, Calvin, and the rest of our friends whom no
+privilege shelters from the pursuit of our enemies, let them flee!"
+
+"You can leave the place in all safety," added Gaspard of Coligny; "the
+armed patrol, finding us ready to cross irons with them, will not push
+their search any further."
+
+"Should they push forward so far as to discover this other issue," put
+in Prince Charles of Gerolstein, "we shall charge upon them vigorously,
+and shall force them back far enough to leave the passage free for our
+retreat."
+
+John Calvin, whose life was so precious to the Evangelical church, was
+the first to follow upon the heels of the torch-bearer Justin. The other
+reformers pressed close behind. The gallery, narrow at the entrance,
+widened by degrees, until it opened into an excavation surrounded by
+bluffs, up one of which a narrow path wound itself to the very top of
+the ravine, with the tierred fields and woods stretching beyond on the
+further slope of the hill of Montmartre. Robert Estienne, Clement Marot,
+Bernard Palissy and Ambroise Pare remained close to Calvin. Christian
+Lebrenn assisted Mary La Catelle to cross the rocky ground. When the
+fugitives were all again assembled in the hollow of the excavation, John
+Calvin addressed them, saying:
+
+"Before separating, brothers, I renew to you the express recommendation
+not to attempt a rebellion, which, especially at this season, would only
+subserve the cause of our enemies. Resignation, courage, perseverance,
+hope--such must be our watchwords for the present. Our hour will come.
+Assured, after this night's council, of the adhesion of the reformers of
+Paris to the Credo of the Evangelical church, I shall continue my
+journey through France to engage our brothers in the provinces to
+imitate the example of Paris by opposing the violence of our enemies
+with patience." And turning to Christian: "Monsieur Lebrenn, you uttered
+a sentiment the profoundness of which has impressed me strongly. A
+simple decree to the effect that all are free to profess publicly their
+own creed while respecting the creed of others, you said, would prevent
+frightful disasters. Let the blood, that may some day flow, fall upon
+those who, by denying justice, will have kindled the flames of civil
+war! Anathema upon them! For the very reason that equity and right are
+on our side we are in duty bound to redouble our moderation."
+
+After touching adieus, exchanged by Calvin and his co-religionists, it
+was agreed to return to Paris in separate groups of threes and fours, to
+the end of not awakening the suspicion of the guards at the Montmartre
+and St. Honore Gates, who were no doubt apprized of the expedition of
+the patrol against a nocturnal assembly of heretics held on Montmartre.
+Day was about to dawn. John Calvin, Robert Estienne, Clement Marot,
+Ambroise Pare, Bernard Palissy and a few others ascended the path that
+led out of the ravine, and took their way across-fields in the direction
+of the St. Honore Gate. Other little groups formed themselves, each
+striking in a different direction. Christian, Justin, John Dubourg,
+Laforge, who was another rich bourgeois, Mary La Catelle and her
+brother-in-law the architect Poille, took the road to the Montmartre
+Gate, where they arrived at sunrise. Although their group consisted of
+only six persons, they decided, out of excessive caution, not to enter
+Paris but by twos--first John Dubourg and Laforge; then Mary La Catelle
+and her brother-in-law; lastly Justin and Christian. Their entrance,
+thought they, would awaken no suspicion, seeing that already the
+peasants, carrying vegetables and fruit for the market, crowded in the
+neighborhood of the gate with their carts. Soon separated from their
+friends in the midst of the medley of market carts, Justin and Christian
+were but a few steps from the arched entrance of the gate when suddenly
+they heard a loud clamor, and these words, repeated by a mob of voices:
+"Lutherans! Lutherans! Death to the heretics!" A pang of apprehension
+shot through the hearts of Christian and his companion. Some of their
+companions who preceded them must have been recognized at the gate. To
+rush to their assistance would have been but to share their fate.
+
+"Let us not attempt to enter Paris at this hour," suggested Justin to
+Christian, "we are workmen in the printing shop of Robert Estienne. That
+would be enough to cause us to be suspected of heresy. Gainier, the spy
+of the Criminal Lieutenant, has surely given the mob our description.
+Let us go around the rampart and enter by the Bastille of St. Antoine.
+That gate is so far from Montmartre that it is possible the alarm has
+not been given from that side."
+
+"My wife and children would be in mortal agony not to see me home this
+morning," answered Christian. "I shall make the attempt to go through,
+under shelter of the tumult which, unhappily for our friends, seems to
+be on the increase. Do you hear those ferocious cries?"
+
+"I do not care to run the danger. Adieu, Christian. I have neither wife
+nor children. My prolonged absence will cause uneasiness to no one. I
+prefer to go to the Bastille of St. Antoine. We shall meet shortly, I
+hope, at the printing shop. May God guard you!"
+
+The two friends separated. Christian, whose anxiety increased every
+minute, thinking of Mary La Catelle and those with her, decided to enter
+Paris at all risks. Nevertheless, noticing not far from where he stood a
+peasant driving a cart filled with vegetables and overspread with a
+cloth held up by hoops, he said to the rustic, drawing a coin from his
+pocket:
+
+"Friend, I am exhausted with fatigue. I need a little rest. Would you be
+so good as to take me in your cart only as far as the center of the
+city?"
+
+"Gladly, climb in and go to sleep, if you can," answered the peasant as
+he pocketed the coin.
+
+Christian climbed in, ensconced himself in a corner of the wagon and
+raised a little fold of the cloth in order to catch a glimpse of what
+was going on outside, seeing the tumult waxed louder and more
+threatening. Alas! Hardly had the wagon passed through the gate and
+entered the city when Christian saw at a little distance Mary La
+Catelle, her brother-in-law Poille, John Dubourg and Laforge--all four
+manacled. A troop of archers held back with difficulty the furious mob
+that loudly clamored for the lives of the "heretics," those "heathens,"
+those "Lutheran stranglers of little children"! Pale, yet calm, the four
+victims looked serenely upon the surging mass of fanatics. With her eyes
+raised to heaven and her arms crossed over her bosom, Mary La Catelle
+seemed resigned to martyrdom. The imprecations redoubled. Already the
+most infuriate of the populace were picking up stones to stone the
+victims to death. The wagon in which Christian was concealed slowly
+pursued its way and saved the artisan the harrowing spectacle of the
+mob's murderous preparations. Later he learned the details of the arrest
+of his friends. La Catelle and her brother-in-law, who had long ago been
+reported by the spy Gainier as hardened heretics, had been recognized
+and seized by the agents of the Criminal Lieutenant, who had been posted
+since midnight at the Montmartre Gate. John Dubourg and Laforge, who
+came a few steps behind La Catelle, having yielded to a generous
+impulse and run to her assistance, were, in punishment for the very
+nobility of their act, likewise suspected, arrested and manacled.
+Christian also learned later that Lefevre was the informer against the
+meeting of the reformers at Montmartre. The bits of paper Lefevre had
+picked up while directing the search of the sergeant in the garret of
+Christian's house, proved to be bits of Calvin's draft convoking the
+assembly, and on one of these the word Montmartre was to be read. Armed
+with this evidence, Lefevre had hastened to impart his suspicions to the
+Criminal Lieutenant, and caused the patrol to be ordered afield; but
+these, finding themselves confronted with the seigneurs at the entrance
+of the quarry, and seeing these determined to resist them, had not dared
+to effect an arrest.
+
+Christian jumped out of the wagon in the center of Paris and hastened
+his steps towards his house. Hardly had he stepped upon the Exchange
+Bridge when he saw the Franc-Taupin running towards him. Josephin had
+watched all night for the artisan's return. He informed him of the
+arrest of his wife and children, of the danger that awaited him if he
+entered his house, and induced him to take refuge in a place of safety.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+HENA'S DIARY.
+
+
+     After being separated from her mother, Hena Lebrenn was taken to
+     the Augustinian Convent and locked up. One day during her
+     confinement she narrated the incidents of her incarceration in a
+     letter destined for Bridget, but which never reached the
+     ill-starred mother, due to a series of distressful circumstances.
+     Hena wrote:
+
+"December, 1534. At the Convent of the Augustinians.
+
+"Joy of heaven! I am given the assurance, dear mother, that you
+will receive this letter. My thoughts run wild in my head. I wish I
+could tell you, all at once, all that has happened to me since our
+separation until this moment. Alas! I have so many things to
+communicate to you. You all--yourself and my good father, and my
+uncle Josephin--will be so astonished, and perhaps so chagrined, to
+know that this very day--
+
+"But I must go back with my narrative, and begin with that unhappy
+day when we were led away, you to the Chatelet prison, I to this
+place. I am ignorant of what may have happened to you and to
+father. All my questions on those topics have ever remained
+unanswered. They assure me you are in good health--that is all. I
+hope so; I believe it. What interest could they have in deceiving
+me regarding your lives?
+
+"Well, I was brought to this place in the dark of night, and locked
+up in a little cell, without having seen a soul except the
+turning-box attendant. What would it avail to tell you how I wept?
+In the morning the attendant informed me that I would be visited at
+noon by the Madam Superior. I asked leave to write to my family in
+order to inform them of my whereabouts. I was answered that the
+Mother Abbess would have to decide about that. She called upon me
+at noon. At first, I thought I had before me a lady of the court,
+so superbly ornamented she was. There was nothing in her dress to
+recall the religious garb. She is young and handsome. Methought I
+could read kindness on her face. I threw myself at her feet,
+imploring her to have pity upon me, and to have me taken to my
+parents. This was her answer:
+
+"'My dear daughter, you have been brought up in impiety. You are
+here in order to labor at your salvation. When you are sufficiently
+instructed in our holy Roman Catholic and apostolic religion, you
+shall take the eternal vows to enter our Order of the Augustinians.
+You will then be allowed to see your parents again. You are not to
+leave this cell before taking the veil. You will be allowed out
+every day only to take a little walk under the archway of the
+cloister, in the company of one of our sisters. It depends upon
+yourself how promptly you will have gained the religious
+instruction necessary to enter our Order, after which you will be
+allowed to receive your family once a week in the convent parlor.'
+
+"'But, madam,' I answered the Abbess, 'I have not the religious
+vocation. Even if I had, I would not take vows without the sanction
+of my father.'
+
+"'Your father is in heaven; He is our Lord God. Your mother also is
+in heaven; she is the holy Virgin Mary. Your obedience is due to
+those divine parents, not to your carnal and heretical parents.
+These have infected you with a pestilential heresy. The Lord, in
+His mercy, has willed, for the salvation of your soul, that you be
+removed from that school of perdition. The pale of our holy mother
+the Church is open to you. Come back to it. Be docile and you shall
+be happy. Otherwise, greatly to my regret, I shall employ rigor,
+and constrain you to your own welfare. Beginning with to-morrow,
+one of our brothers of the Order of St. Augustine will come to
+impart religious instruction to you. You are to have no intercourse
+with your parents before you have taken the vows. It depends, then,
+upon yourself how soon you will see your parents again. Think it
+over well.'
+
+"Without wishing to hear me any further, the Mother Superior left
+me alone.
+
+"The choice left to me was to embrace the monastic life, or give up
+the hope of ever seeing you again, dear father! dear mother! The
+bare thought made me shudder. I thought of resisting the orders of
+the Abbess. I thought that, if they were made to know my
+determination, they would set me free. Great was my error!
+
+"Towards evening one of the sisters came and proposed to take a
+walk with me under the archway of the cloister. I declared to her
+that no human power could compel me to take vows that would forever
+separate me from my beloved parents. The nun, a woman with a sharp
+and wicked face, recommended to me to think before speaking, adding
+that, if I obstinately refused salvation, they would know how to
+lead me to obedience by severe treatment. Our promenade ended, I
+returned to my cell. My supper was brought to me. I went to bed
+steeped in sadness.
+
+"At midnight I was rudely waked up. The old turning-box attendant
+came in, accompanied by four others, large and strong women. One of
+them carried a lanthorn. I was afraid. I sat up on my couch, and
+asked what they wanted of me.
+
+"'Rise and follow us,' answered the old nun. I hesitated to obey.
+She then added: 'No resistance, otherwise these sisters will take
+you by force.'
+
+"I resigned myself. I started to put on my dress, but the nun threw
+upon my couch a sort of horsehair sack which she had brought with
+her.
+
+"'That is the only dress you are henceforth to use!' she said.
+
+"I robed myself in the haircloth, and was about to put on my shoes
+when the nun again put in:
+
+"'You are to walk barefoot. Your rebellious flesh must be
+mortified.'
+
+"The expression on the faces of that woman and of her companions
+looked to me pitiless. I realized the uselessness of resistance or
+of prayer. Barefoot and clad in the haircloth I followed the nuns.
+One of them lighted our way with her lanthorn. We crossed the
+cloister and several long passages. A solitary low window, shaded
+from within by a red curtain through which a bright light shone,
+opened upon one of these passages. While passing the place I heard
+a man's voice singing, accompanying himself on an arch-lute. The
+song was received with peals of laughter that proceeded from
+several men and women, gathered in the apartment. Their words
+reached our ears distinctly. They seemed to me to be such as no
+honorable woman should hear.
+
+"The nun hastened her steps, and we entered a little court. One of
+the turning-box attendants opened a door; by the light of the
+lanthorn I noticed a staircase that descended under ground. Seized
+with fear I drew back, but pushing me forward by the shoulders the
+nun said:
+
+"'Go on! Go on! We are taking you to a place where you will
+meditate at leisure over your obstinacy.'
+
+"I followed the turning-box attendant with the lanthorn. I
+descended the steps of the stone staircase. The moisture froze my
+naked feet. At the bottom of the staircase was a vaulted gallery
+upon which several doors opened. One of them was opened, and I was
+made to step into a vault where I saw a box shaped like a coffin
+and filled with ashes, a wooden prie-dieu surmounted by a cross,
+and near the bed of ashes an earthen pitcher and a piece of bread
+on the floor.
+
+"'This is to be your dwelling place until you shall have recovered
+from your stubbornness,' said the nun to me. 'If solitude and
+mortification do not subdue your rebellious spirit, recourse shall
+be had to other chastisements.'
+
+"I was left alone in the vault without a light. When the door was
+closed and locked upon me, I threw myself upon my couch of ashes. I
+was shivering with cold. The haircloth smarted me insupportably.
+The darkness frightened me. I recalled, poor dear mother, my own
+little chamber near yours, my bed that was so neat and white, and
+the kiss that every evening you came into my room and gave me
+before I fell asleep. I sobbed aloud. Little by little my tears
+ceased to flow. Numb with cold I slumbered till morning, the light
+of day reaching me through the airhole of my dungeon. I admit it,
+dear mother, and you will forgive my weakness, dejected by the
+sufferings of that first night, fearing I would be condemned to
+remain a long time in that dungeon, I resigned myself to agree to
+all that might be demanded of me. I wished above all to quit that
+gloomy place. I awaited impatiently the return of the nun, in order
+to make my submission to her. No one came, neither that day nor for
+about a week. I thought I would lose my senses. Every minute I
+shivered with fear. The very silence of that species of tomb
+inspired me with wild terrors. I moaned and called out to you, dear
+father and mother, as if you could hear me. I then fell down upon
+my couch of ashes, worn out. How sad was my soul!
+
+"By little and little, however, I became accustomed to my prison,
+to my haircloth robe, to my bread, black and hard. Calmness
+returned to me. I said to myself: 'I am the victim of a wicked
+scheme. My parents have taught me it was our duty to sustain
+courageously the trials of life, and never to bow down before
+cowardice or slander. I shall perish in this convent, or leave it
+to return to my family.' I now waited for the nun, no longer in
+order to make my submission to her, but to announce to her my firm
+determination to resist her wishes. Vain expectations! For about
+another week no one came near. Instead of weakening, my
+determination grew more exalted in my solitude. I spent my days
+thinking of you. Often did the tension of my mind become so strong
+that I imagined I saw, I heard you. I then was no longer in that
+subterraneous dungeon; I was by your side, at our house. Every
+morning at awakening, I invoked heaven's blessing upon you. Then I
+would say to myself: 'Good morning, father, good morning, mother.'
+I would tell you all about my affliction and my sufferings; you
+encouraged me not to succumb in my cruel trial. Your wise and
+tender words comforted me. Then also my thoughts would wander to--
+
+"I have hesitated to tell you the truth. But you taught me to abhor
+untruth and dissimulation. I shall continue. Only, dear mother, I
+know not whether, when you receive this letter, you will still be a
+prisoner and separated from father. If, on the contrary, you are
+again together, perhaps you should not let him know the passage you
+are about to read. Perhaps, and it is my ardent hope, father is
+ignorant of the circumstance that he whom I called brother--did--in
+a fit of insanity--
+
+"My hand trembles at the bore recollection of that incident.
+
+"During that horrible evening, before your unexpected return home,
+before I could understand the meaning of Herve's words, he had
+himself enlightened me concerning the nature of the feelings that I
+entertained for Brother St. Ernest-Martyr. I have no doubt of it,
+at this hour. It was love I entertained for him. In the depth of my
+prison, during my nights of affliction, I could not prevent myself
+from thinking of you, without my thoughts running to him.
+
+"That is the admission that a minute ago I hesitated to make. If
+that attachment is a guilty one, good mother, forgive me, it is
+involuntary.
+
+"My thoughts wandered in my prison, beloved parents, no less to
+Brother St. Ernest-Martyr than to yourselves, resolved, as I was,
+to die here or rejoin you. Suddenly a cruel thought, that had not
+before occurred to me, flashed through my mind. To live by your
+side would be to live under the same roof with Herve! I
+attributed--I still attribute the occurrences of that fatal night
+to a temporary derangement of his reason. You, no doubt, withheld
+the incident from father's knowledge. Herve, once again returned to
+sanity, must have cursed his temporary aberration. His repentence
+must have moved you. One is indulgent towards crazy people!
+Nevertheless the mere thought of seeing him again caused me to
+shudder. The only hope that had hitherto sustained me, the hope of
+spending my life near you, as of yore, drooped its wings. It
+seemed to me impossible ever after to support the sight of Herve.
+As I was a prey to these new and painful thoughts, one morning the
+door of my cell was opened and the turning-box attendant entered,
+followed by the other nuns.
+
+"'Are you now more docile?' she asked. 'Do you now consent to
+receive the religious instruction necessary to take the vows of the
+Order of the Augustinians?'
+
+"'No!' I screamed. 'You will gain nothing from me, either by
+persuasion, or force. I shall remain faithful to my belief!'
+
+"At a sign from the nun two of the turning-box attendants fell upon
+me. Despite all my struggles, my tears, and my cries, they stripped
+me of my haircloth robe, the only clothing I had on; they held me
+fast; and their two other companions flagellated me mercilessly.
+Shame and pain--my shoulders and bosom ran blood under the
+lacerating lashing--wrung from me a cowardly entreaty. I promised
+absolute submission. My obedience appeased my torturers. I was
+taken back to my nun's cell. For a first proof of my submission I
+was to consent that very day to confess to one of the Augustinian
+monks under whose direction the convent stood, and one of whom was
+to be charged with imparting religious instruction to me. Towards
+noon I was conducted to the chapel. Oh, mother, what a surprise was
+in store for me! At the very first words that the monk, who
+occupied the confessional, addressed to me, I recognized the voice
+of St. Ernest-Martyr. I took myself for saved. I gave him my name;
+I informed him of our arrest; I conjured him to hunt up my father
+and my dear uncle Josephin, who surely must have remained at large,
+and notify them where you and I were held in confinement. Alas, my
+hopes were but short-lived! Brother St. Ernest-Martyr, himself an
+object of suspicion to the other monks and especially to the Abbot
+of the convent, was not allowed to go out. For several days he had
+been a prisoner in his own cell, which he left only to fulfil his
+ministry in the Augustinian Convent, which he reached through an
+underground passage that joined the two monasteries. I asked him
+whether it would be possible for him to have a letter reach my
+family. He doubted whether I would be allowed to write;
+furthermore, he did not, on his part, see any means by which my
+missive could reach its destination, such was the surveillance
+under which he himself was held. I narrated to him the recent
+ordeals and the trials that I underwent since my entrance in the
+convent. I heard him cry in the dark. I then entreated him to
+counsel me. He answered:
+
+"'Sister, even if you experienced a decided religious vocation, and
+your parents gave their consent, even then I would urge you to
+reflect before pronouncing those eternal vows. But you have not
+that vocation, you are kept here against your will and without your
+parents' knowledge. What is to be done under such trying
+circumstances? To refuse to receive the veil, as you have hitherto
+done, is to expose yourself to fresh ill-treatment and severities,
+under which you would perish; to enter a religious Order, even if
+forced thereto, is to renounce forever all tender family joys.
+Before deciding, sister, endeavor to gain time. I shall help you by
+urging upon our Abbess the necessity of delay in order to complete
+your religious education. Your father and uncle have undoubtedly
+set on foot inquiries concerning your whereabouts. Keep up the hope
+that their efforts will be successful. Your father will move Robert
+Estienne, and he the Princess Marguerite to obtain your liberation.
+Rely upon my ardent wish to be useful to you. It is my duty to
+console you, and to sustain you in your cruel plight. I shall not
+fall short in my duty.'
+
+"This, dear mother, was the advice of Brother St. Ernest-Martyr. I
+followed it. In the meantime it remained impossible for him either
+to leave the convent, or write to you. He dared not trust such a
+secret to any of the other monks. They would in all likelihood have
+betrayed him to the Abbot.
+
+"Alas, dear mother, yet another misfortune was to befall me;
+Brother St. Ernest-Martyr ceased to be my religious instructor. A
+few days after our first conference he was replaced by another
+Augustinian monk.
+
+"So many afflictions threw me upon a sick bed. I became seriously
+ill. By the grief that the absence of St. Ernest-Martyr caused me I
+realized how much I loved him. Of this love he is ignorant; he does
+not even suspect it; he shall never know it. My heart breaks at the
+mere thought of what remains for me to tell you.
+
+"The new Augustinian monk, who was charged to catechise me,
+inspired me with such instinctive repulsion that I could not
+conceal its manifestations. He complained to the Mother Superior
+of my ill will towards him. The Abbess summoned me before her, and
+notified me that, whether instructed or not, I was to take the vow
+the day after the next, adding that I would then be allowed to see
+my family.
+
+"I entreated the Superior to grant me one more day to reflect upon
+so grave a step. My entreaty was granted. I then reasoned as
+follows: To refuse to become a nun is to expose myself to renewed
+acts of violence and flagellations the very recollection of which
+render me purple with shame; it is also to renounce the only hope
+of seeing from time to time my beloved parents. On the other hand I
+feel that my love for Brother St. Ernest-Martyr will end but with
+my life; seeing I can not be his, to renounce him is to renounce
+the world, and all family joys. Why, then, not take the veil?
+
+"I was alone, without an adviser, weakened with suffering, beset by
+nuns who alternately resorted to persuasion and threats. I
+despaired of ever finding the means of informing you of my fate,
+good mother. I resigned myself to take the vow--
+
+"This morning the ceremony was celebrated. I was christened in
+religion with a sad name. I am called St. Frances-in-the-Tomb.
+To-night I am to spend in prayers in the chapel of the Virgin,
+according to the custom for maids who have taken the veil.
+
+"My vows being pronounced, the Abbess caused me to be supplied with
+writing material--paper, pen and ink--promising me that this
+letter would be forwarded to my family.
+
+"I am wrong for having taken so grave a step without your consent,
+good mother, and without the consent of father.
+
+"I break off at this place. The convent clock strikes nine. I am to
+be taken to the chapel, where I am to watch all night. May God have
+mercy upon me.
+
+"To-morrow, good mother, I shall finish this letter which I shall
+carry concealed in my corsage. I shall tell you then what were my
+thoughts.
+
+"Until to-morrow, mother. I shall then close my confidences."
+
+     The sequel of this chronicle will instruct you, sons of Joel,
+     concerning the events that led to Christian's coming into
+     possession of the letter of the ill-starred Hena, as also of the
+     following fragments of the diary written by Ernest Rennepont, in
+     religion St. Ernest-Martyr, during the time that he also was held a
+     prisoner under surveillance in the Augustinian Convent.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+DIARY OF ST. ERNEST-MARTYR.
+
+
+"Lord God! Have mercy upon me! I have just seen the young girl. I have
+confessed her in the convent of our Augustinian sisters. She is
+imprisoned there. They wish to compel her to take the vows. Poor victim!
+
+"When I recognized her voice; when, in the shadow of the confessional, I
+perceived her angelic face, my heart thrilled with an insensate joy. I
+then trembled, and wept. Oh, Thou who seest to the bottom of the heart
+of man, Thou knowest, my God! my first thought was to leave the tribunal
+of penitence. I did not deem myself worthy of sitting in that place. But
+in her distress, the child had only me for her support. She thanked
+Thee, oh, my God! with such fervor for having sent me across her path,
+that my first impulse weakened, and I remained."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"To Thee, my divine Master, I make my confession. Yes; the first time I
+saw that young girl at the house of Mary La Catelle, as I was engaged in
+teaching the children at her school, I was struck by the beauty of Hena
+Lebrenn, her modesty, her candor, her grace! Without knowing it, Mary
+La Catelle rendered still more profound the deep impression her friend
+had made upon me, by recounting to me her virtues, her goodness, the
+truthfulness of her character. Yes; I confess it; since that day, and
+despite my reason that said to me: 'Such a love is insane;' despite my
+faith that whispered to me: 'Such a love is guilty;' despite all, the
+mad passion, the criminal passion gained every day a more powerful sway
+over my being. Our meeting to-day, by unveiling to me without reserve
+that ingenuous and charming soul, has forever riveted my chains. I love
+her passionately. I shall carry that love with me to the grave--"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Impossible to leave my convent! I am the object of constant
+surveillance. Suspicion and hatred mount guard around me. How is Hena's
+family to be apprized of the constraint she is placed under? The days
+are passing away. I shudder at the thought of the Mother Superior
+compelling her to pronounce the vows, regardless of the observations I
+made to her that Hena's religious instruction is not yet sufficiently
+advanced. Were I sufficient of a wretch to listen to the voice of an
+execrable selfishness, I would rejoice at the thought that Hena, not
+being granted to me, would be none else's after her ordination as a nun.
+No! Were it in my power, I would restore the unfortunate girl to her
+family. I would open the gates of the convent--"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"A family!--a wife!--children!--the tenderest of sentiments, the
+dearest, the most sacred that can elevate the soul to the height of Thy
+providential purposes, O, heavenly Father!--a family--that ineffable
+sanctuary of domestic virtues--is forever barred to me! A curse upon
+those who founded the first convents!
+
+"And who is it that bars me from that sanctuary? Is it Thy will, O, God
+of justice--Thou who gavest a companion to man? No! No! Neither the Word
+revealed by the prophets, nor the Word of Thy Son, our Redeemer, ever
+said to Thy priests: 'You shall remain without the pale of mankind; you
+are above, or below, the duties imposed by the sacred mission of
+assuring the happiness of a wife, raising children in the love and
+practice of right, and giving them the bread of the soul and the bread
+of the body!'
+
+"The reformers, those heretics, they have remained faithful to Thy
+divine precepts. Their pastors are husbands and fathers."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"At this moment the noise and the songs of orgy penetrate to the very
+recesses of my cell. Mysteries of corruption and debauchery! The poor,
+ignorant people believe in the celibacy of the monks and the chastity of
+the nuns! Monks and nuns give themselves over to all manner of
+abominations!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Before ever I met Hena at the home of Mary La Catelle, Thou knowest,
+Oh, my God! I was seized with the justice of the reforms that were
+proclaimed in Thy name by the Lutherans. I was in communion with them,
+if not in the communion of lips, at least in that of the soul. The
+adoration of images and saints, the arrogance of the clergy, auricular
+confession which places infamous priests in possession of the secrets of
+the domestic hearth, the redemption of sins and souls for a money price,
+the traffic in indulgences--so many iniquities, so many outrages against
+morality, rendered me indignant. My soul opened to the light."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"I have had a strange dream!
+
+"Having become a pastor of the reformed religion, I had married Hena. We
+lived in a village, located in a smiling valley. I gave lessons to the
+lads. Hena gathered the girls around her. God blessed our union. Two
+beautiful children drew closer the bonds of our mutual tenderness. Oh,
+sacred family joys! Hena, my beloved wife!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Fool that I am! Instead of allowing my thoughts to dwell upon that
+dream, could I but tear it out of my memory. Until now I had, at least,
+found some bitter comfort in the word--_Impossible_. I am a monk. An
+insurmountable obstacle separates me from Hena. My grief fed upon the
+most mournful of thoughts. Astray in a labyrinth from which there was no
+exit, no ray of hope penetrated to the depth of my despair.
+
+"But now, after that tempting dream, I find myself saying:
+
+"'And yet I could be happy. I could embrace the Evangelical religion,
+become one of its pastors, remain guiltless of faithlessness to my vow
+of devoting myself to the service of God, and yet wed Hena. The reform
+ministers are not held to celibacy.'"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Mercy, Oh, my God! However intense the hope, it has evaporated. I have
+fallen back into the very depth of despair. In order to wed Hena, she
+must love me! Can her heart ever have beaten for a man clad in a monk's
+frock?"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Who made me a monk? Could I, at the age of thirteen, be endowed with
+judgment enough to decide upon my vocation, and understand the
+significance of monastic vows? Was it not in mere obedience to my father
+that I entered as a novice the Order of the Augustinian monks? That was
+my first step in religious life. Subsequently, partly through lassitude,
+partly through habit, partly through submission, I proceeded to
+consecrate myself to this gloomy and sterile life. I bowed before the
+paternal will. Thus goes the world! To my elder brother freedom to
+choose his career and a wife; to him the hereditary patrimony; to him
+family joys; to me the cloister; to me the vows that shackle me to
+celibacy and poverty! Such are the iniquities of the Catholics."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"A slow fever undermines and consumes me. I am only the shadow of my
+former self.
+
+"The religious education that every day I impart to Hena in the shadow
+of the confessional is torture to me. I have become so nervously
+sensitive that the sweet sound of my penitent's voice makes every fiber
+of my brain to twitch. Her breath, that occasionally reaches my face
+through the grating of the confessional, makes my forehead to be bathed
+in perspiration that burns, and then freezes my temples. I have not the
+courage to endure this torture any longer. I shall go crazy. To see, to
+feel near me the young girl the thought of whom fills my soul, and to be
+forever on guard, in order to restrain myself, to watch every single
+word I utter, its inflection, my hardly repressed sighs, the tears that
+her sorrows and my own draw from my eyes in order to conceal my secret
+from her! I am at the end of my strength. Fever and sleeplessness have
+used up my life. I can hardly drag myself from my cell to the church of
+the Augustinian monks. Call me to Your bosom, O Lord God! Have pity upon
+me. Mercy! Shorten my torments!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"There is no longer any doubt. Hena will be forced to take the vows.
+Yesterday I went to the convent of the Augustinian sisters to inform the
+Mother Superior that my weakened health commanded me absolute rest, and
+I could not continue the religious education of the young novice.
+
+"'Is Hena Lebrenn at last in a condition to take the veil?' she asked
+me.
+
+"'Not yet,' I answered.
+
+"'In that case,' replied the Mother Superior, 'the Lord will enlighten
+her with His grace when it shall please Him. It is His concern. Obedient
+to the orders I have from my ecclesiastical superiors, the girl must
+take the veil within a week. Some other of our Augustinian brothers will
+take charge of completing the education of the novice, somehow or other.
+It is the reverend Father Lefevre who sent her here. She has a brother
+who also was snatched from perdition. The task was easy with him. So far
+from refusing to take the vows, he requested to be allowed to enter the
+Order of the Cordeliers, and has been taken to their convent and placed
+near Fra Girard. The father and mother are devil-possessed heretics. A
+curse upon them.'
+
+"And thus, in violation of all law and equity the two children have been
+wrested from their family, and will evermore be separated from it. I
+would give my life to inform Christian Lebrenn and his wife of the fate
+that is reserved for his daughter. Alas, there is no means of seeing
+them."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"To-morrow Hena takes the vows at the convent of the Augustinian
+sisters. I was informed of it by the monk who replaced me as her
+catechiser. My God! The poor girl is lost forever to her family.
+
+"And yet a glimmer of hope remains. The surveillance at first exercised
+over me becomes less rigorous, now that my life is ebbing away, and I
+hardly leave my couch. If this evening, to-night, I can leave the
+convent, I shall notify Monsieur Lebrenn of the imminent danger that
+threatens his daughter. Perchance, thanks to the influence of Robert
+Estienne, the Princess Marguerite may yet be able to obtain the freedom
+of Hena before she has taken the veil.
+
+"My God! Vouchsafe my prayer and deliver me speedily of life. I shall
+ask to be buried in my frock, where I keep hidden these leaves, the only
+confidants of my love."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+THE TAVERN OF THE BLACK GRAPE.
+
+
+"The Black Grape" was the device roughly painted on the escutcheon of a
+tavern that served for rendezvous to all sorts of bandits, who at that
+season infested the city of Paris. Even the archers of the patrol held
+in awe the semi-underground cut-throats' resort. They never ventured
+into the tortuous and dark alley at about the middle of which the old
+sign of the Black Grape, well known by all the thieves, creaked and
+swung to the wind. Three men, seated at a table in one of the nooks of
+that haunt, were discussing some important project, judging from the
+mystery in which they wrapped their conversation. Pichrocholle, the
+Mauvais-Garcon, and his pal Grippe-Minaud, the Tire-Laine, who, several
+months before, had attended the sale of indulgences in St. Dominic's
+Church, were two of the interlocutors in the consultation they were for
+some time holding with Josephin, the Franc-Taupin. Strange
+transformation! The adventurer, once a man of imperturbable good nature,
+was unrecognizable. His now somber and even savage physiognomy revealed
+a rooted grief. He left his pot of wine untouched. What stronger
+evidence of his grief!
+
+"St. Cadouin!" said Pichrocholle with a tone and gesture of devout
+invocation. "We are here alone. You can now tell us what you want of us,
+Josephin."
+
+"Pichrocholle, I met you in the war--"
+
+"Yes, I was an arquebusier in the company of Monsieur Monluc. I got
+tired of killing in battle, and without profit to myself, Italians,
+Spaniards, Swiss and Flemings, whom I did not know, and decided to kill
+for cash Frenchmen whom I did know. I became a Mauvais-Garcon. I now
+place my dagger and my sword at the service of whoever pays me. Tit for
+tat."
+
+"'Tis but to be a soldier, only in another manner," explained
+Grippe-Minaud. "But this trade requires a certain courage that I do not
+possess. I prefer to tackle honest bourgeois on their way home at night
+without any other weapon than--their lanthorns."
+
+"Pichrocholle," proceeded the Franc-Taupin, "I saved your life at the
+battle of Marignan. I extricated you from two lansquenets, who, but for
+my help, would have put you through a disagreeable quarter of an hour. I
+believe I bore myself as a true comrade."
+
+"St. Cadouin! Do you take me for an ingrate? If you have any service to
+ask of me, speak freely without fear of a refusal."
+
+"When I ran across you a few minutes ago, it occurred to me you were the
+man I needed--"
+
+"Is it some enemy you wish to rid yourself of? All you have to do is to
+place me before him."
+
+Josephin shook his head negatively, and pointed with his finger at his
+own long sword, that lay across the table before him. It would have been
+quite enough for such a contingency.
+
+"You are yourself able to rid yourself of an enemy," replied the
+Mauvais-Garcon. "I know it. What, then, is the job?"
+
+The Franc-Taupin proceeded with a tremulous voice while a tear rolled
+down from his eye:
+
+"Pichrocholle, I had a sister--"
+
+"How your voice trembles! You could not look any sadder. Pichrocholle,
+the pots are empty, and no money to fill them with!" said Grippe-Minaud.
+
+"'Sdeath, my sister!" cried the Franc-Taupin in despair. "There is a
+void in my heart that nothing can fill!" and he hid his face in his
+hands.
+
+"A void is useful when it is made in the purse of a bourgeois,"
+commented Grippe-Minaud, while his companion remarked:
+
+"Come, now, Josephin, you had a sister. Is it that you have lost her?
+Proceed with your story."
+
+"She is dead!" murmured the Franc-Taupin, gulping down a sob; but
+recovering, he added: "I still have a niece--"
+
+"A niece?" asked the Mauvais-Garcon. "Is it she we must help? Is she
+young and handsome--?"
+
+The bandit stopped short at the fierce look that the Franc-Taupin shot
+at him. Presently he resumed:
+
+"I knew you one time for a jollier fellow."
+
+"I laugh no more," rejoined the Franc-Taupin with a sinister smile. "My
+cheerfulness is gone! But let us come to the point. My sister died in
+prison. I succeeded at least in being allowed to see her before she
+closed her eyes, and to receive her last wishes. She leaves behind three
+children--a girl and two boys, but the elder does not count."
+
+"How's that? Explain the mystery."
+
+"I am coming to that. My sister's daughter was seized and taken to the
+convent of the Augustinian sisters, where she is now detained."
+
+"St. Cadouin! What is there to complain about? To have a niece in a
+convent, is almost like having an angel on your side in paradise!"
+Saying which the Mauvais-Garcon crossed himself devoutly by carrying his
+thumb from his nose to his chin, and then across from one corner to the
+other of his mouth.
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed Grippe-Minaud, "And I have neither sister, daughter nor
+niece in a convent! They would pray for the remission of my sins. I
+could then be unconcerned for the hereafter, like a fish in the water!"
+
+"And their prayers would not cost you a denier!" added Pichrocholle with
+a sigh.
+
+"Oh, if only my daughter Mariotte had not run away at the age of
+fourteen with a jail-bird, she would now be in a convent, praying for
+her good father, the Tire-Laine! By the confession! That was the dream
+of my life," whereupon the thief crossed himself as the Mauvais-Garcon
+had done.
+
+The words of the two bandits suited the Franc-Taupin. They were fresh
+proofs of the mixture of superstition and crime that marked the bandits'
+lives. Their fanaticism squared with his own projects. He proceeded with
+his story, to which his two comrades listened attentively:
+
+"My niece has no religious vocation. She was taken to the convent, and
+is held there by force. She must come out. Will you help me to carry her
+off?'
+
+"St. Cadouin!" cried the Mauvais-Garcon, terror stricken, and crossing
+himself anew. "That would be sacrilege!"
+
+"To violate a holy place!" came from Grippe-Minaud, who grew pale and
+crossed himself like Pichrocholle. "By the confession! My hair stands on
+end at the bare thought of such a thing!"
+
+Dumb and stupefied, the two brigands looked at each other with dilated
+eyes. The Franc-Taupin seemed in no wise disconcerted by their scruples.
+After a moment of silence he proceeded:
+
+"Mauvais-Garcons and Tire-Laines are good Catholics, I know. Therefore,
+be easy, my devout friends, I have the power to absolve you."
+
+"Are you going to make us believe you are an Apostolic Commissioner?"
+
+"What does it matter, provided I guarantee to you a plenary indulgence?
+Eh, comrades!"
+
+"You--you--Josephin? You are mocking us! And yet you claim you have lost
+your taste for mirth!"
+
+Separated from the two thieves by the full length of the table, the
+Franc-Taupin placed his sword between his legs, planted his bare dagger
+close before him, and then drew a parchment out of the pocket of his
+spacious hose. It was Herve's letter of absolution, which the
+Franc-Taupin had picked up from the threshold of his sister's house when
+the Lebrenn family was arrested. He unfolded the apostolic schedule; and
+holding it open in plain view of both the brigands, he said to them:
+
+"Look and read--you can read."
+
+"A letter of absolution!" exclaimed the Mauvais-Garcon and the
+Tire-Laine, with eyes that glistened with greed as they carefully ran
+over the parchment. "It bears the seals, the signatures--there is
+nothing lacking!"
+
+"I saw day before yesterday a schedule like that in the hands of the
+Count of St. Mexin, who paid me two ducats to dispatch a certain fat
+advocate, a husband who stands in the way of the love affairs of the
+advocatess with the young seigneur," said the Mauvais-Garcon.
+
+"By the confession!" cried Grippe-Minaud, re-crossing himself. "The
+letter is complete! It gives remission even for _reserved cases_. Thanks
+to this absolution, one can do anything! Anything, without danger to his
+soul!"
+
+After reading and contemplating with ecstasies the apostolic schedule,
+the two bandits exchanged a rapid and meaning look, which, however, did
+not escape the Franc-Taupin, thoroughly on his guard as he was. He drew
+back quickly, rose from his seat, dashed the precious parchment back
+into his pocket, took a few steps away from the table, and standing
+erect, his right foot forward, his sword in one hand, his dagger in the
+other, thus addressed the two desperadoes:
+
+"By the bowels of St. Quenet, my lads! I knew you for too good a brace
+of Catholics not to wish to stab me to death in order to get possession
+of this absolving schedule, which remits all past, present and future
+crimes. Come on, my dare-devils, I have only one eye left, but it is a
+good one!"
+
+"You are crazy! It is not right to mistrust an old friend that way,"
+expostulated Pichrocholle. "You misunderstood our intentions."
+
+"We only wanted to examine more closely that blessed and priceless
+letter," added the Tire-Laine. "By the confession! Happy man that you
+are to possess such a treasure!" and he crossed himself. "Saints of
+paradise, but grant me such a windfall, and I shall burn twenty wax
+candles come Candlemas!"
+
+"It depends upon you whether you shall own this treasure or not,"
+proceeded the adventurer. "I shall give you this letter of absolution,
+if you help me, to-night, to carry off my niece from the convent of the
+Augustinian sisters. By virtue of this apostolic schedule, you will be
+absolved of all your sins--past, present and future, and of this night's
+sacrilege for good measure. Thenceforth, you will be privileged fairly
+to swim in crime, without concern for your souls, as Pichrocholle just
+said. Paradise will then be guaranteed to you!"
+
+"But," remarked the Mauvais-Garcon, shaking his head, "this letter
+absolves only one Christian--we are two."
+
+"The job being done, you will cast dice for the schedule," Josephin
+answered readily. "There will be one to lose and one to gain. The
+chances are equal for you both."
+
+The two bandits consulted each other with their eyes. Pichrocholle spoke
+up:
+
+"But how do you come into possession of that letter? Those absolutions
+are the most expensive. St. Cadouin! The least that they cost, I hear,
+is twenty-five gold crowns."
+
+"It is none of your business from whom I hold the schedule. 'Sdeath, my
+sister! All the gold in the world will not pay for the tears that piece
+of parchment has caused to flow!" answered the Franc-Taupin, whose
+visage expressed a profound grief as he thought of the revelations
+Bridget made to him about Herve.
+
+Recovering his composure the adventurer added:
+
+"Will you, yes or no, both of you, lend me a strong hand to-night, in
+order to carry off my niece from the convent of the Augustinian sisters,
+and for another expedition? It is a double game we have to play."
+
+"St. Cadouin! We are to make two strokes. You never told us about
+that--"
+
+"The second expedition is but child's play. To seize a little casket."
+
+"What does the casket contain?" queried the Tire-Laine, all interest.
+
+"Only papers," answered the Franc-Taupin, "besides a few trinkets of no
+value. Moreover, seeing you are scrupulous Catholics, I shall add, for
+the sake of the peace of your souls, that the casket which I wish to
+recover, was stolen from my brother-in-law. You will be aiding a
+restitution."
+
+"Josephin, you are trying to deceive us!" remarked the Mauvais-Garcon.
+"People do not attach so much importance to a bunch of papers and
+worthless trinkets."
+
+"When the casket is in our possession you may open it--if there be any
+valuables in it, they shall be yours."
+
+"There is nothing to say to that," rejoined Pichrocholle, looking at the
+Tire-Laine. "That's fair, eh? We shall accept the proposition."
+
+"Quite fair," returned the latter. "But let us proceed in order. The
+abduction of the nun--by the navel of the Pope! I shiver at the bare
+thought. Should the cast of the dice not give me the letter of
+absolution, I remain guilty of a sacrilege!"
+
+"That is your risk," answered the Franc-Taupin; "but if you gain the
+indulgence--there you are, my Catholic brother, safe for all eternity,
+whatever crimes you may commit."
+
+"By the limbs of Satan! I know that well enough! It is that very thing
+that lures me."
+
+"And me too," put in the other brigand. "But how are we to manage things
+in order to enter the convent?"
+
+"I shall explain my plan to you. My brother-in-law is in hiding for fear
+of being arrested. My niece, who was taken to the Augustinian Convent,
+was compelled to take the vows to-day."
+
+"How do you know that?"
+
+"I had gone, as latterly I often get into the humor of doing, and
+planted myself before my sister's house--and dreamed."
+
+"To what end?"
+
+"In order to contemplate that poor house, deserted to-day, and where,
+every time I returned from the country, Bridget, her husband and her
+children gave me a pleasant reception. You devout fellows talk of
+paradise. That house was a paradise to me. So that, even to-day, I
+roamed into the neighborhood as an erring soul, my eyes fastened upon
+that closed window where I had so often seen the dear faces of my sister
+and her daughter smiling upon me when I knocked at their door--"
+
+The expression on the face, the tone of the voice of the Franc-Taupin,
+touched even the two bandits, hardened men though they were. Josephin
+smothered a sob and proceeded:
+
+"As I was saying a short while ago, I was roaming around the house when
+I saw a monk approaching me. Oh, a good monk! So pale, so worn that I
+had trouble to recognize him. But he, although he had met me only once,
+recognized me by my port and by the plaster on my eye. He asked me
+whether he could have a speedy word with my sister, or my
+brother-in-law. 'My sister is dead, and my brother-in-law is in hiding,'
+I answered the monk. He thereupon informed me that my niece was locked
+up in the convent of the Augustinian sisters, where he, an Augustinian
+monk, was her confessor; that, himself subjected several months to a
+rigorous sequestration, he had only just succeeded in coming out, seeing
+that the surveillance under which he was held had somewhat begun to
+relax. Poor monk, he looked so wan, so emaciated, so feeble that he
+could hardly keep himself on his feet. Uninformed concerning the
+misfortunes of our family, his errand was to impart to the parents of my
+niece what he knew about her. He ran the risk, in the event of his
+outing being discovered, of being pursued and punished. I took him to
+the place where my brother-in-law has found a safe retreat. On the way
+thither I learned the following from the monk: My niece took the veil
+to-day. According to the custom in such cases, she is to pass the night
+alone in prayer in the oratory of the Virgin, which is separated from
+the church of the convent by an enclosure of the cloister. Now,
+attention, my lads, to the directions that the monk gave me. The walls
+of the court-yard of the chapel run along St. Benoit's Alley. Just
+before sunset, I went over the place and examined the walls. They are
+not very high. We can easily scale them, while one of us will keep watch
+on the outside."
+
+"That shall be I!" broke in Grippe-Minaud nervously. "That post for me!
+I have the eye of a lynx and the ear of a mole!"
+
+"You shall be the watcher. Pichrocholle and I shall scale the wall. The
+monk will be waiting for me near the chapel, ready to aid us should
+anyone attempt to oppose my niece's abduction. I shall find her in the
+oratory; she will follow me; we shall force open one of the garden
+gates; and before dawn I shall have the daughter with her father, who is
+in perfect safety. Immediately after, it will then be just early dawn,
+we shall undertake the second expedition."
+
+"The casket that we are to take?"
+
+"Nothing easier. We shall go, all three, to Montaigu College, and shall
+ask the porter for the number of Abbot Lefevre's chamber. He is the
+thief of the casket."
+
+"Horns of Moses!" cried Grippe-Minaud crossing himself. "An Abbot! To
+raise our hands against another anointed of the Lord!"
+
+"Two sacrileges in one day!" added the Mauvais-Garcon shaking his head
+thoughtfully. "That weighs heavy on one's conscience."
+
+"What about the letter of absolution!" interjected the Franc-Taupin
+impatiently. "By the devil, whose frying pan you are afraid of, my
+precious Catholics! Have you faith--yes or no?"
+
+"That's so," responded Pichrocholle, "there is the schedule of
+absolution. It covers us! Thanks to its beneficent virtue, one of us
+shall be white as the inside of a snowball."
+
+"Accordingly," the Franc-Taupin proceeded, "we shall ask for Abbot
+Lefevre, under the pretext of some urgent matter that we must
+communicate to him; we go up to his room; we knock at the door. Our man
+will still be in bed. We throw ourselves upon him. You two bind and gag
+him. I shall look for the casket in question--and shall find it. I am
+certain of that. We then tie our Abbot to the bed, keeping him gagged
+all the while, lest he scream and give the alarm. We close the door
+after us--and we make tracks for the nearest place of safety."
+
+"Oh, that would be the merest child's play, provided no priest were
+concerned," broke in the Tire-Laine; "besides the abduction of your
+niece, the violation of a sanctuary!"
+
+"Yesterday I despatched my seventh man," put in the Mauvais-Garcon.
+"Accordingly, my conscience is not very well at ease, because, to obtain
+absolution for a murder, I would have to pay more than the murder
+fetches me. But a lay murder is but a peccadillo beside a
+sacrilege!--And then, if after the expedition that you propose to us,
+the dice should fail to give me the apostolic schedule? What then! St.
+Cadouin! I would dream only of the eternal flames ever after."
+
+"That is your risk," again replied Josephin imperturbably. "The hour
+approaches. Have you decided? Is it yes? Is it no? Must I look for
+assistance elsewhere?"
+
+"When will you deliver the letter to us?"
+
+"Just as soon as my niece is safely with her father, and the casket is
+in my hands. Agreed?"
+
+"And if you deceive us? If after the expeditions have been successfully
+carried out, you refuse to deliver the letter to us?"
+
+"By the bowels of St. Quenet! And if, taking advantage of a moment when
+I may not be on my guard, you should stab me to-night, that you may
+seize the letter before rendering me the services which I expect of you?
+The risks are equal, and compensate each other. Enough of words!"
+
+"Oh, Josephin, such a suspicion against me--me your old comrade in
+arms!"
+
+"By the confession! To take us--us who have drunk out of the same pot,
+for capable of so unworthy an action!"
+
+"God's blood! Night draws near. We shall need some time to prepare for
+the escalade," ejaculated the Franc-Taupin. "For the last time--yes or
+no?"
+
+The two bandits consulted each other for a moment with their eyes. At
+the end of the consultation Pichrocholle reached out his hand to the
+Franc-Taupin, saying:
+
+"Upon the word of a Mauvais-Garcon, and by the salvation of my
+soul--'tis done! You can count with me to the death."
+
+"Upon the word of a Tire-Laine, and by the salvation of my soul--'tis
+done! You may dispose of me."
+
+"To work!" ordered the Franc-Taupin.
+
+Josephin left the tavern of the Black Grape accompanied by the two
+bandits.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+THE COTTAGE OF ROBERT ESTIENNE.
+
+
+The cottage or country-house, that Robert Estienne owned near St. Ouen,
+on the St. Denis road, was located in a secluded spot, and at a
+considerable distance from the village. The byroad which led to the
+entrance of the residence ran upon a gate of grated iron near a little
+lodge occupied by the gardener and his wife. The principal dwelling rose
+in the center of a garden enclosed by a wall. The day after that on
+which the Franc-Taupin, the Mauvais-Garcon and the Tire-Laine held their
+conference at the tavern of the Black Grape, Michael, Robert Estienne's
+gardener, having returned from the field late in the afternoon, and
+being not a little out of sorts at not finding his wife Alison at their
+home, the key of which she had carried away with her, was grumbling,
+storming and blowing upon his fingers numb with the December chill.
+Finally his wife, no doubt returning from the village, hove in sight,
+and wended her way towards the gate.
+
+"Where the devil did you go to?" Michael called out to Alison as he saw
+her from a distance. "Could you not at least have left the key in the
+door? The devil take those forgetful women!"
+
+"I went--to confession," answered the gardener's wife avoiding her
+husband's eyes, and pushing open the gate. "I took the key with me
+because you were afield."
+
+"To confession!--To confession!" replied Michael with a growl. "And I
+was freezing to death."
+
+"All the same I must see to my salvation. You sent me this morning with
+a letter to our master. The curate was good enough to wait for me at the
+confessional after dinner. I availed myself of his kindness."
+
+"Very well. But, may the devil take it! I wish you would try to gain
+paradise without exposing me to be frozen to death."
+
+The couple had barely stepped into the lodge when Michael stopped to
+listen in the direction of the gate and said, surprisedly:
+
+"I hear the gallop of a horse!"
+
+The brave Michael stepped out again, looked through the grating of the
+gate, recognized Robert Estienne, and called out:
+
+"Alison, come quick; it is our master!"
+
+Saying this the gardener threw open the gate to Robert Estienne. The
+latter alighted from his horse, and giving the reins to his servant
+said:
+
+"Good evening, Michael. Any news?"
+
+"Oh, monsieur, many things--"
+
+"Does my guest run any danger? Has any indiscretion been committed?"
+
+"No, thanks to God, monsieur. You may be easy on that score. You can
+rely upon my wife as upon myself. No one suspects at the village that
+there is anyone hiding at the house."
+
+"What, then, has happened, since my last call? Alison brought me this
+morning a note from the friend to whom I am giving asylum. But although
+the note urged my coming here, it indicated nothing serious."
+
+"No doubt the person who is here, monsieur, reserves for his own telling
+the news that he is no longer alone at the house."
+
+"How is that?"
+
+"Day before yesterday, the tall one-eyed fellow who comes here from time
+to time, and always at night, called in broad daylight, mounted upon a
+little cart, drawn by a donkey and filled with straw. He told me to
+watch the cart, and he went in search of your guest. The two came out
+together, and out of the straw in the cart they pulled--a monk!"
+
+"A monk, say you!--A monk!"
+
+"Yes, monsieur, a young monk of the Order of Saint Augustine, who looked
+as if he had not another hour to live, so pale and weak was he."
+
+"And what has become of him?"
+
+"He remained here, and your guest said to me: 'Michael, I beg you to
+keep the arrival of the monk an absolute secret. I shall inform Monsieur
+Estienne of the occurrence. Your master will approve the measures I have
+taken.'"
+
+"Did you follow his recommendation?"
+
+"Yes, monsieur, but that is not all. Last night the big one-eyed fellow
+came back just before dawn. He was on horseback, and behind him,
+wrapped in a cloak on the crupper of his mount, he brought--a nun! I
+went immediately to notify your guest. He came out running, and almost
+fainted away at the sight of the nun. Bathed in tears he returned with
+her into the house, while the big one-eyed man rode off at a gallop. It
+was daylight by that time. Finally, towards noon to-day, the big
+one-eyed man returned once more, but this time clad in a peasant's
+blouse and cap. He brought a little casket to your guest, and then went
+off--"
+
+Astounded at what the gardener was telling him, Robert Estienne walked
+up to the house, where he rapped in the nature of a signal--two short
+raps and then, after a short pause, a third. Instantly Christian opened
+the door.
+
+"My friend, what is the matter? What has happened?" cried Robert
+Estienne, struck by the profound change in the appearance of the
+artisan, who threw himself into the arms of his patron, murmuring
+between half-smothered sobs:
+
+"My daughter!--My daughter!"
+
+Robert Estienne returned Christian's convulsive embrace, and under the
+impression that some irreparable misfortune had happened, he said in
+sympathetic accents:
+
+"Courage, my friend! Courage!"
+
+"She has been found!" cried Christian. The light of unspeakable joy
+shone in his eyes. "My child has been restored to me! She is here! She
+is with me!"
+
+"True?" asked Robert Estienne, and recalling the gardener's words he
+added: "Was she the nun?"
+
+"It is Hena herself! But come, come, monsieur; my heart overflows with
+joy. My head swims. Oh, never have I needed your wise counsel as much as
+now! What am I now to do?"
+
+Christian and his patron had all this while remained at the entrance of
+the vestibule. They walked into a contiguous apartment.
+
+"For heaven's sake, my dear Christian, be calm," remarked Robert
+Estienne. "Let me know what has happened. Needless to add that my advice
+and friendship are at your service."
+
+Recovering his composure, and wiping with the back of his hand the tears
+that inundated his face, the artisan proceeded to explain:
+
+"You are aware of the arrest of my wife, my daughter and my eldest son
+at our house. I would also have been arrested had I been found at home.
+My brother-in-law, who lingered in the neighborhood of my house,
+notified me of the danger I ran, and made me retrace my steps. Thanks to
+Josephin and yourself I found a safe refuge, first in Paris itself, and
+then here, in this retreat which seemed to you to offer greater
+security."
+
+"Did I not by all that but repay a debt of gratitude? Your hospitality
+to John Calvin is probably the principal cause of the persecution that
+you and your family have been the victims of. Despite my pressing
+solicitations, Princess Marguerite, whose influence alone has hitherto
+protected me against my enemies, declined to attempt aught in your
+behalf. Cardinal Duprat said to her: 'Madam, the man in whom you are
+interesting yourself is one of the bitterest enemies of the King and the
+Church. If we succeed in laying hands upon that Christian Lebrenn he
+shall not escape the gallows, which he has long deserved!' Such set
+animosity towards you, a workingman and obscure artisan, passes my
+comprehension."
+
+"I now know the cause of that bitter animosity, Monsieur Estienne.
+Before proceeding with my narrative, the revelation is due to you. It
+may have its bearings upon the advice that I expect from you."
+
+Christian opened the casket that contained the chronicles of his family,
+brought to him that very noon by the Franc-Taupin. He took from the
+casket a scroll of paper and placed it in Robert Estienne's hand,
+saying:
+
+"Kindly read this, monsieur. The manuscripts to which this note refers
+are the family chronicles that I have occasionally spoken of to you."
+
+Robert Estienne took the note and read:
+
+
+    "IGNATIUS LOYOLA, GENERAL OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS
+    "A. M. D. G.
+    "(_Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam_)
+
+     "Despite the incorrectness of their style and other defects of
+     form, the within manuscripts may, especially since the invention of
+     the printing press, become a weapon of great mischief.
+
+     "This narrative, transmitted from century to century at the
+     domestic hearth to obscure generations of common people could not,
+     before the invention of the printing press, have any evil effect
+     further than to perpetuate execrable traditions within a single
+     family. It is so no longer. These rhapsodies are stamped with the
+     race hatred borne by the Gauls towards the Franks, the conquered
+     towards the conquerors, the serf towards the seigneur, the subject
+     towards the Crown and the Church. To-day these rhapsodies could be
+     multiplied indefinitely through the printing press, and thus
+     diffused among the evil-minded people, ever but too prone to
+     rebellion against the pontifical and royal authorities. Enlightened
+     by these narratives upon historical events that should forever be a
+     _closed book_ to them, if they are to entertain a feeling of blind
+     submission, a sense of respect, and a wholesome dread for the
+     throne and the altar, the evil-minded common people would in the
+     future engage with ever greater audacity in those revolts that not
+     a single century has hitherto been wholly free from,--a state of
+     things that the Society of Jesus, with the aid of God, will reduce
+     to order.
+
+     "Therefore, it is urgent that these manuscripts be destroyed
+     without delay, as proposed by our beloved son Lefevre, and that the
+     traditions of the _Lebrenn_ family be shattered by the following
+     means:
+
+     "To cause the father and mother to be sentenced as heretics. The
+     proofs of their heresy are plentiful. The torture and the pyre for
+     the infamous wretches.
+
+     "To lock up in a convent the son and the daughter (Hena and Herve)
+     now in Paris, and compel them to take the vows.
+
+     "As to the youngest son, Odelin, fifteen years of age, and at
+     present traveling in Italy with Master Raimbaud, an armorer, who is
+     also reported to be a heretic, the return of the lad to Paris must
+     be awaited, and then the identical course pursued towards
+     him--capture him, lock him up in a convent, and compel him to take
+     the vows. He is fifteen years old. Despite the taint of his early
+     bringing-up, it will be easy to operate upon a child of that age.
+     If, contrary to all likelihood, he can not be reduced to reason, he
+     shall be kept in the convent until eighteen. Then he shall be
+     pronounced guilty of heresy, and burned alive.
+
+     "_I insist_--it is important, not only to destroy the said
+     manuscripts, but also to shatter the traditions of the Lebrenn
+     family, and extinguish the same, either by delivering it to the
+     secular arm on crimes of heresy, or by burying its last scions
+     forever in the shadow of the cloister.
+
+     "The fact must be kept well in mind--there is no such thing as
+     small enemies. The slightest of causes often produces great
+     effects. At a given moment, on the occasion of a rebellion, one
+     resolute man may be enough to carry the populace with him. Due to
+     its secular traditions, the Lebrenn family might produce such a
+     man. Such an eventuality must be prevented; the family must be
+     uprooted.
+
+     "If, supposing the impossible, the measures herein indicated should
+     fail of success, if this dangerous stock should perpetuate itself,
+     then, it is necessary that our ORDER, equally perpetual, always
+     keep its eye upon these _Lebrenns_, who are certain to generate
+     infamous scoundrels.
+
+     "The instance of this family is one instance among the thousand
+     that go to prove the necessity of the register I have often
+     mentioned. I ORDER that one be kept in each division by the
+     provincial of our Society. I ORDER that the names of the families
+     upon whom the attention of our Society should be particularly
+     directed, be inscribed in these registers. These records, preserved
+     and transmitted from century to century, will furnish our Society
+     the means of surveillance and of action upon future generations.
+     Such is my will.
+
+     "Our beloved son Lefevre will therefore start the register for the
+     _province of France_ by entering in it the name of the _Lebrenn_
+     family. There shall also be entered the names of _Robert Estienne_,
+     of _Gaspard of Coligny_, of the _Prince of Gerolstein_, of
+     _Ambroise Pare_, of _Clement Marot_, of _Bernard Palissy_, of the
+     _Viscount of Plouernel_ and of others, too numerous to recite at
+     this place, but who will be found on the heretics' lists furnished
+     by Gainier to the Criminal Lieutenant, who shall furnish the said
+     documents without delay to our beloved son Lefevre, whom may God
+     guard.
+
+     "I. L."
+
+"Ignatius Loyola!" explained Christian translating the initials I and L
+pronounced by Robert Estienne, who gazed upon the artisan dumbfounded.
+The latter proceeded with a mournful and bitter tone: "The orders of
+Ignatius Loyola were followed. My wife--" and he choked a sob, "my wife
+was arrested and imprisoned for a heretic. Blessed be Thou, Oh, God! she
+died in prison. Her death saved her, no doubt, from the stake! My
+daughter was taken to the convent of the Augustinian sisters, where the
+poor child was yesterday compelled to pronounce eternal vows. My son
+Herve--Oh, the monster no longer deserves to be called a son--"
+
+"What is there against him?"
+
+"A letter of my daughter, written to her mother, whose death she was not
+aware of, put me on the scent of a horrible secret. This morning I
+questioned my brother-in-law, who, happier than I, had the opportunity
+of seeing Bridget in her prison. He unveiled to me a distressful
+mystery--"
+
+"Proceed with your tale, my friend."
+
+Wiping away the cold perspiration that bathed his forehead, the artisan
+went on to say: "Herve entered the Convent of the Cordeliers, not
+against his will, but joyfully! He will not part from Fra Girard, the
+demon who led him astray. They are now waiting for my son Odelin to
+return from Italy. Alas, the boy is on his way to Paris and I have not
+been able to notify Master Raimbaud of what has happened, not knowing
+where to address a letter to him. They will fall into the hands of our
+enemies."
+
+"Just heavens!" exclaimed Robert Estienne, struck by a sudden thought
+and breaking in upon Christian. "There can be no doubt about it. A
+minute ago, as I listened to your account of how the orders of Ignatius
+Loyola were followed, I wondered how--even in these sad days when the
+freedom and lives of our citizens are at the mercy of the good or ill
+will of Cardinal Duprat and his agent, the Criminal Lieutenant, John
+Morin--I wondered how the plot concocted against your whole family could
+be executed with such rapidity. I now wonder no longer. Ignatius Loyola
+exercises a powerful influence over the Cardinal, who has joined the
+Society of Jesus."
+
+"Is, then, the Society of Jesus already so highly connected?"
+
+"No doubt about it! When I went to entreat the intercession of Princess
+Marguerite in behalf of Mary La Catelle, John Dubourg, Laforge and
+others of our friends, my protectress inquired from me whether I knew a
+certain nobleman, still young of years and lame of foot, who almost
+every day held protracted conferences with the Cardinal, over whom he
+wielded an absolute sway. Thanks to the information I had from you, I
+was able to enlighten the Princess concerning the chief of the new Order
+of Jesuits. It is evident that it was with the connivance of the
+Cardinal that Ignatius Loyola was enabled to smite your family. But what
+I could not yet understand was the reason that drove that man to pursue
+you with such inveteracy and to aim at your very life."
+
+"Ignatius Loyola undoubtedly does not pardon my having surprised the
+secret of his Order. Lefevre, one of his disciples and a former friend
+of mine, saw me on the occasion of that fatal night concealed behind a
+big boulder at the bottom of the quarry. He affected not to notice me,
+in order not to awaken my suspicions, and the very next day he led the
+archers of the patrol to my house, seized my family papers, with which I
+had made him acquainted, and climbed to the garret, where, finding some
+scraps of letters left behind him by John Calvin, he must by those means
+have been put upon the track of the council of the reformers held at
+Montmartre. Only an hour or two after the arrival of our co-religionists
+the quarry was invaded by the archers."
+
+"But how did your family chronicles and the note about them fall back
+into your hands?"
+
+"Also through the efforts of my wife's brother, the soldier of adventure
+I have often spoken of to you. Josephin, that is my brother-in-law's
+name, was going to our house when Bridget and my children were arrested.
+He saw them taken away. He also saw a man, clad in a black frock, with
+the cowl over his head, carry off the casket that contained our legends.
+That man was my friend Lefevre. Once out of my house, and no longer
+deeming it necessary to conceal his face, he raised his cowl and
+Josephin recognized him. The discovery was a revelation to me. That
+night my brother-in-law could not attempt to free my wife and children
+from the hands of the archers. He remained in the neighborhood on the
+watch for me. It was by him I was apprized of the arrest of my family.
+At length, yesterday, having encountered near my house an Augustinian
+monk, who left the convent surreptitiously, he learned from him that my
+daughter had been made to take the veil. Once posted upon where Hena
+was to be found, the Franc-Taupin decided to abduct her from the
+cloister, helped therein by two other resolute fellows. He succeeded in
+the perilous undertaking. Finally, having no doubt that the casket
+containing my family chronicles was in Lefevre's possession, he repaired
+early in the morning to Montaigu College with his two trusty companions,
+and took away from the Jesuit the casket in which, jointly with our
+family chronicles, was the note of Ignatius Loyola. These he brought to
+me at noon to-day."
+
+"What devotion! Thanks to the brave adventurer, your daughter is
+restored to you! The monk to whom you have extended hospitality is, I
+suppose, the same who escaped from the convent, and placed the
+Franc-Taupin in position to deliver your daughter. The situation begins
+to look less dangerous."
+
+"Yes, Monsieur Estienne. And now I implore you, lighten my path with
+your advice. My head swims. I am a prey to cruel perplexities."
+
+"Are you afraid your daughter may be traced to this house?"
+
+"That fear is terrible enough, but is not what troubles me most."
+
+"What is it that troubles you?"
+
+Christian sobbed aloud: "You do not yet know all. The monk is Brother
+St. Ernest-Martyr."
+
+"He is a true disciple of Christ! Often did Mary La Catelle tell me he
+inclined towards the Reformation."
+
+"Listen, Monsieur Estienne. The monk was hardly in the house, where he
+arrived worn to a skeleton by a slow fever, when he lost consciousness.
+I gave him all the care I could. I divested him of his frock, laid him
+in my bed, and watched over him. A few leaves of paper dropped out of
+his clothes. I picked them up. As I ran my eyes over them I read the
+name of my daughter. I admit that I yielded to an impulse of curiosity,
+blameworthy, perhaps, but irresistible. I opened the leaves. What a
+discovery!"
+
+"The leaves of paper--"
+
+"Contained fragments of a sort of diary, to which the thoughts of the
+young monk were confided. From them I learned that he was chosen for the
+confessor and instructor of my daughter at the convent of the
+Augustinian sisters--and he became enamored of her. He loves Hena to
+distraction!"
+
+"Does he know you to be aware of his secret?"
+
+"Yes. When he recovered consciousness he saw the fragments of his
+journal in my hands. He uttered a cry of fear. 'Be calm,' I said to him;
+'it is the soul of an honest man that stands reflected in these
+revelations. I can only pity you.'"
+
+"Is your daughter here in the house with him?"
+
+"My daughter," answered Christian, turning to Robert Estienne a face
+bathed in tears, "my daughter is not aware of the young monk's
+passion--and, in her turn, she loves him."
+
+"Unhappy child!"
+
+"Her love is killing her. It was one of the reasons that decided her to
+take the veil. She has told me all, with her natural candor."
+
+"Have Hena and the young monk met since they are here?"
+
+"No. The poor young man--his name was Ernest Rennepont before he took
+orders--the moment he learned from me of my daughter's presence in the
+house, wanted to deliver himself forthwith to the Superior of his Order,
+lest we be all taken for accomplices in his flight. I firmly objected to
+his determination, seeing it meant the loss of his life."
+
+"Then these young folks are unaware that their love is reciprocated?"
+
+"It will be her death, Monsieur Estienne, it will be her death! I lose
+my head endeavoring to find a way out of this tangle of ills. What am I
+to do? What shall I decide? I asked you to come to me without saying
+why, because I rely upon your great wisdom. You may, perhaps, be able to
+light the chaos of these afflictions which cause me to stagger with
+despair. I see only pitfalls and perils around us."
+
+Christian paused.
+
+Robert Estienne remained a few minutes steeped in silent reflection.
+
+"My friend," said the latter, "you know the life of Luther as well as I.
+That great reformer, a monk like Ernest Rennepont, and, like him, one
+time full of faith in the Roman Church, withdrew from her fold on
+account of the scandals that he witnessed. Do you think Ernest
+Rennepont is ready to embrace the Reformation?"
+
+"I do not know his intentions in that regard. But when he saw I was
+informed of his love for Hena, he exclaimed: 'Miserable monk that I am,
+by loving Hena I have committed a crime in the eyes of the Church. And
+yet, God is my witness, the purity of my love would do honor to any
+upright man, not condemned to celibacy.'"
+
+"Let us return to Luther. That reformer always took the stand with
+irresistible logic against the celibacy of clergymen--"
+
+"Great God!" cried Christian breaking in upon Robert Estienne. "What
+recollections your words awaken in my memory! The fragments of the diary
+written by the unfortunate monk mention a dream in which he saw himself
+a pastor of the Evangelical religion, and husband of Hena, giving, like
+herself, instruction to little children."
+
+"Why should not Ernest Rennepont conform his conduct with the precepts
+of Luther?"
+
+"Oh, monsieur!" murmured Christian, carrying both his hands to his
+burning temples. "Hope and doubt disturb my reason. I dare not give
+myself over to such a thought, out of fear that I be miserably
+disillusioned. And yet, your words bear the stamp of wisdom and good
+will."
+
+"My friend, let us reason calmly. Control your anxiety for a moment. The
+young monk is a man of heart; we may not doubt that. Has not his conduct
+during these recent circumstances increased your affection for him?"
+
+"It is true. I esteem him greatly."
+
+"Does not, as he expressed it, his pure and noble love for Hena do honor
+to any upright man?"
+
+"I firmly believe so after reading the pages which Ernest Rennepont
+believed he wrote for none but his own eyes."
+
+"Now, my friend, let us suppose he embraces the reformed religion. His
+knowledge, his good habits and his liking for teaching little
+children--all that would render him worthy of being a minister of the
+new church. I feel almost certain our friend would present his name with
+joy to our brothers for election, and these will acclaim him their
+pastor. Never could the Evangelical word have a worthier interpreter."
+
+"Oh, Monsieur Estienne, have mercy! Do not cheer my heart with such
+supreme hopes, destined, perhaps, to be dashed."
+
+"Alas, you have suffered so much, that I can well understand your
+hesitation to foster a consoling hope. But reflect an instant, and you
+will admit that the hope is in no wise an exaggerated one. Let us sum
+up--Ernest Rennepont renounces his Order, embraces the Reformation, is
+chosen a pastor, and he can then contract marriage. Granting all this,
+do you not believe your daughter will consent to the union, if you
+approve of it?"
+
+"She is dying of that fatal love, believing herself separated from
+Ernest Rennepont by an unbridgeable chasm of impossibilities. She surely
+would not refuse to wed the man she loves."
+
+"Well, then, my friend, what other obstacles do you see? Do not these
+expectations, so far from being deceptive, become certainties? Does not
+the grief of the unfortunate couple change into ineffable bliss? You
+remain worried, dejected."
+
+"Monsieur Estienne, the project is too beautiful!"
+
+"Christian! How can you, a man of sense and firmness, succumb to such
+weakness of spirit!"
+
+"The death of my wife, the lamentable position in which my beloved
+daughter finds herself, the crime of the wretch whom I can no longer
+call my son--so many sorrows, heaped one upon the other, have cracked
+the springs of my soul. I feel myself overwhelmed and nerveless."
+
+"And yet, at no time have you been in greater need of energy. You say,
+my friend, that the plan is too beautiful? But, should it be realized,
+do you not still run grave dangers? Do you forget that your freedom and
+life are both threatened? Do you forget that, at this very hour, they
+are seeking to track Ernest Rennepont and your daughter? Regain courage
+with the hope of triumphing over your enemies. We must carry on the
+struggle without truce or let."
+
+"Thanks, Monsieur Estienne; thanks! Your words comfort me. Yes;
+nevertheless, the plan you propose and which would snatch my daughter
+from the despair that is killing her--that plan is yet far from being
+accomplished."
+
+"This is what I shall do. Should the errand embarrass you, I shall
+myself see Ernest Rennepont, shall propose to him to embrace the
+Reformation and become a pastor of the new church in order to verify his
+dream--provided Hena accepts the union. When we shall have made sure of
+Ernest Rennepont's consent, you shall see your daughter. I do not
+believe there is any doubt about her answer. The marriage being agreed
+upon, we must make haste. The disappearance of Hena and the forceful
+restitution of your family archives will redouble the zeal of your
+persecutors. Neither you, your daughter, nor her husband would any
+longer be safe in the neighborhood of Paris. I have already considered
+the emergency when this retreat would cease to offer security to you. I
+have a friend who is a printer in La Rochelle, a fortified town, rich,
+industrious, well armed, wholly devoted to the Reformation, and so full
+of reliance on the power of her municipal franchise, her ramparts and
+the bravery of her numerous inhabitants, as confidently to defy our
+enemies. You and yours will be there in perfect safety. You can live
+there on the fruit of your labor. Better than anyone else, I know how
+skilled a mechanic you are. Finally, if you should have to leave Paris
+before the return of Odelin--"
+
+"Oh, Monsieur Estienne, I tremble at the thought of that Lefevre on the
+watch for the lad's return in order to kidnap him! What a blow that
+would be to me! What a fate have our enemies in store for my poor
+Odelin!"
+
+"I shall take charge of that. To-morrow I shall see Madam Raimbaud. Her
+husband has probably notified her when she may expect him home from
+Italy. If so, and even otherwise, your brother-in-law, the Franc-Taupin,
+who already has given you so many proofs of his devotion, will be able
+to aid us in preventing your son from being kidnapped. I greatly rely
+upon his assistance."
+
+"May heaven hear you!"
+
+"Travelers from Italy usually enter Paris by the Bastille Gate."
+
+"Yes. Besides, seeing that Master Raimbaud, like most all armorers,
+resides in the neighborhood of that fortress, it is almost certain he
+will come by the suburb of St. Antoine. That point is settled."
+
+"If Madam Raimbaud is informed upon the date of her husband's arrival,
+the Franc-Taupin must be placed on watch along the road from Italy, or
+near the Bastille. He will then warn your son not to enter the city, and
+deliver to him a letter from you directing him to meet you in La
+Rochelle. I shall take charge of supplying Odelin with the necessary
+funds for the journey. When in La Rochelle, near you, he will continue
+his armorer's trade. And now, Christian, I share your prevision. The
+times are approaching when, more than ever, there will be work for those
+whose occupation is the forging of implements of war. Come, courage! Let
+us reserve ourselves for the struggle."
+
+"How can I express my gratitude to you. You think of everything."
+
+"My friend, for the space of two generations your family and mine have
+mutually rendered each other so many services that it is impossible to
+say on which side the debt lies heavier. Let us not lose an instant's
+time. Take me to Ernest Rennepont. So soon as I shall know his mind, I
+shall inform you. You will then propose the marriage to your daughter
+with the caution that the occasion requires. In her present delicate
+condition, after all the sufferings she has undergone, care must be
+taken not to shock her even with joy. Joy may kill, as well as despair."
+
+Christian led Robert Estienne to the apartment of the young monk, and
+leaving the two alone, impatiently awaited the issue of their interview,
+whereupon he was to see Hena.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+FOR BETTER AND FOR WORSE.
+
+
+Sister St. Frances-in-the-Tomb, as Hena Lebrenn was christened in
+religion, occupied in the cottage a chamber contiguous to that of her
+father. The young girl still wore the nun's garb. The pallor of her
+visage, framed in the folds of her coif and her long white veil, was
+hardly distinguishable from the dull whiteness of the linen. Pain and
+resignation were traced on her features, that emaciation rendered almost
+transparent. Seated near a window, her hands clasped over her knees, and
+her large blue eyes raised to heaven, she seemed to contemplate without
+seeing them the somber clouds which the north wind drove before it with
+weird moanings. Hena's thoughts turned upon the events of the last three
+days. Despite her decision to devote herself to a nun's life, as the
+only means of again seeing her family, to live never again under the
+same roof with her brother whose passion for her inspired the maid with
+invincible horror, and to bury forever in the chilly shadows of the
+cloister her fatal love for St. Ernest-Martyr--despite these sentiments,
+on the night that, her vows being pronounced, she was praying in the
+solitude of the Virgin's chapel, she welcomed her uncle Josephin as a
+liberator, and never hesitated an instant to flee with him from the
+convent of the Augustinian sisters. She was ignorant of her mother's
+fate. The hope of soon, after so cruel a separation, being again in the
+embrace of the parents she loved so dearly, occupied all her thoughts.
+When, upon seeing Christian again, the young girl learned of her
+mother's death, the persecutions that he himself was the object of, and
+the presence of Brother St. Ernest-Martyr in the same retreat, her head
+reeled. Weakened by suffering and bewildered by so many unexpected
+events, the girl's mind threatened for a moment to go astray. Her native
+vigor carried, however, the day. She said to herself:
+
+"My duty is clear. I shall stay near my father. I shall endeavor with my
+tenderness to soften his sorrow for the loss of my mother. He must flee
+this place. I shall accompany him in his exile. I shall also take my
+mother's place to my brother Odelin. I shall not endeavor to forget
+Brother St. Ernest-Martyr. But, while preserving this love sacred in the
+recesses of my heart, to you, O, my God, I pray--grant through Your
+infinite mercy that this love do not kill me--grant to preserve my life
+for the sake of my father, who stands in need of my care and my
+affection!"
+
+Such were the reflections of the young girl, when, some hours after his
+interview with Robert Estienne, she saw Christian enter her chamber. The
+printer's face reflected suppressed happiness. Tears, sweet tears they
+now were, flowed from his eyes. Despite his desire not to betray his joy
+before his daughter, lest he cause her too deep an emotion, he could
+not withhold pressing her repeatedly to his heart, and covering her face
+with kisses. Touched by such tender effusion, and struck by the change
+in her father's appearance, Hena cried:
+
+"God be praised, father, you bring me good news! Are you no longer
+pursued? You will no longer have to keep in hiding?"
+
+Christian shook his head, and still holding his daughter in his arms,
+contemplated her, enraptured. He sat down; placed her on his knees, as a
+little child is placed; and in a voice that trembled with emotion, said:
+
+"Yes, my dear Hena; yes, my beloved child, I have good news for you--but
+not what you thought. We are soon to leave this retreat, where our
+persecutors might discover us, and we shall go far away from here, in
+order to escape all pursuit."
+
+"And yet, father, your voice trembles with joy. I read happiness on your
+face."
+
+"The good, the unexpected tidings that I bring--concern you--you
+alone--"
+
+"Me alone, father?"
+
+"No; not you alone--what is good to you, is it not good to me also?"
+
+Hena looked at her father, surprised. The latter hesitated to say more,
+fearing the consequences of too sudden a revelation. He paused for a
+moment and proceeded:
+
+"Do you know, my child, what the pastor of the reformed religion is?"
+
+"I believe he is a minister of the Evangelium; is it not?"
+
+"Yes, the pastors spread the Evangelical word. But, contrary to the
+Catholic priests, who are condemned to celibacy by the Church, the
+ministers of the reformed cult are free to contract matrimony, and to
+fulfil its obligations."
+
+A smile of sadness flitted over Hena's lips. Her father followed her
+closely with his eyes. He fathomed her secret thoughts.
+
+"The right of its ministers to be husbands and fathers, recognized by
+the Evangelical church, has induced several Catholic priests to break
+with Rome and embrace the Reformation."
+
+Dropping her head upon her father's shoulder, Hena wept. Christian drew
+himself slightly back in order to raise the tear-bedewed visage of his
+daughter, whom he still kept upon his knees, his arms around her, and
+his heart beating with hope.
+
+"Hena, no doubt you have been thinking to yourself: 'Alas, Brother St.
+Ernest-Martyr is a Catholic priest!'"
+
+"You have guessed my thoughts, dear father. I thought to myself there
+was nothing for me but to bow before so fatal a state of things. But let
+us talk about that good news which you seem so anxious to impart to me."
+
+"Very well, dear child--but in order not to have to return again to a
+matter painful to you, I shall begin by saying that Brother St.
+Ernest-Martyr, or rather Ernest Rennepont, which is his real name,
+withdraws himself from the Catholic Church and embraces the
+Reformation."
+
+Christian felt Hena trembling convulsively upon his knees. The poor
+child carried both her hands to her face, whence fresh drops of tears
+flowed down upon her robe.
+
+"My dear child," resumed the artisan, hardly able to repress his
+gladness, "there is still another confession which I expect from your
+frankness. You are saying to yourself, are you not: 'Ernest Rennepont
+abjured his vows--he is free--he can now choose a wife--if he would only
+love me!'"
+
+"Father, good father, let us drop such thoughts!"
+
+"Oh, my beloved child!" cried the artisan radiant with joy. "Oh, my only
+support, my only consolation! Courage! Courage! Not now any more in
+order to resist sorrow--but to defend you--from the transports that an
+unexpected happiness often causes us--"
+
+"An unexpected happiness, father?"
+
+"Yes, the gladsome tidings that I bring to you are--first, Ernest
+Rennepont's resolution to become a pastor of the Evangelical church.
+Thus he is free to marry, without discontinuing his services to God.
+Yes, and do you know, Hena, that if the most cherished wish of his heart
+is verified, do you know, Hena, who would be the wife of his choice? It
+would be--it would be you--you, my treasure! Ernest Rennepont loves you
+to distraction since the day he first saw you at Mary La Catelle's."
+
+Despite the precautions taken by her father, Hena could not resist the
+shock of the revelation. Still holding his daughter upon his knees,
+Christian saw her lose color, her head dropped upon his shoulder, she
+lost consciousness. He rose, carried the girl to her bed, at the head of
+which he knelt down, and awaited the end of the crisis that the excess
+of joy had brought on. A moment later he heard a rap at the door. He
+asked:
+
+"Is it you, Monsieur Estienne?"
+
+"Yes--and I am not alone."
+
+"Do not come in now," answered Christian. "Hena is in a swoon. I fear
+that in recovering consciousness the sight of her betrothed might cause
+an immediate relapse."
+
+Certain motions of Hena, and the light flush that by degrees returned to
+her cheeks, announced the girl's gradual recovery. Her eyes remained
+half shut. She turned her haggard face towards her father. Presently,
+fixing upon him her still partly veiled eyes, she seemed to interrogate
+her confused recollections.
+
+"No, my dear child," said the artisan; "it is not a dream. You are not
+the sport of an illusion. Ernest Rennepont renounces the monastic life;
+he embraces the Evangelical creed, of which he will be a pastor. He has
+long loved you with the purest and noblest love. I surprised the secret
+of his soul. Never did father wish for his daughter a husband more
+worthy of esteem and affection." And pointing with his finger to the
+door: "He is there, accompanied by our friend, Monsieur Estienne. Do you
+feel yourself strong enough to receive them, my poor, dear child? Would
+you like to have them come in?"
+
+"He loves me!" cried Hena, taking her father's hands and kissing them.
+"He loves me, also! Since when?"
+
+"Yes, yes--he will tell you all that himself," answered Christian with a
+smile of ineffable happiness. "He is there. He awaits but your consent
+to come to you, my dear child."
+
+Hena sat up on her couch, placed one of her hands on her heart to
+restrain its throbs and still too much moved to speak, made to her
+father an affirmative sign. The artisan thereupon introduced Robert
+Estienne, supporting on his arm Ernest Rennepont. At that moment the
+sound of a horse's hoofs was heard from the yard. Yielding to an
+involuntary sense of uneasiness, Christian ran to the window, and was at
+once put at ease at seeing his brother-in-law the Franc-Taupin alighting
+from his mount. Hena and Ernest Rennepont, strangers to what went on
+around them, saw but each other. When the young man was near enough to
+the couch on which Hena was seated, he dropped on his knees before her,
+clasped his hands, and raised up to her his pale visage, now radiant
+with celestial bliss. Unable to utter a word, the two contemplated each
+other, absorbed. Robert Estienne could not hold back the tears that
+gathered in his eyes. The artisan stepped towards the two lovers, took
+Hena's hand, placed it in Ernest Rennepont's, who had remained on his
+knees, and said in a voice broken with emotion:
+
+"Be betrothed--never have nobler hearts been worthier of each other."
+
+Christian was pronouncing these solemn words when the Franc-Taupin
+entered. Already informed by his brother-in-law of the mutual love of
+the two young folks, the soldier of adventure thrilled with joy at
+seeing them united.
+
+"Know the rest, my friend," said the artisan to Josephin. "My daughter
+and he who from this day is my son owe their liberty to you. You are
+entitled to know all that concerns them. Ernest Rennepont renounces his
+monastic vows; he abjures Catholicism and embraces the Reformation, of
+which he is to be a pastor. As you know, the Evangelical pastors can
+marry."
+
+"It is my advice that the marriage be promptly concluded," answered the
+Franc-Taupin in a low voice as he led Christian and Robert Estienne to
+the window, while the betrothed couple remained under the spell of a
+profound ecstasy, hearing nothing, seeing nothing of what happened
+around them. The Franc-Taupin proceeded in a low voice: "I have come
+from Paris in a hurry. I heard an announcement made to the sound of
+trumps, to the effect that Sister St. Frances-in-the-Tomb and Brother
+St. Ernest-Martyr are adjudged relapsed, and subject to the punishment
+visited upon such a sin--the stake!"
+
+"The stake!" muttered Robert Estienne, shivering with horror, while
+making an instant sign intended to check an exclamation of terror that
+Christian was on the point of giving vent to.
+
+"Time presses," proceeded the Franc-Taupin. "My brother-in-law, his
+daughter and the young monk must leave this house this very night. It
+will not be safe to-morrow."
+
+"I am of your opinion," answered Robert Estienne. "This is the way we
+shall proceed: You, Josephin, will return to Paris on the spot with a
+letter from me to one of our pastors, urging him to come here this very
+evening in order to take the abjuration of Ernest Rennepont, and give
+his nuptial benediction to the betrothed couple. Immediately after, Hena
+and her husband will set out, with you, and Christian, who will take my
+horse. His daughter will ride on the crupper."
+
+"The young monk shall ride behind me on my nag," said the Franc-Taupin.
+"I shall escort the fugitives to a distance of five or six leagues from
+Paris."
+
+"When you come back here bring with you lay clothes for the young
+couple," said Robert Estienne, handing his purse to the Franc-Taupin.
+"You will also pay the price of your nag to the stableman from whom you
+have the animal. Ernest Rennepont shall keep it, and ride on it with
+Christian and his daughter to La Rochelle. Only there will they all
+three be safe. There is not an instant to lose. Quick, to horse,
+Josephin, to horse! The lives of us all are at stake."
+
+The Franc-Taupin left hurriedly, casting a tender look upon Hena and
+Ernest Rennepont. The two, their hearts in heaven, remained ignorant of
+the new dangers that threatened them. The eyes of the Society of Jesus
+were open.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Midnight soon arrived. Robert Estienne, Christian, his daughter, Ernest
+Rennepont and the Franc-Taupin assembled in the parlor of the country
+house, the unsafe refuge that they were soon to quit. An old man, with
+long white hair, the pastor of the Evangelical church, responded to the
+call of Robert Estienne, in order to receive the abjuration of the
+betrothed couple and bestow upon them his nuptial benediction. A table
+with a few wax candles stood at the rear of the apartment. On the table
+were also an ink-horn, pens, paper, and a little pocket Bible with
+silver clasps. Hena and Ernest Rennepont were in front of the table.
+Behind it stood the pastor. Robert Estienne, Christian and the
+Franc-Taupin assisted the betrothed couple. The agitation caused by so
+many unexpected events, and the intoxication of repressed happiness
+animated the recently pallid countenances of the bride and bridegroom.
+Wrapped in meditation, and their thoughts turning to the past, they
+raised their souls to God in a transport of speechless gratitude. They
+implored the mercy of their Creator. There was nothing terrestrial in
+their love. They saw in the consecration of their marriage only the
+right to devote themselves to each other, to vie in mutual sacrifices
+and abnegation, and to serve the holy cause of progress. They knew the
+perils that the apostles of the new doctrine must confront.
+
+Taking from the table a sheet of paper, the pastor read in a solemn
+voice the following act of abjuration:
+
+"'On this 19th day of December, 1534, appeared before us Ernest
+Rennepont, called in his religion Brother St. Ernest-Martyr, and Louise
+Hena Lebrenn, called in her religion Sister St. Frances-in-the-Tomb, who
+declare they desire to renounce the Roman idolatry, and swear to confess
+the Evangelical religion, to live and die in the faith, and to
+participate in the holy sacrament of communion. Upon these conditions
+Louise Hena Lebrenn and Ernest Rennepont have been informed that they
+will be admitted to the Evangelical church'[37]--Be pleased to sign the
+act of abjuration."
+
+Hena and Ernest signed the act with steady hands. Thereupon they knelt
+down upon two seats brought in by Christian and the Franc-Taupin. The
+pastor resumed, and addressed the couple with a moved voice:
+
+"You, Hena Lebrenn, and you, Ernest Rennepont, will you live together in
+the marriage state that God himself has instituted, and which St. Paul
+represents as among the most honorable of conditions? If that is your
+intention, Hena Lebrenn and Ernest Rennepont, make your will known. Are
+you willing to be united to each other?"
+
+"Yes," answered Ernest, raising his eyes as if to take heaven for his
+witness.
+
+"Yes," answered Hena in her turn.
+
+"Then," resumed the pastor, "may the Lord deign to bless your wishes.
+You, Ernest Rennepont, do you declare, here before God, that you have
+taken and do hereby take Hena Lebrenn, here present, for your wife? Do
+you promise to live holily with her, to be true to her, as is the duty
+of a good and faithful husband, and God commands you by His word?"
+
+"Yes!" answered Ernest Rennepont.
+
+"And you, Hena Lebrenn, do you declare here before God, that you have
+taken and do hereby take Ernest Rennepont, here present, for your
+husband? Do you promise to love him, to live holily with him, and to
+keep your troth to him as is the duty of a faithful wife, and as God
+commands you by His word?"
+
+"Yes," answered Hena, with her eyes modestly cast down.
+
+"Keep your promises to each other," said the pastor in conclusion.
+"Seeing God has united you in the sacred bonds of matrimony, live
+together in peace, in unity, in purity, helpful to each other, and
+faithful to your pledge, obedient to the divine command. Oh, Lord God!
+Lord of wisdom and of goodness!" added the Evangelical pastor, joining
+his venerable hands in prayer, "since it has pleased Thee to call this
+man and this woman to the holy state of matrimony--should it be Thy will
+that children be born to them, cause them, as worthy husband and wife,
+to raise their offspring in piety and to train them to virtue."[38]
+
+The touching solemnity of the ceremony was suddenly interrupted by the
+precipitate entrance of Michael, the gardener. Pale and distracted he
+rushed to the house and threw the door open, crying:
+
+"Monsieur Estienne--malediction upon me! You are betrayed!"
+
+A moment of silent stupor ensued upon these words. Hena threw herself
+instinctively into her father's arms. Ernest Rennepont approached her.
+The Franc-Taupin dashed to the window and listened in the direction of
+the yard, while the pastor raised his eyes heavenward, saying:
+
+"Oh, Lord, if Thou reservest me for martyrdom, the victim is ready, may
+Thy will be done!"
+
+"We are betrayed, Michael?" cried Robert Estienne. "Who could have
+betrayed us?"
+
+"My wife--Oh, that accursed confession! Alison revealed to our curate
+that a monk and a nun were here in hiding. My wife has just admitted it
+to me amid tears. The curate departed post haste to Paris, immediately
+after confessing and extracting the secret from her. Death and a curse
+upon the infamous wretch!"
+
+And throwing himself at the feet of Robert Estienne, Michael cried with
+clasped hands:
+
+"My good and worthy master! Do not take me for a wicked or dishonorable
+man. I am not guilty of the treason!"
+
+"To horse!" bellowed the Franc-Taupin. "We must depart at once! The
+curate will have notified his bishop, the bishop will have notified
+Cardinal Duprat, and he will have issued orders to the Criminal
+Lieutenant. By this time the archers must be on the road to St. Ouen.
+Let us lose not an instant--to horse! Mine is saddled--have yours
+saddled, Monsieur Estienne. Christian will take his daughter on the
+crupper of his horse. I shall take Ernest Rennepont on my nag--and, away
+at a gallop! We shall soon be out of reach."
+
+Putting the word to the deed, the Franc-Taupin dashed out of the parlor,
+dragging Ernest Rennepont with him almost against his will. Realizing
+the wisdom of the Franc-Taupin's orders, Christian put one arm around
+Hena, sustained and led her in the steps of the Franc-Taupin. Robert
+Estienne and the pastor hastened to follow them, while the despairing
+gardener lamented his fate, repeating:
+
+"That accursed confession! The infamous curate!"
+
+The Franc-Taupin was hurrying his horse out of the stable and Robert
+Estienne was precipitately saddling his own with the help of Michael,
+when Alison, running in all in a flurry from the bypath that led to the
+outer gate of the cottage, cried:
+
+"Oh, my poor man, all is lost! The mounted archers are here! I heard the
+tramp of their horses down the avenue. I saw their muskets glistening
+through the hedges along the road."
+
+"Is the iron gate locked?" asked the Franc-Taupin, the only one to
+preserve coolness in the presence of the imminent danger. "Is the gate
+strong?"
+
+"It is strong and locked--double locked," answered the gardener. "The
+key is in my house."
+
+"It will take them some time to force the gate," observed the
+Franc-Taupin; and addressing Robert Estienne: "Is there any issue,
+besides the gate, to leave the place?"
+
+"None other--the garden is enclosed by a wall."
+
+"Is the wall high?"
+
+"About ten feet."
+
+"Then," replied the Franc-Taupin, "we need not despair."
+
+At that moment the clank of sabres and muskets was heard down the
+principal avenue, and a voice called out:
+
+"Open! In the name of the King, open!"
+
+"There are the archers!" cried Hena stricken with terror. "It is done
+for us!"
+
+"I shall deliver myself up!" cried Ernest Rennepont, rushing out towards
+the alley. "The archers may thereby be induced not to push their search
+any further. May the all-powerful God protect you!"
+
+The Franc-Taupin seized Hena's bridegroom by the sleeve of his coat, and
+prevented him from taking another step. Turning to the gardener, he
+asked:
+
+"Have you a ladder?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Fetch it quick."
+
+Michael obeyed, while the archers redoubled their clamor and threatened
+to force the gate if it was not opened.
+
+"Monsieur Estienne," said the Franc-Taupin, "go forward quickly and
+speak with the archers. Ask them what brings them here, at this hour.
+Engage them in conversation all you can. Keep them outside. Gain time. I
+take charge of the rest. If you can succeed in keeping the soldiers off
+for about ten minutes, we shall have won. They will find no one else at
+the house."
+
+Robert Estienne turned to Christian, who still held Hena in his arms:
+
+"Come, Christian! Courage! Coolness! The situation is hedged in with
+dangers; but it is not forlorn." Saying this he walked to the iron gate,
+at the moment when the gardener reappeared carrying a long ladder on his
+shoulder.
+
+"What is there outside of the garden," asked the Franc-Taupin, "a
+highroad or fields?"
+
+"Fields, sir; they are separated from the walls by a path and hedges.
+Beyond are meadows, as far as the eye extends."
+
+Josephin listened a moment, and noticing that the clamor of the archers
+at the gate had subsided, he said:
+
+"Courage! All's well! Monsieur Estienne is parleying with the soldiers.
+We shall have time to flee." And addressing the gardener: "Lead us
+quickly to the furthest end of the garden."
+
+Michael led the fugitives along a narrow path. After having walked about
+three hundred paces, he stepped before a wall, against which he placed
+the ladder.
+
+"Quick!" ordered the Franc-Taupin, again stopping to listen. "The
+archers are becoming impatient. They are about to force the gate."
+
+Christian was the first to ascend the ladder; he climbed to the top of
+the wall, straddled it, and, stooping down, reached his hand out to
+Hena. He took firm hold of her, raised her, and seated her, still
+holding her in his arms, in front of him on the top of the wall, where
+he was successively joined by Ernest Rennepont and the Franc-Taupin. The
+latter drew the ladder up, with the help of the gardener, tipped it over
+to the other side, and quickly planted it outside the wall. One by one
+the fugitives descended and alighted upon a path bordered by thick and
+high hedges.
+
+"We are saved!" cried Christian, passionately clasping Hena to his
+heart. "We are saved, my dear child!"
+
+"Not yet!" came thundering upon their ears.
+
+An archer rose from behind the hedge where he had been lying in ambush.
+Immediately he sounded the alarm at the top of his voice:
+
+"Here, comrades! Here! This way!"
+
+To leap over the hedge at a bound; to seize the archer by the throat
+with one hand, while with the other he drew his sword--these were the
+rapid moves of the Franc-Taupin. It was too late. The alarm given by the
+soldier was heard. Several other foot soldiers, who came on the cruppers
+of the mounted archers, and were posted around the walls, hurried to the
+spot, preceded by a sergeant, and all cried in chorus:
+
+"Kill all who resist! Keep only the monk and the nun alive!"
+
+A melee ensued in the semi-darkness of the night. After superhuman
+efforts to tear his daughter from the soldiers, Christian was hewed down
+with a sword. Ernest Rennepont and Hena remained in the hands of the
+armed men. After almost strangling the soldier who had given the alarm,
+the Franc-Taupin profited by the darkness to creep on hands and feet to
+a hedge under which he blotted himself from sight. From his hiding place
+he heard Christian drop to the ground and call out in a fainting voice:
+"I am killed--help! help!"
+
+The artisan was left for dead by the archers. Obedient to the orders
+from their chief, their main object was the capture of the monk and the
+nun, whom they now carried safely away. Little by little silence
+returned to the sequestered region. Soon the sound of a retreating troop
+of horsemen announced the departure of the archers for Paris. The
+Franc-Taupin emerged from his place of concealment, ran to Christian,
+knelt beside him, opened his coat and shirt soaked in blood, and placed
+his hand upon his heart. He felt it beat.
+
+"There is but one chance of safety for Christian," said the Franc-Taupin
+to himself. "If the gardener has not been arrested, he will consent to
+grant asylum to the wounded man. Let me endeavor to snatch my
+brother-in-law from death--after that, I swear, you shall be avenged,
+Oh, my sister! Avenged shall be also your daughter, whose horrid fate I
+well foresee!"
+
+Michael and his wife consented to take in the wounded man, and nurse him
+in Robert Estienne's house. The latter and the pastor were taken
+prisoners to Paris by the archers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+ON THE ROAD TO PARIS.
+
+
+On the 21st of January, 1535, a few weeks after the seizure of Hena
+Lebrenn and Ernest Rennepont at the cottage of Master Robert Estienne,
+two riders crossed the Charenton bridge on their way to Paris. Master
+Raimbaud, the armorer, one of the riders, was a man in robust middle
+age, and of an open and resolute countenance. His headgear consisted of
+a broad-brimmed felt hat; he wore a coat of mail over his jacket, and
+large traveling boots on his sturdy legs. A cutlass hung from his side,
+his holsters were furnished with pistols, and his wide brown coat flowed
+down over the crupper of his horse. The other rider, Odelin Lebrenn, was
+then just fifteen. His candid and pleasant features, slightly browned by
+the sun of Italy, recalled those of his sister Hena. A black bonnet,
+ornamented with a little red feather and placed slightly aslant over the
+lad's blonde hair, left wholly exposed the smiling face that radiated
+with increasing joy in the measure that he approached the end of his
+journey. The apprentice and his master were at that moment ascending a
+steep hill, at a steady pace. Despite the steepness of the hill,
+however, Odelin's mount frequently broke out into a trot,
+surreptitiously urged thereto by the spurs of the boy. Master Raimbaud
+smiled under his brown beard, as he guessed the cause of Odelin's
+impatience, while he himself kept his own horse well in hand. He had
+just once more baffled the innocent manoeuvre of his apprentice, who had
+run ahead:
+
+"Well, Odelin," he called after him, "there is your horse again breaking
+out into a trot. One would think he'd got the devil at his heels."
+
+"Master Raimbaud, it is not my fault," answered the youngster, somewhat
+abashed, and reining in, to his regret. "My horse forces my hand. It
+must be the flies that torment him. That's why he runs ahead."
+
+"God's head! Flies in the month of January, my boy!" replied the armorer
+jovially, as he came abreast of his apprentice. "You must be thinking
+yourself still in summer on the roads of Milan."
+
+"Well, I shall not insist on my fib, Master Raimbaud. I must admit to
+you that the nearer we approach Paris, where my mother, and father, and
+sister, and brother, and my good uncle Josephin are expecting me, I feel
+such a thrill of joy, that without my knowledge my spurs approach the
+flanks of my horse--and then the beast starts trotting."
+
+"I can understand your impatience, my lad. It does credit to your heart.
+But endeavor to control yourself a little. We have ridden a long stretch
+to-day. We should not wind our horses. Certain of the joy in wait for
+you, what is the use of running after it?"
+
+"That's true, Master Raimbaud," replied Odelin, red with emotion and
+his eyes dimmed with moisture. "Within two hours I shall see again all
+those whom I love; I shall embrace them--"
+
+"And I shall add to their happiness at seeing you back again, by telling
+them how well pleased I have been with you during our trip."
+
+"How could I otherwise than endeavor to please you, Master Raimbaud? If
+I were your own son you could not treat me with greater tenderness, or
+more attention."
+
+"For the simple reason that a worthy son would not behave differently
+toward me than yourself, my little Odelin. Such are the fruits of the
+bringing up you have received from your worthy father and your excellent
+mother."
+
+"Oh, Master Raimbaud, when I think of the caresses that await me!"
+
+"Look to your spurs, my lad! Look to your spurs. We shall now soon be at
+the top of the hill. Stop your horse a moment. One of the straps of your
+valise is loose. Fasten it."
+
+"Oh, heaven! If I had lost my valise!" cried the apprentice, reddening
+at the thought. Stopping his horse, he turned in his saddle, and
+hastened to fasten the strap, enumerating with childish glee as he did
+so the treasures contained in the bag: "Had I lost you, my dear valise,
+it would then have been adieu to my little presents--the brooch of
+chiseled silver for my mother, the Quintus Curtius printed in Bologna
+for my good and learned father, a vermillion pin for my handsome sister
+Hena, a bronze writing case, with all its accessories, for the studious
+Herve--"
+
+"And that famous flask of Imola wine for your uncle, the Franc-Taupin,
+who will be delighted to taste the Italian nectar."
+
+"That's not all, Master Raimbaud; I also have for my uncle a fine steel
+Milanese dagger, which I forged myself at the workshop of Master Gaspard
+during my idle moments. Oh, dear uncle, I would fear to offend him if I
+brought him a wine flask only."
+
+"Come, the strap is now fast. Let us resume our way. Once we reach the
+top of the hill we shall start on a trot, my impatient fellow. I said a
+trot, did you understand? No galloping! We must husband the strength of
+our mounts."
+
+Master Raimbaud and his apprentice resumed their route at a rapid pace.
+Already they descried in the distant horizon the numerous spires and
+belfries of the churches of Paris. As they were passing before an
+isolated house on the road, the battered sign of which announced it as a
+roadside tavern, they heard someone loudly call out to them:
+
+"Master Raimbaud! Odelin! Halloa! Halloa, there!"
+
+"It is my uncle!" cried the lad, startled, and quickly making his horse
+rear on its haunches. "I recognize my uncle's voice!"
+
+"He must have come out to meet us, apprized by my wife of the day of our
+arrival," explained the armorer, also reining in. But looking to the
+right, and to the left, and all around him, he added, not a little
+surprised: "Where the devil may the Franc-Taupin be niched? He is not
+in heaven, I suppose, although the voice seemed to come from above."
+
+No less astonished than his patron, Odelin also looked in all
+directions, when he saw, emerging from the tavern which they had ridden
+by, a tall Capuchin friar with his face almost wholly concealed in the
+cowl of his frock, and a chaplet of large beads girdling his waist. The
+monk moved with long strides towards the travelers.
+
+"Good God!" cried Odelin as the cowl of the monk who ran towards them
+was blown back by the wind. "My uncle Josephin has become a Capuchin
+friar!"
+
+"God's head!" exclaimed the armorer, sharing the astonishment of his
+apprentice. "May the fire of my forge consume me if I ever expected to
+see such a metamorphosis! The Franc-Taupin a Capuchin friar!"
+
+Seeing that his nephew, upon whom he kept his eyes fixed, was about to
+jump down to the ground, the soldier of fortune checked him with a wave
+of his hand, saying:
+
+"Remain on horseback, my boy!"
+
+And addressing the armorer:
+
+"Master Raimbaud, let us go into the tavern. It is a safe place, and
+there is a stable for your horses. We have matters to talk over."
+
+"Halt here? No, indeed! I am in too great a hurry to embrace my wife. A
+few hours later, if you should feel so disposed, we may empty a pot of
+wine at my own house, my gay friend!" answered the armorer,
+misunderstanding the Franc-Taupin's invitation. "Everything in its
+season. Business before pleasure. I wish to be back in Paris before
+night. So, then, good-bye!"
+
+"Master Raimbaud, you can not enter Paris before dark and without great
+precautions," said the Franc-Taupin in a low voice. "Follow me into the
+tavern. You can stable your horses there, and I shall impart to you
+grave tidings, the saddest that you can imagine--but not a word of that
+to Odelin."
+
+"Be it so! Let us go in," answered Master Raimbaud, turning his horse's
+head, while evil presentiments assailed him. Ignorant of the secret
+information whispered by his uncle to the armorer, the apprentice
+followed the two into the tavern, asking himself with increasing
+wonderment how the Franc-Taupin could have become a friar.
+
+Josephin pulled down over his face the cowl of his frock and led the two
+travelers to the yard of the tavern, from which access was had to the
+stable.
+
+"Unsaddle the horses, my friend," said Master Raimbaud to Odelin, "and
+give them feed. Join us in the tavern when that is attended to."
+
+"What, Master Raimbaud, are we to stay here when we are barely two hours
+from Paris!"
+
+"Mind the horses, my boy. I shall tell you afterwards why we must stop
+here."
+
+Obedient to his master's orders, Odelin unwillingly alighted and threw
+himself upon his uncle's neck, saying with a voice broken with
+affectionate remembrances: "My dear uncle! How are mother, father,
+sister and brother? All well at home?"
+
+Without answering his nephew, Josephin held him in a close embrace. The
+boy felt upon his cheeks the tears that flowed from his uncle's eyes.
+
+"Uncle, you weep!"
+
+"With joy, my boy!" answered Josephin in a broken voice. "It is out of
+joy to see you after such a long absence." And disengaging himself from
+his nephew's arms, he proceeded: "You will join us presently. Ask the
+tavern-keeper the way to the room in the attic facing the road." Then
+turning to the armorer: "Come, Master Raimbaud, come!"
+
+Overjoyed at having met his uncle, and consoling himself with the
+thought that, after all, the hour of seeing his family, so impatiently
+awaited, might not be greatly delayed, Odelin busied himself with
+unsaddling the horses and furnishing them with provender. The
+goodhearted boy, thereupon, in his hurry to offer the Franc-Taupin the
+little presents he brought him from Italy, rummaged in his valise for
+the flask of Imola wine and the dagger that he himself forged for him.
+The boy was anxious to show his affection to Josephin even before he was
+back home in Paris.
+
+The Franc-Taupin led Master Raimbaud to a room on the top floor of the
+tavern, facing the highroad. There he informed the armorer of the death
+of Bridget and of the capture of Hena and Ernest Rennepont, who were
+since held imprisoned as relapsed sinners; and, finally, of Christian's
+departure for La Rochelle. The Franc-Taupin's hopes had been verified.
+The presence of his brother-in-law at Robert Estienne's country house
+was not suspected. The last ineffectual searches, undertaken by the
+archers at the house, sheltered him against any further visitations. The
+influence of Princess Marguerite, and the luster shed upon the reign of
+Francis I by the marvelous productions of Robert Estienne's printing
+establishment, combined to save the printing master once more--alas, it
+was to be the last time!--from the hatred of his enemies. Although a
+relapsed monk and nun were found on his premises, he was set free and
+left unmolested. Accordingly, Christian awaited in safety the time when,
+healed of his wound by the skill of the surgeon Ambroise Pare, who
+visited him secretly, he could take his departure for La Rochelle. The
+casket containing the narratives of the Lebrenn family had been
+concealed by the Franc-Taupin with admirable foresight among the brush
+of the garden, on the very night after the archers seized Hena. As soon
+as Christian was able to undertake the journey, he assumed the disguise
+of a traveling seller of chaplets and relics. The religious traffic was
+essential to his safety along the road. Carrying on his back his pack of
+religious trumpery, among which his family legends were secreted, he
+tramped to La Rochelle, where he arrived safe and sound.
+
+Dumbfounded by these revelations, seeing the deep interest he harbored
+for Christian and his family, Master Raimbaud exclaimed in distraction:
+
+"Poor Odelin! What an unexpected blow for the unhappy boy! Only a short
+time ago the mere thought of seeing his family threw him into
+transports of joy--and now he is to learn--Oh, it is horrible!"
+
+"Horrible!" echoed the Franc-Taupin in sinister accents. "But blood
+calls for blood! A soldier of adventure since my fifteenth year, already
+I had become a wolf--now I shall be a tiger! The reformers will draw the
+sword to avenge their martyrs--no quarter for the assassin priests! By
+my sister's death!" proceeded the Franc-Taupin, livid with rage and
+raising his clenched fist heavenward, "call me a wooden-bowled cripple
+and a lame poltroon if I do not tear up the papists with my very teeth!
+But," restraining himself, he resumed: "Let us consider what now most
+presses. Master Raimbaud, here is a letter from your wife. I know its
+contents. She conjures you not to go back to your establishment, and to
+take shelter in the place of safety that she mentions. She will join you
+there in order to consider with you what is to be done. She is a
+cautious and resolute woman."
+
+"My good Martha alarms herself unnecessarily," observed the armorer
+after reading his wife's letter. "However violent the persecution of the
+reformers may be, and although a heretic myself, I have nothing to fear.
+I work for several seigneurs of the court; I have fashioned their finest
+arms; they will not refuse me their protection."
+
+"Master Raimbaud, do the papist court jays, with the feathers of
+peacocks and the talons of vultures, owe you any money?"
+
+"Indeed, they owe me large sums."
+
+"They will burn you to cancel their debts. Make no doubt of that."
+
+"God's head! You may be telling the truth, Josephin! I must consider
+that."
+
+"Well, then, return secretly to Paris; remain in hiding a few days,
+gather all your valuables--and flee to La Rochelle. Place yourself
+beyond the reach of the tigers' claws. It is the best thing you can do."
+
+"But what of the poor lad--Odelin?"
+
+"My nephew and myself will accompany you to La Rochelle. I scent battle
+and carnage in that quarter. When I say 'battle' I see things red. Here
+is to the red! I love wine--I shall drink blood! Oh, blood! You shall
+flow streaming and warm from the breast of the papists, like wine from
+the bung-hole of a cask. By my sister's death! Oh, for the day when I
+shall avenge Bridget--Hena--my two poor martyrs!"
+
+After a moment's silent reflection the armorer blurted out: "My head
+reels under so many afflictions. I forgot to ask you where is
+Christian's daughter, Hena?"
+
+"She is a prisoner at the Chatelet. Her trial is on," and burying his
+face in his hands the soldier of adventure added in heartrending tones:
+"She will be pronounced guilty, sentenced, and brought to the
+stake--burned alive as a relapsed nun."
+
+"Great God, is such barbarity possible?"
+
+"Hena!" Josephin proceeded without answering Master Raimbaud, "you sweet
+and dear creature! Image of my sister! Poor child whom, when a baby, I
+rocked upon my knees--you shall be avenged--"
+
+The Franc-Taupin could not utter another word; he broke down into sobs.
+
+"Unhappy Christian!" exclaimed Master Raimbaud pitifully. "What must not
+have been his agony!"
+
+"We had to fabricate a tale before we could induce him to depart,"
+answered the Franc-Taupin, wiping his burning eye with the back of his
+hand. "Monsieur Estienne assured Christian that the Princess had
+obtained grace for Hena's life, but under the condition that she was to
+spend her existence in some convent far away from Paris. Christian then
+decided to flee and preserve himself for his only remaining child,
+Odelin. He is now safe at La Rochelle."
+
+"And Herve? You have not mentioned him."
+
+"By my sister's death! Do not mention the name of that monster. I could
+strangle him with my own hands, child of Bridget's though he be. He has
+joined the Cordelier monks. He has already preached in their church upon
+the necessity of exterminating the heretics. The Queen was present on
+the occasion. They extol the eloquence of the young monk. Death and
+damnation!" Shivering with horror and disgust, the Franc-Taupin
+proceeded after a pause: "Never again mention the monster's name in my
+hearing! May hell swallow him up!"
+
+Uninformed upon the events that led to Herve's taking orders, the
+armorer was no less stupefied at the news of the young man's having
+become a monk than at hearing Josephin give vent to his execration of
+his sister's son. Nevertheless, unwilling to aggravate the sorrow of
+the Franc-Taupin, he refrained from dwelling upon a subject that so
+greatly inflamed him.
+
+"The tidings you have brought me have so upset me that it did not yet
+occur to me to ask you the reason for your assuming the garb you wear--"
+
+"The reason is quite simple," Josephin broke in; "I was described to the
+spies of the Criminal Lieutenant; and probably informed against by the
+two bandits who helped me in the abduction of my niece from the convent.
+My size and the plaster over my eye make me an easy mark for capture. I
+took the robe of a Capuchin mendicant because it best enables me to
+conceal my face. These friars have no convent of their own in the city.
+A few of them straggle into Paris from time to time from their hives at
+Chartres or Bourges, to pick up crumbs. If any one of them, coming from
+Chartres, addresses me, I would say: 'I am from Bourges.' To those from
+Bourges I shall say: 'I am from Chartres.' I have been established in
+this tavern for the last three days. I told the inn-keeper that I
+expected a stranger upon business of my Order. I pay for my lodging
+regularly every morning. The inn-keeper has not manifested any curiosity
+about me. Thus, in short, runs the explanation of my disguise. For your
+own guidance, Master Raimbaud, I shall add that the exasperation of the
+Catholics against the reformers is just now at white heat. They even
+talk of slaughtering the Huguenots in mass."
+
+"What are these threats, this increased hatred, attributed to?"
+
+"To certain printed placards clandestinely posted on the walls of Paris
+by the activity of Christian's friend Justin. The placards scourge the
+priests, the monks and all other papists. A large number of heretics
+have already been arrested and sentenced to the stake; others have been
+massacred by the brutified populace--that _huge she-greyhound, with
+bloody craw_, as the monks say when they refer to the poor and ignorant
+masses. You may judge from that what dangers you would run in Paris,
+were you to attempt to enter the city openly, you who are pointed at as
+a heretic. My nephew Odelin runs the same danger. They are ready to
+seize him the moment he steps into your house."
+
+"What! They want to arrest a child?"
+
+"Children become men with time--and they fear men. I should have stabbed
+you to death, Ignatius Loyola, when I was your page! It is you who order
+the father and mother to be burned as heretics, and the three children
+to be clapped into cloisters to the end of uprooting a stock that you
+pronounce accursed! But the father has escaped death, and I shall know
+how to thwart your search after his last child! After that--battle and
+carnage! By my sister's death--I shall cause the blood of papists to run
+like water. Time presses--let us make haste. You can not return home,
+Master Raimbaud, any more than my nephew could safely step into your
+house. This is the plan I submitted to Monsieur Robert Estienne, and
+which he approves: I have provided myself with a second Capuchin frock
+for Odelin. He and I will go to Paris, our bags on our backs, without
+awakening suspicion. We shall turn in at a friend's on St. Honore
+Street, where Monsieur Estienne will call to see us. It is a safe place.
+Monsieur Estienne has taken upon himself the painful task of informing
+Odelin concerning the misfortunes that have smitten his family.
+To-morrow evening we leave Paris again in our disguise, and I shall take
+my nephew to his father at La Rochelle. Should you also decide to change
+your residence, and to move to La Rochelle with your wife, we may agree
+upon some town near Paris in which Odelin and myself could join you.
+This is for you to consider and decide."
+
+"Your plan seems wise to me, Josephin; I shall probably decide to follow
+it. From what is happening in Paris, I perceive I would not be safe
+there."
+
+"Well, then, Master Raimbaud, leave the horses behind in the tavern. One
+of your employees may come to-morrow for them. Do not enter Paris until
+after dark and keep your head well hooded. Proceed straight to the house
+that your wife mentions to you--"
+
+The Franc-Taupin was interrupted in the directions he was issuing by the
+entrance of his nephew, holding in one hand a flask wrapped in fine
+paper, and in the other a steel dagger. He held out the two objects with
+a radiant face to Josephin, saying with exquisite kindness:
+
+"Dear uncle, I forged this dagger for you out of the best steel there
+was in Milan; I bring you this flask of old Imola wine for you to
+celebrate this happy day and to drink to the speedy reunion of our
+family."
+
+So poignant was the contrast between the lad's words and the sad reality
+of which he still remained in ignorance, that Master Raimbaud and the
+Franc-Taupin exchanged sad glances and remained silent. Josephin's cowl,
+now resting wholly upon his shoulders, left his face entirely exposed.
+So visible were the traces of sorrow and mental suffering that face
+revealed, that Odelin, now seeing his uncle for the first time wholly
+uncovered, drew back a step. Immediately he also noticed the profound
+sadness of Master Raimbaud. Alarmed at the silence of the two, Odelin
+felt oppressed. He felt a vague presentiment of some great misfortune.
+Touched by the token of his nephew's affection, the Franc-Taupin took
+the flask and the dagger, examined the weapon, placed it in his belt
+under his frock, and muttered to himself:
+
+"Ah, a good blade. You are given to me by the son--you shall wreak
+vengeance for the mother, the father--and their daughter!" He then
+placed the flask down beside him, and embracing Odelin, added aloud:
+"Thank you, my dear boy. The dagger will be useful to me. As to the
+flask--tastes change--I drink wine no more. Now to business. I have a
+note for you from your father. Post yourself upon its contents."
+
+"But am I not to see father shortly, at home?"
+
+Not a little astonished, Odelin read:
+
+     My dearly beloved Odelin.--Do everything your uncle Josephin may
+     tell you, without asking any questions. Do not feel alarmed. I
+     shall soon embrace you. I love you as ever, from the bottom of my
+     heart.
+
+     Your father,
+
+     CHRISTIAN.
+
+Despite his vague and increasing uneasiness, Odelin felt quieted by
+those words of his father's: "I shall soon embrace you." He said to the
+Franc-Taupin:
+
+"What must I do, uncle?"
+
+The soldier of fortune took a bundle from his bed, drew out of it a
+Capuchin's robe, and said to his nephew:
+
+"The first thing to do, my boy, is to put this robe over your clothes,
+and when we are out of doors you will take care to keep the cowl over
+your face, as I am doing now."
+
+"I?" asked Odelin, startled. "Am I to put on such a costume?" But
+recalling the instructions of his father, he added: "I forgot that
+father wrote me to obey you, uncle, without asking any reasons for your
+orders. I shall put on the robe, immediately."
+
+"Fine," said Master Raimbaud, forcing a smile on his lips in order to
+quiet Odelin. "There you are, from an armorer's apprentice transformed
+into a Capuchin's apprentice! The change does not seem to be to your
+taste, my little friend."
+
+"It is my father's will, Master Raimbaud. I but obey. Truth to say,
+however, I do not fancy a monk's garb."
+
+"I am a better papist than yourself, little Odelin," put in the
+Franc-Taupin ironically, as he helped his nephew to don his disguise; "I
+love the monks so well that I hope soon to start bestowing upon every
+one of them whom I may meet--the red skullcap of a Cardinal! Now,
+shoulder that wallet and bend your back; and then with a dragging leg,
+and neck stuck out, we shall imitate as well as we can the gait of that
+Roman Catholic and Apostolic vermin."
+
+"How comical I shall look to mother and to my sister Hena when they see
+me arrive thus accoutred!" observed Odelin with a smile. "Dear uncle, if
+father is the only one informed of my disguise, I shall knock at the
+door of our house, and beg for an alms with a nasal twang. Just think of
+their surprise when I throw up my cowl! _Corpo di Bacco!_ as the
+Italians say, we shall laugh till the tears run down our cheeks."
+
+"Your idea is not bad," answered the Franc-Taupin, embarrassed. "But it
+is getting late. Bid Master Raimbaud good-bye, and let us depart."
+
+"Is Master Raimbaud to stay here?"
+
+"Yes, my boy--"
+
+"Who is to see to the horses?"
+
+"Do not trouble yourself about that; they will have their provender."
+
+The armorer embraced his apprentice, whom he loved almost as an own son
+and bade him be of good cheer.
+
+"Your adieu sounds sad, Master Raimbaud, and as if our separation were
+to be a long one," observed Odelin with moistening eyes. "Uncle! Oh,
+uncle! My alarm returns, it grows upon me. I can not account for the
+sadness of Master Raimbaud, and I do not understand the mystery of this
+disguise to enter Paris--"
+
+"My dear boy, remember your father's instructions," said Josephin. "Put
+me no questions to which I can not now make an answer."
+
+The boy resigned himself with a sigh. Shouldering his wallet, he
+descended after his uncle. As the latter heard the clink of Odelin's
+spurs on the stairs, he turned to him:
+
+"I forgot to make you take off your spurs. Remove them while I go and
+pay the inn-keeper. Wait for me outside at the cross road."
+
+"Uncle, may I put into my wallet a few little presents that I bring from
+Italy for the family?"
+
+"Do about that as you please," answered the Franc-Taupin.
+
+While Odelin walked into the stable to remove his spurs and take out of
+his valise the articles which he wished to take with him, Josephin went
+to settle his score with the inn-keeper. The latter, who hugged his
+taproom, did not see young Odelin come down in his Capuchin vestments.
+To the Franc-Taupin he said: "You leave us early, my reverend. I hoped
+you would pay us a longer visit. But I can understand that you are in a
+hurry to reach Paris to witness the great ceremony."
+
+"What ceremony have you in mind, my good man?"
+
+"A traveler informed us that the bells and the chimes have been ringing
+in Paris with might and main since morning. All the houses along the
+road that the superb procession is to traverse were decorated with
+tapestry by orders of the Criminal Lieutenant, who also ordered that a
+lighted wax candle be held at every window. He also told us that the
+King, the Queen and all the Princes, as well as a crowd of great
+seigneurs and high dignitaries were to assist at the ceremony--the most
+magnificent that will yet have been seen--"
+
+"Good evening, my host," said Josephin, anxious to put an end to the
+conversation and join his nephew who waited for him outside. To himself
+he was saying:
+
+"What can the ceremony be that the inn-keeper has been informed about?
+After all, the event can only be favorable to us. The crowds that the
+streets will be filled with will facilitate our passage, and help us to
+reach unperceived the retreat designated by Monsieur Estienne."
+
+The Franc-Taupin and his nephew walked rapidly towards Paris where they
+arrived as the sun was dipping the western horizon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+JANUARY 21, 1535.
+
+
+January 21, 1535! Alas, that date must remain inscribed in characters of
+blood in our plebeian annals, O, sons of Joel! If there is justice on
+earth or in heaven--and I, Christian Lebrenn, who trace these lines,
+believe in an avenging, an expiatory justice--some day, on that distant
+day predicted by Victoria the Great, the 21st of January may be also a
+day fatal to the race of crowned executioners, the princes, the nobles,
+and the infamous Romish priests.
+
+You are about to contemplate, O, sons of Joel--you are about to
+contemplate the pious work of that King Francis I, that chivalrous King,
+that Very Christian King, as the court popinjays love to style him. A
+chivalrous King--he is false to his troth! A knightly King--he sells
+under the auctioneer's hammer the seats on the courts of justice and in
+the tribunals of religion! A very Christian King--he wallows in the
+filthiest of debauches! In order to impart a flavor of incest to
+adultery, he shares with one of his own sons, the husband of Catherine
+De Medici, the bed of the Duchess of Etampes. Finally, he expires
+tainted with a loathsome disease after ten years of frightful
+sufferings! At this season, however, the miscreant is still in full
+health, and is engaged in honoring God, his saints and his Church with a
+human holocaust. Hypocrisy and ferocity!
+
+A magnificent solemnity was that day to be the object of edification to
+all the good Catholics of Paris, as the inn-keeper announced to the
+Franc-Taupin. Read, O sons of Joel, the ordinance posted in Paris by
+order of the Very Christian King Francis I:
+
+     On Thursday the 21st day of January, 1535, a solemn procession will
+     take place in the honor of God our Creater, of the glorious Virgin
+     Mary, and of all the blessed Saints in Paradise. Our Seigneur, King
+     Francis I, has been informed of the errors that are rife in these
+     days, and of the placards and heretical books that are posted or
+     scattered around the streets and thoroughfares of Paris by the
+     vicious sectarians of Luther, and other blasphemers of the sacred
+     Sacrament of the altar, the which accursed scum of society aims at
+     the destruction of our Catholic faith and of the constitutions of
+     our mother, the Holy Church of God.
+
+     Therefore, our said Seigneur Francis I has held a Council, and, in
+     order to repair the injury done to God, has decided to order a
+     general procession, the same to close with the torture and
+     execution of several heretics. At the head of the procession shall
+     be carried the sacred Eucharist and the most precious relics of the
+     city of Paris.
+
+     First, on the 17th day of the said month of January, proclamation
+     shall be made to the sound of trumpets, throughout the
+     thoroughfares of Paris, ordering that the streets through which the
+     said procession is to pass shall be swept clean, and all the houses
+     ornamented with beautiful tapestry. The owners of the said houses
+     shall stand before their doors, bare-headed and holding a lighted
+     taper in their hands.--_Item_, on the Wednesday following, the 20th
+     of the said month, the principals of all the Universities of Paris
+     shall meet and orders shall be issued to them to cause the students
+     of the said Colleges to be locked up, with the express injunction
+     that the same shall not be allowed outside until the procession
+     shall have passed, in order to obviate confusion and tumult.
+     Furthermore the students shall fast on the eve and the day of the
+     procession.--_Item_, provosts of the merchant guilds and the
+     aldermen of the city of Paris shall cause barriers to be raised at
+     the crossing of the streets through which the said procession is to
+     pass, in order to prevent the people from crossing the lines of the
+     marchers. Two soldiers and two archers shall be placed in charge of
+     each one of the said barriers.--_Item._ halting places shall be
+     erected in the middle of St. Denis and St. Honore Streets, at the
+     Cross-of-Trahoir, and at the further end of the Notre Dame Bridge,
+     the latter of which shall be decorated with a gilded lanthorn,
+     historical paintings of the holy Sacrament, and a dais of evergreen
+     from which shall hang a number of crowns, and bannerets bearing the
+     following sacred device: IPSI PERIBUNT, TU AUTEM PERMANEBIS (_They
+     shall perish, but you, Holy Mother Church, shall remain forever_).
+
+     The same device shall be inscribed on the cards attached to the
+     swarm of little birds that are to be set free along the passage of
+     the said procession.[39]
+
+The program of the ceremony was followed out point by point. The
+Franc-Taupin and Odelin entered Paris by the Gate of the Bastille of St.
+Antoine. They were wrapped in their Capuchin hoods, and took the route
+of St. Honore Street. That thoroughfare was lighted by the tapers which,
+obedient to the royal decree, the householders held at the doors of
+their dwellings. Lavish tapestries, hangings and rich cloths ornamented
+with greens carpeted the walls of the houses from top to bottom. Men,
+women and children crowded the windows. A lively stream of people moved
+about gaily, loudly admiring the splendors of the feast. Arrived near
+the Arcade of Eschappes, which ran into St. Honore Street, the
+Franc-Taupin and Odelin were forced to halt until the procession had
+passed before they could cross the street. All the crossings were closed
+with barriers and guarded by soldiers and archers.
+
+Thanks to the respect that their monastic garb inspired, Josephin and
+his nephew were allowed to clear the barrier which separated them from
+the first ranks of the procession, and finally to fall in line with the
+same.
+
+Romish idolatry and royal pride exhibited themselves in the midst of the
+pomp and circumstance of the occasion. King, Queen, Princes, Princesses,
+Cardinals, Archbishops, Marshals, courtiers, ladies in waiting, high
+dignitaries of the courts of justice, magistrates, consuls, bourgeois,
+guilds of artisans--all were about to batten upon the torture and death
+of the heretics, whose only crime consisted in the practice of the
+Evangelical doctrine in its pristine purity.
+
+Read, O, sons of Joel, the narrative of this execrable ceremony,
+transmitted by a spectator, an ardent Catholic and fervent royalist, Dom
+Felibien. Preserve the pages in our family annals, they are the
+irrefutable witnesses of the religious fanaticism of those days of
+ignorance, under clerical domination and monarchic despotism. Dom
+Felibien says:
+
+     "At the head of the procession marched the Swiss of the King's
+     guard. They preceded the Queen, who was richly attired in a robe of
+     black velvet lined with lynx skin. She rode a white palfrey with
+     housings of frizzled gold cloth, and was accompanied by mesdames
+     the King's daughters, likewise richly accoutred in robes of crimson
+     satin embroidered with gold thread, and riding beautiful and
+     splendidly caparisoned palfreys. Many other dames and princesses,
+     besides a troop of knights, seneschals and palace dignitaries on
+     horseback, pages, lackeys and Swiss Guards on foot marched beside
+     the Queen.
+
+     "After her came the Cordelier monks in large numbers, carrying many
+     relics, each holding a little lighted taper with profound devotion.
+
+     "After these came the preaching Jacobin friars, also carrying many
+     relics. Each bore a chaplet of Notre Dame, and all were devoutly
+     engaged in prayer to God.
+
+     "After these, the Augustinian monks, marching in similar order, and
+     also carrying many relics.
+
+     "After these, the Carmelites, in the same order, and, in their wake
+     all the parish priests of the city of Paris, each with his cross,
+     robed in their capes, and carrying relics surrounded with numerous
+     tapers.
+
+     "After these, the collegiates of the churches, carrying many relics
+     and holy bodies, the latter surrounded by many tapers.
+
+     "After these, the Mathurins, dressed all in white. They marched
+     devoutly wrapped in prayer and holding tapers.
+
+     "After these, the friars of St. Magloire carrying the shrine of
+     Monsieur St. Magloire.
+
+     "After these, the friars of St. Germain-des-Prez, carrying the
+     shrine of Monsieur St. Germain-le-Vieil, who, as far back as man's
+     memory went, had never before been known to leave the precincts of
+     St. Germain. To the right of the holy body, the said friars, each
+     with a lighted white wax candle; to the left, the friars of St.
+     Martin-of-the-Fields, carrying the shrine of St. Paxant, a martyr.
+     The two shrines abreast and beside each other.
+
+     "After these the relics of Monsieur St. Eloi in the shrine of the
+     said Saint, carried by locksmiths, each wearing a hat of flowers.
+
+     "After these, Monsieur St. Benoit, with other shrines containing
+     the bodies of Saints belonging to the said city.
+
+     "After that, a huge relic of solid gold and inestimable value,
+     studded with precious stones and enclosing the bones of several
+     Saints, the whole carried on the shoulders of sixteen bourgeois of
+     the city of Paris. Beside this relic was to be seen that of the
+     great St. Philip, an exquisite coffer from Notre Dame of Paris.
+
+     "After these, came in beautiful order the shrines of Madam St.
+     Genevieve, carried by eighteen men, naked (except for their
+     shirts), with hats of flowers on their heads, and by four monks,
+     also in their shirts, with bare legs and feet. Then the shrine of
+     Monsieur St. Martel, reverently carried by the goldsmiths, dressed
+     in dress of state. That shrine also had not in the memory of man
+     been carried beyond the bridge of Notre Dame. In order to secure
+     the safe and orderly carriage of these shrines through the large
+     concourse of people, all of whom were curious to see and draw near
+     them, a number of archers and other officers were detailed to
+     escort the same.
+
+     "After these, the monks of St. Genevieve and St. Victor,
+     barefooted, each holding a lighted taper and praying to God with
+     great devotion.
+
+     "After these, the canons and priests of St. Germain-of-Auxerre,
+     chanting canticles of praise put to music.
+
+     "After these, the secular doctors and regulars of the four
+     faculties of the University of Paris. The rector and his beadles,
+     the latter carrying before him their maces of gold and silver.
+
+     "After these, the doctors of theology and medicine in large numbers
+     dressed in their sacerdotal and other garbs, each holding a lighted
+     wax candle.
+
+     "After these came, marching in beautiful order on both sides of the
+     street, the Swiss Guards of the King, dressed in the velvet of his
+     livery, each armed with his halberd. The fifers and war drummers
+     marched two by two at the head of the said Swiss Guards, beating
+     upon their drums and blowing their fifes in funeral notes.
+
+     "After these, the hautboys, trumpets, cornet and clarion players,
+     all in the King's livery, and melodiously intoning the beautiful
+     hymn _Pange, lingua, gloriosi corporis mysterium_, etc., which is
+     the hymn of the holy Sacrament, and which moved all the bystanders
+     to tears, such was its power.
+
+     "After these, Monsieur Savigny, one of the captains of the King's
+     guards, establishing order and preventing tumult during the
+     procession.
+
+     "After him, came the King's heralds-at-arms, clad in their jackets
+     of silver cloth.
+
+     "After them, the choristers of the same Seigneur, those attached to
+     the domestic service as well as those attached to the holy chapel
+     of the palace. They marched together, singing: _O salutaris
+     Hostia_, and other beautiful anthems.
+
+     "After these, ten priests robed in chasubles, their heads bare, and
+     carrying the relic of Monsieur St. Louis, once King of France,
+     encased and studded with quantities of precious stones of
+     inestimable value.
+
+     "After these, the holy and precious relic of the holy CROWN OF
+     THORNS of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, an inestimable relic
+     which, as far back as the memory of man runs, was never before
+     carried in any procession whatever, and caused the hair to stand on
+     end of all those who saw it, and rendered them charmed with God, as
+     they considered His blessed passion.
+
+     "After this, the TRUE CROSS on which our Lord Jesus Christ was
+     crucified. It was taken from the Holy Chapel, besides another piece
+     of the said TRUE CROSS from Notre Dame of Paris.
+
+     "After that the ROD OF AARON, an old relic; the holy IRON of the
+     lance wherewith Longus pierced the precious side of our Savior
+     Jesus Christ; one of the HOLY NAILS with which He was nailed to the
+     cross; the SPONGE, the CARCAN, the CHAIN with which our Lord was
+     fastened to the pillar; His IMMACULATE ROBE; the SHEET in which He
+     was wrapped in the tomb as in a winding-cloth; the NAPKINS of His
+     babyhood; the REED stuck into His hand when He was crowned with
+     thorns; the TABLE OF STONE which the children of Israel hewed in
+     the desert; a DROP OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD of our Lord Jesus; finally
+     a DROP OF MILK of the glorious Virgin Mary, Mother of God. The
+     which beautiful relics, all taken from the treasury of the Holy
+     Chapel, were accompanied and carried by ten archbishops and bishops
+     dressed in their pontifical vestments, and marching two by two.
+
+     "After these, the ambassadors from the Emperor, from the King of
+     England, from Venice, and other potentates and seigneurs.
+
+     "After these, and marching abreast, the Cardinals of Tournon,
+     Veneur and Givry; the Bishop of Soissons; and Monsieur Gabriel of
+     Saluces, carrying a beautiful relic of a cross studded with several
+     precious stones.
+
+     "After these, Knights with their battle-axes escorting the precious
+     and sacred body of our Lord Jesus Christ at the sacrament of the
+     altar, which was carried by Monsieur the Bishop of Paris on a cross
+     under a canopy of crimson velvet spangled with gold fleur-de-lis,
+     the canopy being borne aloft by our Seigneurs, the King's sons, to
+     wit, Monsieur the Dauphin, Monsieur of Orleans, Monsieur of
+     Angouleme, and Monsieur of Vendosme, all the said Princes
+     bareheaded, and clad in robes of black velvet with heavy gold
+     borders and lined with white satin, and near them several counts
+     and barons to relieve them.
+
+     "After these, came the KING OUR SIRE, bareheaded, in great
+     reverence. He was clad in a robe of black velvet lined with black
+     silk, girded with a girdle of taffeta, and in his hand a large
+     white wax candle furnished with a holder of crimson velvet. Beside
+     him, the Cardinal of Lorraine, to whom, every time the holy
+     sacrament rested at the halting places, the said Seigneur our King
+     passed the wax candle, while he himself made his prayers with his
+     hands joined. Seeing the which, there was none among the
+     spectators, whether grown or little, who did not weep warm tears,
+     and who did not pray to God for the King whom the said people saw
+     in such great devotion, and performing so devout an act and so
+     worthy of remembrance for all time. And it may well be presumed
+     that neither Jew nor infidel present, seeing the example of the
+     King and his good people, failed of being converted to the Catholic
+     faith.
+
+     "After these, the parliaments, with the ushers walking before, each
+     with a staff in his hands; the four notaries; the clerks of the
+     criminal courts, dressed in scarlet gowns and wearing their furred
+     hats; messieurs the presidents with their mantles over their
+     shoulders and their mortars on their heads; the chiefs of
+     departments, and the counsellors, in red robes.
+
+     "After these, the Chief Justices, and heads of the treasury and the
+     mint; the comptrollers of the city of Paris, each with a lighted
+     white wax candle in his hand, and clad in their parti-colored robes
+     of red and blue, the city colors.
+
+     "Finally, the archers, the cross-bowmen, and the arquebusiers of
+     Paris, dressed in their uniforms, and each holding a wax
+     candle."[40]
+
+Such was that great Catholic procession!
+
+The procession wound its way through St. Honore, St. Denis and St.
+James-of-the-Slaughterhouse Streets, and then crossed the Notre Dame
+Bridge.
+
+Cages full of birds were opened, and the little feathered brood flew
+from their prisons with open wings. The procession deployed on the
+square before the parvise of the Cathedral of Notre Dame. All the
+surrounding houses, tapestried from top to bottom, were lined with
+spectators at the windows, on the cornices, the shafts of pillars and
+the roofs. As they stood waiting for the procession to go by near the
+Arcade of Eschappes, the Franc-Taupin and his nephew caught sight of
+Herve among the Cordelier monks, whose garb he wore.
+
+"My brother!" cried Odelin, making to rush forward towards Herve and
+embrace him. "There is my brother!"
+
+But Josephin seized his nephew by the arm, and whispered to him:
+
+"My boy, if a single move made by you draws attention upon us, we shall
+be discovered and arrested."
+
+Odelin's exclamation, being drowned by the psalmody of the Cordeliers,
+did not reach the ears of Herve. The latter did not even notice his
+brother, whose face was partially covered by his cowl. The Cordeliers
+passed by, then the Augustinians, the Carmelites, the Dominicans, the
+Genevievians, the Jacobins, and many other monks of differently shaped
+and colored garbs. Josephin sought to place the greatest distance
+possible between himself and Herve. He fell in line with the Mathurins,
+who brought up the rear of the division of monks.
+
+Odelin began to feel disturbed in mind. The events in which he had
+already that day participated, his apprehensions regarding his family,
+the sight of his brother in the habits of a Cordelier monk, the
+preparations for the torture and death of the heretics, a spectacle that
+he now saw himself forced to witness--everything combined to harass his
+mind with perplexities. At times Odelin imagined himself under the
+obsession of a nightmare. His uncertain and almost stumbling step was
+noticed by the Superior of the Mathurins, who expressed his surprise
+thereat to Josephin. The Franc-Taupin merely answered that this was the
+first time the novice attended an execution of heretics.
+
+The procession having arrived before the parvise of Notre Dame, each
+division of which it was composed took the place assigned to it. A
+stage, covered with rich tent-cloth was prepared for King Francis I, the
+Queen, the Princes and Princesses of the royal family, the court ladies,
+the Cardinals, the Archbishops, the Marshals, the presidents of the
+parliaments, and the principal courtiers. The pyre faced the royal
+platform at a convenient distance, in order that the noble assemblage be
+annoyed neither by the heat nor smoke of the fire, and yet could follow
+closely the cruel details of the tragedy. The pyre consisted of a heap
+of fagots from fifteen to twenty feet long, and about six or seven feet
+high. Close to the pyre rose six machines. Each consisted of a
+perpendicular beam, the bottom driven into the earth and the top
+furnished with an iron clamp in the socket of which a cross-beam was
+attached. This beam could be made to tip forward over the fagots. At the
+forward extremity of the cross-beam, and hanging from chains, was an
+iron chair provided with a back and foot-board after the fashion of a
+swing. To the rear extremity of the cross-beam ropes and pulleys were
+attached, holding it down to the ground.
+
+The Franc-Taupin contemplated with horror those implements of torture,
+while he gave his support to poor Odelin, who shook convulsively. The
+Superior of the Mathurins, who happened to stand near Josephin,
+addressed him with a smile:
+
+"Perhaps you do not understand the value of those machines which we
+shall shortly see put into operation?"
+
+"No, dear brother, you are right. I have no idea of what those machines
+are for in this affair."
+
+"They are an invention due to the genius of our Sire the King, to whom
+the men put to the torture for coining false money already owe the rack
+on which they are executed.[41] To-day the application of these new
+machines, which you are contemplating with so much interest, is
+inaugurated in our good city of Paris. The process is very simple,
+besides ingenious. When the pyre is well aflame, the patient is chained
+fast to the chair which you see there, dangling from the end of that
+cross-beam; then, the beam acting as a lever, he is, by slacking and
+pulling in the ropes at the other end, alternately sunk down into the
+flames and pulled out again, to be re-plunged, and so on, until, after
+being plunged and re-plunged, death ensues. Do you now understand the
+process?"
+
+"Clearly, my reverend. Death by fire, as formerly practiced, put too
+speedy an end to the patient's torture."
+
+"Altogether too speedy. A few minutes of torture and all was over, and
+the heretic breathed his last breath--"
+
+"And now," broke in the Franc-Taupin, "thanks to this royal invention by
+our Sire Francis I, whom may God guard, the patient is afforded leisure
+to burn slowly--he can relish the fagot and inhale the flame! How superb
+and meritorious an invention!"
+
+"It is that, my dear brother! Your expressions are correct--quite
+so--_relish_ the fagot--_inhale_ the flame. It is calculated that the
+agony of the patients will now last from twenty to thirty minutes.
+
+"There are to-night three such pyres raised in Paris," the Superior of
+the Mathurins proceeded to explain. "The one before us, a second at the
+market place, and the third at the Cross-of-Trahoir. After our good Sire
+shall have assisted at the executions in this place, he will be able to
+visit the two others on his way back to the Louvre."[42]
+
+The colloquy with the monk was interrupted by a great noise. From mouth
+to mouth ran the word: "Silence! Silence! The King wishes to speak!"
+
+During the Franc-Taupin's conversation with the Mathurin, the King, his
+family, the court, the high dignitaries of the Church and of the kingdom
+had taken their seats on the platform. Anne of Pisseleu, Duchess of
+Etampes, who shared her favors between Francis I and his eldest son,
+drew the eyes of the multitude upon herself with the costliness of her
+apparel, which was as dazzling as her beauty, then at its prime. The
+royal courtesan cast from time to time a look of superb triumph upon her
+two rivals--the Queen of France, and Catherine De Medici, the wife of
+Henry, the King's son. The young Princess, at that season barely sixteen
+years of age, born in Florence, the daughter of Laurent De Medici and
+niece of Pope Clement VII, presented a perfect type of Italian beauty.
+Pale with chestnut hair, and white of skin, her black, passionate and
+crafty eyes frequently lingered surreptitiously with an expression of
+suppressed hatred upon the Duchess of Etampes. Whenever their eyes met
+accidentally, Catherine De Medici had for her a charming smile.
+Conspicuous among the great seigneurs seated on the platform were the
+Constable of Montmorency, Duke Claude of Guise and his brother Cardinal
+John of Lorraine, the crapulous, dissolute Prince immortalized by
+Rabelais under the name of "Panurge." These Guises--Princes of Lorraine,
+ambitious, greedy, haughty and turbulent--whom Francis I at once
+flattered and curbed, inspired him with so much apprehension that he was
+wont to allude to them in his conversations with the Dauphin in these
+words: "Be on your guard; I shall leave you clothed in a coat, they will
+leave you in your shirt." In close proximity to the Guises stood John
+Lefevre, the disciple of Ignatius Loyola, chatting with great
+familiarity with Cardinal Duprat. Already the Jesuits had gained a
+footing at the court of Francis I; they dominated the Chancellor, the
+evil genius of that King. And what was that sovereign, physically and
+morally? Here is his picture, as left by the writers of his time: "Six
+feet high; broad-shouldered, wide of girth, round faced, fat, ruddy of
+complexion, with short cropped hair, long beard, and a prominent
+nose"--features that betray sensual appetites. The Sire walked towards
+his throne, swaying to right and left. The heavy colossus affected the
+gait and postures of a gladiator. He sat down, or rather dropped into
+his seat. All present on the platform rose to their feet with heads
+uncovered, the women excepted. He addressed himself to the Princes, the
+Princesses of his family, and the dignitaries of the Church and the
+kingdom:
+
+"It will not seem strange to you, messieurs, if you do not find in me
+the mien, the countenance and the words, which I have been in the habit
+of being seen in and of using on previous occasions when I called you
+together. To-day, I do not address you as a King and Master addresses
+his subjects and servitors. I speak as being myself the subject and
+servitor of the King of Kings, of the Master of Masters--the
+All-powerful God.
+
+"Some wicked blasphemers, people of little note and of less doctrine,
+have, contrary to the honor of the holy Sacrament, machinated, said,
+proffered and written many great blasphemies. On account thereof I have
+willed that this solemn procession be held, in order to invoke the grace
+of our Redeemer. I order that rigorous punishment be inflicted upon the
+heretics, as a warning to all others not to fall into the said damnable
+opinions, while admonishing the faithful to persevere in their
+doctrines, the wavering to become firm, and those who have strayed away
+to return to the path of the holy Catholic faith, in which they see me
+persevere, together with the spiritual prelates.
+
+"Therefore, messieurs, I entreat and admonish you--let all my subjects
+keep watch and guard, not only over themselves, but also over their
+families, and especially over their children, and cause these to be so
+properly instructed that they may not fall into evil doctrines. I also
+order that each and all shall denounce whomsoever they may happen to
+know, or to suspect, of being adherents to the heresy, without regard
+to any bonds, whether of family or of friendship. As to myself," added
+Francis I in a thundering voice, "on the same principle that, had I an
+arm infected with putrefaction, I would cause it to be separated from my
+body, so if ever, should it unhappily so befall, any child of mine
+relapse into the said damnable heresies, I shall be ready to immolate,
+and to deliver him as a sacrifice to God."[43]
+
+The discourse of Francis I was listened to amid religious silence, and
+applauded enthusiastically.
+
+The prostituted pack of clergymen, courtiers and warriors who surrounded
+the Very Christian King knew the trick how to inherit the property of
+heretics. To burn or massacre the reformers was to coin money for the
+royal pack, the sovereign having the right to transmit to the good
+Catholics the wealth confiscated from condemned heretics. But, to kill
+the heretics, to torture them, to burn them alive, that did not satisfy
+the pious monarch. Human thought was to be shackled. The sovereign
+proceeded with his allocution:
+
+"It is notorious that the pestilence of heresy spreads in all directions
+with the aid of the printing press. My Chancellor shall now read a
+decree issued by me abolishing the printing press in my estates under
+pain of death."
+
+The Chancellor, Cardinal Duprat, read in a loud voice the decree of that
+_Father of Letters_, as the court popinjays styled Francis I with
+egregious adulation:
+
+     "We, Francis I, by the grace of God, King of France.--It is our
+     will, and we so order, and it pleases us to prohibit and forbid all
+     printers in general, and of whatever rank and condition they may
+     be, TO PRINT ANYTHING, UNDER PAIN OF HANGING.
+
+     "Such is our good pleasure.
+
+     FRANCIS."[44]
+
+Come! One more effort; listen to the end of this tale, O, sons of Joel.
+My hand trembles as I trace these lines, my eyes are veiled in tears, my
+heart bleeds. But I must proceed with my story.
+
+After the reading of the edict which prohibited the printing press in
+France under pain of death, the Criminal Lieutenant stepped forward to
+receive the orders of the Chancellor. He turned to the King, and the
+King commanded that the heretics be put to the torture and death without
+further delay. The gallant chat among the courtiers was hushed, and the
+eyes of the royal assembly turned towards the pyre.
+
+The Franc-Taupin and Odelin stood in the midst of the Mathurins, close
+to the spot of execution. Not far from them were ranked the Cordeliers.
+Standing between Fra Girard and the Superior General of his Order, Herve
+seemed to be the object of the dignitary's special solicitude. Both the
+sons of Christian Lebrenn were about to witness the execution. Their
+sister Hena, sentenced together with Ernest Rennepont to the flames as a
+relapsed and sacrilegious heretic, was to figure, along with her
+bridegroom, among the victims. The frightful spectacle passed before
+the eyes of Odelin like a vision of death. Without making a single
+motion, without experiencing a shiver, without dropping a tear,
+petrified with terror, the lad gazed--like him, who, a prey to some
+stupefying dream, remains motionless, stretched upon his bed. It was a
+horrible nightmare!
+
+The order to proceed having gone from Francis I and been transmitted to
+the Mathurin monks, several of these proceeded to the portico of the
+Basilica of Notre Dame, whither the culprits had first been taken to
+make the _amende honorable_ on their knees before the church. One of the
+patients had his tongue cut out for preferring charges against the
+Catholic clergy on his way from prison to the parvise.[45] The Mathurins
+led the victims in procession to the pyre. As they approached, all the
+religious Orders intoned in a sonorous voice the funeral psalmody--
+
+    _De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine!_
+
+The heretics, to the number of six, marched two by two, bareheaded and
+barefooted, holding lighted tapers in their hands. John Dubourg and his
+friend Etienne Laforge led; behind them came St. Ernest-Martyr
+supporting the architect Poille. The wretched man had his tongue cut
+out. Blood streamed from his mouth, and dyed his long white shirt red.
+Mary La Catelle and Hena, called in religion Sister St.
+Frances-in-the-Tomb, came next. Their feet were bare, their hair hung
+down loose upon their shoulders. They were clad in long white shifts
+held at the waist with a cord. Hena pressed against her heart a little
+pocket Bible which Christian had printed in the establishment of Robert
+Estienne, and which she was allowed to keep. It was a cherished volume
+from which the Lebrenn family often read together of an evening, and
+which recalled to Hena a whole world of sweet remembrances.
+
+Herve recognized his sister among the condemned heretics. A thrill ran
+through his frame, a deadly pallor overcast his countenance, and,
+turning his face away, he leaned for support on the arm of Fra Girard.
+The executioners had set fire to the fagots, which soon presented the
+sight of a sheet of roaring flames. As the prisoners arrived at the
+place of their torture and death, and caught sight of the seats swaying
+over the lambent flames, they readily surmised the cruel torments to
+which they were destined. In her terror, poor Hena began to emit
+heartrending cries, and she clung to the arm of Mary La Catelle. The
+taper and the little pocket Bible which she held rolled to the ground.
+The holy book fell upon a burning ember and began to blaze. One of the
+executioners stamped out the fire with his heels and threw the book
+aside. It fell near the Franc-Taupin. Josephin stooped down quickly,
+picked up the precious token and dropped it into the pocket of his wide
+frock. Petrified with terror, Odelin only gazed into space. The
+frightful cries of his sister were hardly heard by him, drowned as they
+were by the buzz and throb of the arteries in his own temples. The
+executioners were at work. Hena and the other five martyrs were seized,
+placed in their respective seats, and chained fast. All the six levers
+were then set in motion at once, and dipped over the fire. It was a
+spectacle, an atrocious spectacle--well worthy of a King! The victims
+were plunged into the furnace, then raised up high in the air with
+clothes and hair ablaze, to be again swallowed up in the flaming abyss,
+again to be raised out of it, in order once more to be precipitated into
+its fiery embrace![46]
+
+Odelin still gazed, motionless, his arms crossed over his breast, and
+rigid as if in a state of catalepsy. The Franc-Taupin looked at his
+unhappy niece Hena every time the lever raised her in the air, and also
+every time it hurled her down into the abyss of flames. He counted the
+_plungings_, as the Superior of the Mathurins humorously called them. He
+counted twenty-five of them. At the first few descents poor Hena twisted
+and writhed in her seat while emitting piercing cries; in the course of
+a few subsequent descents the cries subsided into moans; when she
+disappeared in the burning crater for the sixteenth time she was heard
+to moan no more. She was either expiring or dead. The machine continued
+to dip twenty-five times--it was only a blackened, half naked corpse,
+the head of which hung loose and beat against the back of the seat. The
+Franc-Taupin followed also with his eyes Ernest Rennepont, who was
+placed face to face with Hena. The unhappy youth did not emit a single
+cry during his torment, he did not even utter a wail. His eyes remained
+fixed upon his bride. Etienne Laforge, John Dubourg and Mary La Catelle
+gave proof of the sublimest courage. They were heard singing psalms
+amidst the flames that devoured them. Of these latter, only Anthony
+Poille, whose tongue had been cut out, was silent. The death rattle
+finally silenced the voice of the heretics. It was but charred corpses
+that the executioners were raising and dropping.
+
+When the frightful vision ceased, Odelin dropped to the ground, a prey
+to violent convulsions. Two monks helped the Franc-Taupin carry the
+young novice into a neighboring house. But before leaving the spot of
+Hena's torture and death, Josephin stopped an instant before the brazier
+which was finishing the work of consuming the corpses. There the
+Franc-Taupin pronounced the following silent imprecation:
+
+"Hate and execration for the papist executioners, Kings, priests and
+monks! War, implacable war upon this infamous religion that tortures and
+burns to death those who are refractory to its creed! Reprisals and
+vengeance! By my sister's death; by the agony of her daughter, plunged
+twenty-five times into the fiery furnace--I swear to put twenty-five
+papist priests to death!"
+
+After Odelin recovered consciousness, uncle and nephew resumed their way
+to the place of refuge on St. Honore Street, where Robert Estienne was
+found waiting for them. The generous friend was proscribed. The next day
+he was to wander into exile to Geneva. It was with great difficulty
+that Princess Marguerite had obtained grace for his life. He informed
+Odelin of his father's flight to La Rochelle and of Bridget's death. He
+pressed upon Josephin the necessity of leaving Paris with Odelin and
+proceeding on the spot to La Rochelle, lest he fall into the clutches of
+the police spies who were on the search for them. At the same time he
+placed in Josephin's hands the necessary funds for the journey, and took
+charge of notifying Master Raimbaud should he also be willing to take
+refuge in La Rochelle.
+
+It was agreed between the three that the Franc-Taupin and his nephew
+would wait two days for Master Raimbaud at Etampes. The directions of
+Robert Estienne were instantly put into execution. That same night
+Odelin and Josephin left Paris, and reached Etampes without difficulty,
+thanks to the monastic garb which cleared the way for them. At Etampes
+Master Raimbaud and his wife joined them before the expiration of the
+second day, and the four immediately took the road to La Rochelle, where
+they arrived on February 17, 1535. The four fugitives inquired for the
+dwelling of Christian Lebrenn. His family, alas! was now reduced to
+three members--father, son and the brave Josephin. The Franc-Taupin
+delivered to his brother-in-law the pocket Bible which he picked up near
+the pyre, the tomb of Hena--that Bible is now added to the relics of the
+Lebrenn family.
+
+END OF VOLUME ONE.
+
+
+
+
+PART II.
+
+THE HUGUENOTS.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+Thirty-four years have elapsed since the martyrdom of Hena Lebrenn,
+Ernest Rennepont and the other heretics who were burned alive before the
+parvise of Notre Dame, in the presence of King Francis I and his court
+on January 21, 1535. To-day, I, Antonicq Lebrenn, son of Odelin and
+grandson of Christian the printer, proceed with the narrative broken off
+above.
+
+Safely established at La Rochelle, Christian was joined in that city by
+his son Odelin and Josephin, the Franc-Taupin. Already shattered in body
+on account of the profound sorrow caused by the death of his wife
+Bridget and the revelation concerning the incestuous attempt made by his
+son Herve, the news of the frightful death of his daughter Hena
+overwhelmed my grandfather. He did not long survive that last blow. He
+languished about a year longer, wrote the narrative of which the
+following one is the sequel, and died on December 17 of the same year at
+La Rochelle, where he exercised his printer's trade at the establishment
+of Master Auger, a friend of Robert Estienne. The latter himself ended
+his days in exile at Geneva.
+
+Odelin Lebrenn, my father, devoted himself, as in his youth, to the
+armorer's trade. He worked in the establishment of Master Raimbaud, who
+also settled down in La Rochelle in 1535. The old armorer drove a
+lucrative trade in his beautiful arms, with England. Thanks to their
+energy and their municipal franchises, the Rochelois, partisans of the
+Reformation by an overwhelming majority, and protected by the well-nigh
+impregnable position of their city, experienced but slightly the
+persecutions that dyed red the other provinces of Gaul until the day
+when the Protestants took up arms against their oppressors. The hour of
+revolt having sounded, the Rochelois were bound to be the first to take
+the field. Having married in 1545 Marcienne, the sister of Captain
+Mirant, one of the ablest and most daring sailors of La Rochelle, my
+father had three children from this marriage--Theresa, born in 1546; me,
+Antonicq, born in 1549; and Marguerite, born in 1551. I embraced the
+profession of my father, who, upon the death of Master Raimbaud,
+deceased without heirs, succeeded to the latter's business.
+
+About four years ago, the hardship of the times brought to La Rochelle,
+where, together with other Protestants he sought refuge, Louis
+Rennepont, a nephew of Brother St. Ernest-Martyr, the bridegroom of
+Hena, who was burned together with her. Informed by his father of the
+tragic death of the Augustinian monk, Louis Rennepont conceived a horror
+for the creed of Rome, in whose name such atrocities were committed, and
+after his father's death he entered the Evangelical church. An advocate
+in the parliament of Paris, and indicted for heresy, he escaped the
+stake by his flight to La Rochelle. One day, as he strolled along the
+quay before our house, my father's sign--_Odelin Lebrenn,
+Armorer_--caught his eye. He stepped in to inquire into our
+relationship with Hena Lebrenn. From us he gathered the information that
+Hena was his uncle's wife, married to him by a Reformed pastor. Louis
+Rennepont, from that time almost a relative of ours, continued to visit
+the house. He soon seemed smitten with the grace and virtues of my
+sister Theresa. His love was reciprocated. He was a young man of noble
+heart, and of a modest and industrious disposition. Stripped of his
+patrimony by the sentence of heresy, he earned his living at La Rochelle
+with his profession of advocate. My father appreciated the merits of
+Louis Rennepont, and granted him my sister Theresa. They were married in
+1568. Their happiness justifies my father's hopes.
+
+My youngest sister Marguerite disappeared from the paternal home at the
+age of eight, under rather mysterious circumstances which I shall here
+state.
+
+Since his establishment at La Rochelle, my father was animated by a
+lively desire to take us all--mother, sisters and myself--to Brittany,
+on a kind of pious pilgrimage to the scene of our family's origin, near
+the sacred stones of Karnak. The journey by land was short, but the
+religious war included in those days Brittany also in its ravages. My
+father feared to risk himself and family among the warring factions. His
+brother-in-law Mirant, the sailor, having to cross from La Rochelle to
+Dover, proposed that my father take ship with him on his brigantine. The
+vessel was to touch at Vannes, the port nearest Karnak. Our pilgrimage
+accomplished, we were to set sail for Dover, whither my father
+frequently consigned arms, and where he would have the opportunity of a
+personal interview with his correspondent in that place. After that, my
+uncle Mirant was to return to France with a cargo of merchandise. Our
+absence would not exceed three weeks. My father accepted the proposition
+with joy. Shortly before the day of our departure my sister Marguerite
+was taken sick. The distemper was not dangerous, but it prevented her
+from joining in the trip, the day for which was set and could not be
+postponed. My parents left her behind in the charge of her god-mother,
+an excellent woman, the wife of John Barbot, a master copper-smith. We
+departed for Vannes on board the brigantine of Captain Mirant. My sister
+Marguerite recovered soon after. Her god-mother frequently took her out
+for a walk beyond the ramparts. One day the child was playing with other
+little girls near a clump of trees, and strayed away from Dame Barbot.
+When her god-mother looked for her to take her home, the child was
+nowhere to be found. The most diligent searches, instituted for weeks
+and months after the occurrence, were all in vain. The child had been
+abducted; the kidnappers remained undiscovered. Marguerite was wept and
+her loss grieved over by us all.
+
+Our pilgrimage to Karnak, the cradle of the family of Joel, left a
+profound, an indelible impression upon me. I shall later return to some
+of the consequences of that trip. Captain Mirant, my mother's brother, a
+widower after only a few years' marriage, had a daughter named Cornelia.
+I loved her from early infancy as a sister. As we grew up our affection
+for each other waxed warmer. Our parents expected to see us man and
+wife. Cornelia gave promise by her virtue and bravery of resembling one
+of those women belonging to the heroic age of Gaul, and of approving
+herself worthy of her ancestry. Having lost her mother when still a
+child, my cousin occasionally accompanied her father on his rough sea
+voyages. The character of the young girl, like her beauty, presented a
+mixture of virility, grace and strength. At the time when this narrative
+commences, Cornelia was sixteen years of age, myself twenty. We were
+betrothed, and our families had decided that we were to be united in
+wedlock three or four years later.
+
+My grand-uncle the Franc-Taupin yielded, shortly after his arrival at La
+Rochelle, to the solicitations of my grandfather Christian, who, feeling
+his approaching dissolution, entreated the brave soldier of adventure
+not to separate himself from his nephew, soon surely to be an orphan.
+The Franc-Taupin adjourned the execution of his resolution to avenge the
+death of Bridget and Hena. He remained near my father Odelin and
+enrolled himself with the archers of the city. As a consequence of our
+family sorrows, he gave up his former disorderly life. The guardianship
+of his nephew, then still a lad, brought him new duties. He earned by
+his merit the post of sergeant of the city militia. But when the
+massacre of Vassy caused the Protestants to rise from one end of Gaul to
+the other, and these finally ran to arms, the Franc-Taupin departed to
+join the insurgents. He was elected the chief of his band, and proved
+himself pitiless in his acts of reprisal. He had sworn to revenge the
+papist atrocities committed upon his sister and niece. The provinces of
+Anjou and Saintonge took a large part in the religious ware that broke
+out. My father, although married several years before, left his
+establishment to enlist himself among the volunteers of the Protestant
+army, and deported himself bravely under the orders of Coligny, Conde,
+Lanoue and Dandelot. He was twice wounded. I accompanied him in the
+second armed uprising of 1568, when, alas! I had the misfortune of
+losing him. I took the field at his side as a volunteer, leaving in La
+Rochelle my mother, my sister Theresa, then the wife of Louis Rennepont,
+and my cousin Cornelia, who desired to join her father, Captain Mirant,
+on a cruise against the royal ships, while I was to combat on land in
+the army of Coligny.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE QUEEN'S "FLYING SQUADRON."
+
+
+The Abbey of St. Severin, situated on the Limoges road not far from the
+town of Malraye, belonged to the Order of St. Bernard. Before the
+beginning of the religious wars, the abbey was a splendid monument,
+built by the hands of _Jacques Bonhomme_,[47] like so many other
+monasteries that dot the soil of France. As a church vassal, Jacques
+Bonhomme transported either upon his own back, or, to the still greater
+injury of field agriculture, with the help of oxen, the stones, the
+lumber, the sand and the lime requisite for the erection of these
+pretentious monastic residences. He thereupon carried to the idling
+monks the tithes on his corn, on his cattle, on his poultry, on his
+eggs, on his butter, on his wine, on his oil, on the fleece of his
+sheep, on his honey, on his linen, in short, the prime of all that he
+produced with the sweat of his brow. Then came the corvee[48]--to till
+the convent lands, to sow, weed and gather the crops thereon; to keep
+the convent roads in repair; to irrigate its meadows; to dredge its
+ponds; to serve as watchman; and finally to lay down his life in its
+defense against the roving bands of vagabonds and robbers. In return
+for all these services--when either old, or sick, or exhausted with
+toil, Jacques Bonhomme could work no more--he was allowed to hold out
+his bowl at the gate of the monastery, when the monks would occasionally
+deign to fill it with greasy water from their kitchen. When the church
+vassal was at his last breath, stretched upon the straw in his hut, the
+good Fathers came to assist and solace him with their _Oremus_.[49] "God
+created man for sorrow and poverty," they would say to him; "you have
+suffered--God is pleased; you shall enjoy a famous seat in Paradise.
+Yours will be the delights of the celestial mansion."
+
+When the spirit of the Reformation penetrated some of the provinces,
+Jacques Bonhomme began to lend an ear to a new theory. "Poor, ignorant
+people, poor duped and defrauded people," said the pastors of the new
+church; "offerings to saints, masses, and purgatory are idolatries,
+tricks, frauds, sacrilegious inventions with the aid of which the
+priests and monks appropriate to themselves the silver laid by fools
+upon the altars and at the feet of wooden and stone images. Good men!
+Read the sacred Book. You will discover that God forbids the traffic on
+which thousands of frocked and tonsured idlers grow fat." In sight of
+such a revelation, based as it was upon the texts of Holy Writ, Jacques
+Bonhomme said to himself in his own rustic common sense: "'Tis so! I
+have been cheated, duped and robbed all these centuries by the Church of
+Rome!" Thereupon Jacques Bonhomme turned himself loose upon the
+convents and churches; he overthrew, broke and profaned the altars, the
+relics and the statues of saints that had so long been the objects of
+his veneration.
+
+On the other hand, in the provinces where the population remained under
+the mental domination of the clergy, Jacques Bonhomme turned himself
+loose upon the houses of Huguenots, set them on fire, slaughtered the
+men, violated the women, and dashed the brains of old men and children
+against the walls.
+
+Occupied before the religious wars by the Bernardine monks, the Abbey of
+St. Severin had been repeatedly sacked, like so many other monastic
+resorts in the districts of Poitou, Berri and Limousin. Reared on an
+admirable site--the slope of a hill shaded by a thick forest--the
+convent clearly revealed the traces of a sack, freshly undergone:
+shattered windows, doors broken open or torn from their hinges, portions
+of the walls blackened by fire, and the capitals of the columns
+mutilated by the discharge of arquebuses and the fury of the
+devastators.
+
+One day, towards the middle of the month of June, 1569, as the sun drew
+near the western horizon, the silence around the ruins of the Abbey of
+St. Severin was disturbed by the arrival of two squadrons of light
+cavalry belonging to the Catholic army. The cavalcade escorted a long
+convoy of pack-mules, the men in charge of whom wore the colors and arms
+of the royal house of France and of the house of Lorraine. The convoy
+entered the yard of the cloister. The lackeys unloaded the mules and
+took possession of the deserted abbey. True to their name, the horsemen
+were armed in the lightest manner, with Burgundian helmets and
+breastplates, together with armlets and gauntlets, besides thigh-pieces
+partly covered by their boots; small arquebuses, only three feet long
+and well polished, hung from their saddle pommels, and short swords and
+iron maces completed their outfit.
+
+The armed corps had for its commandant Count Neroweg of Plouernel, a man
+beyond sixty years of age, of rough, haughty and martial mien. From head
+to foot he was covered with armor damascened in gold. His Turkish
+silver-grey horse was cased at the neck, chest and crupper in light
+flexible sheets of chiseled and richly gilt steel. Its orange-colored
+velvet housings and saddle were ornamented with green and silver lace,
+the heraldic colors of the house of Plouernel. The jacket or floating
+coat that the Count wore above his armor was also of orange-colored
+velvet, and likewise embroidered with green and silver thread. The
+commandant of the detachment alighted from his horse; ordered the
+monastery to be searched; set up watches and sent out pickets over the
+principal roads that led to the place. He then remounted and rode away
+in the direction of Limoges, escorted by only one of the two squadrons.
+
+Immediately after the departure of the Count, the quartermasters of
+Queen Catherine De Medici, assisted by her serving-men and those of
+Charles of Guise, Cardinal of Lorraine, fell to work on the task of
+imparting to the devastated halls of the abbey the most presentable
+appearance possible, with the view of lodging the Queen and the prelate
+whose arrival they expected. The mules, to the number of more than
+sixty, carried a complete traveling equipment on their pack-saddles, or
+in large trunks strapped to their backs--tent cloths, lambrequins,
+tapestry, easels, dismantled beds, curtains, mattresses, silver vessels,
+besides an abundance of eatables and wines with the necessary kitchen
+utensils, and even ice, in leather bags. The valets set to work with a
+will, and with a promptitude truly marvelous they tapestried the
+apartments destined for the Queen and for the Cardinal by hanging rich
+cloths, provided in advance with gilt hooks, from nails that they deftly
+drove along the upper edges of the walls. They then fitted out the two
+rooms with the necessary furniture brought by the mules. A chamber,
+separated from that of the Queen by a small passage was likewise
+prepared for the reception of the sovereign's four maids of honor. The
+pages, the knights, the chamberlains, the officers and the equerries
+were all quartered, as in time of war, in the outhouses of the abbey,
+the vast kitchen of which was invaded by the master cook and his aides,
+who prepared supper, while the stewards spread the royal table in the
+refectory of the monastery. Shortly before sunset forerunners announced
+the approach of the Queen. Upon the heels of the forerunners came a
+vanguard, and immediately after, several armed squadrons, in the center
+of which was the royal litter, enclosed with hangings of
+gold-embroidered violet velvet and carried by two mules, likewise in
+trappings of violet velvet. A second litter, not so richly decorated and
+empty at the time, was reserved for those maids of honor who might tire
+of riding. These maids, however, together with their governess, had
+preferred to cover the distance on the backs of their richly caparisoned
+palfreys, the necks, flanks and cruppers of which were decked in
+embroidered velvet emblazoned with the arms of the royal house of
+France. Pages and equerries followed the maids of honor. The rear was
+brought up by the litter of the Cardinal of Lorraine, wrapped in purple
+taffeta hangings and surrounded by several leading dignitaries and
+Princes of the Church.
+
+Before entering the yard of the abbey the prelate put his head out of
+his litter, and ordered one of his gentlemen-in-waiting to summon before
+him the commandant of the escort. Charles of Guise, Cardinal of
+Lorraine, was at that time forty-six years of age. His otherwise
+handsome features, now marred by debauchery, reflected shrewdness,
+craft, and above all haughtiness, these being the dominant traits of his
+character. Count Neroweg of Plouernel, who was summoned by the prelate,
+approached the litter.
+
+"Monsieur," said the Cardinal in an imperious tone, "do you answer for
+the safety of the Queen and myself?"
+
+"Yes, Monsieur Cardinal."
+
+"Have you taken sufficient precautions against any surprise on the part
+of the Huguenot band known by the name of the 'Avengers of Israel' and
+captained by a felon nicknamed the 'One-Eyed'?"
+
+"Monsieur Cardinal, I answer with my life for the safety of the Queen.
+The Huguenot forces need not alarm us. His Majesty's army covers our
+escort. Marshal Tavannes is notified of the Queen's arrival; he has
+undoubtedly kept clear the route followed by her Majesty. I told your
+Eminence before that it would have been better to push straight ahead
+until we joined the army of Marshal Tavannes, instead of spending the
+night at this abbey."
+
+"Do you imagine the Queen and I can travel like a couple of troopers,
+without alighting for rest?"
+
+"Monsieur Cardinal," replied Count Neroweg of Plouernel haughtily, "it
+is not for others to remind me of the respect I owe her Majesty."
+
+"Monsieur!" exclaimed the Cardinal angrily, "you seem to forget that you
+are addressing a Prince of the house of Lorraine. Be more respectful!"
+
+"Monsieur Cardinal, if you know the history of your house, I know the
+history of mine. Pepin of Heristal, the grandfather of Charlemagne, from
+whom you pretend to descend, was but a rather insignificant specimen
+when the house of Neroweg, illustrious in Germany long before the
+Frankish conquest, was already established in Gaul for two centuries on
+its Salic domains of Auvergne, which it held from the sword of one of
+its own ancestors, a leude of Clovis--"
+
+"Lower your tone, monsieur! Do not oblige me to remind you that Colonel
+Plouernel, your brother, is one of the military chiefs of the rebels who
+have risen in arms against the Church and the Crown."
+
+The colloquy was interrupted at this point by the arrival of a page who
+hurried to announce to the Cardinal the entry of the Queen into the
+cloister.
+
+Leaving Count Neroweg under the stigma of insinuated treason, the
+prelate stepped down from his litter in order to hasten to the Queen's
+side and render her his homage. Catherine De Medici was then in her
+fiftieth year. Not now was she, as on that fateful January 21, 1535,
+merely a Princess, and the young butt of the arrows of the Duchess of
+Etampes. Since then, Francis I had died and had been succeeded to the
+throne by her husband as Henry II, who, dying later from the
+consequences of an accident at a tourney, left her Queen
+Regent--absolute monarch. In point of appearance also Catherine De
+Medici was now her complete self. She preserved the traces of her
+youthful beauty. A slight corpulence impaired in nothing the majesty of
+her stature. Her shoulders, arms and hands--all of a dazzling
+whiteness--would, thanks to the perfection of their lines, have
+presented a noble model for a sculptor. Her hair preserved its pristine
+blackness, and was on this evening covered by the hood of a damask
+mantle, violet like her trailing robe, which exposed a front of brass.
+Cunning, perfidy, cruelty, were stamped upon her striking countenance.
+Catherine De Medici leaned upon the arm of her lover, the Cardinal of
+Lorraine, and entered the abbey, followed by her maids of honor, a bevy
+of ravishing young girls.
+
+The maids of honor of Catherine De Medici indulged in these days, and by
+express orders of their mistress, in the strangest of doings. The
+ironical title was given them of the "Queen's Flying Squadron." Indeed,
+according as her policy might require, Catherine De Medici commanded
+her maids of honor to prostitute themselves and take for their lovers
+the young seigneurs whom she wished to attract to her party, or whose
+secrets she wished to fathom. Occasionally the Queen even pointed out to
+her nymphs such court folks as she wished to be rid of. In such
+instances, Rene, the court perfumer, prepared the most subtle poisons
+and the surest to boot, wherewith the young maids impregnated the gloves
+of their lovers, or the petals of a flower, or smelling boxes, or the
+sugar plums which they offered to the victims designated to them. It was
+a customary saying of Catherine De Medici to her new female recruits:
+"My little one, you are free to worship at the shrine of Diana, or at
+that of Venus, but if you sacrifice to the little god Cupid, have an eye
+to the breadth of your waist."[50]
+
+After supper the Cardinal of Lorraine remained alone with the Queen. The
+maids of honor entertained themselves in a chamber adjoining the royal
+apartment. There were four of them, each of a different type of beauty.
+The youngest was eighteen years of age. A veneer of grace and elegance
+concealed the precocious degradation of the four beauties. They were
+superbly dressed. Catherine De Medici loved luxury; on their travels the
+members of her suite took with them, laden in trunks strapped to the
+backs of mules, complete outfits of splendid apparel. One of the maids
+of honor, Blanche of Verceil, was temporarily absent. Diana of
+Sauveterre, the senior of the Queen's squadron, was a white and pink
+beauty of the blonde type. She wore a blue waist ornamented with open
+gold lace-work; her coif, made of white taffeta and surmounted with
+little curled feathers of blue and silver, marked with its point the
+middle of her forehead, whence, widening in two rounded wings to either
+side over her temples, it exposed an opulent growth of blonde hair
+combed back from the roots. Clorinde of Vaucernay, a dainty little
+creature with black hair and blue eyes, was clad in a waist and skirt of
+pale yellow damask threaded with silver; her bonnet, made of the same
+material, was embroidered with pearls. Finally, Anna Bell, the youngest
+and most beautiful of all, seemed to unite in her single person the
+different charms of the other maids of honor. Elegant of stature and
+with a skin of dazzling white, her thick light-brown hair contrasted
+marvelously with her eye-brows, jet-black like the long eyelashes which
+partly veiled her large, soft, brown eyes. The maid's rose-colored satin
+coat fell in graceful folds upon her robe of white satin. Her pink
+bonnet was surmounted by little white frizzled feathers. Anna Bell
+seemed to be in a mood of profound melancholy. Seated slightly apart
+from her companions, with her elbows leaning on a window that opened
+upon the enclosure of the abbey, she dreamily contemplated the starry
+sky, lending but an absentminded attention to the conversation of her
+sister maids of honor.
+
+"Did I understand you to say there were philters that could make men
+amorous?" asked Clorinde of Vaucernay.
+
+"Yes, indeed," replied Diana of Sauveterre. "The effectiveness of
+certain philters is indisputable. In support of what I say I shall quote
+Madam Noirmoutier. She succeeded in pouring a few drops of a certain
+liquid into Monsieur Langeais's glass. Before the repast was over, the
+young seigneur was crazy in love with her."
+
+"And yet there are people who remain incredulous concerning the efficacy
+of love potions," returned the first speaker. "What about you, Anna
+Bell, are you among the unbelievers?"
+
+"Sincere love is the only philter that can effect prodigies," Anna Bell
+sighed as she answered.
+
+At that moment Blanche of Verceil joined her companions. Hers was a
+masculine, brown-complexioned and tall type of beauty. The maid's
+abundant black hair and thick eyebrows would have imparted the stamp of
+harshness to her face were it not for the smile of merry raillery that
+habitually flitted over her cherry-red lips, which were accentuated by a
+light-brown down. She held in her hand several sheets of paper, and said
+gaily to her companions:
+
+"I have come to share with you, my darlings, a bit of good luck that has
+befallen me."
+
+"Good! Distribute your good things," cried Diana of Sauveterre.
+
+"This morning, just as we were mounting our horses," began Blanche of
+Verceil, "a page arrived from Paris, sent to me by my dear Brissac. The
+page brought me sugar plums, fresh flowers wonderfully preserved, and a
+letter full of love. But that is not all. The letter, which I could not
+read until a few minutes ago, contained a treasure--an inestimable
+treasure--the newest _pasquils_, the most daring and most biting that
+have yet appeared! They are a true intellectual treat."
+
+"What a windfall! And against whom are they directed?" asked Diana of
+Sauveterre.
+
+"Innocent creature that you are!" Blanche of Verceil returned. "Against
+whom can they be written if not against the Queen, against the Cardinal,
+against the court, and against the maids of honor of the Queen's 'Flying
+Squadron'? It is all of us who are the butts of the satirists."
+
+"Those vicious people treat us with scant courtesy," exclaimed the
+black-haired Clorinde of Vaucernay. "But, at any rate, we are sung in
+superb and royal company. By Venus and Cupid, we should feel proud."
+
+"Come, Blanche, read us the verses," Diana of Sauveterre suggested. "The
+Queen may send for us any moment before she retires."
+
+Instead of complying at once with Diana's request, Blanche of Verceil
+pointed to Anna Bell, who remained in silent abstraction, and in a low
+voice said to her companions: "Decidedly, the little one is in love. Her
+ears do not prick up at the sound of that tickling word _pasquil_--a
+divine tid-bit of wit and wickedness the salt of which is worth a
+hundred fold, a thousand fold more than all the sugar of the candies."
+
+"I wager she is dreaming awake of the German Prince of whom she speaks
+in her slumbers. How indiscreet sleep is! Poor thing, she thinks her
+secret is well kept," rejoined Clorinde of Vaucernay.
+
+"Blanche, the pasquils," again cried Diana, impatiently. "I burn with
+curiosity to hear them."
+
+"Honor to whom honor is due. We shall commence with our good dame the
+Queen;" and with these words Blanche read:
+
+    "People ask, What's the resemblance
+    'Tween Catherine and Jesebel:
+    One, the latter, ruined Israel,
+    And the former ruins France;
+    Extreme malice marked the latter,
+    Malice's self the former is;
+    Finally, the judgment fell
+    Of a Providence divine
+    Caused the dogs to eat up Jesebel,
+    While the carcass rank of Catherine
+    In this point doth differ much:
+    It not even the dogs will munch."[51]
+
+The maids of honor broke out into peals of laughter. Anna Bell, still
+pensively seated apart at the open casement, let her eyes wander over
+space, a stranger to the hilarity of her companions. She paid no
+attention to the reading of the verses.
+
+"You will yet see, in the event of our good Dame Catherine's being taken
+unawares and swallowing some of the sugar plums destined for her
+victims, that the rascally dogs may fear the remains of our venerable
+sovereign are poisoned--and will run away from her carcass," said
+Clorinde of Vaucernay.
+
+"That pasquil should be read to the Queen. If she is in a good humor she
+will have a good laugh over it," put in Diana of Sauveterre.
+
+"Indeed, few things amuse her more than bold and witty verses,"
+acquiesced Blanche. "Do you remember how, when she read the 'Marvelous
+Discourses' from the satirical pen of the famous printer Robert
+Estienne, the good dame laughed heartily and said: 'There is some truth
+in that! But they do not know it all--how would it be if they were more
+fully posted!'[52] Now, listen. After the Queen, Monsieur the Cardinal,
+that is a matter of course. He is supposed to be dead--they wish he
+were--that also is natural. Here is his epitaph written in advance:
+
+    "The Cardinal, who, in his hours of life
+      Kept heaven, sea and earth all seething o'er,
+    In hell now carries on his furious strife,
+      And 'mong the damned, as erst 'mong us makes war.
+
+    "Why is it that upon his tomb is showered
+      The holy water in such rare profusion?
+    It is that there the torch of war lies lowered,
+      And all fear lest it flare to new confusion."[53]
+
+"Poor Monsieur Cardinal!" exclaimed Diana of Sauveterre. "What a
+villainous calumny! He, such a poltroon as he, for a Guise--he is the
+most craven of all cravens--to compare him with a bolt of war!"
+
+"No, not a bolt, but a torch," Blanche corrected. "He rests satisfied
+with holding the torch of war, like Madam Gondi, the governess of the
+royal Princes and Princesses, held the torch of Venus to light the
+amours of the late King Henry II, whose worthy go-between, or, to speak
+more plainly, whose Cyprian, she was."
+
+"As for me," said Clorinde of Vaucernay, "I highly commend the Queen for
+having placed, as governess over her children, her own husband's
+go-between. It is a sort of hereditary office which can not be entrusted
+to hands too worthy, and should be perpetuated in titled families."
+
+"Accordingly," said Blanche, "Gondi, faithful to the duties of her
+Cyprian employment, took charge of carrying the first love letter from
+Mademoiselle Margot[54] to young Henry of Guise, whom we are about to
+meet in the army of Marshal Tavannes. Hence evil tongues are saying: 'In
+these days, it is not the men who fall on their knees before the women,
+but the women who fall on their knees before the men and entreat them
+for amorous mercy.'"[55]
+
+"Nothing wonderful in that!" replied Clorinde. "Is it not for a Queen to
+take the first step towards her subjects? What are we? Queens. What are
+the men? Our subjects. Besides that, Henry of Guise is so handsome, so
+brave, so amorous! Although he is barely eighteen years old, all the
+women are crazy over him--I first of all. My arms are open to him."
+
+"Oh, Clorinde! If Biron were to hear you!" cried Diana of Sauveterre.
+
+"He has heard me," answered Clorinde. "He knows that in pledging
+constancy, exception is always implied for an encounter with Henry of
+Guise. But let us hear the other pasquils, Blanche!"
+
+"The next one," announced Blanche, "is piquant. It alludes to the new
+custom that the Queen has borrowed from Spain. It alludes to the title
+of _Majesty_ that she wishes to be addressed by, as well as her
+children:
+
+    "The Kingdom of France, to perdition while lagging,
+    Has seized from the Spaniard his heathenish bragging:
+    It rigs up a mortal in godhead's travesty,
+    And when his estate with hypocrisy's smelling,
+    I plainly can see, and without any telling,
+    Our Majesty's booked--to be stript of majesty."[56]
+
+"That last line is humorous," laughed Clorinde. "'Our Majesty's
+booked--to be stript of majesty.'"
+
+"For want of the thing we take the name--that is enough to impose upon
+the fools," said Diana of Sauveterre.
+
+Blanche pointed to their companion who was still seated by the window,
+now with her forehead resting on her hands, and said: "Look at Anna
+Bell. In what black melancholy is she plunged?"
+
+"To the devil with melancholy!" answered Diana. "One has to fall in love
+with some German Prince in order to look so pitiful!"
+
+"Who may the Prince Charming be?" Blanche inquired. "We know nothing of
+the secrets of that languishing maid, except a few words uttered by her
+in her sleep--'Prince--Germany!--Germany!--My heart is all yours. Alas,
+my love can not be shared.'"
+
+"Can Anna Bell be German?" asked Clorinde.
+
+"Ask our good Dame Catherine about that. She is no doubt acquainted with
+the mystery of Anna Bell's birth, and may enlighten you on what you want
+to know. As for me, I know nothing about it."
+
+"The German Prince has turned her head and made her forget poor Solange
+altogether," said Clorinde.
+
+"The most famous preachers, among them Burning-Fire and Fra Herve the
+Cordelier, failed to draw the Marquis of Solange back to the fold of the
+Church. Anna Bell undertook his conversion, and, by grace from above--or
+from below--by virtue of her blue eyes or of her charming hips, the
+Huguenot became an ardent Catholic."
+
+"But to whom does he render his devotions?" asked Clorinde, meaningly.
+"To the Church, or to the chapel of our little friend?" The maids of
+honor laughed uproariously and Clorinde continued: "But let us return to
+our pasquils."
+
+"This one," resumed Blanche of Verceil, "is odd on account of its
+form--and the climax is droll. Judge for yourselves:
+
+    "The poor people endure everything;
+    The men-at-arms ravage everything;
+    The Holy Church pensions everything;
+    The favorites demand everything;
+    The Cardinal grants everything;
+    The Parliament registers everything;
+    The Chancellor seals everything;
+    The Queen-Mother runs everything;
+    And only the Devil laughs at everything;
+    Because the Devil will take everything."[57]
+
+The loud hilarity of the maids of honor, whom the wind-up of the last
+pasquil amused intensely, finally attracted the attention of Anna Bell.
+Her face bore the impress of profound sadness; her eyes were moist.
+Fearing that she was the object of her companions' jests, the maid
+furtively wiped away her tears, stepped slowly towards the other young
+women, and let herself down beside Blanche of Verceil.
+
+"We are somewhat after the fashion of the devil--we laugh about
+everything," said Clorinde to her. "You alone, Anna Bell, among us all,
+are as sad as a wife who sees her husband return from a long voyage, or
+beholds her gallant depart for the wars. What is the reason of your
+despondency?"
+
+Anna Bell forced a smile, and answered: "Forget me, as the wife forgets
+her husband. To-day I feel in a sad humor."
+
+"The remembrance, perhaps, of a bad dream?" suggested Blanche of
+Verceil, ironically. "Or perhaps bad news from a handsome and absent
+friend?"
+
+"No, dear Blanche," replied Anna Bell, blushing, "I am affected only by
+a vague sorrow--without cause or object. Besides, as you are aware, I am
+not of a gay disposition."
+
+"Oh, God!" broke in Diana of Sauveterre, excitedly. "By the way of
+dreams, I must tell you I had a most frightful one last night. I saw our
+escort attacked by the Huguenot bandits called the Avengers of Israel."
+
+"Their chief is said to be a devilish one-eyed man, who attacks monks
+and priests by choice," said Blanche, "and, when he takes them prisoner,
+flays their skulls. He calls that raising them to the cardinalate,
+coifing them with the red cap!"
+
+"It is enough to make one shiver with terror. One hears nothing but
+reports of such atrocities," exclaimed Clorinde.
+
+"We need not fear that we shall fall into the hands of that reprobate,"
+said Diana reassuringly. "We have attended a special mass for the
+success of our journey."
+
+"I place but slight reliance upon the mass, my dear Diana, but a very
+strong one upon Count Neroweg of Plouernel, who commands our escort,"
+replied Blanche. "The Huguenot bandits will not dare to approach our
+armed squadrons and light cavalry. The saber is a better protection to
+us than the priest's cowl."
+
+"May God preserve us!" laughed Diana. "All the same, I would not regret
+undergoing a scare, or even running a certain degree of risk of being
+carried off, together with the accessory consequences--anything to see
+the frightened face of the Cardinal, who is as lily-livered as a hare."
+
+"To tell the truth, I do not understand these charges of cowardice that
+you fling at the Cardinal, after so many proofs of valor given by him,"
+said Blanche.
+
+Diana of Sauveterre burst out laughing again. "You must be joking," she
+said, "when you speak of the 'bravery' of the Cardinal, and of the
+'proofs of valor' given by him."
+
+"No, indeed, my dear Diana," replied Blanche. "I am talking seriously.
+First of all, did he not carry bravery to the point of charging old
+Diana of Poitiers, as he would have done a citadel? Did he not
+accomplish another exploit in passing from the arms of Diana into those
+of our good Queen Catherine, though she be loaded with years and
+corpulence? Besides, we know," she added with a sinister smile, "that to
+play the gallant with Catherine is at times to court death. These are
+the reasons why I look upon the Cardinal as a Caesar."
+
+"You would be talking to the point, my dear, if, instead of braving the
+one-eyed man, who has such a reputation for ferocity, the Cardinal were
+now to turn to the assault of some one-eyed woman," said Clorinde of
+Vaucernay.
+
+"If heaven is just," said Diana, "it will yet place the Huguenot bandit
+face to face with the Cordelier Herve. Then would we see terrible
+things. The monk commands a company of Catholics, all desperate men. For
+arms he has a chaplet, the beads of which are arquebus balls, and a
+heavy iron crucifix which he uses for a mace. All heretics who fall into
+the hands of the troop of Fra Herve are put to death with all manner of
+refined tortures, whether they be men or women, old men or children. But
+do let us return to our pasquils."
+
+"The best are still to come. They are the cleverest and drollest, but
+they are in prose;" and Blanche continued reading:
+
+              "NEW WORKS BELONGING TO THE COURT LIBRARY.
+
+     "The _Pot-pourri of the Affairs of France_, translated from the
+     Italian into French by the Queen of France.
+
+     "The _General Goslings' Record_, by the Cardinal of Bourbon. A
+     collection of racy stories.
+
+     "The _History of Ganymede_, by the Duke of Anjou, the Queen's
+     favorite son."
+
+"The dear Prince surely did not write that book without a collaborator,"
+cried Diana of Sauveterre, laughing. "I wager the lovely Odet, the son
+of Count Neroweg of Plouernel, his aide-de-camp, must have helped the
+Duke of Anjou in his work. The two youngsters have become inseparable,
+day--and night!"
+
+"_O, Italiam! Italiam!_ O, Italy, the rival of Gomorrah and of Lesbos!"
+exclaimed Clorinde, laughing boisterously.
+
+"You speak Latin, my dear?" asked Diana, amused.
+
+"Simply out of shame," replied Clorinde, "in order not to frighten the
+modesty of the maids of honor, my pretty chickens."
+
+"I have a horror of the little hermaphrodites," agreed Blanche. "They
+are decked out like women--gaudy ruffles, jewelry in their ears, fans in
+their hands! May Venus protect us from the reign of those favorites! May
+the fires of hell consume the popinjays! But to proceed with the
+pasquil. Attention, my dears:
+
+     "_Singular Treatise on Incest_, by Monsignor the Archbishop of
+     Lyons, recently published and dedicated to Mademoiselle Grisolles,
+     his sister. A pretty couple!
+
+"Monsignor Archbishop studies reserved cases--in the confessional, in
+order to put them into practice.
+
+     "_Sermons_, by the reverend Father Burning-Fire, faithfully
+     compiled by the street-porters of Paris.
+
+     "_The Perfect Pig_, by Monsieur Villequier, revised, corrected and
+     considerably enlarged by Madam Villequier. Boar and sow!"
+
+The maids of honor roared out aloud as they heard the burlesque title,
+and they repeated in chorus--"The Perfect Pig!"[58]
+
+"Now comes the last and best," proceeded Blanche. "We are again the
+theme, together with our good Dame Catherine. Ours the honors, as ever.
+Meditate upon these dainties:
+
+                    "MANIFESTO OF THE COURT LADIES.
+
+     "_Be it known to all by these presents that the Court Ladies have
+     no less repentance than sins, as appears from the following
+     lamentations_.
+
+                 "CATHERINE DE MEDICI, THE KING'S MOTHER.
+
+     "My God, my heart, feeling the approach of death, apprehends Thy
+     wrath and my eternal damnation when I consider how many sins I have
+     committed, as well with my body as through the violent death of
+     others, even of near relatives--all in order to reign. How I have
+     raised my children in vice, blasphemy and perfidy, and my daughters
+     in unchaste licence, to the point of tolerating and even
+     authorizing a brothel at my Court. France made me what I am. I
+     unmake her all I can. With the good King David I say--_Tibi soli
+     peccavi_."[59]
+
+"That is carrying fiction to great lengths," laughed Diana of
+Sauveterre. "I do not believe our good Dame Catherine is capable of
+repenting any of the things laid to her door by the malignant
+pasquil--neither her debaucheries nor any of her other evil
+deeds--unchastities or assassinations."
+
+"The word 'brothel' is rather impertinent when applied to us!" Clorinde
+exclaimed. "They should have said, like our dear Rabelais, 'an Abbey of
+Thalamia,' or 'a Monastery of Cyprus, of which the Queen is the Mother
+Abbess.' That would have been elegant--without doing violence to the
+truth. A 'brothel'--fie! fie! Nasty word! We are the priestesses of
+Venus--only that!"
+
+"I was not aware, dearest, that you had become a model of prudishness!"
+returned Blanche of Verceil with exquisite mockery. "When you ply a
+trade you must be willing to accept its name, and be indifferent to the
+word with which it is designated;" and she proceeded to read:
+
+                  "MANIFESTO OF THE MAIDS OF HONOR.
+
+     "Oh! Oh! Oh! My God! What is to become of us, Lord! Oh, what will
+     be of us, if Thou dost not extend to us Thy vast, very vast mercy!
+     We cry out to Thee in a loud voice that it may please Thee to
+     forgive us the many carnal sins we have committed with Kings,
+     Cardinals, Princes, knights, abbots, preachers, poets, musicians
+     and all manner of other folks of all conditions, trades and
+     quality, down to muleteers, pages and lackeys, and even further
+     down--people corroded with disease and soaked in preservatives!
+     Therefore do we say with the good Madam Villequier: 'Oh, Lord,
+     mercy! Grant us mercy! And if we can not find a husband, let us
+     join the Order of the Magdalens!'
+
+     "Done at Chercheau, voyage to Nerac.
+
+     "_Signed_, CUCUFIN.
+
+     "(With the permission of Monsignor the Archbishop of Lyons.)"[60]
+
+Such was the cynicism and moral turpitude of the wretched girls,
+corrupted and gangrened to the core as they were since early childhood
+by the perversions of an infamous court and the example as well as the
+advice of Catherine De Medici, that this scorching satire, more than any
+of the other pasquils, provoked the boundless hilarity of the "Flying
+Squadron." All sense of decorum was blotted out. Anna Bell alone blushed
+and dropped her eyes.
+
+The gay guffaws of the beautiful sinners were interrupted by the solemn
+entrance of their governess.
+
+"Silence!" she commanded. "Silence, young ladies! Her Majesty is close
+by, in conference with Monseigneur the Cardinal."
+
+"Oh, dear Countess!" answered Blanche of Verceil, endeavoring to smother
+the outbursts of her laughter. "If you only knew what a wicked pasquil
+we have just read! According to the author it would seem that we emerge
+from our dormitory like the goddess Truth out of her fountain, or with
+as scant clothing on our limbs as Madam Eve in her paradise."
+
+"Less noise, you crazy lasses! Less noise!" ordered the governess; and
+addressing Anna Bell: "Come, dearest, the Queen wishes to have a talk
+with you after her conference with his Excellency the Cardinal. You are
+to wait for her summons in a cabinet, which is separated from the
+Queen's apartment by the little corridor. When you hear her bell ring
+three times, the usual summons, you are to go in."
+
+Anna Bell went out with the governess, leaving her lightheaded and
+lighthearted companions in the room laughing and exchanging witticisms
+upon the pasquils.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+ANNA BELL.
+
+
+Catherine De Medici and Cardinal Charles of Lorraine were in the midst
+of a conversation that started immediately after supper. The prelate,
+complaisant, sly and attentive to the slightest word of the Italian
+woman, showed himself alternately reserved and familiar, according to
+the turn that the conversation took. The Queen, on the other hand,
+intent, not so much upon what the retainer of the Guises said, as upon
+fathoming what he suppressed, at once hated and feared him, and sought
+to surprise upon his face the hidden secrets of his thoughts. Both the
+one and the other stood on their guard, the two accomplices in intrigue
+and crime vying with each other in dissimulation and perfidy, the
+Italian woman crafty, the prelate cautious.
+
+"Monsignor Cardinal," remarked Catherine De Medici with a touch of irony
+in her tone, "you remind me at this moment--you must excuse the
+comparison, I am a huntress you know--"
+
+"Your Majesty unites all the deities--Juno on her throne, Diana in the
+woods, Venus in her temple of Cytheria--"
+
+"Mercy, Monsignor Cardinal, let us drop those mythological queens. They
+are old, they have lived their time--Diana, with the rest of them; they
+now inhabit the empyrean."
+
+The pointed allusion to his amours with old Diana of Poitiers, Duchess
+of Valentinois, stung the haughty prelate to the quick. He meant to give
+tit for tat, and, in his turn hinting at his present amours with the
+Queen herself, he replied:
+
+"I perceive, madam, that the death of the Duchess of Valentinois has not
+yet disarmed your jealousy. And yet, I feel hope re-rising in my
+heart--"
+
+Catherine De Medici had yielded herself to the prelate out of political
+calculation, the same as he himself had laid siege to her out of
+political ambition. The Italian woman affected not to have understood
+the Cardinal's hint at their intimate relations, and darting upon him
+her viper's glance, proceeded:
+
+"As I was saying, monsignor, when I begged you to excuse a comparison
+which I borrow from falconry, your oratorical circumlocutions remind me
+of a falcon's evolutions when he rises in the air to swoop down upon his
+prey. I have been searching through the mists of your discourse for the
+prey you are in pursuit of, and am unable to discover it. You induced me
+to join my son of Anjou in the army with the view of reviving the
+spirits of the Catholic chiefs. Meseems my faithful subjects should be
+sufficiently encouraged by the deaths of the Duke of Deux-Ponts, of
+Monsieur Conde, and of Dandelot, the brother of Coligny,--three of the
+most prominent chiefs of the Huguenot party, and all three carried off
+within a month. These are all fortunate events."[61]
+
+"We see God's hand in that, madam," observed the Cardinal. "These three
+sudden deaths are providential. They are utterances from God."
+
+"'Providential,' as you say Monsignor Cardinal," pursued the Queen.
+"Nevertheless, the Huguenots are pushing the campaign with great vigor,
+while the Catholic chiefs are flagging. You thought my presence at the
+camp of Roche-la-Belle would exert a favorable influence upon the fate
+of the campaign. Accordingly, I am on the way to join our army. Now,
+however, you indicate to me that this journey might lead to unexpected
+discoveries. You even dropped the word 'treason.' Once more I must say
+to you, Monsignor Cardinal, I see in all this the evolutions of the
+falcon, but not yet the prey that it threatens. In short, if there is
+treason, tell me where it lies. If there is a traitor, name him. Speak
+out plainly."
+
+"Very well, madam. There is a plot concocted by Marshal Tavannes. The
+revelation seems to cause your Majesty to start. I beg your leave to go
+into the details of the affair. You will then be instructed upon its
+purpose."
+
+"Monsignor Cardinal, no act of treason can surprise me. All I care to
+understand is the cause that brings the treason about. Please continue
+your revelations."
+
+"I have it from good authority that Marshal Tavannes is negotiating with
+Monsieur Coligny. In present circumstances, negotiations smack of
+treason."
+
+"And what do you presume, Monsignor Cardinal, is the purpose of the
+negotiations between Tavannes and Coligny?"
+
+"To induce your Majesty's son, the Duke of Anjou, to embrace the
+Reformation and join the Huguenots."
+
+"Is my son of Anjou supposed to be implicated in the plot? That, indeed,
+would mightily surprise me."
+
+"Yes, madam. The Emperor of Germany and Monsieur Coligny have promised
+to the Duke of Anjou, in case he consents to go over to the reformers,
+the sovereignty of the Low Countries, of Saintonge and of Poitou. They
+hope to drive the young Prince into open revolt against his reigning
+brother, his Majesty Charles IX."
+
+"Monsignor Cardinal, your insinuations, affecting as they do a son of
+the royal house of France, are of so grave a nature that I am bound to
+presume you have, ready at hand, the proofs of the plot which you are
+revealing to me. I demand that you produce the proofs instantly."
+
+"I am at the orders of my Queen. I now hasten to spread before your
+Majesty's eyes the correspondence relating to the plot. Here is a letter
+from his Majesty Philip II of Spain, who was the first to get wind of
+the scheme, through one of his agents in the Low Countries.
+Furthermore, here are the written propositions from his Catholic
+Majesty and the Holy Father for common action with your Majesty against
+the Huguenot rebellion and heresy."
+
+"What are the propositions of his Catholic Majesty and venerated
+Pontiff?"
+
+"King Philip II and our Holy Father Pius V offer to your Majesty,
+besides the five thousand Walloon and Italian soldiers that now
+reinforce our army, a new corps of six thousand men--under the condition
+that your Majesty remove Marshal Tavannes and place the supreme command
+of the troops in the hands of the Duke of Alva."
+
+"Accordingly," replied Catherine De Medici, fixing her eyes upon the
+Cardinal, "our two allies, His Holiness and King Philip II demand that
+the Duke of Alva, a Spanish general, be the commandant in chief of the
+French forces?"
+
+"That is their condition, madam. But it is also agreed that the Duke of
+Alva is to exercise a nominal command only, and that the military
+operations shall be conducted by my brother of Aumale and my nephew
+Henry of Guise, who are to be his immediate subalterns."
+
+Catherine De Medici remained impassive, betraying neither astonishment
+nor anger at the proposition to deliver the command of the French royal
+troops to the Duke of Alva, the pestiferous menial of Philip II, and to
+strengthen the Duke's hand with the support of the brother and the
+nephew of the prelate. The Queen seemed to reflect. After a short pause
+she said to the Cardinal:
+
+"The proposition is not inacceptable. It may serve as the basis for some
+combination that we may offer later."
+
+Despite his self-control, the Cardinal's face betrayed his secret joy.
+The Queen seemed not to notice it, and proceeded:
+
+"The first thing to do would then be to withdraw my son of Anjou from
+the command of the army."
+
+"The principal thing to do, madam, would be to remonstrate with the
+young Prince, and to separate him from his present evil advisers."
+
+"That, indeed, would be the wisest course to pursue, if that plot
+exists, as I very much fear it can not be doubted in sight of the proofs
+you have presented to me. And yet, I must be frank to confess, I feel
+some repugnance against placing the Duke of Alva at the head of our
+army. I would be afraid, above all, of displeasing the other military
+chiefs and high dignitaries of our court. The measure will seem an
+outrage to them."
+
+"I have the honor of reminding your Majesty that, in that case, my
+brother and my nephew will be joined to the Duke of Alva."
+
+"You may feel certain, Monsignor Cardinal, that, without the express
+condition of Messieurs of Aumale and Guise being joined to the Spanish
+generalissimo, I would not for a moment have lent an ear to the scheme."
+
+Thrown off the scent by the Queen, the prelate answered
+enthusiastically:
+
+"Oh, madam, I swear to God the throne has not a more faithful supporter
+than the house of Guise."
+
+"The fraud! The scamp!" said the Italian woman to herself. "I have
+probed his thoughts! I scent his treason! But I am compelled to conceal
+my feelings and to humor his family, however heartily I abhor it."
+
+One of the Queen's pages, posted outside the door of the apartment and
+authorized at certain emergencies of the service to enter the Queen's
+cabinet without being called, parted the portieres, and bowing
+respectfully, said:
+
+"Madam, the Count of La Riviere, captain of the guards of the Duke of
+Anjou, has just arrived from camp, and requests to be introduced to your
+Majesty immediately."
+
+"Bring him in," answered Catherine De Medici. And as the page was about
+to withdraw, she added: "Should Monsieur Gondi arrive this evening, or
+even later in the night, let me be notified without delay."
+
+The page bowed a second time, and withdrew. The Queen's last words
+seemed to cause the Cardinal some uneasiness. He asked with surprise:
+
+"Does madam expect Monsieur Gondi?"
+
+"Gondi must have received a letter from me at Poitiers, in which I
+ordered him to meet me at the camp of my son, instead of pursuing his
+route to Paris."
+
+The Guisard had not quite recovered from his surprise when the Count of
+La Riviere, captain of the guards of the Duke of Anjou, was ushered in
+by the page. Catherine De Medici said to the prelate with a sweet smile:
+
+"We shall see each other again to-night, Monsignor Cardinal. I shall
+need the advice of my friends in these sad complications. I shall want
+yours."
+
+Charles of Lorraine understood that he was expected to withdraw; he
+bowed respectfully to the Queen and left the apartment, a prey to
+racking apprehensions.
+
+The captain of the guards of the Duke of Anjou stepped forward, and
+presenting a letter to Catherine De Medici, said:
+
+"Madam, my master ordered me to place this letter in your Majesty's own
+hands."
+
+"Is my son's health good?" inquired the Queen, taking the missive. "What
+is the news in the army?"
+
+"My master is in admirable health, madam. Yesterday there was a skirmish
+of vanguards between us and the Huguenots. The affair was of little
+importance--only a few men killed on either side."
+
+Catherine broke the seal on the letter. As her eyes ran over its
+contents, her face, which at first was rigid with apprehension,
+gradually relaxed, and reflected gladness and profound satisfaction.
+
+"The Guisard," she muttered to herself, "dared accuse my son of
+negotiating with Admiral Coligny. The infamous calumniator!" And turning
+to her son's ambassador: "My son informs me of your plan, monsieur. You
+wish to serve God, the King and France. Your arm and your heart are at
+our disposal?"
+
+"Madam, I am anxious to emulate Monsieur Montesquiou--and to rid the
+King of one of his most dangerous enemies."
+
+"You will surpass Monsieur Montesquiou if you succeed! One Coligny is
+worth ten Condes. But are you sure of the man whom my son mentions?"
+
+"The man swore by his soul that he would not falter. He received six
+thousand livres on account of the fifty thousand promised to him. The
+rest is not to be paid until the thing is done. That is our guarantee."
+
+"Provided he is not assailed with some silly qualms of conscience. But
+how did you become acquainted with the fellow?"
+
+"Yesterday, as I just had the honor of advising your Majesty, there was
+a skirmish at our outposts. Admiral Coligny charged in person, and
+Dominic, that is the name of the man in question, led one of his
+master's relay horses by the reins--"
+
+"He is, then, in the service of Monsieur Coligny?"
+
+"Yes, madam; since infancy he has been attached to the Admiral's house.
+During the engagement he was separated from him. Two of our armed men
+were on the point of despatching Dominic, as we despatch all Huguenots,
+when, seeing me, he cried out 'Quarter!' 'Who are you?' I asked him. 'I
+am a servant of Monsieur the Admiral,' he answered. It suddenly flashed
+through my mind what profit we could draw from the man. Relying upon
+attaching him to me by the bonds of gratitude, I granted him his life.
+Later the proposition was made to him of causing the Admiral to drink a
+potion that we would furnish him with, and of a rich reward for
+himself."
+
+"If your prisoner agreed readily to all," said the Queen, raising her
+head, "there is reason to suspect him."
+
+"On the contrary, madam, he hesitated long. It was the magnitude of the
+promised sum that silenced his scruples. My master placed a certain
+powder in his hands and instucted him how to use it. The thing may be
+considered done."
+
+"How is our man to explain his return to the heretic camp?"
+
+"Very easily, madam. He will say that he was made a prisoner by us and
+escaped. The Admiral will not suspect a servant who was raised in his
+house."
+
+"I hardly dare hope for success! In one month we have been rid of three
+enemies--the Duke of Deux-Ponts, Conde and Dandelot. Now it will be
+Coligny's turn! When is the man to leave our camp and rejoin the
+Huguenots?"
+
+"This very night."
+
+"Accordingly--to-morrow--"
+
+"If it shall please God, madam, our holy Church and the kingdom will
+have triumphed over a redoubtable enemy."
+
+"How I wish it were to-morrow!" exclaimed Catherine De Medici in a
+hollow voice, as the page, reappearing at the portiere, announced:
+
+"Madam, Monsieur Gondi and another rider are alighting from their
+horses. Obedient to your Majesty's orders I have hastened to give you
+the news, and await your orders."
+
+"Summon Gondi to me," said the Italian woman; and addressing the Count
+of La Riviere: "Go and take rest, monsieur; you may depart early in the
+morning; you shall have a letter from me for my son. Whether the scheme
+succeed or not, we shall reward your zeal for the triumph of the
+Catholic faith and the service of the King--two sacred interests."
+
+"Will your Majesty allow me to remind her that Maurevert has just
+received the necklace of the Order of St. Michael for having put the
+Huguenot captain, Monsieur Mouy to death, after having penetrated into
+the camp of the reformers under the pretext that he renounced the
+Catholic faith and embraced the Reformation? I would wish to be the
+object of a like distinction."
+
+"Monsieur La Riviere, you shall be as satisfied with us as we are with
+you. Assassination, committed in the service of the King, deserves to be
+rewarded. You shall be decorated Knight of the Order of St. Michael."
+
+The captain of the guards of the Duke of Anjou saluted the Queen and
+withdrew as Monsieur Gondi entered in traveling costume. This Italian
+shared with his countryman Birago the confidence of Catherine De Medici.
+Delighted, the Queen took two steps towards Gondi, saying with impatient
+curiosity:
+
+"What tidings from Bayonne?"
+
+"Madam, I do not come alone. I bring with me the reverend Father
+Lefevre, one of the luminaries of the faith, a pupil and disciple of the
+celebrated Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Order of Jesuits."
+
+"But what is the result of your particular mission?"
+
+"At the very first words with which I broached the matter to the Duke of
+Alva, he stopped me, saying: 'Monsieur Gondi, the reverend Father
+Lefevre is just about to proceed to the Queen for the purpose of
+considering with her the matter that brings you here. He has received
+the instructions of my master and of the Holy Father. He will disclose
+those instructions to the Queen.' It was impossible for me to draw
+anything further from the Duke of Alva. Accordingly, I had no choice but
+to return, madam, and to bring Father Lefevre to you."
+
+"This is strange. What sort of a man is the Jesuit?"
+
+"An impenetrable man. You can neither divine his thoughts, nor pick the
+lock of his secrets. You may judge for yourself when you shall have him
+before you. He requests an audience this very evening."
+
+"And my daughter? What news from my poor Elizabeth?"
+
+"The health of the Queen of Spain declines steadily, madam. She no
+longer leaves her bed."
+
+"Alas, Gondi, we one of these days shall hear that Philip II has
+poisoned my daughter, as we learned last year that he caused his own
+son, Don Carlos, to be put to death. Oh, Philip! Thou crowned monk! Thou
+vampire that feedst on human blood!" And after a short pause: "Fetch me
+the Jesuit."
+
+Gondi left and returned almost immediately, accompanied by the one-time
+friend of Christian the printer. The Queen made a sign to Gondi to be
+left alone with the Jesuit.
+
+"You are Father Lefevre, and belong to the Society of Jesus? I
+understand that our Holy Father and the King of Spain have charged you
+with a mission to me. Speak, I am listening."
+
+"Madam, the Holy Father and his Majesty Philip II are very much
+displeased--with you. Deign to acquaint yourself with this letter from
+his Holiness."
+
+The Jesuit extracted from a silk wallet a schedule sealed with the
+pontifical seal, carried it respectfully to his lips, and handed it over
+to Catherine De Medici. The Queen broke the seal and read:
+
+     Madam and dearly beloved daughter:
+
+     In no way and for no reason whatever should you spare the enemies
+     of God. I have issued orders to the commander of my troops, the
+     Count of Santa Fiore, that _he cause all the Huguenots that may
+     fall into the hands of his soldiers to be_ KILLED ON THE SPOT.
+     Accordingly, no human considerations for persons or things should
+     induce you to spare the enemies of God, they never having spared
+     either God or yourself. Only through the complete extermination of
+     the heretics will the King be able to restore his noble kingdom to
+     the old religion. The felons must be put to just torture and death.
+
+     Receive, madam, our apostolic benediction.
+
+     PIUS.[62]
+
+After reading the apostolic schedule, Catherine De Medici placed it upon
+a table and proceeded:
+
+"I see, reverend Father, that both at Rome and Madrid I am charged with
+tolerance towards the Huguenots. I am blamed with prolonging the war.
+The two courts see in all this a political calculation on my part,
+whence it follows that if I continue to displease Rome and Madrid
+measures will be taken--"
+
+"The Holy Father, the vicar of God on earth, has the power to release
+subjects from obedience to their sovereign, if he falls into heresy,
+deals with the same, or tolerates it."
+
+"Proceed, reverend Father."
+
+"The confirmatory bull of his Holiness Paul IV is formal--the Pope of
+Rome, by virtue of his divine right, is vested with power to
+excommunicate, suspend and depose all Kings guilty of divine _lese
+majeste_, or tolerant toward that irremissible crime. After which, the
+throne being declared vacant, it devolves upon the first good
+Catholic--who make take possession."
+
+"That sounds like a threat, directed at my son Charles IX and at
+myself."
+
+"It is a paternal warning, madam."
+
+"In plain words, my son runs the risk of seeing himself deposed by the
+Pope."
+
+"A disagreeable possibility, madam."
+
+"Reverend Father, assuming the throne is declared vacant--by whom will
+our Holy Father have it filled? Surely not by a Bourbon, seeing the
+house of Bourbon is heretical. Consequently, the good Catholic Rome and
+Spain have in view probably is young Henry of Guise, the descendant of
+Charlemagne, according to the theory of the house of Lorraine."
+
+"That is a temporal question which does not concern me, madam. It is,
+however, a notable fact that young Henry of Guise, son of the martyr of
+Orleans, carries a name that is dear to all Catholics."
+
+"Accordingly, the purpose of your mission, reverend Father, is to convey
+a threat to me? But why blame me, a woman, with the slowness of the
+military operations against the Huguenots?"
+
+"It is believed, madam, that you would look with too much disfavor upon
+a chief who would insure speedy triumph to the Catholic armies, and that
+you deliberately hamper the military operations by inciting rivalry
+among the several captains and setting them at odds. The strategic
+mistake of allowing the Duke of Deux-Ponts to penetrate into the very
+heart of France and carry a reinforcement of troops to the Huguenots is
+laid to your door. The junction of the two army corps is now an
+accomplished fact."
+
+"The Duke of Deux-Ponts!" exclaimed Catherine De Medici with a sinister
+smile. "You do not seem to know what has befallen that heretic chief.
+But, before speaking of the miscreant, I wish to put you in condition to
+appreciate the facts concerning myself. I shall be frank--my interests
+command it."
+
+"Madam, I am ready to hear."
+
+"In order that you may have the key to my falsely interpreted conduct, I
+shall begin by making the following declaration to you--I have no
+religion! Does such an introduction, perchance, astonish or shock you?"
+
+"By no means."
+
+"Then, my reverend Father, we shall be able to understand each other.
+You justify--according to what is reported of your Order--tolerance for
+vice, provided appearances are saved. Now, then, I have no religion. It
+follows that I concern myself only with promoting my own ambition."
+
+"Frankness can not be carried further."
+
+"With the same outspokenness I shall add that I love power--to rule is
+life to me. I have been compared to Queen Brunhild. It is said I wink at
+precocious debauchery among my children with the view of unnerving and
+stupefying them. It is claimed I sow the seed of jealousy, intrigue and
+lechery among them."
+
+"Those things are said--and many more, and more grave, madam."
+
+"Some credence must be accorded to _hear say_, reverend Father. At
+least, in what concerns myself, people are rarely wide of the mark. But
+let me proceed. The religious wars have furnished me with the means of
+alternately cropping the crests, now with the aid of the ones, then with
+the aid of the others, of both the Catholic and the Protestant
+seigneurs, who, during my husband's reign, conceived the design of
+restoring their old feudal sovereignties. I still have the house of
+Guise to contend with, as Brunhild of old had the stewards of the palace
+on her hands. Thus I combated the Reformation, or gave comfort to the
+Huguenots against the Catholics, according as political exigencies
+dictated. At present I am well acquainted with the purposes of the
+Protestants, and I know how to conduct myself in order to annihilate
+them--when the moment shall have come to strike the decisive blow."
+
+"You have unfolded to me your theories, madam, but you have recited not
+a single act in support of your predilection for our holy Church. We
+require proofs."
+
+"Now let us pass to acts, reverend Father. A few minutes ago you
+mentioned the name of the Duke of Deux-Ponts, who hurried from Germany
+in aid of the Huguenots Conde, Coligny and his brother Dandelot."
+
+"The hydra-heads of the heresy, madam."
+
+"Well, reverend Father, already the hydra has three heads less. The Duke
+of Deux-Ponts is dead; Monsieur Dandelot is dead; the Prince of Conde is
+dead!"
+
+The Jesuit, though stupefied, contemplated Catherine De Medici
+challengingly.
+
+"Perhaps you would like to have some details concerning these great
+events," the imperturbable Queen pursued. "I shall satisfy your
+curiosity. The day following his junction with the Protestant army, the
+Duke of Deux-Ponts was poisoned. That is the word which is current. But
+you, reverend Father, and myself, look to facts, not words. The Duke of
+Deux-Ponts was poisoned with a cup of Spanish wine, that was poured out
+to him by a young beauty. Two days later, Dandelot, who suffered of a
+slow fever, was coaxed by another young beauty to swallow a
+pharmaceutical potion that quickly carried away both the disease and the
+patient. At the battle of Jarnac, the Prince of Conde, who had
+surrendered his sword to D'Argence under promise that his life would be
+safe, was shot down dead with a pistol by Montesquiou, a captain of my
+son of Anjou's guards. The occurrence came near turning my son crazy,
+such was his joy! When notified of what had happened, he hastened to the
+spot to see the corpse with his own eyes. He kicked it, and danced over
+and around it. It was a delirium! Finally, for fun, the thought struck
+him of placing the corpse across a she-ass, with the head dangling down
+on one side, the legs on the other. On that distinguished mount he
+returned the defunct general to the Protestant army, amid the hootings
+and cat-calls of our own soldiers.[63] That is the way my children treat
+their heretical relatives. Will his Holiness still insist that we deal
+with the Huguenots, or that we have any consideration for the enemies of
+the Church?"
+
+"Oh, madam!" cried the Jesuit, almost choking with glee. "I lack words
+to express to you my admiration."
+
+"And yet you claimed," proceeded Catherine De Medici with a hyena-like
+smirk, "that I favored the Huguenots! Would the Guisards, the Holy
+Father or Philip II do better than I? Hardly has the campaign opened
+when Conde, the soul of the French Protestant party, has ceased to
+breathe; the Duke of Deux-Ponts, the soul of the German party, has
+ceased to live; and Dandelot, one of the ablest Protestant generals, is
+also dead. Nor is that all!" added the Italian woman, taking from the
+table the letter of the Duke of Anjou, freshly brought to her by the
+captain of her son's guards, and passing it over to Lefevre, "Read
+this!"
+
+The Jesuit took the letter, and, after informing himself of its
+contents, cried, contemplating the Queen with ecstasy:
+
+"So that we may expect, to-morrow, to see Coligny effect a junction with
+his brother Dandelot!"
+
+"Well, now, do you not think I have done a good deal of work?"
+
+"Oh, you have accomplished and even exceeded all that the Holy Father
+and the King of Spain could have asked!"
+
+"And yet, I still have information for you." Saying this, the Queen rang
+twice the bell near her. A page appeared. "Bring me," ordered Catherine,
+"the ebony casket that you will find in my chamber, on the table near my
+bed."
+
+The page went out and Catherine turned again to the Jesuit:
+
+"You surely know Prince Franz of Gerolstein by name and reputation?"
+
+"I know, madam, that the principality of that heretical family is a
+hot-bed of pestilence. We keep our eyes open upon that nest of
+miscreants."
+
+"The Duke of Deux-Ponts appointed as commander of his troops the aged
+general Wolfgang of Mansfeld, but did so with the recommendation that
+the active direction of operations be entrusted to the Prince of
+Gerolstein, a young, but one of the ablest German generals. This very
+night one of my maids of honor is to depart--"
+
+The re-entrance of the page broke off the Queen's sentence. He deposited
+the casket beside Catherine and withdrew.
+
+"You were saying, madam," observed Father Lefevre, "that one of your
+maids of honor was to depart this very night--"
+
+"You seem to relish deeply my communications, reverend Father, and yet
+it was only a few minutes ago that you almost treated me like a Huguenot
+woman."
+
+"Mercy, madam, a truce of raillery. The unexpected and happy tidings you
+have imparted to me were not known by the Holy Father and the King of
+Spain when I left them. I declare to you, madam, that these events
+modify profoundly my mission to your court."
+
+"Well, reverend Father, I am constantly saying to the Spanish ambassador
+and the papal legate in France: 'Wait--let me do--have patience.' But
+all to no avail. The Holy Father yields to the inspirations of the
+agents of the Cardinal of Lorraine, while Philip II dreams of the
+dismemberment of France and desires to place Henry of Guise on the
+throne. In that Philip II plays a risky game, reverend Father! To
+overthrow the reigning dynasty of France would be to set a bad example
+to the people, and to deal a mortal blow to monarchy itself. We are
+living in frightful times. Everything conspires against royalty. The
+Huguenots, at least some of them who style themselves the most advanced
+in politics, proclaim the people's right to federate in a republic after
+the fashion of the Swiss cantons. And even you, my reverend Fathers, you
+also attack royal authority by preaching the doctrine of regicide."
+
+"That is true, madam; we maintain that the Kings who do not labor for
+the greater glory of the Church must be smitten from the throne."
+
+"Neither my sons nor I refuse to labor for the greater glory of the
+Church. It must be a matter of indifference to the Holy Father whether
+the Huguenots are exterminated by us or by the Guises, or by Spain. What
+advantage could the court of Rome derive from suppressing the dynasty of
+Valois?"
+
+"His Holiness sees clearly through the game of the King of Spain. He
+will never favor Philip's ambitious designs to the injury of your
+dynasty--unless obliged thereto by your resistance to the court of Rome.
+We aim at the extirpation of heresy by the extermination of the
+Huguenots; and I have been commissioned, madam, to urge you to prosecute
+the war with vigor--"
+
+"The war!" broke in the Queen impatiently, and with marked contempt and
+irony. "How come you, a Jesuit, a man of keenness and science, to make
+yourself the echo of the Pope and of Philip II, two nearsighted
+intellects? Let us reason together, my reverend Father. Would you, if
+you want to kill your enemy, choose the time when he is on his guard and
+armed? Would you not wait for when he sheathed his sword and was
+peacefully asleep in his house? And in order to lead him to that state
+of apparent security, would you not approach him with a smile on your
+lips, your hand outstretched, and with the words: 'Let us forget our
+enmity'?"
+
+"But for the success of such tactics our enemy must have confidence in
+us."
+
+"Protestations of friendship are supported by oaths."
+
+"Oh! Oh! Vain hope! Your Majesty errs if you believe you can lull the
+suspicions of the Huguenots with oaths."
+
+"I am of the school of Machiavelli, reverend Father; as such I have
+faith in the efficacy of oaths. Listen to this passage from the volume
+entitled _The Prince_. I learned it by heart; it deals upon this very
+subject: 'The animals whose appearance a Prince must know how to assume
+are the _fox_ and the _lion_. The former defends himself but poorly
+against the wolf, while the latter readily falls into the snares laid
+for him. From the fox a Prince will learn how to be adroit, from the
+lion how to be strong. Whoever disdains the method of the fox knows
+nothing of governing men. In other words, a Prince neither can nor
+should keep his word, except when he can do so without injury to
+himself. The thing is to play his part well, and to know when to feign
+and dissimulate. To cite but one instance: Pope Alexander VI made
+deception his life-work. This notwithstanding, despite his well known
+faithlessness, he succeeded in all his artifices, protestations and
+oaths.' Did you hear, reverend Father," added the Italian woman
+interrupting her recitation and laying stress upon the word _oaths_, and
+she proceeded: "'Never before did any Prince break his word more
+frequently, or respect his pledges less, because he was master of the
+art of governing.'[64] Alexander VI was an incestuous Pope; he committed
+murder and sacrilege, yet there were those who believed they could rely
+upon his oath. I am said to be an incestuous mother; I am said to have
+caused blood to flow in streams; I am said to have caused my enemies to
+be poisoned; all these and many more misdeeds are imputed to me. Very
+well! Now, all this notwithstanding, they will place faith in my oaths.
+Judge the future by the past. Remember that after the revocation of the
+Edict of Amboise, the Huguenot party allowed itself to be trepanned by
+the Edict of Longjumeau, confirmed by our royal word. But let us now
+pass to another line of argument, my reverend Father. Please hand me
+yonder casket--not the one the page just brought in, the other."
+
+The Jesuit placed on the table before the Queen the casket that she
+pointed out. She opened it with a little key suspended from her waist,
+and took out of it a scroll of paper which she handed to Father Lefevre.
+
+"Inform yourself on this document, reverend Father," she said.
+
+Father Lefevre read as follows:
+
+     "Summary of the matters primarily agreed upon between the Duke of
+     Montmorency, Constable; the Duke of Guise, Grand Master and Peer of
+     France; and Marshal St. Andre, for the conspiracy of the
+     triumvirate, and subsequently discussed at the entrance of the
+     sacred and holy Council of Trent, and agreed upon by the parties
+     herein concerned at their private council held against the heretics
+     and the King of Navarre, because of his maladministration of the
+     affairs of Charles IX, minor King of France, the which King of
+     Navarre is a partisan of the new sect which now infests France."
+
+The Jesuit looked surprised. Deeply interested, he asked: "How is your
+Majesty in possession of this secret pact?"
+
+"It matters not how."
+
+The Jesuit proceeded to read:
+
+     "In order that the affair be conducted under the highest authority,
+     it is agreed to vest the superintendence of the whole plan in the
+     Very Catholic King of all the Spains, Philip II, who shall conduct
+     the enterprise. He is to remonstrate with the King of Navarre on
+     the score of the support that he affords to the new religion; and
+     if the said Navarrais proves intractable, the said King Philip II
+     is to endeavor to draw him over to him with the promise of the
+     restitution of Navarre, or some other gift of great profit or
+     emolument. By these means the said King Philip II is to soften him,
+     to the end of inducing him to conspire against the heretical sect.
+     If he still resists, King Philip II shall raise the necessary
+     forces in Spain, and fall unexpectedly upon the territory of
+     Navarre, which he will be easily able to be overrun, while the Duke
+     of Guise, declaring himself at the same time _chief of the Catholic
+     confession_, shall from his side gather armed men, and, thus
+     pressed from two sides, the territory of Navarre can be easily
+     seized."
+
+"So you see, reverend Father, the pact dates back to 1651--eight years
+ago--and already then did Francis of Guise declare himself _chief of the
+Catholic confession_, under the protection of the King of Spain. Neither
+myself, the Regent, nor my son, the King of France, although then a
+minor, is at all taken into consideration."
+
+The Jesuit proceeded to read aloud:
+
+     "The Emperor of Germany and other Princes who have remained
+     Catholic shall block the passages to France during the war in that
+     country, in order to prevent the Protestant Princes from coming to
+     the aid of the Navarrais, and they will also see to it that the
+     Swiss cantons remain quiet. To that end it will be necessary that
+     the Catholic cantons declare war upon the Protestant ones, and that
+     the Pope give all the assistance in his power to the said Catholic
+     cantons, and that he subsidize them with money and other
+     necessaries for the war.
+
+     "While war is thus keeping France and Switzerland busy, the Duke of
+     Savoy shall fall unexpectedly upon Geneva and Lausanne, shall seize
+     the two cities, _and shall put all the inhabitants who resist to
+     the sword, and all the others shall be thrown into the lake_,
+     WITHOUT DISTINCTION OF AGE OR SEX, to the end that all may be made
+     to feel that divine Providence has compensated for the postponement
+     of punishment with its grandeur, and wills that the children suffer
+     for the heresy of their parents, obedient to the Biblical text."
+
+"Oh, we must all admit, madam," exclaimed the Jesuit, interrupting his
+reading, "Duke Francis of Guise is nourished with the marrow of
+Catholicism--"
+
+"We of the house of Valois will suck the identical bone, and we will
+verify the dream of the Guisard, who was assassinated the very day after
+he signed this pact--"
+
+Again the Jesuit proceeded to read:
+
+     "The same in France. For good and just reasons _all the heretics,
+     without distinction, must be massacred at one blow_. THE PEACE
+     SHALL BE PUT TO THAT USE. And this mission of exterminating all the
+     members of the new religion shall be entrusted to the Duke of
+     Guise, who shall, moreover, be charged with entirely effacing the
+     name and stock of the lineage of the Navarrian Bourbons, lest from
+     them there may arise some one to undertake the revenge of these
+     acts, or the restoration of the new religion. All these matters are
+     to be kept in mind.
+
+     "Matters being thus disposed of in France, it will be well to
+     invade Protestant Germany with the aid of the Emperor and the
+     bishops, and to restore that country to the holy apostolic See. To
+     this end, the Duke of Guise _shall lend the Emperor and other
+     Catholic Princes all the moneys proceeding from the confiscations
+     and spoils of so many nobles and rich bourgeois_, KILLED _in
+     France_ as HERETICS. The Duke of Guise shall be later reimbursed
+     from the _spoils of the Lutherans, who, by reason of the same taint
+     of heresy shall have been killed in Germany_.
+
+     "The Cardinals of the Sacred College have no doubt that, in the
+     same manner, all the other kingdoms can be turned into the flocks
+     of the apostolic shepherd. But, first of all, may it please God to
+     help and favor these purposes, they being HOLY AND FULL OF
+     PIETY."[65]
+
+"Holy and full of piety were these Catholic purposes!" exclaimed the
+reverend Father Lefevre laying the pact of the triumvirate upon the
+table. "Alas, death palsied the hand of the Duke of Guise at the very
+beginning of his great work!"
+
+"The Lord evidently wished, my reverend Father, to reserve for us, the
+Valois, the execution of the project that the Guisard organized with a
+motive of purely personal ambition. I shall hatch the bloody egg that
+the Lorrainian laid. But the chick can not break the egg except during
+peace. Then the Huguenots will have ceased to be on their guard; then
+they will be dozing in false security. The work of extermination will be
+accomplished with the help of a peace that we shall have brought about.
+All will be killed--men and women, children and the aged. Not one
+heretic will escape the avenging sword. Let Rome and Madrid give me time
+to move! Let Pius V and Philip II give over harassing me continually
+with their threats on the ground that the war is dragging along! Are
+hostilities to be suddenly stopped? No, indeed! I must profit, as I have
+already profited, by all opportunities to destroy as many Huguenots as
+possible, especially their leaders. The Duke of Alva is right: 'One
+salmon is worth more than a thousand minnows.' At the first favorable
+juncture I shall negotiate peace with the Protestants, and grant them
+all they may demand. The more favorable the treaty shall be to the
+Huguenots, all the smoother will the rope run that is to strangle them.
+When the edict is promulgated it shall be scrupulously carried out, in
+order to induce our adversaries to disarm. At the right moment we shall
+organize the general massacre, for one day, all over France."
+
+"The Holy Father and the King of Spain shall be posted on your Majesty's
+project. They will be notified that it is thanks to you, the Duke of
+Deux-Ponts, Dandelot and the Prince of Conde _have been dismissed to
+appear before their natural Judge_."
+
+"People of your cloth, my reverend Father," replied the Queen, "know how
+to impart an ingenious and peculiar turn to the description of events."
+
+"Madam, seeing we are considering those people in whose behalf we simply
+advance the hour of final judgment, I wish above all to recommend to the
+attention of your Majesty that most dangerous German Prince--Franz of
+Gerolstein."
+
+"The young Prince came last year to my court shortly before the
+reformers took up arms. He is brilliant, daring and gifted with great
+military talent. It was due to his influence that the Duke of Deux-Ponts
+decided to bring to the Protestant army the reinforcement it received of
+German troops. To-day Franz of Gerolstein is the real head of the forces
+over which Wolfgang of Mansfeld exercises but titular authority."
+
+"Do you expect to deliver the Church of that pestilential Gerolstein?"
+
+"One of my maids of honor is to take charge of that delicate mission, my
+reverend Father--" and stopping suddenly short and listening in the
+direction of a little door that communicated with the apartment,
+Catherine De Medici asked: "Did you not hear a sound, something like a
+suppressed cry outside there?"
+
+"No, madam."
+
+"It seems to me I heard a voice behind that door. Throw it open,"
+whispered Catherine to Father Lefevre; "see, I beg you, if there is
+someone listening!"
+
+The Jesuit rose, pushed open the door, looked out, and returned: "Madam,
+I can see nobody; the corridor is dark."
+
+"I must have deceived myself. It must have been the moaning of the wind
+that I heard."
+
+"Madam," said Father Lefevre as he resumed his seat, "once we are
+considering dangerous persons, I request you to mention to your generals
+two heretics in particular--Odelin Lebrenn and his son, armorers by
+trade, who serve in the Admiral's army as volunteers. I would urge you
+to recommend to your generals that they spare the lives of both
+heretics if they are ever taken prisoners."
+
+"Did I understand you correctly, my reverend Father? The lives of the
+two miscreants are to be spared?"
+
+"The grace extended to them will be but a short respite, which we would
+put to profit by wresting from them certain valuable secrets with the
+aid of the rack--before dismissing them to their supreme Judge."
+
+"Those are details, my reverend Father, with which I can not burden
+myself. Upon such matters you must treat with Count Neroweg of
+Plouernel, the chief of my escort."
+
+At the name of Neroweg of Plouernel the Jesuit gave a slight start. With
+a face expressive of gratification he remarked: "Madam, Providence
+seconds my wishes. There is none fitter than the Count of Plouernel for
+me to address myself to in this affair."
+
+"Let us return to more weighty questions, my reverend Father. I have
+still two words to say to you concerning the Cardinal of Lorraine. This
+evening the Guisard strove to make me believe that Marshal Tavannes, the
+commandant of the army of my son of Anjou, was treating secretly with
+Coligny. According to the Cardinal, the plot is to offer my son the
+sovereignty of the Low Countries, besides Guyenne and other provinces,
+upon condition that he embrace the Reformed religion. Have you received
+any inkling of these projects through your spies? Unless your own
+interests render it necessary for you to deceive me on this head, answer
+me truthfully. I know how to hear and bear the full truth on all
+matters."
+
+The Jesuit reflected for a moment; he then made answer: "Yes, madam; we
+are informed on those negotiations--indeed, it is due to that very
+information that it was decided to send me upon the present mission to
+your Majesty."
+
+"And, with the view of thwarting the plot, did the Cardinal of Lorraine
+induce Philip II to propose the Duke of Alva to me for general-in-chief
+of the Catholic army, with young Henry of Guise, the Cardinal's nephew,
+and his brother, the Duke of Aumale, as Alva's lieutenants?"
+
+"The proposition was made to the King of Spain. It is true."
+
+"Who, no doubt, received it favorably?"
+
+"Yes, madam. But his Catholic Majesty was not then aware of the latest
+happenings which you communicated to me, the same as he is still
+ignorant of your resolution to put an end to the heresy when the moment
+shall have come to strike the decisive blow, as you explained it."
+
+"You are now informed on the contents of the letter which I showed you
+from my son of Anjou, regarding the project against Coligny. The
+Cardinal lied knowingly when he accused my son of dealing with the
+Admiral. Of course he knows the Marshal and my son will stoutly deny the
+charge. He merely seeks to arouse doubts and suspicions in my mind,
+hoping I may be frightened into transferring the command of the French
+army into the hands of the Duke of Alva and his nephew."
+
+"The Cardinal's falsehood, madam, did not lack skill. It was an adroit
+diplomatic move."
+
+"Now, my reverend Father, let me sum up our interview--war upon the
+Huguenots, merciless war, while it lasts; thereupon the offer or
+acceptance of a peace, which is to be utilized by us in preparing their
+extermination. That is my line of conduct."
+
+"My mission to you is ended, madam. To-morrow I shall take my departure
+and return to inform the King of Spain and the Holy Father of the happy
+deeds done, and those in contemplation, all of which guarantee the
+execution of your promises for the future."
+
+"My reverend Father, is it in my power to bestow any favor upon you, to
+grant you a present? It is a right enjoyed by all negotiators."
+
+"Madam, we care but little for the goods and honors of this world. All I
+shall ask of you is to cause your son, King Charles IX, to change his
+confessor, and take one from our Society, the reverend Father Auger. He
+is an able and accommodating man, skilful in understanding everything,
+permitting everything--and advising everything."
+
+"I promise you I shall induce my son Charles to take Father Auger for
+his confessor. Good night, my reverend Father, go and rest. I shall see
+you to-morrow before your departure and deliver to you a letter for the
+Holy Father."
+
+The Queen rang twice the little bell that lay at her elbow. A page
+entered: "Conduct the reverend Father to Count Neroweg of Plouernel."
+
+She then rang again, not twice, but three times. After bowing to
+Catherine De Medici the Jesuit withdrew upon the steps of the page.
+Almost immediately Anna Bell stepped into the apartment through the door
+that opened upon the corridor.
+
+Catherine De Medici was struck by the pallor and the troubled, almost
+frightened, looks of her maid of honor as she presented herself upon the
+summons of the bell. Fastening a penetrating look upon Anna Bell, the
+Queen said:
+
+"You look very pale, dearest; your hands tremble; you seem unable to
+repress some violent emotion."
+
+"May your Majesty deign to excuse me--"
+
+"What is the cause of your great agitation?"
+
+"Fear, madam. I was hurrying to answer your summons, and--as I crossed
+the dark corridor--whether it was an illusion or reality, I know not,
+madam, I thought I saw a white figure float before me--"
+
+"It must be the ghost of some deceased belle, who, expecting still to
+find here the sturdy abbot of the monastery, came to pay him a nocturnal
+visit. But let us leave the dead to themselves, and turn our thoughts to
+the living. I love you, my pet, above all your companions."
+
+"Your Majesty has taken pity upon a poor girl."
+
+"Yes; it is now about eight or nine years ago, that, as Paula, one of my
+women, was crossing the Chatelet Square, she saw an old Bohemian wench
+holding a little girl by the hand. Struck by the beauty and comeliness
+of the little one, Paula offered to buy her. The gypsy quickly closed
+the bargain. Paula told me the story. I desired to see her protege. It
+turned out to be yourself. The Bohemian woman must have kidnapped you
+from some Huguenot family, I fear, judging from a little lead medal
+that hung from your neck and bore the legend--_A Pastor calling the
+sheep of the Church out of the desert_--a common expression in the
+cabalistic cant of those depraved people."
+
+"Alas! madam, I preserve no other memento of my family--you will pardon
+me for having kept the medal."
+
+"Well, from the instant that Paula brought you before me I was charmed
+with your childish gracefulness. I had you carefully trained in the art
+of pleasing, and placed you among my maids of honor."
+
+"Your Majesty enjoys my unbounded gratitude. Whenever you commanded I
+obeyed, even when you exacted a sacrifice--whatever it may have cost
+me--"
+
+"You are alluding, my pet, to the conversion of the Marquis of Solange!
+I said to you: 'Solange is a Huguenot; he is influential in his
+province; should war break out again, he may become a dangerous enemy to
+me; he contemplates leaving the court;--make him love you, and be not
+cruel to him; a handsome lass like you is well worth a mass.' The
+bargain was struck. We now have one Catholic more, and one virgin less."
+
+Anna Bell hid her face, purple with shame.
+
+Without seeming to notice the young girl's confusion, Catherine De
+Medici proceeded: "By the virtue of your beautiful eyes Solange has
+become a fervent Catholic and one of my most faithful servitors. You
+gave me in that instance proof of your complete devotion. For the rest,
+it was a sweet sacrifice on your part, my pet; Solange is an
+accomplished nobleman, young, handsome, brave and witty. It is not now
+about that lover that we have business on hand. I have other plans for
+you. I am thinking of marrying you. I wish to make a Princess of you,
+and verify the most cherished of your secret wishes--which I have
+guessed. Anna Bell, you do not love Solange; you never loved him; and
+you nourish in the recesses of your heart a desperate passion for the
+young Prince Franz of Gerolstein."
+
+"Good God! Madam. Have pity upon me! Mercy!"
+
+"There is nothing pitiful in the matter. The Prince is made to be loved.
+His reputation for bravery, magnificence and gallantry ran ahead of him
+to my court, where you saw him last year. He often conversed with you
+tete-a-tete. When other women sought to provoke him with their
+allurements your face grew somber. Oh, nothing escapes me! Affairs of
+state do not absorb me to the point that I can not follow, with the
+corner of my eye, the cooings of my maids of honor. It is my mental
+relaxation. I love to see beauty in its youth devote itself to the cult
+of Venus, and put in practice the saying of Rabelais' Thalamite--'_Do
+what you please!_' How often did I not seat myself among you, my dear
+girls, to chat about your gallants, your appointments, your
+infidelities! What delightful tales did we not tell! How you all led the
+poor youngsters by the nose! Truth to say, they returned you tit for
+tat, and with usury, to the greater glory of the goddess Aphrodite! And
+yet, my pet, although I had trained you a true professional of the Abbey
+of Thalamia, with Cupid for your god and Voluptuousness for your patron
+saint, you ever remained out of your element among your companions.
+Serious and melancholy, you are a sort of nun among my other maids. What
+you need is devoted and faithful love; a husband whom you can adore
+without remorse; a brood of children to love. That is the reason, my
+pet, why I wish to marry you to Franz of Gerolstein."
+
+"It pleases your Majesty to mock me--take pity upon poor Anna."
+
+"No joke! You admit you love the young and handsome German Prince. I can
+read in your soul better than you could yourself. I shall tell you what
+your thoughts are at this moment: 'Yes, I love Franz of Gerolstein! But
+a deep abyss separates us two, and will always separate me from him. He
+is in the camp opposed to that of the Queen, my benefactress; he is the
+head of a sovereign house; he is ignorant of my passion, and if he did
+know, he never could think of wedding me! What am I? A poor girl picked
+up from the street. I already have had one gallant. Besides, Catherine
+De Medici's maids of honor enjoy a bad, a deservedly bad, reputation.
+The satires and the pasquils designate us with the appellation of the
+Queen's Flying Squadron. I should be crazy to think of marriage with
+Franz of Gerolstein--'"
+
+"Madam, take pity upon me!" broke in Anna Bell, no longer able to
+restrain her tears. "Even if what you say is true, even if you read to
+the very core of my thoughts--please do not sport with my secret
+sorrows."
+
+"My pet, hand me the little casket of sandal wood, ribbed in gold, that
+lies upon yonder table. It contains wonderful things."
+
+Anna Bell obeyed. The Queen selected one of the little keys attached to
+her girdle and opened the casket. Nothing could be more fascinating to
+the eyes than the contents of the chest--embroidered and perfumed
+gloves, smelling apples, dainty-looking vermillion confectionery boxes,
+filled with sugar plums of all colors, and several vials of gold and
+crystal. Catherine De Medici picked out one of these, reclosed the
+casket carefully and returned it to Anna Bell. The maid of honor
+replaced it upon the table and returned to the Queen. Smiling benignly
+and holding up the golden, glistening vial before her victim, the Queen
+said: "Do you see this, my pet? This little vial encloses the love of
+Franz of Gerolstein."
+
+"What a suspicion!" was the thought that flashed through Anna Bell's
+mind and froze her to the floor. But the terror-stricken girl quickly
+regained her self-control at that critical moment. "I must not," was the
+second thought that flashed through her mind close upon the first, "I
+must not allow the Queen to notice that I know her purpose."
+
+"Do you believe, my pet, in the potency of love-philters?"
+
+"This evening," answered the young girl with an effort to control her
+emotions, "this very evening Clorinde of Vaucernay was telling us,
+madam, that a lady of the court succeeded by means of one of those
+enchanted potions in captivating a man who, before then, had a strong
+dislike for her."
+
+"You, then, believe in the potency of philters?"
+
+"Certainly, madam," answered Anna Bell anxious not to awaken the Queen's
+suspicions; "I must have full confidence in their efficacy, seeing it is
+proved by such incontestable facts."
+
+"The merest doubt on the subject is unallowable, my pet; to doubt would
+be to shut one's eyes and deny the light of day. Now, my little beauty,
+the philter contained in this vial, is put together by Ruggieri, my
+alchemist, under the conjunction of marvelously favorable planets. It is
+of such virtue that only a few drops, if poured out by a woman who
+wishes to be loved by a man, would suffice to turn him permanently
+amorous of her. Take this philter, my pet--go and find your Prince
+Charming. Let him drink the contents of this vial--and grant him the
+gift of an amorous mercy."
+
+Anna Bell no longer suspected, she comprehended the Queen's intentions.
+For a moment she was seized with terror and remained silent,
+mechanically holding the vial in her hand. The Queen, on her part,
+attributing the stupor and silence of Anna Bell to an excess of joy, or,
+perhaps, to the apprehension caused her by the thought of the many and
+great dangers to overcome in order to approach her Prince, proceeded to
+allay her fears:
+
+"Poor dear girl, you are as speechless as if, awakened with a start from
+a dream, you find it a reality. You are surely asking yourself what to
+do in order to reach Franz? Nothing easier--provided your courage is
+abreast of your love."
+
+Controlling her troubled mind, Anna Bell answered with composure: "I
+hope, madam, I do not lack courage."
+
+"Listen to me carefully. We are only a few leagues from the enemy's
+army. I shall issue orders to Count Neroweg of Plouernel to furnish you
+with a safe conduct up to the Huguenot outposts. You shall be carried in
+one of my own litters, drawn by two mules. By dawn to-morrow morning you
+can not fail to run against some scout or other making the rounds of the
+Protestant camp--"
+
+"Great God! madam. I tremble at the bare thought of falling into the
+hands of the Huguenots!"
+
+"If your courage fail you, all will run to water. But you may be quite
+certain that you run no risk whatever. The Huguenots do not kill
+women--especially not such handsome ones as yourself. You will be merely
+the prisoner of the miscreants."
+
+"And what am I to do then, madam?"
+
+"You will say to those who will arrest you: 'Messieurs, I am one of the
+Queen's maids of honor; I was on my way to join her Majesty; the leader
+of my litter struck a wrong road; please take me to Prince Franz of
+Gerolstein.' The rest will go of itself. The Huguenots will take you to
+the Prince. Like the nobleman that he is, my little beauty, he will keep
+you at his lodgings or in his tent, he will yield you the place of honor
+at his table--and--in his bed. You will have more than one opportunity
+to improve Franz's wine with a few drops of the philter."
+
+The Queen's instructions were interrupted at this point by the entrance
+of a page who came to announce that Count Neroweg of Plouernel prayed
+for admission to the Queen's presence upon pressing and important
+matters. Catherine ordered the page to introduce the Count, and she bade
+Anna Bell godspeed, kissing her on the forehead and adding these last
+instructions:
+
+"Prepare immediately for your journey, my pet. The Count of Plouernel
+will appoint the guide who is to accompany you. One of my equerries will
+get a litter ready. I expect to see you again before your departure."
+
+The maid of honor followed the Queen's instructions. Seeing that the
+interview with the Count of Plouernel lasted longer than she had
+anticipated, Catherine De Medici was prevented from seeing Anna Bell
+again, and sent her a note to depart without delay.
+
+Towards one o'clock in the morning the maid of honor mounted in one of
+the Queen's litters, left the Abbey of St. Severin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE AVENGERS OF ISRAEL.
+
+
+The sun was rising. Its early rays gilded the crest of a forest about a
+league distant from St. Yrieix, a large burg that served as the center
+of the Protestant encampment. A chapel, formerly dedicated to St. Hubert
+by an inveterate hunter, raised its dilapidated walls on the edge of the
+wood, the skirts of which were now guarded by mounted scouts, posted at
+long intervals. The chapel had been devastated during the religious
+wars. Its belfries, the capitals and the friezes of its portico were
+broken; its windows were smashed in; the statue of St. Hubert, the
+patron of hunters, lay decapitated in the midst of other debris, along
+with that of the seigneur who founded the holy shrine, chosen by him for
+his sepulcher. The fragments of his marble image, representing him lying
+prone, with hands joined in prayer, hunting horn slung over his
+shoulder, his favorite greyhound stretched at his feet--all lay strewn
+around the mortuary vault, now gaping wide open and cumbered with ruins.
+The interior of the chapel now served as a stable, and also as
+guardhouse to a picket squad of the Huguenot army, posted at the spot.
+The pickets' horses, ready saddled and bridled, stood drawn up in
+double row in one of the low-roofed aisles and on either side of a door
+that communicated with the old vestry. For want of forage the beasts
+were eating the green leaves of large bunches of branches thrown at
+their feet. The riders, either standing, or seated, or stretched out at
+full length, wrapped in their cloaks, were not dressed in uniform. Their
+offensive and defensive arms, however, dissimilar and worn, were in
+usable condition.
+
+This band of Huguenot volunteers took the name of the Avengers of
+Israel. Josephin, the Franc-Taupin, named by the Catholics "The
+One-Eyed," was their commander. On all occasions the Avengers of Israel
+approved themselves animated by an intrepidity that was matchless,
+always claiming for themselves the post of greatest danger, and always
+found first in battle. The indomitable courage of the Franc-Taupin, his
+exceptional skill in guerilla warfare, his pitiless hatred for the
+papists, upon whom he swore to avenge the fate of his sister Bridget and
+his niece Hena, earned for him the leadership of these resolute men.
+
+On this day, at sunrise, the commander presided at a species of tribunal
+consisting of several of his companions in arms, all seated in the midst
+of the ruins of the chapel of St. Hubert. The years had whitened the
+hair and beard of the Franc-Taupin, without impairing the fiber of his
+energy. An old rust-covered steel breastplate over his chest answered
+the purpose of corselet; his wide hose of red cloth were half covered by
+a pair of high leather boots heavy with dust; at his belt, which also
+contained his cartridges, hung a short stick suspended from a piece of
+pack-thread, and indented with sixteen notches--each tallying the death
+of a priest or monk. The dagger of fine Milan steel, a present from
+Odelin, hung on the Franc-Taupin's right side, while at his left he wore
+a long sword with an iron hilt. The Franc-Taupin's bronzed and haggard
+features, rendered all the more sinister by the large black patch which
+covered one eye, were at this moment expressive of sardonic cruelty. He
+was sitting in judgment upon a Cordelier, a man of tall and robust
+build, who was captured in the early morning prowling in the forest.
+Some letters found about his person proved that the tonsured gentleman
+was a spy of the royalist army, and one of the Avengers of Israel
+recognized him as one of the monks who took part in the carnage of
+Mirebeau, where nearly twelve hundred Huguenot prisoners were put to
+death with frightful refinements of cruelty. Surrounded by several of
+his companions, who, like himself, were seated upon the ruins of the
+altar, the Franc-Taupin drew his dagger and was engaged in leisurely
+sharpening it upon a stone that he held between his knees, without
+looking at the monk who, livid with rage and terror, and standing a few
+steps aside with his arms tied behind his back, was uttering
+maledictions at the top of his voice:
+
+"Accursed and sacrilegious wretches! You abuse your strength! The hand
+of the Lord will fall heavy upon you! Heretical dogs!"
+
+The Franc-Taupin calmly sharpened his dagger. "Good!" he exclaimed. "Be
+brave, my reverend! Disgorge your monastic bile! Crack your apostolic
+hide! It will not make your fate any worse. Be prepared for the worst,
+and you will still be far behind what I have in store for you. We care
+nothing for your threats."
+
+"Neither can anything render your fate worse than it will be,
+reprobates," howled the Cordelier, "when the whole pack of you, to the
+very last one, will be hurled into the pit of everlasting flames!"
+
+"By my sister's death!" the Franc-Taupin answered. "You make a mistake
+to mention 'flames.' You remind me of what I never forget--the fate of
+my niece, who, poor innocent creature, was plunged twenty-five times
+into the burning pyre. Brothers, instruct the tonsured fellow upon our
+reasons for enrolling ourselves in the corps of the Avengers of Israel,
+and why we are pitiless."
+
+Accordingly, while the Franc-Taupin continued to whet his dagger, one of
+the Huguenot soldiers thus addressed the monk:
+
+"Monk, listen! In full peace, after the Edict of Orleans, my house was
+invaded during my absence by a band of fanatics. The vicar of the parish
+led them. My old and blind father, who remained at home in my house, was
+strangled to death. It is to avenge my father that I enrolled myself
+with the militia of the Avengers of Israel. Therefore, death to the
+papist Church! Death to all the tonsured felons!"
+
+"Marshal Montluc held command in Guyenne," continued a second Huguenot.
+"Six soldiers, attached to his ordnance company, lodged at our
+farm-house. One day they forced the cellar door, drank themselves drunk,
+and violated my brother's wife. Wounded with cutlass cuts in his
+endeavor to defend her, he dragged himself bleeding to the headquarters
+of Marshal Montluc to demand justice. Montluc ordered him to be hanged!
+Monk, I have sworn to avenge my brother! Death to the papists!"
+
+"I also am from Guyenne, like my companion," came from another Huguenot.
+"One Sunday, relying upon the Edict of Longjumeau, I attended services
+with my mother and sister. A company of Marshal Montluc's swashbucklers,
+led by a chaplain, invaded the temple, chased out the women, locked up
+the men in the building, and set it on fire. There were sixty-five of us
+inside, all without arms. Nine succeeded in making their escape from the
+flames. The rest, burned, smothered by the smoke, or crushed under the
+falling roof, all perished. The women and young girls were dragged to a
+nearby enclosure; they were stripped to the skin; they were then
+compelled at the point of pikes to dance naked before the papist
+soldiers; and were finally forced to submit to the lechery of their
+persecutors. My mother was killed in her endeavor to save my sister from
+that crowning outrage; nine months later my sister died in childbed of
+the fruit of her rape. Monk, I swore to avenge my sister! I swore to
+avenge my mother! Death to the papist seigneurs and nobles!"
+
+"I come from Montaland, near Limoges," a fourth Huguenot proceeded.
+"Three months after the new edict, I attended services with my young
+son. A band of peasants, led by two Carmelites and one Dominican, rushed
+into the temple. My poor boy's head--he was not yet fifteen--was cut
+off with a scythe, and stuck upon a pole. Monk, I swore to avenge my
+son! Death to the whole monastic vermin!"
+
+"Was it I, perchance, who committed the acts that you are seeking to
+avenge?" howled the Cordelier. "Cowardly felons!"
+
+At this the Franc-Taupin interrupted the sharpening of his dagger, cast
+a sardonic look at the monk, and cried: "Oh! Oh! This is the seventeenth
+time I hear that identical remark--you being the seventeenth tonsured
+gentleman whom I sentence. Do you see this little stick? I cut a notch
+in it at each reprisal. When I shall have reached twenty-five the bill
+will be settled--my sister's daughter was plunged twenty-five times into
+the furnace, at the order of the Catholic priests, the agents of the
+Pope.
+
+"Monk, it stands written in the Bible: 'Life for life, eye for eye,
+tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning,
+wound for wound, stripe for stripe.'[66] Well, now, instead of burning
+you, as should be done, I purpose to make you a Cardinal."
+
+Saying this the soldier of fortune described with the point of his
+dagger a circle around his head. The monk understood the meaning of the
+frightful pantomime. The Avengers of Israel threw him down and held him
+fast at the foot of the altar. The Franc-Taupin passed his thumb along
+the edge of his weapon, and sat down upon his haunches beside the
+patient. At that moment one of the riders rushed precipitately into the
+chapel, shouting:
+
+"A good prize! A good prize! A maid of honor of Jezebel!"
+
+The arrival of the captive girl suspended the torture of the monk who
+remained pinioned at the feet of Josephin. The Franc-Taupin rose, and
+cast a look upon the female captive, who was none other than Anna Bell.
+The features of the hardened soldier relaxed, a tremor ran over his
+frame, he hid his face in his hands and wept. It seemed to him as if he
+saw in the young captive Hena, the poor martyr he so deeply mourned! The
+otherwise inexorable man remained for a moment steeped in desolate
+thoughts, in the midst of the profound silence of the Avengers of
+Israel. The maid of honor stood cold with fright. She realized she was
+in the power of the terrible One-Eyed man, the ferocity of whom spread
+terror among the Catholics.
+
+The Franc-Taupin passed the back of his hand over his burning and hollow
+eye, the fierce fire of which seemed kindled into fiercer flame by the
+tear that had just bathed it. Turning with severity to Anna Bell he
+ordered her to step nearer:
+
+"You are a maid of honor to the Queen?"
+
+With a trembling voice Anna Bell replied: "Yes, monsieur, I belong to
+her Majesty the Queen."
+
+"Where do you come from?"
+
+"From Meilleret. Tired with travel, I stopped for rest at the village.
+From there I proceeded on my journey to join the Queen.--My guide lost
+his way. Your riders stopped my litter.--Have pity upon me and order
+that I be taken to Monsieur the Prince of Gerolstein. I think I may
+rely upon his courtesy."
+
+"At what hour did you leave Meilleret?"
+
+"About one this morning."
+
+"You lie! It is hardly five o'clock now--you traveled in a litter--it
+takes more than eight hours to come from Meilleret to this place on
+horseback and riding fast."
+
+"Monsieur, I conjure you, have me taken to the Prince of Gerolstein--it
+is the only favor I entreat of your kindness," cried Anna Bell,
+trembling and stammering.
+
+Struck by the insistence with which the maid of honor requested to be
+taken to Prince Franz of Gerolstein, the Franc-Taupin contemplated her
+with mistrust. Suddenly he ordered:
+
+"Search the woman!"
+
+Two Huguenots executed the order, and extracted from Anna Bell's pockets
+a purse, a letter and the gold vial. The Franc-Taupin opened the letter,
+the seal of which was broken; read it; looked puzzled over a passage in
+the missive and remained for a moment thoughtful. But immediately struck
+by a sudden inspiration, he darted a fierce glance at the maid of honor,
+examined the gold vial in silence, and holding it up to Anna Bell, said:
+
+"Woman, what does that vial contain?"
+
+With a great effort, Anna Bell replied, "I--I--know not."
+
+"Oh, you know not!" cried the Franc-Taupin, breaking out in a sardonic
+guffaw. "Miserable creature. You seem to have the audacity of a
+criminal."
+
+He stepped slowly towards the young girl, seized her by the arm, and
+holding the vial to her lips, cried:
+
+"Drink it on the spot, or I stab you to death!"
+
+Anna Bell, terror-stricken and fainting, dropped upon her knees, crying:
+"Mercy! Mercy! I beg of you, mercy! Pity! Mercy!"
+
+"Poisoner!" exclaimed the Franc-Taupin.
+
+The maid of honor crouched still lower upon her knees, hid her face in
+her hands, and sobbed aloud. The Huguenots looked at one another
+stupefied. Again silence reigned.
+
+"Brothers," said the Franc-Taupin, breaking the silence, "listen to the
+letter that you have just taken from this woman's pocket:
+
+     "A courier from my son Charles has arrived from Paris, my pet,
+     compelling me to have an immediate conference with the Cardinal. I
+     can not see you before your departure. Adieu, and courage. You will
+     reach your Prince. I forgot one important recommendation to you.
+     The philter must be emptied quickly after the stopper is removed
+     from the vial.
+
+"The letter is signed 'C. M.'--Catherine De Medici! Here we have it! The
+Queen sends one of her strumpets to poison Franz of Gerolstein!"
+
+Still under the shock of the cowardly assassination of Conde, and of the
+recent deaths by poison of the Duke of Deux-Ponts and the Admiral's
+brother, the Huguenots broke out into imprecations. The youth and beauty
+of the maid of honor only rendered her criminal designs all the more
+execrable in their eyes. The moment was critical. Anna Bell made a
+superhuman effort--a last endeavor to escape the fate that threatened
+her. She rose on her knees and with clasped hands cried:
+
+"Mercy! Listen to me! I shall confess everything!"
+
+"O, Hena," cried the Franc-Taupin with savage exaltation. "Poor martyr!
+I shall avenge your death upon this infamous creature--beautiful like
+yourself--young like yourself! Throw together outside of the chapel the
+branches that our horses have bared of their leaves. The wood is
+green--it will burn slowly. We'll tie the poisoner and the monk back to
+back upon the pyre the instant I have ordained him a Cardinal."
+
+In chorus the Huguenots shouted: "To the pyre with the monk and the
+poisoner!"
+
+Anna Bell's mind began to wander. Livid and shivering she crouched in a
+heap upon the ground, her voice choked in her throat, already rigid with
+terror, and escaped only in convulsive sobs. The Avengers of Israel
+hurried to heap up the bare branches around a tall oak-tree planted
+before the portico of the chapel. The Franc-Taupin stepped towards the
+Cordelier, who muttered in an agonizing voice, "_Miserere mei,
+Domine--miserere!_"
+
+Again the solemnity of ordaining the monk a Cardinal was suddenly
+interrupted. The sound of an approaching and numerous cavalcade reached
+the Avengers of Israel. A moment later Prince Franz of Gerolstein
+appeared at the head of a mounted troop.
+
+The personage who now stepped upon the scene was the grandson of Charles
+of Gerolstein, who in 1534 assisted at the council of the Calvinists in
+the quarry of Montmartre, together with Christian the printer. The young
+Prince was twenty-five years of age. The short visor of his helmet
+exposed his features. Their regularity and symmetry were perfect; they
+expressed at once benevolence and resolution. Of tall and wiry build,
+the young man's heavy black cuirass, worn German fashion, and his thick
+armlets, seemed not to weigh upon him. His wide hose, made of scarlet
+cloth, were almost overlapped by his long boots of buff leather armed
+with silver spurs. A wide belt of white taffeta--the Protestants'
+rallying sign--was fastened with a knot on one side.
+
+Immediately upon entering the chapel the Prince addressed the
+Franc-Taupin:
+
+"Comrades, I have just learned that your scouts have arrested one of the
+Queen's maids of honor--"
+
+Before the Franc-Taupin had time to answer the Prince, Anna Bell jumped
+up, ran to Franz, and threw herself at his feet, crying: "For mercy's
+sake, monsieur, deign to hear me!"
+
+Franz of Gerolstein recognized the young girl at once. He reached out
+his hand to her and made her rise, saying: "I remember to have met you,
+mademoiselle, at the French court, last year. Be comforted. There must
+be some untoward misunderstanding in regard to you."
+
+Anna Bell in turn seized the Prince's hands and covered them with kisses
+and tears. "I am innocent of the horrible crime that they charge me
+with!" she cried.
+
+"Prince," broke in the Franc-Taupin, "the woman must die! The wretch is
+a poisoner; she is an emissary of Catherine De Medici; and you were
+singled out for her victim. We are about to do justice to the case."
+
+"No pity for the prostitutes of the Italian woman! None for her
+messengers of death!" cried several Huguenots.
+
+But Franz of Gerolstein interposed, saying: "My friends, I can not
+believe in the crime that you charge this young girl with. I knew her at
+the court of France. I often spoke with her. Whatever the deplorable
+reputation of her companions, she is a happy exception among them."
+
+"Oh! thank you, monsieur," exclaimed Anna Bell in accents of ineffable
+gratitude. "Thank you, for testifying so warmly in my favor--"
+
+"Prince, the hypocrite had her mask on when she conversed with you!"
+insisted the inexorable Franc-Taupin. "Read this letter from the Queen.
+You will learn from it the reason why her maid of honor threw herself
+intentionally into the hands of our outposts, and immediately requested
+to be taken to your tent. As to this vial," he turned to Anna Bell,
+"does it contain poison, yes or no?"
+
+"Monsieur, do not allow appearances to deceive you--if you only knew!"
+cried Anna Bell, in distress.
+
+Franz of Gerolstein cast upon the maid of honor a frigid look; then,
+turning away his head, he stepped towards the door of the chapel. Anna
+Bell rushed after the Prince, fell again at his feet, clasped his knees
+and cried: "Monsieur, do not forsake me! In the name of your mother,
+deign to listen to me! It is not death I fear--what I fear is your
+contempt--I am innocent!"
+
+The accent of truthfulness often touches the most prejudiced of hearts.
+Moved, despite himself, Franz of Gerolstein stopped, and looking down
+upon the maid of honor with pain and pity, said:
+
+"I grant your prayer--I wish still to doubt the crime that you are
+accused of--explain the mystery of your movements." He looked around,
+and noticing the vestry door that led from one of the aisles of the
+chapel, he added, "Come, mademoiselle, I shall listen to you without
+witnesses in yonder private place."
+
+With an effort Anna Bell arose, and with staggering steps she followed
+Franz of Gerolstein into the vestry. Arrived there, the maid of honor
+collected her thoughts for a moment, and then addressed the young
+Huguenot Prince with a trembling voice in these words:
+
+"Monsieur, before God who hears me--here is the truth: Last evening,
+shortly before midnight, at the Abbey of St. Severin where the Queen
+halted for rest, she summoned me to her, and after reminding me of all
+that I owed to her generosity, because," and Anna Bell broke down
+weeping, "I am a waif, picked up from the street--out of charity--one of
+the Queen's serving-women bought me about ten years ago, as she informed
+me, from a Bohemian woman who made me beg before the parvise of Notre
+Dame in Paris--"
+
+"How came you to become a maid of honor to Catherine De Medici?"
+
+"The woman who took me in showed me to the Queen, and, to my
+misfortune!--to my disgrace!--the Queen interested herself in me!"
+
+"To your misfortune? To your disgrace?"
+
+"Monsieur," answered Anna Bell as if the words were wrung from her
+heart, "Alas! although barely beyond girlhood, two years ago, thanks to
+the principles and the instructions that I received, and the examples
+set to me, my education was perfect and complete, I was found worthy of
+forming part of the Queen's 'Flying Squadron'!"
+
+"I understand you! Poor girl!"
+
+"That is not all, monsieur. The day came when I was to prove my
+gratitude to the Queen. It happened during the truce in the religious
+wars. The Marquis of Solange, although a Protestant, often came to
+court. He was to be detached from his cause, monsieur. He had manifested
+some inclination towards me. The Queen called me apart. 'The Marquis of
+Solange loves you,' she said; 'he will sacrifice his faith to
+you--provided you are not cruel towards him.' I yielded to the pressure
+from the Queen. I had no consciousness of the indignity of my conduct
+until the day when--"
+
+Anna Bell could proceed no further; she seemed to strangle with
+confusion, and was purple with shame. Suddenly frightful cries,
+proceeding from the interior of the chapel, startled the oppressive
+silence in the vestry. The cries were speedily smothered, but again,
+ever and anon, and despite the gag that suppressed them, they escaped in
+muffled roars of pain. Frightened at these ominous sounds, the maid of
+honor precipitately took refuge by the Prince's side, seeming to
+implore his protection and muttering amid sobs:
+
+"Monsieur--do you hear those cries--do you hear the man's moans?"
+
+"Oh!" answered Franz of Gerolstein, visibly depressed with grief.
+"Forever accursed be they, who, through their ferocity, were the first
+to provoke these acts of cruel reprisal!"
+
+The moans that reached the vestry gradually changed into muffled and
+convulsive rattles that grew fainter and fainter. Silence prevailed once
+more. The expiring monk was ordained Cardinal by the Franc-Taupin.
+
+"I arrived in time, mademoiselle, to rescue you from the vengeance of
+those pitiless men," resumed the Prince. "The candor of your words would
+denote the falseness of the accusations raised against you. And yet,
+this letter from the Queen, this vial, would seem to furnish convincing
+testimony against you."
+
+"Last evening," Anna Bell proceeded, "notified by our governess that the
+Queen wished to speak to me, I awaited her orders in a dark corridor
+that separated my chamber from the Queen's apartments. At the very
+moment I was about to open the door I heard your name mentioned,
+monsieur. The Queen was speaking about you with Father Lefevre, a priest
+of the Society of Jesus, one of the counselors of the King of Spain."
+
+"To what purpose was my name mentioned by the Queen and the Jesuit?"
+
+"It seems that, in their opinion, monsieur, you are a redoubtable
+enemy, and the Queen promised Father Lefevre to rid herself of you. One
+of her maids of honor was to be commissioned to execute the murder
+through poison. The maid of honor chosen was myself. Madam Catherine
+selected me for this horrible deed. Frightened at what I had overheard,
+an involuntary cry of horror escaped me. Almost immediately I heard
+footsteps approach the door of the Queen's apartment. Luckily I had time
+to regain my own chamber without being heard or even suspected of having
+overheard the Queen's words. Presently she rang for me. The Queen began
+by reminding me of her acts of kindness to me, and added she decided to
+fulfil the dearest and most secret wishes of my heart. 'Anna Bell,' she
+said, 'you no longer love the Marquis of Solange; you have transferred
+your affections to the Prince of Gerolstein, whom you saw at court last
+year.' Take this vial. It contains a philter that makes one beloved. A
+guide will take you to the outposts of the Huguenots; you will fall into
+their hands; you will then ask to be taken to the Prince of Gerolstein.
+He is a nobleman, he will take pity upon you, he will lodge you in his
+tent. Love will inspire you. You will find the opportunity to pour a few
+drops of this philter into Franz of Gerolstein's cup--thus you will
+reach your Prince'--and these are the words which the Queen repeated to
+me in her letter."
+
+"And guessing that the philter was poison, and fearing to awaken the
+Queen's suspicions, you feigned readiness to accept the mission of
+death? That, I suppose, is the complement of your story?"
+
+"Yes, monsieur. I hoped to warn you to be on guard against the dangers
+that threaten you!"
+
+Exhausted by so many emotions, and crushed with shame, the poor girl
+dropped down upon one of the benches in the vestry, hid her face in her
+hands, and wept convulsively.
+
+The revelation, bearing as it did the stamp of irresistible candor,
+awakened in the heart of Franz of Gerolstein a deep interest for the
+ill-starred young woman.
+
+"Mademoiselle," he said to her in a firm yet kind tone, "I believe in
+your sincerity--I believe your account of your misfortunes."
+
+"Now, monsieur, I can die."
+
+"Dismiss such mournful thoughts--perhaps an unexpected consolation
+awaits you. Owing to certain details that you mentioned concerning your
+early years, I am almost certain I know your parents. You must have been
+born at La Rochelle, and was not your father an armorer?"
+
+"Yes!" cried Anna Bell. "Yes! I remember how the sight of glistening
+arms delighted my eyes in my childhood."
+
+"Did you not, at the time you were kidnapped from your family, wear any
+collar or other trinket that you may have preserved?"
+
+"I wore around my neck, and have preserved ever since, a little lead
+medal. I have it here attached to this chain."
+
+Franz of Gerolstein ran to the door of the vestry and called for
+Josephin. The Franc-Taupin approached, stepping slowly, and engaged in
+imparting the latest notch to the stick that hung from his cartridge
+belt: "Seventeen! There are still eight wanting before we reach
+twenty-five! Oh! My bill shall be paid, by my sister's death! My bill
+shall be paid!"
+
+Franz of Gerolstein inquired from the Franc-Taupin: "What was the age of
+Odelin's child when she was kidnapped!"
+
+With a look of surprise the Franc-Taupin answered: "The poor child was
+eight years old. It is now ten years since the dear little girl
+disappeared."
+
+"Did she wear anything by which she might be identified?" pursued Franz.
+
+"She wore from her neck," said the Franc-Taupin with a sigh, "a medal of
+the Church of the Desert, like all other Protestant children. It was a
+medal that I presented to her mother the day of the little creature's
+birth."
+
+Franz of Gerolstein held before the Franc-Taupin the medal that Anna
+Bell had just given him, and said: "Do you recognize this medal?
+Josephin, this young girl was kidnapped from her family ten years
+ago--she carried this medal from her neck--"
+
+"Oh!" cried the Franc-Taupin, looking at Anna Bell with renewed
+confusion. "She is Odelin's daughter! That accounts for my having been
+from the first struck with her resemblance to Hena."
+
+"Do you, monsieur, know my parents?" it was now Anna Bell's turn to ask.
+"Pray tell me where I can find them."
+
+But overcome with emotion, the Franc-Taupin said: "But Oh! what a shame
+for the family! What a disgrace! A maid of honor to the Queen!"
+
+The Franc-Taupin was quickly drawn from his mixed emotions of sorrow and
+joy. More important work was soon to be done. An officer entered the
+vestry, bringing orders from Admiral Coligny for the vanguards and
+outposts to fall back without delay toward St. Yrieix. Franz of
+Gerolstein immediately conveyed the Admiral's orders to the Avengers of
+Israel, who crowded behind the officer, and then turned to Anna Bell,
+saying:
+
+"Mademoiselle, come; remount your litter. We shall escort you to St.
+Yrieix. I shall impart to you on the road tidings concerning your
+family--of which I am a member."
+
+"What a revelation to Odelin--and to Antonicq!" the Franc-Taupin thought
+to himself, "when they learn within shortly, at St. Yrieix, that this
+unfortunate creature--the disgraced and dishonored maid of honor to the
+Queen is the daughter of the one and the sister of the other!"
+
+The Avengers of Israel and the squadron of German horsemen, with Franz
+of Gerolstein at their head, completed their reconnoisance about the
+forest and fell back upon St. Yrieix. The chapel of St. Hubert remained
+deserted and wrapped in silence. The morning breeze swung the body of
+the monk as it hung limp from a branch of the oak-tree in front of the
+portico of the holy place. Horrible to look at were the features of the
+corpse. They preserved the impress of the Cordelier's last agonies. The
+skin was ripped from the head. It had the appearance of being covered
+with a red skull cap.
+
+Abominable reprisals, without a doubt; and yet less abominable than the
+crimes of which they record the expiatory vengeance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+GASPARD OF COLIGNY.
+
+
+The burg of St. Yrieix stood in the center of the staked-in camp
+occupied by the army of Admiral Coligny. An inflexible disciplinarian,
+Admiral Coligny maintained rigorous order among his troops. Never was
+pillage allowed; never marauding. His soldiers always paid for all that
+they demanded from city folks or peasants. He went even further.
+Whenever it happened that, scared at the approach of armed forces, the
+peasants fled from their villages, the officers, executing the express
+orders of Admiral Coligny, left in the houses the price of the
+vegetables and forage with which the soldiers provisioned themselves and
+their beasts in the absence of the masters of the place. Finally, as a
+necessary and terrible example--thieves caught redhanded were inexorably
+hanged, and the stolen objects tied to their feet. Finally there never
+were seen at the Huguenot camps the swarms of women of ill fame that
+ordinarily encumbered the baggage of the Catholic army, and that,
+according to the ancient practice, were placed under the supervision of
+the "King of the Ribalds."
+
+The habits of the Protestants in the army of Admiral Coligny were
+pious, austere and upright. This notwithstanding, the Admiral found it
+impossible to impose rigid discipline upon the numerous bands that from
+time to time attached themselves to his main forces, usually conducted a
+guerilla warfare, and emulated the royalists in rapine and cruelty.
+
+The Admiral, the Princes of Orange, of Nassau and of Gerolstein, the
+sons of the Prince of Conde who was assassinated upon orders from the
+Duke of Anjou, young Henry of Bearn, besides many other Protestant
+chiefs, occupied several houses at St. Yrieix. The ancient priory served
+as the Admiral's quarters. Early in the morning, as was his wont,
+Admiral Coligny left his lodgings accompanied by his servants, to attend
+the prayers held in the Huguenot camp and called the "Prayer of the
+Guard." The officers and soldiers of the Admiral's post, together with
+those of some neighboring ones, filled on these occasions the courtyard
+of the priory, and standing erect, bareheaded, silent, they awaited in
+meditation the hour of raising their souls to God. Old soldiers grey of
+beard and seamed with scars; young recruits, barely beyond adolescence;
+rich noblemen, raised in the spacious halls of castles; field laborers,
+as well as artisans from the cities, who rallied to the defense of the
+"Church of the Desert"--all animated with an ardent faith, would there
+unite upon the level of Evangelical equality. The seigneur, battling
+side by side with his vassal for the holy cause of freedom of
+conscience, saw in him only a brother. Thus germinated among the
+Protestants the tendencies toward fraternity that were later to cause
+the distinctions of castes and races, so much prized by royalists, to
+vanish. A slight murmur, betokening the affection and respect that he
+inspired, greeted the Admiral's arrival. The rude fatigues of many wars
+had bent his tall and one-time straight figure. His white hair and
+beard, together with the pallor of his noble visage, now profoundly
+changed since the death of his brother, who was treacherously poisoned,
+imparted to the aspect of the supreme chieftain of the Protestant armies
+a venerable and touching expression. Encased from his neck down in armor
+of burnished iron, without any ornament whatever, and half concealed
+under a flowing cloak of white cloth--the Huguenot color--the Admiral
+was bareheaded. Beside him stood the brave Francis of Lanoue, a young
+Breton nobleman. Courage, honor, kindness, were stamped upon his manly
+and loyal countenance. A sort of steel arm, artistically forged by
+Odelin Lebrenn, with the aid of which Monsieur Lanoue could guide his
+horse, replaced the arm that the daring captain had lost in battle. When
+the murmur that greeted the Admiral's arrival subsided, one of the
+pastors, Feron by name, who attended the army, uttered in a benign voice
+the following short prayer:
+
+"Our trust lies in God, who made the heavens and the earth.
+
+"Our Father and Savior, since it has pleased You, in the midst of the
+dangers of war, to preserve us last night and until this day, may it
+please You to cause us to employ it wholly in Your service. Oh, heavenly
+Father! Our brothers rely upon our vigilance. They rely upon us, their
+defenders. Deign by Your grace to help us in faithfully fulfilling our
+charge, without negligence, or cowardice. Finally, may it please You, O
+Lord of Hosts, to change these calamitous times into happy times where
+justice and religion shall reign! Not then shall we any longer be
+reduced to the necessity of defending ourselves; then will Your holy
+name be glorified more and more the world over! All these things, O
+Lord, our Father! O, good God! we beg of You in the name and by the
+grace of our Savior Jesus Christ. We pray to You to increase our faith
+which we now confess, saying: I believe in God the omnipotent Father,
+and in his Son the Redeemer.
+
+"May the blessing of God the Father, the grace and the mercy of our Lord
+Jesus Christ remain and dwell forevermore among us in the communion of
+the Holy Ghost.
+
+"Amen!"[67]
+
+"Amen!" responded Admiral Coligny devoutly and in a grave voice.
+
+"Amen!" answered the soldiers.
+
+The morning prayer had been said.
+
+While the Admiral was religiously attending morning service in the
+courtyard at his headquarters, Dominic, the servant of his household who
+was captured shortly before by the royalists, was engaged in executing
+the crime plotted by the Duke of Anjou jointly with the captain of his
+guards.
+
+Dominic stepped into the chamber of Coligny; he moved about cautiously,
+with eyes and ears alert, watching from all sides whether he was either
+seen or heard; he approached a table on which, standing beside several
+scrolls of paper, was an earthen bowl containing a refreshing drink that
+Coligny was in the habit of taking every morning, and which his faithful
+equerry Nicholas Mouche always prepared for him. Mouche was at the
+moment at prayers with the Admiral, together with the rest of the
+household servants. Dominic purposely did not join his comrades that
+morning; he figured upon their absence to carry out his nefarious deed.
+The poisoner took up the earthen bowl to drop the poison in. For an
+instant he hesitated. Brought up in the house of Coligny and ever
+treated by his master with paternal kindness, the thoughts of the wretch
+for an instant conjured up the past before him. Then cupidity stifled
+pity in the assassin's breast. He took out of his pocket a scent-bag
+containing some grey powder, shook the contents into the bowl, and
+stirred it, in order to mix the poison well with the liquid. Dominic was
+placing the bowl back from where he took it when he heard steps
+approaching. Quickly and tremblingly he slid away from the table. It was
+Odelin Lebrenn, bringing back the Admiral's casque, which was sent to
+him to repair, it having been bent in the day before by a ball from a
+large arquebus while the Admiral was on a reconnoitering expedition.
+Although serving as a volunteer with his son Antonicq in the Protestant
+army, Odelin exercised his trade with the help of a portable forge.
+Thirty-three years had elapsed since the day when he returned to Paris
+with Master Raimbaud. He was now bordering on his forty-eighth year.
+His beard and hair were grizzled with grey. His features betokened
+frankness and resolution. Odelin had not seen Dominic since his capture
+by the Catholics. He now congratulated him heartily upon his escape from
+the enemy, but remarking the wretch's pallor, he added:
+
+"What is the matter, my dear Dominic? You look ashy pale."
+
+"I do not know--what--you mean--" stammered Dominic, saying which the
+poisoner rushed out precipitately.
+
+The hurry of the man's departure, his pallor and flutter, awakened the
+armorer's suspicion; but these thoughts were quickly crowded out of his
+mind by the sudden appearance of his son Antonicq, who ran in with
+flustered face and tears in his eyes, crying:
+
+"Oh, father! Come quick! In heaven's name come to the Prince of
+Gerolstein who is just back to camp with uncle Josephin, the
+Franc-Taupin."
+
+At this moment, Nicholas Mouche, the Admiral's confidential equerry
+entered his master's room. Not seeing the face of either Odelin or his
+son, both having their backs turned to the door, he cried out in
+surprise and alarm:
+
+"Who are you? What are you doing here?" But instantly recognizing the
+armorer and his son, for whom he entertained warm esteem, he added:
+"Excuse me, my dear Lebrenn, I did not recognize you at first. Excuse
+me. You and your son are really members of the household. Your presence
+here need not alarm me for my master's safety."
+
+"I brought back Monsieur Coligny's casque," Odelin explained, "and my
+son came after me. I do not yet know the cause of his excitement. See
+how flustered his face is! What extraordinary thing has happened, my
+boy?"
+
+"My sister--Marguerite--whom we thought lost forever--has been found--"
+
+"Great God!"
+
+"Come, father--the Prince--and my uncle--will tell you all about
+it--they will narrate to you the extraordinary affair--"
+
+"What!" exclaimed Nicholas Mouche, looking at Odelin. "Is the poor child
+who disappeared so long ago found again! Heaven be praised!"
+
+"Oh, I can not yet believe such a happy thing possible!" said Odelin,
+his heart beating between doubt and hope.
+
+"Come, father, you will know all!"
+
+"Adieu!" said the armorer to Nicholas, as he followed his son, no less
+wrought up than the young man.
+
+"Poor father!" mused the old equerry as he followed Odelin with his
+eyes. "Provided only he is not running after some cruel disappointment!"
+Approaching his master's writing table to assure himself that the
+Admiral was supplied with ink, Nicholas's eyes fell upon the earthen
+bowl. He noticed that it was full to the brim--untouched.
+
+"Monsieur the Admiral has not taken a single mouthful of his chicory
+water! Truth to say, in point of taking care of himself, the dear old
+hero is as thoughtless as a child! But here he is! He shall not escape a
+lecture;" and addressing Coligny, who now returned to his room after
+prayers, the equerry said in a tone of familiar reproach that his long
+years of service justified: "Well, Monsieur Admiral; what about your
+chicory water! The bowl is as full as when I brought it in early this
+morning--"
+
+"That is so," answered Coligny with a smile. "The trouble lies with you.
+You make the drink so frightfully bitter that I postpone all I can the
+hour of gulping it down."
+
+"That is an odd reason, Monsieur Admiral! Is not the bitterness of the
+drink the very thing that gives it virtue? Monsieur, you are going to
+drink it now--on the spot--and before me!"
+
+"Come, let us compromise--I promise you that the bowl shall be empty
+within the next hour. Are the horses saddled and bridled?"
+
+"Yes, monsieur. If we ride out this morning I shall bring along Julien
+the Basque and Dominic to take charge of your relay horses. The poor
+fellow Dominic, despite the mishap of the day before yesterday, which
+might have cost him dear, begged me this morning to choose him as one of
+the footmen to accompany you to-day, if there is to be any engagement."
+
+"Dominic is a worthy servant."
+
+"What else should he be? Was he not brought up in your house, monsieur,
+and the son of one of your oldest servants, the worthy forester of the
+woods of Chatillon?"
+
+"Oh, my dear house of Chatillon, my meadows, my woods, my vines, my
+grain fields, my thrifty laborers--am I ever to see you again?" remarked
+Coligny with a melancholic sigh. "Oh, the country life! The family
+life!" The Admiral remained in silent meditation for a moment, then he
+added:
+
+"Leave me alone. I have some writing to do."
+
+The equerry left the room. Monsieur Coligny stepped slowly towards the
+table, drew a campstool near, and sat down upon it. With his forehead
+resting on his hand he remained long lost in revery, musing to himself:
+
+"Why should this thought have come to me to-day, more than any other
+day? I know not. God inspires me. Let us listen to His warnings. At any
+rate, it is well to have our accounts clear with heaven. Besides, it is
+my duty to answer before God and men the accusations that are preferred
+against me. It is my duty to answer the capital and defaming sentence
+that has been hurled against me and mine."
+
+Taking a scroll from the table, the Admiral read:
+
+     "As the principal author of and leader in the conspiracy and
+     rebellion gotten up against the King and his State, the said Sieur
+     of Coligny is sentenced to be hanged and strangled upon the Greve
+     Square, and subsequently to be exposed from the gibbet of
+     Montfaucon. His goods revert to and are confiscate by the King. His
+     children are declared forfeit of their noble rank, infamous, and
+     disqualified from holding office or owning any property in the
+     kingdom. Fifty thousand gold ecus are promised to whomsoever will
+     deliver the said Sieur of Coligny, dead or alive. The children of
+     his brother Dandelot are likewise declared infamous."
+
+Coligny flung back upon the table the scroll containing the extract of
+the royal decree, registered in the Parliament of Paris on May 27, 1569,
+and raising his tearful eyes heavenward, exclaimed in accents of
+profound grief:
+
+"My poor and good brother! They killed you treacherously by poison! Your
+children are orphans, with none but myself for their support--and now a
+price is set upon my own life! To-day, to-morrow, in battle, or
+otherwise, God may call me to Him! Oh, let me at least carry with me the
+consolation that my own and my brother's orphans will remain entrusted
+to worthy hands!"
+
+Coligny remained long absorbed in meditation. He then took a sheet of
+paper, a pen, and again concentrating his thoughts, proceeded to write
+his testament:[68]
+
+     Of all His creatures, God has created man the most worthy.
+     Accordingly, it is man's duty, during his life, to do all he can to
+     glorify the Lord, render evidence of his faith, set a good example
+     to his fellows, and, to the extent of his powers, leave his
+     children in comfort, if it has pleased God to afford him any.
+
+     Although our days are numbered before God, nothing is more
+     uncertain than the hour when it will please Him to call us away. We
+     must keep ourselves so well prepared that we may not be taken by
+     surprise. For this reason I have decided to draw up the present
+     writing, in order that those who may remain behind me, may hear my
+     intentions and know my wishes.
+
+     In the first place, after invoking the name of God, I make to Him
+     a summary confession of my faith, imploring Him that the same may
+     serve me at the hour when it shall please Him to call me away,
+     because He knows that I make this confession with my heart and
+     affection, and in the full sincerity of my soul.
+
+     I believe in what is contained in the Old and the New Testament, as
+     being the true word of God, to which and from which nothing may be
+     added or taken away, as it orders us. Lastly, I seek in Jesus
+     Christ and through Him alone my salvation and the remission of my
+     sins, according as He has promised. I subscribe to the confession
+     of faith of the Reformed Church in this kingdom. I wish to live and
+     die in this faith, judging myself happy, indeed, if I must suffer
+     on that account.
+
+     I know I am accused of having attempted against the life of the
+     King, of the Queen, and of messeigneurs the King's brothers; I
+     protest before God that I never had the wish or the intention of
+     doing so. I am also accused of ambition, on account of my having
+     taken up arms with the Reformers; I protest that only the interest
+     of religion, and the necessity of defending my own life and the
+     lives of my family made me take up arms. Upon this head I confess
+     that my greatest guilt lies in not having resented the injustices
+     and the murders perpetrated upon my brothers. I had to be driven to
+     take up arms by the dangers and the plots of which I myself was the
+     object. But I also say it before God, I have endeavored by all
+     means available to pacify, fearing nothing so much as civil war,
+     and foreseeing that the same would carry in its wake the ruin of
+     this kingdom, whose preservation I have ever desired. I write this
+     because, ignorant of the hour when it will please God to call me
+     away, I do not wish to leave my children with the brand of infamy
+     and rebellion.
+
+     I have taken up arms, not against the King, but against those whose
+     tyranny compelled the Reformers to defend their lives. I knew in my
+     heart that they often acted against the wishes of the King,
+     according to several letters and instructions that prove the fact.
+     I know I must appear before the throne of God and there receive
+     judgment. May He condemn me if I lie when I say that my warmest
+     desire is to see the King served in all purity, obedient to his
+     orders, and that the kingdom of France be preserved. On these
+     conditions I would gladly forget all that concerns me
+     personally--injuries, insults, outrages, confiscation of my
+     estates--provided the glory of God and public tranquility are
+     assured. To that end I am determined to occupy myself to my last
+     breath. I wish this to be known, in order not to leave a wrong
+     impression concerning myself after my death.
+
+     I request and order that my children be always brought up to the
+     love and fear of God; that they continue their studies up to the
+     age of fifteen, without interruption. I hold those years to be
+     better employed in that manner than if they are sent to a court, or
+     placed in the suite of some seigneur. Above all do I request their
+     tutors never to allow them to keep bad or vicious company. We are
+     all too much inclined to evil, by our own nature. I request that my
+     children be frequently reminded of this, in order that they may
+     know that such is my desire, as I have often expressed it to them
+     myself.
+
+     I request that my children be brought up with those of my brother
+     Dandelot, as he himself expressed in his testament the wish that
+     they should be. That the ones and the others take for their example
+     the warm and fraternal friendship that always existed between my
+     brother and myself.
+
+     Loving all my children equally, I expect that each will receive as
+     my successors that which is accorded to them by the usages of the
+     country where my estates are situated (if the confiscation with
+     which they are attainted cease). I request that the jewelry
+     belonging to my deceased wife be equally divided between my two
+     daughters.
+
+     I desire that my eldest son take the name of Chatillon; Gaspard, my
+     second son, the name of Dandelot; and Charles, the third, that of
+     La Breteche.
+
+     I request Madam Dandelot, my sister-in-law, to keep near her my two
+     daughters, so long as she may remain in widowhood. Should she marry
+     again, I request Madam La Rochefoucauld, my niece, to take charge
+     of them.
+
+     Having learned that they burned down the college founded by me at
+     Chatillon, I desire and expect that it be re-built, because it is
+     a public good with the aid of which God may be honored and
+     glorified.
+
+     I order that my servants and pensioners be paid all that may be due
+     to them on the day of my decease, and do grant them, besides, a
+     year's wages. In recognition of my great satisfaction with Lagrele,
+     the preceptor of my children, for the care he has bestowed upon
+     them, I bequeath to him one thousand francs. To Nicholas Mouche and
+     his wife Joan, in reward of their good offices to me and my
+     deceased wife, I bequeath five hundred francs, and an annual
+     stipend of seventeen measures of wheat during their lives, because
+     they have so many children.
+
+     When it shall please God to call me away, I desire, if it be
+     possible, that my body be taken to my Chatillon home, to be there
+     interred beside my wife, without any funeral pomp or other ceremony
+     than that of the Reformed religion.
+
+     And in order that the above provisions be carried out, I request
+     Monsieur the Count of Chatillon, my brother; Monsieur La
+     Rochefoucauld, my nephew; and Messieurs Lanoue and Saragosse, to be
+     the executors of these my last wishes. Above all do I recommend to
+     them _the education and instruction of my children_. I consecrate
+     them to the service of God, entreating them to cause my children
+     always to deport and guide themselves by His holy spirit, and to so
+     behave that their actions contribute to His glory, to the public
+     welfare, and to the pacification of the kingdom. I pray to God to
+     be pleased with the benediction that I bestow upon my children, to
+     the end of attracting upon them the blessing of heaven.
+
+     As to myself, offering to the Lord the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in
+     the redemption of my sins, I pray to Him that He may receive my
+     soul and grant to it the blessed and eternal life that awaits the
+     resurrection of the body.
+
+     Finally, I request Messieurs La Rochefoucauld, Saragosse and
+     Lanoue, to be the tutors and guardians of my children.
+
+Coligny was just finishing this testament, every line of which breathed
+sincerity, straightforwardness, wisdom, modesty, the tenderest of
+domestic virtues, faith in the holiness of his cause, love for France,
+and horror of civil war, when Monsieur Lanoue entered the room with
+indignation stamped upon his features. He held an open letter in his
+hand, and was about to address Coligny, when the Admiral forestalled
+him, saying:
+
+"My friend, I have just written your name at the foot of my testament,
+requesting you and Monsieur La Rochefoucauld kindly to accept the office
+of guardians to my children, and those of my brother;" and extending his
+hand to Lanoue: "You accept, do you not, this mark of my friendship and
+confidence? Brought up under your eyes, my nephews and my children, if
+it please God, will be honorable men and women."
+
+"Monsieur," answered Lanoue with profound emotion, "in heart, at least,
+I shall be worthy of the sacred mission that you honor me with."
+
+"May people some day be able to say of my children and nephews: 'They
+have the virtues of Lanoue!' God will then have granted my last prayer.
+I entrust this testament to your hands, my friend. Keep it safe."
+
+"It is not sealed, monsieur."
+
+"Both my friends and my enemies are free to read it. What a man says to
+God men may hear," replied the Admiral with ancient loftiness. "Here I
+am now, settled with myself," the noble soldier proceeded to say; "now
+let us consider the military preparations for the day."
+
+"Oh, what a war!" cried Lanoue. "No, it is war no longer; it is
+treachery; it is assassination! I have a letter from Paris. They send
+me a copy of a missive to the Duke of Alencon from his brother, in the
+Maurevert affair."
+
+"The cowardly assassin of Mouy?"
+
+"Yes, the cowardly assassin Maurevert, who came to our camp with the
+mask of friendship, and who, profiting by the darkness of night and the
+defenselessness of Mouy asleep, stabbed him to death, and immediately
+took flight. Listen, Admiral, listen now to this! This is what Charles
+IX, the present King of France, writes to his brother:
+
+     "To my brother the Duke of Alencon.
+
+     "My brother, in reward for the signal service rendered to me by
+     Charles of Louvier, Sieur of Maurevert, the bearer of these
+     presents, IT BEING HE WHO KILLED MOUY, _in the way that he will
+     narrate to you_, I request you, my brother, to bestow upon him the
+     collar of my Order, he being chosen and elected by the brothers of
+     the said Order a member of the same; and furthermore to see to it
+     that he, the said Maurevert, be gratified by the denizens and
+     residents of my good city of Paris _with some worthy present_ IN
+     KEEPING WITH HIS DESERTS, while I pray God, my brother, that He
+     keep you under His holy and worthy protection.
+
+     "Done at Plessis-les-Tours, the 1st day of June, 1569.
+
+     "Your good brother
+
+     "CHARLES."[69]
+
+The Admiral listened stupefied.
+
+"Never," observed Lanoue after reading the royal schedule, "never yet
+was the glorification of assassination carried further than this! Oh,
+Monsieur Admiral, you often made the remark--'You, as well as I and so
+many others, are attached by heart and principle, if not to the King,
+still to the Crown.' But this house of Valois will yet cover itself with
+so many crimes that it will inspire hatred for monarchy. Do we not
+already see springing up the desire for a federal republic, like the
+federated Swiss cantons? The desire already has spread among many men of
+honorable purposes, and it gains new supporters every day."
+
+Nicholas Mouche appeared at this moment at the threshold of the door. "I
+wager," he said to himself, "that the wholesome drink of chicory water
+still lies forgotten." And approaching his master, he added: "Well,
+Monsieur Admiral, the hour has elapsed!"
+
+"What hour?" asked Coligny, whose thoughts were absorbed in the painful
+reminiscences awakened by Lanoue's words, "what do you mean?"
+
+"Your morning drink!" answered the trusty equerry; and turning from his
+master: "Monsieur Lanoue, I entreat you; join me in making the Admiral
+listen to reason. He knows that his surgeon, Monsieur Ambroise Pare,
+strongly recommended to him chicory water when in the field, because the
+Admiral often is twelve and fifteen hours at a stretch on horseback,
+without once taking off his boots. Well, he refuses to follow the orders
+of his physician."
+
+"You hear the complaint of your worthy servant, Monsieur Admiral,"
+remarked Lanoue smiling. "I agree with him; he is right. You should
+follow the orders of Master Ambroise Pare."
+
+"Come, come--it shall be as Monsieur Nicholas wishes," said Coligny,
+taking the bowl from the table. He looked at the greenish color of the
+decoction with visible repugnance, and carried the bowl to his lips.
+
+At that very instant Odelin Lebrenn rushed into the chamber, dashed the
+earthen vessel from Coligny's hands and crushed it under his feet,
+crying:
+
+"Thank God! I arrived in time!"
+
+Lanoue, Nicholas Mouche and Coligny were stupefied. Breathless with
+excitement and winded from a long and rapid run, Odelin Lebrenn leaned
+with one hand against the table. He made a sign that he wished to speak
+but could not yet. Finally he stammered out:
+
+"A second later--and Monsieur Coligny would have been poisoned--by the
+potion--he was about--to drink!"
+
+"Great God!" cried Lanoue, growing pale, while Nicholas Mouche trembled
+like an aspen leaf as he looked at his master.
+
+"Explain yourself, Monsieur Lebrenn!" commanded the Admiral.
+
+"This morning, when you were away from the room with your servants at
+prayer, I came in to bring back your casque. I found Dominic here."
+
+"That is so," said Nicholas Mouche; "he did not go to prayer with the
+rest."
+
+"Without being surprised at finding Dominic in his master's room,"
+Odelin proceeded, "I noticed, notwithstanding, that he was pale and
+confused. Later, God be blessed, I recalled the circumstance that, as I
+came in, I saw him quickly step away from the table on which stood the
+vessel which, as Nicholas afterwards told me, held the drink you take
+every morning, Monsieur Admiral. Into that drink, into that chicory
+water, Dominic dropped the poison."
+
+"He!" exclaimed Coligny, horrified. "Impossible! A servant raised under
+my own roof since his early childhood!"
+
+"Oh, the wretch!" cried Nicholas Mouche. "This morning, seeing me
+prepare the potion, Dominic asked me to let him attend to the matter. I
+saw in that only a warning to be careful."
+
+"My God!" put in Lanoue, who had remained dumb with horror and
+indignation. "Providence can allow such crimes, only to inspire the
+world with execration for their perpetrators. Can such wickedness be,
+Monsieur Lebrenn?"
+
+"Dominic has confessed all. The instigators of the murder are the Duke
+of Anjou and the Count of La Riviere, a captain of the Duke's guards.
+The temptation of a vast sum decided the assassin to undertake the
+deed."
+
+"Oh, Catherine De Medici, your children approve themselves worthy of
+you! They emulate the example you have set them!" exclaimed Lanoue.
+
+"But how did you discover the crime, Monsieur Lebrenn? Tell us."
+
+"What I noticed this morning would have awakened my suspicions on the
+spot, were it not for the hurried arrival of my son and the tidings he
+brought me. I followed him in a great hurry. As we were passing by the
+inn that lies not far from my place and where the horses of Monsieur
+Coligny are stabled, I saw Dominic come out, riding bareback. His nag
+bore evidence of having been bridled in great haste. Dominic departed at
+a gallop. The man's frightened looks and his hurry to get off revived my
+first suspicions. I ran after him calling out: 'Hold him!' 'Hold him!'
+My uncle, the Franc-Taupin, together with some others of his men,
+happened to be in the wretch's way. They jumped at the bridle of his
+horse, and held him fast. As I caught up with them I shouted to him
+point-blank: 'You poisoned the Admiral!' Surprise, fear and remorse
+immediately drew from him a full confession of his crime. 'It is true,'
+he answered. 'I repent it. The Duke of Anjou offered me a large sum to
+poison my master--I yielded--the poison was handed to me--and I returned
+to camp in order to commit the murder.' The instant I heard this, I ran
+hither, leaving Dominic in the care of my son."
+
+"Monsieur Lebrenn," said Coligny, grasping Odelin's hands with warmth,
+"It is thirty and odd years ago that I met your worthy father at one of
+the first councils of the reformers on Montmartre. I was then quite
+young, while your father, an artisan employed at the printing
+establishment of Robert Estienne already had rendered valiant services
+to the cause. It is sweet to me to owe my life to you--to you, his
+worthy son."
+
+"The cannon!" suddenly called out Lanoue, listening to a muffled and
+rumbling sound that came from afar, carried into the room by the early
+morning breeze, "It is the rumbling sound of approaching cannon wheels.
+The detonations succeed each other rapidly."
+
+"Nicholas," said Coligny, without indicating any surprise, "look at my
+pocket-watch. It must now be nearly ten o'clock."
+
+"Yes, monsieur," answered the equerry after consulting the watch; "it is
+nearly ten."
+
+"La Rochefoucauld has executed my orders punctually. It shall not be
+long before we shall see one of his officers arrive. Lanoue, let us be
+ready to jump on horseback." And turning to his equerry: "Order the
+horses brought to the door of the priory. Monsieur Lebrenn, I count upon
+having your son at my side, as usual in action, to carry my orders."
+
+"Here he is, monsieur," answered Odelin as Antonicq entered. "Where is
+the wretch, my son?"
+
+"Father, he repeated his confession, again accusing the Duke of Anjou
+and the captain of the Duke's guards with having driven him to the
+commission of the crime, which he seemed deeply to repent. The
+exasperated soldiers executed instant justice upon the poisoner. They
+hanged him. His corpse is now swinging from the branch of an oak."[70]
+
+At this moment a Huguenot officer covered with dust appeared at the
+threshold of the door. Monsieur Coligny said to him:
+
+"I was waiting for you. Is the skirmish opened? Are all doing their duty
+well?"
+
+"Yes, monsieur. A few companies of the royal army answered our attack,
+and have crossed the stream that covered their front."
+
+"Monsieur La Rochefoucauld must have feigned a retreat towards the hill
+of Haut Moulin, behind which are massed the twenty cavalry squadrons of
+the Prince of Gerolstein. Have all my orders been executed?"
+
+"Yes, monsieur. At the very moment that he despatched me to you,
+Monsieur La Rochefoucauld was executing the retreat. The Prince was in
+command of his cavalry. All the forces are in line of battle."
+
+"All goes well," observed Coligny to Lanoue; "I ordered the Prince's
+squadrons not to dismask and charge until the royal troops, drawn into
+disorder by their pursuit of our men, shall have arrived at the foot of
+the hill. We may expect a good result."
+
+"Monsieur La Rochefoucauld also ordered me to make an important
+communication to you. From some royalist prisoners we learned this
+morning that the Queen and the Cardinal arrived in the camp of the Duke
+of Anjou."
+
+Upon hearing of Catherine De Medici's arrival, the Admiral reflected for
+an instant, then drew near the table, dashed a few words down on a sheet
+of paper and handed it to the officer, saying:
+
+"Monsieur, return at your fastest, and deliver this order to Monsieur La
+Rochefoucauld." And addressing Lanoue as the officer left on the wings
+of the wind on his errand: "The presence of the Queen in the royal camp
+may suggest to Marshal Tavannes the idea of engaging in a decisive
+action. Come, my friend," he added, leaving the chamber, "I wish to
+consult with the Princes of Orange and Nassau before taking horse."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+FAMILY FLOTSAM.
+
+
+Almost immediately upon the arrival of Monsieur La Rochefoucauld's aide
+at the Admiral's quarters, Odelin Lebrenn and Antonicq hastened to reach
+their lodgings, where Anna Bell awaited them. The meeting between father
+and daughter was delayed through the discovery of the crime that Coligny
+was to be the victim of.
+
+Odelin Lebrenn had set up his armorer's establishment on the ground
+floor of a house in St. Yrieix which the inhabitants had abandoned.
+Franz of Gerolstein, together with several noblemen of his suite and
+their pages, occupied a set of rooms on the floor above, below them
+being also the quarters of Odelin, his son and the Franc-Taupin. A straw
+couch, large enough to accommodate the three, stood at the rear of the
+apartment. Near a wide, open fireplace lay the hammers, the anvil and
+the portable forge requisite for the armorer's work. Day was now far
+advanced. Since morning Anna Bell had not left the lodging. Seated on a
+wooden bench, and her head reclined upon her hands, she expectantly
+turned her ears from time to time toward the street. The recent
+agonizing bustle of the camp was now followed by solitude and silence.
+All the troops, a few companies excepted that were left in charge of
+the baggage, had marched out beyond the burg and its entrenchments, in
+order to form in battle array about one league from the Admiral's
+headquarters, he having prepared for a possible general engagement.
+
+Odelin Lebrenn's first interview with Anna Bell was both tender and
+painful. The father found again his daughter, once dearly beloved and
+long wept as lost. But he found her soiled with the title of maid of
+honor of Catherine De Medici! With distressing frankness the wretched
+girl confessed to her father the disorders of her past life. Anna Bell
+was just finishing her narrative when the general call to arms
+resounded. Antonicq went to his post beside Monsieur Coligny, after
+listening to the revelations of his sister; a few minutes later Odelin
+also, yielding to the imperious voice of duty, left his weeping
+daughter, to join the cavalry squadron in which he served as volunteer.
+
+Left alone, Anna Bell fell a prey to cruel anxieties. Her father, her
+brother and Franz of Gerolstein were about to run the dangers of a
+battle. The confession wrung from her lips by a terrific necessity
+seemed to render all the more profound, all the more grievous the love
+of the young girl for the Prince. Now less than ever did she expect her
+affection to be returned. Still she experienced a sort of bitter
+consolation in the thought that Franz of Gerolstein was no longer
+ignorant of her passionate devotion, and that, in order to save him from
+poison, she risked her own life. The chaos of distressing thoughts, now
+rendered all the more painful by her uneasiness for those whom she
+loved, plunged Anna Bell into inexpressible agony. She counted the hours
+with increasing anxiety. Toward night the roll of drums and blare of
+trumpets resounded from afar. The young girl trembled and listened.
+Presently she could distinguish the approaching tramp of horses' hoofs,
+and not long thereafter she heard them stop before the lodging. Running
+to the door, she opened it in the hope of seeing her brother and father.
+Instead, she saw a page in the livery of the Prince of Gerolstein
+holding a second horse by the reins.
+
+"Monsieur," asked Anna Bell anxiously of the lad, "what news of the
+battle?"
+
+"There was no battle, mademoiselle, only a lively engagement of
+outposts. The royalists were worsted," and swallowing a sigh, while
+tears appeared in his eyes, he added, "but unfortunately my poor comrade
+Wilhelm, one of the Prince of Gerolstein's pages, was killed in the
+skirmish. I am leading back his horse."
+
+"And the Prince?" inquired Anna Bell, nervously. "He has not been
+wounded?"
+
+"No, mademoiselle. I am riding ahead of monsieur; he is returning with
+his squadrons," answered the page, alighting from his horse, and his
+sighs and sobs redoubled, while the tears rolled down his cheeks.
+
+At ease on the score of Franz of Gerolstein's life, Anna Bell had some
+words of consolation for the afflicted page. "I am sorry for you," she
+said; "to lose a friend at your age."
+
+"Oh, mademoiselle. I loved him so dearly--he died so valiantly! An
+arquebusier was taking aim at the Prince. Wilhelm threw himself in front
+and received the ball in his chest. He dropped, never to rise again."
+
+"Generous lad!" exclaimed Anna Bell, and silently she thought: "To die
+for Franz! Under his own eyes. That is a death to be envied!"
+
+"Poor Wilhelm!" continued the page sadly, "his last words were for his
+mother. He asked me, if ever I return home again, to carry to her a sash
+that she embroidered for him, and which he left at our lodging together
+with his gala suit."
+
+The lad's words seemed to have suggested an unexpected line of thought
+to Anna Bell, when she suddenly saw Odelin from a distance, returning at
+full gallop in the company of other horsemen. She cried: "There is
+father! Thank God, he is not wounded. But where is brother?"
+
+Not daring, out of a sense of modesty, to be seen by the strangers who
+accompanied her father, Anna Bell stepped back into the room. Odelin led
+his horse to a stable where also the horses of Franz of Gerolstein were
+kept, and hastened back to join his daughter in the house. The girl ran
+to him, kissed his hands respectfully several times, and said:
+
+"Thank heaven, father, you are safe and sound--but brother, dear
+Antonicq, did he also come off scathless?"
+
+"You may feel at ease," answered Odelin, embracing his daughter,
+"Antonicq is not wounded. Together with other volunteers he is escorting
+a number of prisoners to places of safety in the camp. Poor child,
+great must have been your anxiety since I left you. Come to your
+father's arms!"
+
+"Oh, I counted the hours--the minutes--"
+
+"Let me embrace you again--and yet again," said Odelin with tears in his
+eyes, and fondly holding her in his arms. "Oh, divine power of
+happiness! It brings with it the balm of forgetfulness of the past! I
+have found you again--dear child! In one day, years of sorrow are
+blotted out!"
+
+Hardly able to repress her tears, Anna Bell responded unrestrainedly to
+Odelin's caresses. His ineffable clemency was not belied.
+
+"Father," she said, "would you have me disarm you while we wait for
+Antonicq? Your cuirass must tire you. Let me unbuckle it."
+
+"Thank you, child," the armorer answered, as he stepped to a lanthorn
+that hung from the wall, and lighted the same to dispel the shadows that
+began to invade the apartment. He then took off his casque, loosened his
+belt, and returned to his daughter: "But I shall remain armed. The
+Admiral issued orders that the troops rest a few hours, take supper, and
+hold themselves ready to march at a minute's notice."
+
+"My God--is there another battle pending?"
+
+"I do not know the projects of Admiral Coligny; all I know--and that is
+all that is of importance to me--I know we have a few hours to
+ourselves. Sit down there, dear child, so that the light of the lanthorn
+may fall upon your face--I wish to behold you at my leisure. This
+morning tears darkened my eyes almost continuously."
+
+And after contemplating Anna Bell for a while with tender and silent
+curiosity, Odelin resumed:
+
+"Yes, your sweet beauty is such as your charming little girl's face gave
+promise of. Oh! how often did I not leave my anvil and drop my hammer to
+fondle your blonde head! Your hair has grown darker. In your infancy you
+were as blonde as my sister Hena. Many a line in your face recalls hers.
+She and I resembled each other. But your beautiful brown and velvety
+eyes have remained the same--neither in color nor shape have they
+changed. I find the dimple still on your chin, and the two little ones
+on your cheeks each time you laughed, they also are still there--and you
+were always laughing--my dear, dear child!"
+
+"Oh! how happy those days must have been to me!" murmured the young
+girl, as she recalled with bitter sorrow the hours of her innocent
+childhood. "I then was near you, father, and near mother--and besides--"
+
+Anna Bell could not finish the sentence. The distressed girl broke down
+sobbing.
+
+"Heaven and earth!" cried up the armorer, whose features, shortly before
+illumined with happiness, now were overcast with grief. "To think that
+you had to beg your bread! My poor child--perhaps beaten by the gypsy
+woman who kidnapped you from the loving paternal roof!"
+
+"Father," replied the poor girl with a look of profound grief, "those
+days of misery were not my worst days. Oh, that I had always remained a
+beggar!"
+
+"I understand your thoughts, unhappy child! Let us drop those sad
+recollections!" And stamping the floor furiously Odelin added: "Oh,
+infamous Queen! Thou art the monster who debauched my child! A curse
+upon thee and thy execrable brood!" After a painful silence, Odelin
+proceeded abruptly: "Do! I conjure you! Let us never again return to the
+past. Let us endeavor to bury it in everlasting oblivion!"
+
+"Alas, father, even if your clemency were to forget, my conscience will
+ever remember. It will every day remind me that I am a disgrace to my
+family. Oh, God! My cheeks tingle with shame at the bare thought of
+meeting my sister--and mother!"
+
+"Your mother! You know not the depths of a mother's love, indulgence and
+compassion. You return to her soiled, but repentant, and your mother
+will forgive. Besides, you are not guilty--you are the victim of, not
+the accomplice in, your past life. Your heart has remained pure, your
+instincts honest and lofty; your tears, your remorse, your apprehensions
+prove it to me. No, no! Be not afraid. Your mother and sister will
+receive you with joy, with confidence. I am certain henceforth your life
+will be ours, pure, modest, industrious! Oh, I know it--it is only that
+that causes my heart to bleed, and my pity for you to redouble; you are
+never to experience the austere yet sweet joys of a wife--and a
+mother!"
+
+Odelin remained for a moment steeped in silent rumination. After a pause
+he proceeded:
+
+"It is the severe punishment for a sin that it is allowed to none but
+your own family to absolve you of. But your sister's children will be
+your own. Your brother also is to marry. Cornelia, his sweetheart, is
+worthy of our affection. You will silence the cravings of your own heart
+in loving their children as you would have done your own. They will also
+love you. You will spend your life near them and us. Come, take a
+father's word for it--the domestic hearth is an inexhaustible source of
+consolation for the sorrowful--an inexhaustible source of sweet joys and
+healthy pleasures."
+
+These warm and affectionate words moved Anna Bell so profoundly that,
+dropping down upon her knees before her father, she covered his hands
+and face with kisses and tears; and raising her eyes up to him, and
+contemplating him with a kind of respectful admiration, "Oh, father!"
+she exclaimed, "living image of God! Your goodness and compassion are
+like only unto His!"
+
+"Because you suffer, my poor child," replied Odelin, his eyes moist with
+tears. And raising his daughter from the floor and placing her beside
+him, he put his arm around her and covered her with renewed caresses.
+
+"It is because you are to suffer still more--it is because you love--it
+is because you are bound to love--and without hope!" the armorer
+proceeded with solemnity. "Only this once, and never again shall I
+mention this painful love. If I, your father, touch upon such a subject
+with you, the reason is that it is impossible for me to blame the
+choice of your heart. Franz of Gerolstein, by the strength of his
+character, the generosity of his sentiments, the loftiness of his whole
+life, deserves to be loved passionately. Alas, but for that unhappy
+past, your love needed not be hopeless. Only a few hours ago, speaking
+about you at a halt made by our troops, Franz of Gerolstein remarked to
+me: 'Oh, that honor, the only barrier I may never leap, should separate
+me forever from your daughter!' It was not a hollow consolation the
+Prince was offering me. I know Franz's contempt for distinctions of
+rank. Moreover we are of the same blood, our family comes from one
+stock; but that fatal past--that is the unbridgeable abyss that
+separates us forever from the Prince. That is why you inspire me with so
+much pity. Yes, you are all the more endeared to me because you suffer,
+and by reason of your future sufferings, poor dear child, so guiltless
+of the sins you have committed!" added Odelin with renewed tenderness.
+"But be brave, be brave, my child! Your hopeless love is at least
+honorable and pure; you can nourish it without shame, in the secret
+recesses of your heart. I shall say not another word upon that
+ill-starred passion. When you are back among us and, although surrounded
+by our affection, I shall see you at times lost in revery, sad, and
+moist of eye, believe me, poor distressed soul, your father will
+sympathize with your grief; each tear you drop will fall upon my heart."
+
+Odelin was uttering these last words when his son hurried into the
+apartment, looking sad and even bewildered. Anna Bell jumped up to meet
+the young man, saying: "Thank God, brother, I see you back safe and
+sound!"
+
+Such was the preoccupation of Antonicq that, without answering his
+sister, without taking notice of her, and even gently pushing her aside,
+he approached his father, and taking him apart to the other end of the
+room, spoke to him in a low and excited voice. Painfully affected at
+seeing herself pushed out of the way by her brother, who seemed to have
+neither a word nor a look for her in response to the gladness that she
+expressed at his safe return from battle, the young girl imagined
+herself despised by him.
+
+"Alas!" thought the maid of honor, "my brother will not forgive my past
+life; only a father's heart is capable of indulgence. Great God! If my
+sister, my mother, were also to receive me with such disdain--perchance
+aversion! I would rather die than expose myself to such treatment!"
+
+Antonicq continued to speak with his father in a low voice. Suddenly
+Odelin seemed to shudder, and hid his face in his hands. Profound
+silence ensued. Anna Bell, more and more the prey of the shyness and
+mistrust that conscious guilt inspires in a repentant soul, imagined
+herself the subject of the mysterious conversation between her father
+and brother. Odelin's features, lowering and angry, betokened disgust
+and indignation. The words escaped him: "And yet, despite such revolting
+horrors, I am bound to him by a sacred bond! Oh, a curse upon the day
+that brought us together again! A curse upon the fatal discovery! But
+once I shall have fulfilled that last duty, may heaven ever after
+deliver me of his hated presence! Listen," added the armorer, and again
+lowering his voice, he spoke to his son with intense earnestness,
+closing with the statement: "Such is my plan!"
+
+The conversation was again renewed in undertones between father and son.
+Anna Bell had caught only fragments of her father's remarks. She was
+convinced they spoke of her--and yet, only a minute before, Odelin was
+so lovingly indulgent towards his erring daughter. In vain did the young
+girl seek to fathom the cause of so sudden a change. What could the
+fatal discovery be that Antonicq had just imparted to his father, and
+seemed suddenly to incite his indignation and anger? Did she not lay her
+past life bare to her father in all sincerity of heart? What could she
+be accused of that she had not voluntarily confessed? A prey to profound
+anxiety, the young girl's heart sank within her; her limbs trembled as
+she saw her father hurriedly take up his sword and casque, and make
+ready to leave with Antonicq.
+
+The young man stepped to the couch of straw and pulled out of it a long,
+wide cloak of a brown material with a scarlet hood attached, such as was
+common among the Rochelois,[71] and helped his father to wrap himself in
+it over his armor; Odelin then put on his casque, threw the hood over
+it, and, without either look or word to his daughter, who, trembling and
+with frightened eyes followed his movements, went out, followed by his
+son.
+
+Long did Anna Bell weep. When her tears ran dry, the young girl turned
+her face to the future with sinister resolution. She considered herself
+an object of disgust and aversion to her brother and father. Forsaken by
+them, an unbridgeable abyss--honor--separated her forever from Franz of
+Gerolstein. Nothing was left but to die. Suddenly a flash of joy
+lightened her eyes, red with recent tears. She rose, stood erect, and
+looking about said: "Yes, to die. But to die under Franz's eyes--to die
+for him, like the young page killed this very day by throwing himself in
+the path of the bullet that was to fell his master. The army is to
+return to battle. The clothes, the horse of the page who was killed
+to-day are all here!"
+
+As these thoughts seethed in her mind, Anna Bell's eyes fell upon some
+sheets of paper, a pen and ink in a broken cup lying on the mantlepiece.
+The girl took them down with a sigh:
+
+"Oh, father! Oh, brother! Despite your contempt and aversion, my last
+thoughts will be of you!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Herve Lebrenn, the incestuous wretch who raised a matricidal hand
+against his mother, Fra Herve, the Cordelier, as he was called in the
+royal army, deserved but too well the reputation for a fiery preacher
+and leader of implacable sectarians. His sermons, lighted by a savage
+style of eloquence, and coupled to acts of ferocity in battle, inspired
+the Catholics with fanatic admiration. Wounded and made a prisoner in
+the course of the engagement of that day, he was taken pinioned to St.
+Yrieix and locked up in a dark cellar. The cellar door opened. The light
+of a lanthorn partially dispelled the gloom of the subterranean cell.
+Seated on the ground with his shoulders against the wall, Fra Herve saw
+a man enter, wrapped in a brown mantle, the scarlet hood of which, being
+wholly thrown over his head, concealed the face of the nocturnal
+visitor. The visitor was Odelin Lebrenn. He closed the door behind him,
+placed the lanthorn on the floor, and almost convulsed with wracking
+emotions, silently contemplated his brother, who had not yet recognized
+him. Odelin saw him now for the first time since the day when, still a
+lad returning from Italy with Master Raimbaud, the armorer, he
+involuntarily witnessed the torture and death of his sister Hena and
+Brother St. Ernest-Martyr. Herve also attended the solemnity of his
+sister's execution, in the company of Fra Girard, his evil genius.
+
+Odelin Lebrenn looked with mute horror upon his imprisoned brother. The
+lanthorn, placed upon the floor, threw upward a bright light streaked
+with hard, black shadows upon the cadaverous, ascetic and haggard
+features of Herve. His large, bald forehead, yellow and dirty, was tied
+in a blood-stained bandage. The blood had flowed down from his wound,
+dried up on one of his protruding cheek bones, and coagulated in the
+hairs of his thick and matted beard. His brown and threadbare coat,
+patched up in a score of places, was held around his waist by a cord
+from which hung a chaplet of arquebus balls with a small crucifix of
+lead. Rusty iron spurs were fastened with leather straps to his muddy
+feet, shod in sandals. Fra Herve, unable to distinguish his brother's
+face, shadowed as it was by the hood of the mantle, turned his head
+slowly towards the visitor, and kneeling down with an expression of
+gloomy disdain, said in a hollow voice:
+
+"Is it death? I am ready!"
+
+The Cordelier thereupon bowed down his large bald head, and raising his
+fettered hands towards the roof of the cellar muttered in a low voice
+the funeral invocation of the dying. Odelin threw back his hood, took up
+the lanthorn, and held it so as to throw a clear light upon his face.
+
+"Brother!" he called out to the monk in a voice that betrayed his
+profound emotion. "I am Odelin Lebrenn!"
+
+Without rising from his knees, Fra Herve threw himself back, and
+examined for a moment the face of Odelin. At length he recognized him,
+and, a sudden flash of hatred illumining his hollow eyes and an infernal
+smile curling his livid lips, he cried:
+
+"God has sent you! I shall spit out the truth into the face of the
+apostate! Oh, that your father were also here!"
+
+"Respect his memory--our father is dead!"
+
+"Did he die impenitent?"
+
+"He died in his faith!"
+
+"He died damned!" replied Fra Herve with a savage guffaw. "Everlastingly
+damned! The corruptor of my youth! The heretical leper! The sink of
+pestilence! Damned along with his wife! It was Thy will, Oh, God! In Thy
+wrath Thou didst so decree it. The flames of hell will be doubly hot to
+them! Forever and ever will they be face to face with the spectacle of
+their daughter, damned through their acts, and damned like themselves,
+writhing in the midst of everlasting fires!"
+
+"Do not take upon your lips the names of our sister, the poor martyr, or
+of our mother, you wretched fanatic, author of all their sufferings!"
+
+"'Our' mother! 'Our' father! 'Our' sister!" echoed back the monk, with
+an outburst of sardonic laughter. "Look at the renegate! He dares invoke
+bonds that are snapped, and are abhorred! Man--I have no father but the
+vicar of Christ! No mother but the Church! No brothers but faithful
+Catholics. Outside of that holy family--holy, thrice holy!--I see only
+savage beasts, bent in their demoniacal rage upon tearing into shreds
+the sacred body of my holy mother! And I kill them! I throttle them! I
+immolate them to God, the avenger! Oh, how I grieve to think that you
+did not fall, like the likes of you, under my heavy iron crucifix, which
+the Holy Father blessed! What more beautiful holocaust could I offer to
+the implacable anger of the Lord, than to say to Him as Abraham did on
+the mountain: 'Lord! May the vapor of this blood rise to your nostrils.
+This blood is twofold expiatory! It is my blood, it is the blood of my
+family!'"
+
+"Blood! Always blood!" echoed Odelin, shivering with disgust and horror.
+"Herve, blood has intoxicated you. Like so many other priests, you are
+the prey of a savage frenzy. A bloodthirsty dementia has dethroned your
+reason. I have for you the pity that a furious madman inspires. After a
+desperate resistance you fell into the power of a corps of Protestant
+horsemen. My son was among them; he identified you by the mournful
+celebrity that surrounds your name. His companions were of a mind to
+kill you on the spot. He obtained from them a postponement of your
+execution under the pretext that your death would be more exemplary
+before the assembled ranks of our soldiers. My son's views prevailed.
+You were taken to this place, to this cellar belonging to the priory
+occupied by Admiral Coligny, who, thanks to God, escaped this day being
+poisoned, escaped the latest abominable crime planned against him. You
+were taken to this cell. My son just notified me of your capture and of
+his desire to save you. I share his wishes--seeing that, unfortunately,
+we are both children of one father. But for that I would have left you
+to your fate. Your religion commands you to kill me; mine commands me to
+save you. I shall untie your hands; you shall throw this mantle over
+your shoulders and lower the hood over your head. My son is the only
+watchman. He offered to the sentinel placed on guard over you to take
+his place. The offer was accepted. We shall leave this cell together.
+The Rochelois mantle will conceal your frock and remove suspicion. You
+will follow me. I am known to all the people and soldiers whom we may
+meet in crossing the courtyard of the Admiral's house. I hope to secure
+your flight with the aid of this disguise. That duty, a sacred one to
+me, I fulfil in the name of our parents who are no more--in the name of
+those cherished beings who loved us so dearly."
+
+"Oh, God, the Avenger!" exclaimed Herve with savage exaltation. "Ever
+does Thy anger strike Thy enemies with blindness! Themselves they break
+the chains of their immolators! Themselves they deliver themselves
+defenseless into the hands of their implacable enemies!"
+
+And stretching out his fettered hands to his brother, the monk added:
+
+"Oh, thou vile instrument of the King of Kings! Free these hands from
+their bonds! There is still work for them to do in cropping the bloody
+field of heresy! There are still supporters of Satan for these hands to
+exterminate!"
+
+Calm and sad, Odelin loosed the fetters from Fra Herve's hands. Hardly
+did the monk regain the free use of his arms than, darting a tiger's
+look at his brother, he took two steps back, seized the heavy string of
+leaden balls that hung from his girdle, swung it like a sling, and,
+before his liberator, who stood stupefied at the brusque assault, had
+time to protect himself, smote him several times on the head with the
+heavy chaplet. Although considerably deadened by Odelin's casque, the
+violent blows staggered the armorer. For a moment he seemed to reel on
+his feet, but instantly recovering himself, he drew his sword at the
+very moment that Fra Herve returned to the charge. Odelin parried the
+blows, and, cutting with a back-stroke the string that held the balls,
+caused them to slip off and roll down at the feet of the monk. Odelin
+immediately threw his sword aside, but carried away with rage and
+indignation, he dashed upon his brother, seized him by the throat, threw
+him to the ground and pinned him down with his knees upon his chest. In
+this struggle, Fra Herve, weakened by his wound, had the disadvantage.
+He furiously bit Odelin's hand. The pain drew a piercing cry from
+Odelin. The noise was heard by Antonicq, who stood on guard at the
+outside of the door. The young man rushed in and saw his father at close
+quarters with the monk, who, in his rage, kept his teeth in Odelin's
+flesh and sought, after having penetrated to the bone, to crush his
+brother's thumb between his teeth. Exasperated at the sight, Antonicq
+picked up his father's sword and dealing with the handle of the weapon a
+crushing blow upon Fra Herve's cheek, knocked in several of his teeth
+and compelled him to release his prey. Odelin rose. Panting with fury
+and exhausted by the violence of the struggle, the Cordelier sank upon
+his knees; tore off the bandage from his head, thereby leaving a deep,
+gaping wound exposed; and trembling with silent, savage rage, sought to
+staunch the blood that poured in streams out of his mouth.
+
+"My son, look at that monk," observed Odelin to Antonicq with a broken
+voice. "There was a time when that man was full of tenderness and
+respect for my father and mother. He cherished my sister and me. Brought
+up like myself in the practice of justice, and gifted with exceptional
+intelligence, he was the joy, the pride, the hope of our family. Look at
+him now; shudder; there you see him the handiwork of the infamous clergy
+of the papacy!"
+
+"Oh, it is horrible!" exclaimed Antonicq, hiding his face in his hands.
+And, suddenly startled by the sound of a distant tumult that reached the
+depth of the cell across the profound silence of the night, the young
+man listened for a moment and said: "Father, do you hear that noise? The
+troops are on the march. The cavalry is moving."
+
+"Yes," answered Odelin, listening in turn. "The Admiral must have
+decided to surprise the royalist army before daybreak. The forces will
+be shortly on the march. You remain on guard at the door of the cellar.
+This prisoner is the object of so much hatred that they are likely to
+come for him any moment, to put him to death before we deliver battle.
+His cell will be found empty. You will answer that the man was my
+brother and that I wished him to escape punishment. Before mounting your
+horse, come for me at my lodging. We left your poor sister there. Our
+sudden departure must have seemed strange to her, and may have caused
+her anxiety. In my confusion I never thought of giving her a word of
+comfort. Let us make haste."
+
+And throwing his Rochelois cloak to Fra Herve, Odelin continued:
+
+"If you care to escape death, put that cloak on and come. Towards you,
+and despite yourself, I shall act as a brother."
+
+"And I will pursue you with revengeful hatred, apostate!" answered the
+monk with implacable resentment, rising to his feet and donning the
+cloak. "The Lord delivers me through your hand. He has His purpose. I
+shall be the exterminator of your heretical kin! March--lead my way
+out--save me! God orders it--obey!"
+
+Thanks to the disguise of Fra Herve, who was wrapped in a Rochelois
+cloak like a large number of Protestant volunteers, Odelin succeeded in
+aiding him to escape from the grounds of the priory where he was a
+prisoner. The two thereupon crossed the streets of St. Yrieix, these
+being crowded with soldiers hastening in silence to their several posts.
+Intending to surprise the enemy in the morning by a forced night march,
+the Admiral ordered the assembly of the forces to be done without beat
+of drum. Odelin and Fra Herve saw not far from them the Franc-Taupin and
+the Avengers of Israel as they crossed the road on their way to the
+prison of the Cordelier whom they were to execute. A few minutes later,
+led by his brother to the furthest end of the camp, Fra Herve vanished
+in the dark, taking long strides, and hurling threats of vengeance and
+anathema at his liberator.
+
+Odelin hastened to return to his own lodging in order to comfort his
+daughter and embrace her before going to battle. Anna Bell had vanished.
+The room was empty. There was a letter left by her upon the armorer's
+anvil.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE BATTLE OF ROCHE-LA-BELLE.
+
+
+The Protestant army, about twenty-five thousand strong, marched out of
+St. Yrieix in profound silence at about one o'clock in the morning. The
+black and sinuous line of battalions and squadrons was hardly
+distinguishable from the surrounding darkness of the night, lighted only
+by the scintillations of the stars. The column followed the winding of
+the whitish road which was lost to sight in the distant horizon in the
+direction towards Roche-la-Belle, the royalist encampment. The measured
+step of the foot soldiers, the sonorous tramp of the cavalry, the
+clinking of the armors, the jolting and rumbling of artillery
+wheels--all these noises merged into one muffled and solemn sound.
+Scouts, alert with eye and ear, and pistol in hand, preceded the
+vanguard. At the head of the vanguard rode Admiral Coligny, with two
+young men, one on either side--Henry of Bearn, the son of the brave Joan
+of Albert, Queen of Navarre, and Conde, a son of the Prince of Conde,
+whom Montesquiou assassinated. Other Protestant leaders, among them
+Lanoue and Saragosse, followed in the Admiral's suite. On that morning
+the Admiral rode a superb silver-grey Turkish horse that was wounded
+under him at Jarnac, and which he preferred to all other mounts. A light
+iron mail covered the neck, chest and crupper of the spirited steed.
+Coligny himself wore his habitual armor of polished iron devoid of
+ornament. His strong high boots reached up as far as his cuisses. His
+floating white and wire-sleeved cloak allowed his cuirass to be seen.
+His old battle sword hung from his belt. The butts of his long pistols
+peeped from under his saddle-bow. He rode bowed down by years, sorrows
+and the trials of so many campaigns. His venerable head seemed to bend
+under the weight of his casque. He guided his horse with his left hand.
+His right, gloved, reclined upon his cuisse. Suddenly he straightened up
+in the saddle, reined in his horse, and said in a grave voice:
+
+"Halt, messieurs!"
+
+The order was repeated from rank to rank back to the rearmost of the
+rear guard. One of the volunteers, who served as aide-de-camp to the
+Admiral, rode forward at a gallop to carry to the scouts the order to
+stop. An almost imperceptible shimmer began to whiten the horizon and
+announced the approach of dawn. A tepid breeze rose from the west, and
+became strong enough to chase the few clouds before it. These grew
+denser; at first they veiled the stars; soon they seemed to invade the
+whole firmament. Coligny attentively examined the aspect of the skies,
+communicated his opinion to his escort, and said to his lieutenants:
+
+"A west wind, rising at dawn, generally presages a rainy day. Messieurs,
+we shall have to push the attack in lively style before the rain comes
+down upon us, otherwise the fire of our infantry will be almost
+useless."
+
+And addressing Lanoue:
+
+"My friend, the chiefs of divisions have my orders; let them be drawn up
+for battle."
+
+Lanoue and several other officers rode off to execute the instructions
+of the Admiral. At this spot the road crossed a vast plateau more than a
+league wide, upon which the Protestant army deployed its lines and took
+up its positions. Coligny had Lanoue and John of Soubise for his
+lieutenants. Prince Louis of Nassau commanded the right wing; La
+Rochefoucauld the center, with Henry of Bearn, Conde, the Prince of
+Orange, Wolfgang of Mansfeld and the Prince of Gerolstein under his
+orders; finally, the left was in charge of Saragosse. Colonels Piles and
+Baudine covered the right wing with their regiments; Colonels Rouvray
+and Pouilly the left. The lancers and the artillery were distributed
+along the two wings, while a strong cavalry force, consisting of twenty
+squadrons, held itself in reserve, ready to ride into action supported
+by several regiments of infantry.
+
+In the measure that the light of dawn rendered the distant horizon more
+distinct, the belfry of the church of Roche-la-Belle, the fortified town
+occupied by the royalists, and lying about half a league away, could be
+discerned from the highest point of the plateau where the Protestant
+forces were deploying their lines. A black line along the dawn that
+dimly lighted the horizon marked the royalist entrenchments.
+
+Soon as the army was drawn up in battle formation, Coligny said to
+Antonicq, one of the volunteers who served as aide-de-camp:
+
+"Monsieur Lebrenn, convey to Colonel Plouernel my orders to push forward
+with his regiment and six companies of auxiliaries. Recommend to him
+above all to execute his march in the profoundest silence possible,
+without either beat of drums or blare of trumpets. The enemy must be
+taken by surprise. The colonel is to seize the lake road, which is
+strongly defended. When that post is carried, return and notify me."
+
+Antonicq left at a gallop for the extreme right wing, the post of
+Colonel Plouernel, the younger brother of Count Neroweg of Plouernel,
+who commanded the escort of Queen Catherine De Medici the day of her
+arrival at the Abbey of St. Severin. The religious feuds threw the two
+brothers into opposite camps--a not infrequent occurrence in those
+unhappy days. In the course of the civil wars, the colonel, like so many
+other Protestants, sought refuge in the city of La Rochelle. Odelin
+thanks to the family archives left to him by his father Christian, knew
+that the printer had met and was greatly gratified by the courtesy of
+Colonel Plouernel on the occasion of one of the first councils held by
+the reformers in the quarry of Montmartre, when he was known as the
+Knight of Plouernel. One day, at La Rochelle, Odelin saw the knight, who
+had become a colonel in the Huguenot army, enter his smithy. He came to
+purchase arms, and noticing on the shield of the shop the name of
+Lebrenn, inquired from the armorer whether any relationship existed
+between him and the artisan once employed in the printing establishment
+of Robert Estienne. Odelin answered that he was a son of the artisan,
+and, agreeably impressed by the cordiality with which the colonel spoke
+of his father, entered into friendly relations with the nobleman,
+finding a singular charm in an acquaintance with one of the descendants
+of that old Frankish family whose path the sons of Joel had so often
+crossed, arms in hand, across the ages. In short, prizing more and more
+the noble character, the generous heart and the artless manners of
+Colonel Plouernel, a man free from all taint of family haughtiness and
+imbued, as much as any, with the democratic principles of the
+Reformation, Odelin informed the scion of the ancient house of Plouernel
+of the accidental circumstance concerning the hereditary feud between
+the two families both before and since the conquest of Clovis, and
+communicated to him the passages of the domestic chronicles touching
+upon those historic facts. By little and little an intimate friendship
+sprang up between Odelin and Colonel Plouernel. The latter, having
+married during one of the truces of the civil war a young lady of
+Vannes, from whom he had two little boys, was forced to seek refuge in
+La Rochelle with them and his wife when at last war broke out anew. He
+hired a few vacant rooms from Odelin, being anxious to leave Madam
+Plouernel with a family the virtues of which he appreciated. For
+Antonicq, Odelin's son, he felt an almost paternal affection, there
+being many years' difference between their ages. Being, thanks to his
+bravery, his reputation, his military talents, and his experience in
+the field, greatly esteemed among the Protestants, Colonel Plouernel
+commanded in this campaign a regiment composed almost exclusively of
+Bretons. His soldiers, however, although brave and zealous, were, like
+all other volunteers, unfortunately prone to disregard discipline;
+being, moreover, but ill broken to the pursuit of arms, they often
+failed to appreciate the authority of skilful and prudent tactics,
+preferring to listen to their own blind intrepidity. The Breton
+regiment, together with the company of auxiliaries, numbered about three
+thousand men. They stood drawn up for battle at the furthest extremity
+of the right wing, when Antonicq, the carrier of the Admiral's orders,
+arrived at a gallop before their front ranks. Some, being field
+laborers, wore the ancient loose Gallic blouse, with hose fastened
+around the waist by a belt, and woolen bonnets on their heads; others,
+being either artisans or bourgeois from the cities, wore wide hose,
+jackets laced in front in the Burgundian style, or brigandines, or coats
+of mail or other defensive equipments, according to their several
+tastes. The men's headgear also offered a varied aspect: casques,
+morions, bassinets, slouch hats, bonnets ribbed with two iron hoops.
+Neither were the offensive arms more uniform--lances, pikes, halberds,
+antique swords, cross-bows, iron maces, cutlasses, hunting arquebuses,
+field arquebuses, and pistols all being visible. Several wood-cutters
+and their helpers were armed with hatchets, and some had scythes with
+the edge turned out. The only uniform, or article common to all, was a
+belt or shoulder sash of white material. These men, although presenting
+a rather unmilitary appearance, displayed spirit and ardor. More than
+once did it happen that the fury of their onslaught overthrew the best
+royal troops, both infantry and cavalry, despite the latter's long
+military training and discipline.
+
+Armed like a German rider, with black casque, black cuirass and white
+cloak, Colonel Plouernel bestrode a powerful Breton bay mare,
+caparisoned in scarlet. When Antonicq approached him he was in
+conversation with several officers of his regiment. Among these was the
+Pastor Feron, a man gifted with exceptional energy, and of austere and
+resolute mien. Often did he, like so many other ministers of the
+Reformed religion, march to battle at the head of a troop, singing
+psalms like the old bards of Gaul who marched in advance of the warriors
+singing their heroic chants. More than once wounded, the clergyman Feron
+inspired the Protestants with as much confidence as veneration. Antonicq
+transmitted the orders of Admiral Coligny to Colonel Plouernel. The
+latter immediately faced his troops and said to the captains who
+surrounded him:
+
+"The Admiral does us the honor of entrusting to us the lead in the
+attack. We shall prove ourselves worthy of the distinction. We are to
+take the royal army by surprise. It will soon be day, but the slope of
+this hill, along the foot of which runs the road that we are to follow,
+will hide us from the enemy's pickets. We shall be able to reach the
+edge of the lake without being seen. Foreseeing the attack with which we
+are charged, I have just commissioned the Franc-Taupin to proceed with
+a picked body of determined men of his own corps and sound for a ford
+across the lake. Return to your companies. Order the drummers and
+trumpeters to remain quiet, and all your men to observe scrupulous
+silence."
+
+"Brothers," remonstrated Pastor Feron with elation, "why conceal our
+approach from the Philistines? Does not the Lord lead the children of
+Israel? Let us place our reliance on Him only, and the proud towers of
+Zion will crumble before the breath of the Eternal. Let us march to the
+attack, not like timid and slinking thieves, but openly, bravely, like
+true soldiers of God! It was under the open sky that David vanquished
+Goliath!"
+
+"Yes, yes. No underhanded tactics!" cried several officers. "Let us
+march straight upon the enemy, singing praises to the Lord. He is with
+us. We shall vanquish."
+
+"My friends," said Colonel Plouernel, "follow my advice. Let us proceed
+with caution. The royal army is much our superior in numbers. We must
+make up with tactics for our inferiority. Let us arrive noiselessly
+before the vanguard of the enemy, you will not then lack for opportunity
+to prove your valor. Place yourselves at the head of your companies, and
+forward at the double quick, only in the profoundest silence."
+
+The authority enjoyed by Colonel Plouernel, the wisdom of his orders,
+the confidence of the volunteers in his bravery and military skill once
+more carried the day over the seething impatience of his captains,
+although Pastor Feron looked displeased with a manoeuvre in which he
+imagined he saw a weakness and dissimulation unworthy of the children of
+Israel. The officers took their posts, and the column advanced in
+silence, with its right covered by the ridge of a long hill that
+completely masked it on the side of the enemy's entrenchment. The road
+that the column followed crossed a wide field covered with wild roses,
+their petals heavy with the dew of night, and spreading an aromatic odor
+far and wide. Colonel Plouernel inhaled with delight the early morning
+fragrance, and addressing Antonicq, who rode beside him, said:
+
+"Oh, my boy! This sweet perfume, these wild smells, remind me of the
+moors of Brittany. I draw them in with full lungs."
+
+"Brittany! It is the dream of my life! When I was still a boy my father
+took us to Vannes, on a pilgrimage to the sacred stones of Karnak. They
+rise not far from the spot where stood the cradle of our family at the
+time of Julius Caesar. I being then too young to understand it, my
+father only gave me a short account of our family history. Since then I
+have read it from beginning to end. I now have but one uppermost desire,
+and my father shares it. It is, should God put an end to these
+disastrous wars, to leave La Rochelle and settle down in Vannes. We may
+be able to purchase a patch of land on the seashore, near the stones of
+Karnak."
+
+"Those sacred stones, the surviving witnesses of the voluntary sacrifice
+of your ancestress Hena, the virgin of the isle of Sen--that old
+Armorica, the independence of which your ancestor Vortigern defended so
+valiantly against the son of Charlemagne!"
+
+"You may judge, colonel, what memories are awakened within us by that
+single word--Brittany."
+
+"Well, my boy, it occurred to me quite recently that your and your
+father's wishes may easily be realized."
+
+"How?"
+
+"By virtue of his primogeniture, my brother is the sole owner of the
+vast hereditary domains belonging to our family in Auvergne and in
+Brittany. But the father of my dear wife Jocelyne, a good and honest
+Breton who resides in Brittany, owns an estate that lies not far from
+Karnak, along the seashore. Judging from what your father has told me of
+your family traditions, the estate is bound to consist, partly at least,
+of the fields once owned by your ancestor Joel the brenn of the tribe of
+Karnak. Now, then, if God should grant us peace again, nothing would be
+easier for me than to obtain from my wife's father either the sale or
+lease of a portion of those fields, and you could then settle down there
+with your family."
+
+"Oh, colonel! I should be pleased to owe to you the happiness of living
+in Brittany, near the cradle of my family, together with father and
+mother, and my sisters, and Cornelia my sweetheart, who will then be my
+wife!"
+
+"And yet, strange to say, my boy, your ancestors and mine have hated and
+fought each other across the ages. I must admit the fact--the law of
+nature justified the terrible reprisals of the conquered upon their
+conquerors, in those days of frightful oppression. It required the rude
+school of the religious wars to join in one common belief the children
+of Joel the Gaul and of Neroweg the Frank, as your father puts it. That
+first step in Evangelical fraternity marks an immense progress. Thus
+will traditional hatreds cool down little by little, and race
+antagonisms will be wiped out, as they have been wiped out between our
+two families, once such bitter enemies--"
+
+"And now," Antonicq completed the sentence, "united by the bonds of firm
+friendship. May the same be kept ever green among our descendants."
+
+"It is my fervent hope, my dear Antonicq. I am bringing up my children
+in that feeling. More than once have I cited to them incidents from your
+family legends, to the end that their young minds may be penetrated with
+the sense that the rights, the privileges, the titles of which the
+nobility boasts so loudly, and which it guards so jealously, have for
+their principle or origin the abominable acts of violence that conquest
+brings in its train."
+
+During the conversation between Colonel Plouernel and Antonicq the
+regiment pursued its march under shelter of the ridge that it skirted.
+The further end of the ridge sloped gradually down to the level of the
+field, watered by the lake and the stream which protected the front of
+the royal camp. The attacking column, which, obedient to the orders of
+the Admiral, marched in silence, was expected to reach the open before
+sunrise, and thus be able to open the assault unexpectedly upon the
+strongly entrenched outposts, that were planted on the lake road. The
+execution of the plan was frustrated by the martial impatience of the
+volunteers, whom Pastor Feron in his exaltation drove to a fever heat of
+excitement with his blind faith in the irresistible power of the arm of
+Israel. The Huguenots were still half an hour's march from the enemy
+when the pastor, who marched ahead of the silent drummers, suddenly
+intoned in a ringing voice the psalm well known to the Protestants:
+
+    "The Eternal looks down from above,
+    Night and day from out the skies,
+    On all men bestowing love,
+    And nothing escapes His eyes.
+
+    "From His throne august,
+    The holy King and just
+    Sees below distinctly,
+    Of man the distant race,
+    Through th' abyss of space
+    Sees it all distinctly.
+
+    "Nor camps nor yet gendarmes,
+    Nor all the strong alarms
+    Can ever save a king!
+    Nor iron nor courage
+    Are of a good usage,
+    Oh, Lord, without Thy aid.
+
+    "Yes, God His wings doth spread,
+    On us His grace doth shed.
+    And ever mounteth guard
+    O'er those who Him esteem.
+    None other worthy deem
+    But only Him regard."
+
+No sooner had the pastor struck up the psalm with its biblical poetry,
+than each couplet was repeated in chorus by the Huguenots. Nothing could
+be more solemn than that choir of three thousand male and sonorous
+voices, rising from the silent plain, and seeming to salute with a
+martial hymn the first rays of that day of battle. Nevertheless, sadly
+inopportune, the canticle announced to the enemy the approach of the
+Protestants. Driven to despair by the infraction of the Admiral's
+orders, Colonel Plouernel sought at first to restore silence by
+addressing himself to the foremost companies. Vain hope; vain
+entreaties. The soldiers wrought themselves up with their own voice.
+
+"Oh, this lack of discipline will ever be fatal to us!" observed Colonel
+Plouernel to Antonicq. "Thus have we almost always either endangered the
+success of a battle, or even lost the day that otherwise would
+positively have been ours! But the error is committed. The enemy is
+informed of our proximity. Let it at least be announced resolutely!"
+
+And addressing the drummers:
+
+"Boys, beat the double-quick!"
+
+The drums immediately resounded without however drowning the voices of
+the Protestants--an imposing military orchestra. The column hastened its
+steps. After half an hour's rapid march its front ranks debouched into
+the open field. Piercing a heavy bank of clouds, the first rays of the
+sun crimsoned the face of a wide lake into which emptied a stream that
+itself was fed by a number of streamlets which descended from an
+elevated plateau, dominated by the burg of Roche-la-Belle. The lake and
+main stream were hemmed in on the side of the royal entrenchments, and
+constituted the enemy's first line of defense. A thick chestnut forest
+rose to the left of the lake. The lake road ran at right angles, and was
+fortified by an earthwork, furnished with embrasures, and these armed
+with falconets. This light artillery could sweep the whole length of the
+water-courses, which had to be crossed in order to attack a palisaded
+ground, which, crenelated with loop-holes for the use of arquebusiers,
+completed the defenses of the Catholic army. Finally, a number of heavy
+guns, mounted upon a high embankment, could also play upon the
+water-course. A cross-fire thus rendered the crossing doubly dangerous.
+This particular peril would have been almost wholly escaped had the
+Admiral's orders been obeyed. Had the attacking column arrived
+noiselessly at break of day and taken the royalists by surprise when
+still rolled in slumbers, and before they could hurry to their light and
+heavy guns and form their ranks, the Huguenots could have crossed the
+stream and, soon supported by their whole army corps, could have led a
+powerful attack upon the enemy's position. It happened otherwise. The
+reverberations of the hymn sung by the Huguenots sounded the reveille to
+the enemy, and frustrated the Admiral's plans. From all sides the drums
+of the Catholics were sounding the call to arms when the first company
+of the Protestants debouched upon the plain. Colonel Plouernel ordered a
+halt, alighted from his horse, gathered his captains around him and, in
+order to avoid further mishaps said to them:
+
+"We can no longer hope to take the enemy by surprise. I shall now
+communicate to you my new plan of attack."
+
+Hardly had Colonel Plouernel uttered these words when they heard a
+lively rattle of arquebus fire from the lake road. He turned his eyes in
+that direction, unable at first to conjecture against whom the fire
+could be directed, seeing that he and his forces were beyond the reach
+of the shot. Immediately, however, the ricochetting of the balls over
+the surface of the lake attracted the colonel's attention, and he soon
+perceived here and there, at a considerable distance from one another,
+several casqued heads just above the surface of the water, and ever and
+anon diving below with the view of escaping the fire of the
+arquebusiers.
+
+"It is the Franc-Taupin and his Avengers of Israel. They have been
+sounding for a ford across the lake and the stream!" exclaimed the
+colonel in high glee. "Their information will be of great use to us."
+But immediately he cried out: "Oh! one of the brave men has been
+struck!"
+
+Indeed, one of the Avengers of Israel, who, following the example of the
+Franc-Taupin, and in order not to offer his full body to the aim of the
+enemy, crouched lower and lower in the measure that, as he drew nearer
+to the reed-covered edge of the lake, the water grew shallower--one of
+the Avengers of Israel was struck by a bullet full in the head. He
+straightened up with a convulsive movement, threw his arms in the air,
+reeled, and then dropped, immediately disappearing under the water,
+whose surface at the spot reddened with his blood. The Franc-Taupin,
+together with his other companions, continued to drag themselves up
+through the reeds as far as the shore of the lake. Once there, the balls
+could not reach them. They picked up their arms and munitions, which
+they had left close to the bank, put on their cross-belts, and walked
+towards the group of officers whom they saw at a distance, standing near
+the last undulation of the ridge that still masked their column.
+Antonicq, who had alighted from his horse together with Colonel
+Plouernel, ran to meet the Franc-Taupin and threw his arms around the
+brave old soldier, saying: "Heaven be thanked, you have had a narrow
+escape from death!"
+
+"Good morning, my boy!" answered Josephin. "But quit your
+embracings--you will get wet; I am streaming water. In my young days I
+played the mole, now in my old age I play the crawfish--so cease
+embracing me. Besides, I am angry with you and your father--it was due
+to you two that the scoundrel Herve escaped death. We found his prison
+empty last night. Who but you winked at the demon's escape? I did not
+know that you were placed on guard over him."
+
+"Uncle, the bonds of blood--"
+
+"By my sister's death! Did he respect the bonds of blood!"
+
+And stepping towards Colonel Plouernel, he said:
+
+"Colonel, this is the result of our explorations: We arrived here before
+dawn; we left our horses at the ruined farm-house that you see yonder;
+we then took to the water. The royalists were not on the watch. The lake
+is fordable by cavalry from the point where the reeds run obliquely
+into the water. The stream is fordable in all parts by infantry. The
+water is not more than four feet deep at its deepest, and the bottom is
+hard. If you wish to flank the entrenchment on the lake road, you will
+have to ride up about three thousand feet on the side of the chestnut
+wood. There you will find, running into the marsh, a long and wide
+jetty. Ten men can walk abreast on it. It abutts on a palisaded
+earthwork that can be easily taken. It is the weak side of the enemy's
+defenses. You may rely upon the accuracy of these facts, colonel. I made
+the reconnoissance myself."
+
+"I know you are reliable, Josephin," answered Colonel Plouernel. "The
+information you bring me confirms me in the plan of attack that I have
+projected."
+
+And stepping back to the group of officers whom Pastor Feron had just
+joined, the colonel said:
+
+"Gentlemen, the following is my plan--we would incur a useless loss of
+men were we to make a front attack upon the lake road fortifications,
+and the palisaded fort. The enemy is up. The stream that we would have
+to wade is swept from right and left by a cross artillery fire. We will
+divide our forces into three corps. The first, which I shall command,
+will attempt to cross the stream, however perilous the feat, to the end
+of attracting the enemy's fire upon us, while our second corps, masked
+by the chestnut grove, shall march up to the jetty of the swamp in order
+to take the road fortifications on the flank. Finally, our third corps
+will move upon that other entrenchment which you see yonder where the
+stream crosses. The attack being thus made upon three points at once,
+the bulk of the army that comes close behind us will support our action.
+The engagement will be hot. Let us spare the blood of our men all we
+can. Courage and prudence."
+
+"Still prudence! Still hesitation! notwithstanding the Lord fights for
+our rights!" exclaimed Pastor Feron with burning enthusiasm. "We but
+puff up the pride of the Philistines by not daring to attack them in
+front! Pusillanimity! Lack of faith in God!"
+
+"To divide our forces instead of overwhelming the enemy by concentrating
+them upon one point?" put in one of the principal officers. "Did you
+consider that, Colonel Plouernel?"
+
+The exasperated colonel cried: "Rely upon my mature experience--to make
+a front attack, and in mass, upon the enemy's position is as foolhardy
+an enterprise as it is fraught with danger."
+
+"Intrepidity is the strength of the children of Israel!" cried the
+pastor in a louder voice. "United the children of Israel are invincible!
+Let us all march! Side by side! Like brothers, forward! High our heads
+and without fear! The finger of God points us the way!"
+
+"Yes, yes! Let us attack in mass and with fury!" echoed most of the
+officers. "Forward all! Holding close together, nothing can resist us!
+God is with us!"
+
+Alas, once again, as happened so often before in our wars, and to the
+greater misfortune of our arms, blind foolhardiness, inexperience, lack
+of discipline, and an exaggerated faith in the triumph of the cause,
+prevailed over the wise counsels of an officer who had grown grey in
+harness, and whose military science matched his bravery. First the
+captains, soon the soldiers also, successively informed from rank to
+rank upon the subject of the deliberation, and wrought up by the burning
+words of the pastor, objected to a division of the forces, deeming that
+such a move would weaken them; and, above all, fearing to seem to waver
+in sight of the foe, they demanded aloud to be led in mass against the
+enemy. Colonel Plouernel, who had a long experience with Breton
+volunteers, and was too well acquainted with their proverbial
+stubbornness, abandoned all thought of winning them over to his views.
+Seeing the men elated to the point of delirious heroism, he calmly said
+to the officers:
+
+"Is it your wish? Well, let us march! Drummers, beat to the charge!
+Forward, at the enemy! Battle, all along the line!"
+
+Colonel Plouernel then drew his sword, clasped Antonicq's hand, and
+said:
+
+"My friend, we are marching to slaughter. If you escape the carnage that
+I foresee, take my last adieus to my wife and little boys, and also to
+your worthy father."
+
+"These brave fellows are crazy! We shall be mowed down," observed the
+Franc-Taupin in turn to Antonicq. "I would die without first having done
+my twenty-five Catholic priests to death! The devil still owes me seven
+of them. Be firm, my boy. Let us not be separated from each other. We
+shall then at least both have the same stream for our tomb. To think of
+it! I who in my young days loved wine so well, now to die in water!"
+
+The column set itself in motion in a compact mass, at a quick pace, and
+with drums beating at its head. Before the drummers marched Pastor
+Feron, who again intoned a psalm that was speedily taken up in chorus by
+the Protestants in the midst of a veritable hailstorm of balls and
+bullets:
+
+    "God ever was both my life and my light!
+      Death, I defy thee! What have I to fear?
+    God's my support with His infinite might!
+      Have I not from Him my title quite clear?
+
+    "When the malignants did fire on me,
+      When they expected to tear out my heart,
+    Have I not seen them all thrown down by Thee,
+      Scattered, and smitten, and struck by Thy dart?
+
+    "Come, let a whole camp surround me on all sides,
+      Never my heart will be shaken with fright!
+    Close by my side, Oh! the Lord ever strides,
+      Need I to fear of a foe any blight?"
+
+The battle raged with fury. Colonel Plouernel's apprehensions were
+realized. Despite prodigies of intrepidity, his column, as it waded
+through the stream in serried and compact ranks, was received in front
+and from the two flanks by a terrific cross-fire of arquebuses and
+artillery. Three-fourths of the volunteers fell under the torrent of
+lead, even before reaching the middle of the stream. Wondering at the
+length of this vanguard attack, the successful execution of which he
+considered certain by entrusting it to Colonel Plouernel. Admiral
+Coligny suddenly saw Antonicq Lebrenn riding back at top speed with his
+thigh pierced by a bullet. Informed by Antonicq of the reason of the
+disastrous result of the encounter, the Admiral promptly ordered
+Colonels Bueil and Piles to proceed at their swiftest with their
+respective regiments to the jetty, and take the road entrenchment from
+the flank. Soubise, La Rochefoucauld and Saragosse received and, with
+their wonted skill, executed another set of orders. Within shortly
+battle was engaged all along the line, changing the aspect of the
+conflict. The Huguenots' artillery responded to and silenced the fire
+from the opposite side. Attacked in front, from the right and the left,
+the royalists were dislodged from their entrenchments near the lake.
+They retired behind the palisaded ground, from which they kept up a
+murderous fire. But the palisade was broken through. First the infantry,
+then the cavalry of the Protestants rushed through the breaches. A
+stubborn melee ensued, and was at its height when the muffled rumbling
+of distant thunder, immediately followed by heavy rain-drops from the
+blackening sky overhead, announced the approach of the storm that
+Coligny had that morning predicted.[72]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I, Antonicq Lebrenn, who write this account, am overcome with grief in
+completing it. Its close revives sad memories.
+
+After I informed Admiral Coligny of the check sustained by the column of
+Colonel Plouernel, the kindhearted old man insisted that his own surgeon
+dress my wound. Though painful, the wound did not prevent me from
+keeping in the saddle. After being attended by the surgeon, I hastened
+back to the thick of the battle. A large body of cavalry, commanded by
+Marshal Tavannes, with the Duke of Anjou, brother of Charles IX, and
+young Henry of Guise at his side, covered the right wing of the royalist
+camp. Against that armed body of heavy and light troopers Admiral
+Coligny hurled twenty squadrons of horsemen under the command of Prince
+Franz of Gerolstein. It was at that moment that I rejoined the battle.
+The thunder claps, now succeeding one another with increasing frequency
+and vehemence, drowned the roar of the artillery. The storm was soon to
+break out in all its fury. The Protestant cavalry was advancing at a
+gallop three ranks deep upon the Catholic horsemen. Sword in hand, Franz
+of Gerolstein led, a few paces in advance of his troopers. The Prince
+was accompanied by his knights and pages. Among the latter was Anna
+Bell. The dashing sight soon disappeared from before my eyes in the
+cloud of pistol smoke, and the dust raised by the horses, as the two
+opposing masses of riders met each other, pistol in hand and exchanged
+fire. Suddenly I heard my father's voice calling to me:
+
+"God sends you, my son! Come and fight by my side."
+
+"Father," I said to him drawing up my horse beside his own, he being on
+the right wing of our army and at the end of a line composed of
+Rochelois volunteer horsemen who followed upon the heels of the charging
+contingent of the Prince of Gerolstein, "did you have time to see my
+sister again after you left me last night?"
+
+"Alas, no; but I found a letter that she left behind, and--"
+
+My father could proceed no further. Two regiments of mounted
+arquebusiers under the command of Count Neroweg of Plouernel, the
+colonel's brother, made a charge upon us with the object of isolating us
+from the German troopers. The manoeuvre succeeded. The impetuosity of
+the charge threw our ranks into disorder. The enemy broke through them.
+We could no longer fight in line. A general melee ensued. It was a
+combat of man to man. Despite the disorder I managed to remain at my
+father's side. Fate drove us, him and me, face to face with Count
+Neroweg of Plouernel, at whose side rode his son Odet, a lad of sixteen
+years, and a great favorite with the Duke of Anjou. I heard the Count
+cry to him:
+
+"Courage, my boy! Strike hard, and kill as many of the enemy as you can!
+Prove yourself worthy of the house of Neroweg!"
+
+Almost immediately thereupon I saw the Count rise in his stirrups. His
+sword was on the point of striking my father when the latter crushed the
+shoulder of Neroweg with a pistol shot fired at close range. The Count
+dropped his sword and uttered a piercing cry. His son raised his light
+arquebus and took aim at my father, just then engaged in replacing his
+pistol in its holster. Instantly, driven by two digs of my spurs, my
+horse bounded forward, striking the steed of Odet of Plouernel breast
+against breast; at the very moment that Odet discharged his arquebus
+upon my father, I struck the lad so furious a blow with my saber that
+his casque and skull were cleaved in two. Odet stretched out his arms,
+and dropped backward bleeding upon the crupper of his horse. In the
+meantime, my own steed, wounded in the loins by a severe cut, collapsed.
+In falling, the heavy animal rolled over me, pressing with its full
+weight upon my wounded thigh. Pain deprived me of the strength to
+extricate myself. Several combatants trampled me under foot. My corselet
+was torn open under the iron hoofs of the horses. My morion was knocked
+in and flattened; pressed by its walls my skull felt as if cramped by a
+vise. My eyes began to swim; I was about to faint, but a frightful
+vision so stirred my soul at that moment that I seemed to revive. The
+melee left in its wake upon the field of carnage the dead, the dying,
+and the wounded among whom I lay. The spectacle I saw took place not far
+from my right. A few paces from me, my father, unhorsed by the arquebus
+of young Odet of Plouernel, raised himself livid, and sank again in a
+sitting posture, carrying his hands to his cuirass which a bullet had
+perforated. That same instant the diabolical cry smote my ears:
+
+"Kill all! Kill all!"
+
+And then, in the midst of the roll of thunder overhead, and across the
+surrounding sheen of lightning flashes, there appeared before my
+eyes--Fra Herve, mounted upon a small black horse with long flowing
+mane, clad in his brown frock rolled up to his knees, and exposing his
+fleshless legs, naked like his feet which were strapped in spurred
+sandals wherewith he kicked his horse's flank and urged it onward. A
+fresh bandage covered his recent wound and girded his hairless skull.
+His hollow eyes sparkled with savage fury. Armed with a long cutlass
+that dripped blood he continued to cry:
+
+"Kill all! Kill all!"
+
+The monk led to carnage a band of gallows-birds, the scum and refuse of
+the Catholic army, whose duty it was to despatch the wounded with iron
+maces, axes and knives. Herve recognized his brother Odelin, who, with
+one hand upon his wound and the other on the ground, was essaying to
+rise to his feet. An expression of satanic hatred lighted the face of
+the Cordelier. He jumped down from his horse, and emitted a roar of
+ferocious triumph. My father gave himself up for lost. Nevertheless he
+made an attempt to soften the heart of his executioner, saying:
+
+"Herve, brother! I have a wife and children. Last night I saved your
+life!"
+
+"Lord!" cried the priest, gasping for breath and raising his fiery eyes
+and blood-stained cutlass to the thundering and lightning-lighted heaven
+above. "God of Vengeance! God of the Catholics! Receive as a holocaust
+the blood of Cain!"
+
+And Fra Herve precipitated himself upon his brother, threw him down,
+squatted upon his chest, seized his hair with one hand and with the
+other brandished the cutlass. Odelin uttered a cry of horror, closed his
+eyes and offered his throat. The fratricide was accomplished. Fra Herve
+rose bespattered with his brother's blood, kicked the corpse with his
+foot, and jumped back upon his horse yelling:
+
+"Kill all! Slaughter all the wounded!"
+
+My senses, until then held in suspense by the very terror of the
+frightful spectacle, now abandoned me. I completely lost consciousness.
+The carnage continued.
+
+When I recovered from my swoon, I was lying on the straw in our smithy
+and lodging at St. Yrieix. The Franc-Taupin and Colonel Plouernel sat
+beside my couch. From them I learned the issue of the battle of
+Roche-la-Belle. It was disastrous to the royalists; they were roundly
+routed. The violent thunder storm, followed by a deluge of rain, did not
+allow Admiral Coligny to pursue the retreating Catholic army. The
+victorious Protestants re-entered St. Yrieix. The Franc-Taupin and his
+Avengers of Israel, happening to pass by the spot where I lay motionless
+under my horse, not far from my father's corpse, with his throat cut by
+Fra Herve, recognized me and laid me upon a wagon used for transporting
+the munitions of the artillery. The field of battle was ours. With the
+help of his companions, the Franc-Taupin piously dug a grave in which
+they buried my father.
+
+Later I learned from the Prince of Gerolstein the sad fate that overtook
+my sister, and I also found the letter which she wrote to my father. The
+unfortunate girl, imagining herself despised and forsaken by us,
+decided, she wrote, to die, and bade us her heartrending adieus.
+Desirous that my father and his co-religionists be apprized of the dark
+and bloody schemes of Catherine De Medici, Anna Bell reported in her
+letter the secret conversation which the Queen had with Father Lefevre
+on the subject of the reformers--a conversation that she overheard at
+the Abbey of St. Severin. After having thus attested her attachment to
+us to the very end, she obtained the consent of the Prince's page she
+had spoken with, to don the clothes and ride the horse of the lad who
+was killed at the skirmish of that morning. She looked forward to
+meeting death beside Franz of Gerolstein. Alas! Her wish was realized.
+She joined the Prince. As much surprised as alarmed at the girl's
+purpose, he vainly entreated her to withdraw until after the shock
+between the two mounted forces. Neither Anna Bell nor Franz of
+Gerolstein was wounded at the first encounter. But shortly after, as the
+German horsemen were re-crossing the stream in pursuit of the enemy's
+cavalry, my sister was struck in the breast by a stray bullet from the
+fleeing enemy, and fell from her horse into the river, where she was
+drowned, without Franz, who was carried along by the impetus of his
+troopers' charge, being able to return in time to save her.
+
+Finally, informed by my account concerning the double encounter of his
+brother, Count Neroweg, and Odet his son, with my father and myself,
+Colonel Plouernel learned later that both had perished in the fight,
+leaving him the head of the house, and sole heir of its vast domains.
+
+Victorious at Roche-la-Belle, the Protestants were destined to suffer a
+serious defeat in September of the same year. The royal and Protestant
+armies met in Poitou, near the town of Montcontour. Coligny, much the
+inferior in numbers, manoeuvred his forces with his customary skill, and
+entrenched himself behind the River Dive. Sheltered by that almost
+impregnable position, he wished to wait for the reinforcements promised
+by Montgomery, who was in almost complete possession of Gascony. But, as
+had happened so many times before, to the misfortune of the cause, and
+despite all his firmness, Coligny saw himself constrained to yield to
+the headlong impatience of his army, the greater part of which consisted
+of volunteers. The campaign had lasted a long time. Captains and
+soldiers had left their families, their property, their farms, their
+fields and their homes to fly to the defense of their religion. They
+were anxious to return to their hearths. Accordingly, hoping by means of
+a victory to be able once more to impose peace upon Charles IX and
+reconquer the free exercise of their religion, they were loud in their
+demand for battle. Coligny yielded. On September 3, 1569, he delivered
+battle to an army almost twice the size of his own. Despite the
+prodigies of bravery displayed by the Huguenots, and although the
+royalists sustained heavy losses, victory remained with the Catholics.
+Nevertheless, after Montcontour, as after Jarnac, so far from allowing
+himself to be disheartened by a reverse that he had foreseen and that he
+had vainly sought to avoid, Coligny executed so threatening a retreat
+that the Catholic army dared not pursue him. On the very night after the
+defeat, the Protestant chieftains, assembled at Parthenay, despatched
+couriers to Scotland, Germany and Switzerland appealing to their
+co-religionists for support; collected the shattered fragments of their
+armies; threw strong garrisons into Niort, St. Jean-d'Angely, Saintes
+and La Rochelle; crossed the Charente; marched into Gascony to join
+Montgomery, who was the master of that province; and Coligny renewed
+hostilities with success, choosing as the basis of his operations the
+Rivers Tarn and Garonne. Armed bands of intrepid Protestants harassed
+and tired out the royal forces. Charles IX and his mother took the
+Huguenots for annihilated after the defeats of Jarnac and Montcontour.
+It was otherwise. The defeated men reappeared more determined, more
+numerous, more zealous in the defense of their rights. Catherine De
+Medici, more and more convinced that peace, and not war, offered the
+sole means to put an end to the Huguenots, turned her thoughts more
+resolutely than ever before to the execution of the infernal project
+that Francis of Guise conceived at the time of the triumvirate, and
+which she confided to the Jesuit Lefevre. She caused overtures to be
+made to Coligny looking to a new treaty of peace. The royal advances
+were met. The Admiral, together with several other Protestant chiefs,
+deputed as the plenipotentiaries of the Huguenots, held long conferences
+with the envoys of Charles IX, and finally, on August 10, 1570, a new
+edict, the most favorable yet granted to the Protestants, was signed at
+St. Germain.
+
+The document provided in substance:
+
+     The memory of all past events is blotted out by both parties.
+     Freedom of conscience is implicitly granted throughout the kingdom.
+     None is henceforth to be constrained to commit any act forbidden by
+     his conscience in religious matters. No distinction exists between
+     Catholics and Protestants in the matter of admission to the
+     colleges, Universities, hospitals, asylums, or any other
+     institution of learning or of public charity. None shall be
+     prosecuted for past actions. Coligny and all other Protestant
+     chiefs are declared good and loyal subjects. Protestants are
+     qualified to hold all royal, seigniorial or municipal offices. All
+     decrees rendered against the Huguenots shall be stricken from the
+     judicial records. Finally, and in order to guarantee the execution
+     of the said edict, Charles IX places, as pledges for the term of
+     two years, the cities of La Rochelle, Cognac, Montauban, and La
+     Charite, in the hands of the Princes of Navarre, of Conde and of
+     twenty other Protestant Princes, the said towns to be places of
+     _refuge_ for all those who might not yet venture to return to their
+     own homes.[73]
+
+Alas! those who, in the language of the edict, _might not yet venture to
+return to their own homes_, despite the peace being signed, promulgated
+and sworn to, justly suspected some new trap concealed under the lying
+peace. Antonicq Lebrenn did not take his leave of Admiral Coligny and
+Monsieur Lanoue until after the close of the war. They were informed by
+him of the revelations contained in Anna Bell's letter to her father
+Odelin, the letter wherein the maid of honor of Catherine De Medici
+reported the conversation which she overheard between the infamous Queen
+and the Jesuit Lefevre, in the course of which the Queen disclosed to
+the Jesuit her project of lulling the suspicions of the Huguenots with
+the false appearance of a peace, to the end of taking them by surprise,
+unarmed and confiding, and exterminating them on one day throughout the
+kingdom. The project seemed so monstrous to Coligny that he looked upon
+it as only a chimera of delirious wickedness, and held it for
+impracticable, if only on the ground of there not being murderers enough
+to execute the butchery.
+
+The Admiral deceived himself. There never is a lack of murderers in the
+Catholic party. These rise by the thousand at the voice of the Roman
+priests. All priests are potential murderers with a patent from their
+faith.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+"CONTRE-UN."[74]
+
+
+Towards the end of the month of August in the year 1572, the Lebrenn
+family was gathered one evening in the large hall that served for
+storeroom to the arms turned out by the establishment of Antonicq
+Lebrenn, who continued his father's trade at La Rochelle. The room had
+the appearance of an arsenal. On the shelves along the walls lay arms of
+all sorts in profusion--swords, daggers, sabers, cutlasses, pikes,
+halberds, battle maces and axes; further off, long and short-barreled
+arquebuses, pistols and some firearms of a novel fashion. These were
+light and easy to handle, an invention of the celebrated Gaspard of
+Milan, who gave them the name of "muskets;" finally, there was a large
+display of casques, morions, cuirasses, corselets, brigandines, armlets,
+shields and bucklers, some of the latter made of iron, others of wood
+inlaid with sheets of steel. The workshop, with its furnaces, anvils and
+other utensils, was situated behind the storeroom, where, on this day
+the Lebrenn family, six in number, were congregated--Marcienne, Odelin's
+widow; Antonicq, her son; Theresa, his sister, married three years
+before to Louis Rennepont, the nephew of Brother St. Ernest-Martyr;
+Josephin, the Franc-Taupin; Captain Mirant, Marcienne's brother; his
+daughter Cornelia, the betrothed of Antonicq; and finally John Barbot, a
+boilermaker, the widower of Jacqueline Barbot, who was the god-mother of
+Anna Bell, and who died two years previously. In the assemblage were
+also the two artisans of the establishment, Bois-Guillaume and Roland,
+besides a fifteen-year-old apprentice whom they nicknamed "Serpentin."
+
+Although it was the hour for rest, these different personages were not
+idle. Marcienne, Odelin's widow, spun at her wheel. Clad in black, she
+had made up her mind to remain in mourning for the rest of her life in
+memory of the tragic deaths of her husband and her daughter, Anna Bell.
+The widow's pronounced features, the cast of her face at once serious,
+firm and kind, preserved the primitive type of the women of the
+_Santones_, a race which, according to what historians tell us,
+preserved itself pure from times immemorial, almost without admixture
+with foreign strains since the olden days of Gaul. Theresa, Marcienne's
+eldest daughter, was busy sewing, and from time to time cast a glance of
+maternal solicitude upon her child, who lay asleep in a cradle that off
+and on she rocked with her foot. Theresa expected with increasing
+anxiety the return of her husband, Louis Rennepont, who, several weeks
+before, left for Paris, whither he was deputed by the Rochelois, owing
+to the vague yet increasing apprehensions entertained by the
+Protestants, due to the circumstance that Coligny, together with almost
+all the Protestant leaders, was drawn to Paris on the occasion of the
+marriage of Henry of Bearn to the King's sister Marguerite. Theresa's
+headgear was the time-honored and common one of the women of the
+region--a high, white and pointed coif, adjusted to the coil of her
+tresses. Her robe, made of grey bolting-cloth, was slashed with a red
+front-piece, that partly covered her white and starched chemisette. From
+the belt of her apron hung two long silver chains, at the lower end of
+which were attached her penknife, scissors, a pin-cushion, some keys,
+and other utensils inseparable from a good housekeeper. Near Theresa
+Rennepont and behind her, Cornelia Mirant, her cousin, the betrothed of
+Antonicq, was ironing some household linen. The face of Cornelia also
+preserved in all their purity the characteristics of a Santone woman of
+the heroic days of Gaul. A luxurious head of light chestnut hair with a
+golden glint, twisted into strands and wound into a thick-topknot on her
+head; a white and ruddy skin; a small forehead; light eyebrows of a
+shade less brilliant than her hair and penciled in an almost straight
+line above her orange-brown, flashing and resolute eyes; a straight
+nose, prolonged in almost a straight line from the forehead, as seen in
+the lofty statues of antiquity; a pair of fleshy and cherry-red lips; a
+pronounced chin;--these features imparted to Cornelia's face a
+strikingly lofty stamp. The girl's tall stature, her flexible neck, her
+well rounded shoulders, her white and strong arms, the gentle contour of
+her bosom, recalled the noble proportions of the Greek Pallas Athene.
+With this virile appearance, Cornelia united the sportiveness, and the
+sweet and coy charms of a maid. Dressed Rochelois fashion like her
+cousin, Theresa, she had, in order to be at greater ease, rolled up the
+sleeves of her robe, and the strong muscles of her arms, which were
+white as marble, rose and fell with every impression of the hot iron
+upon the linen that she was smoothing. Ever and anon, however, the iron
+remained inactive for a moment. At such moments Cornelia raised her head
+to listen more attentively to the reading with which Antonicq was
+entertaining the assembled family; and her eyes would then bend upon
+him, not with any furtive tenderness, but, on the contrary, endeavoring
+to meet his own gaze with the serene confidence of a betrothed bride.
+Cornelia's father, Captain Mirant, one of the most intrepid seamen of La
+Rochelle, a man still in the full strength of his years, was engaged at
+sketching some defenses that he deemed requisite to the safety of the
+port. Near the captain sat his chum, John Barbot, the boilermaker of the
+isle of Rhe. His wife, Anna Bell's god-mother, had died of grief. She
+never could pardon herself for the loss of her god-child; after long
+years of weeping over what she deemed her own negligence, the poor woman
+sank into her grave. Not wishing to sit idly by, John Barbot was
+furbishing a steel corselet with as much care as he would have done one
+of the magnificent copper basins with artistic relievos, or one of his
+tinplated iron sheets, which, set up in his boilermaker's shop, shone
+with the glitter of gold or silver. A man of exceptional courage, above
+all of great self-possession in the hour of danger, Barbot had taken
+part in the late religious wars. Among other scars he wore one
+inflicted by a saber cut, dealt so furiously that, after cropping the
+boilermaker's left ear, it plowed through his cheek and carried away the
+tip of his nose. Despite the mutilation, John Barbot's face preserved an
+expression of unalterable good nature. The Franc-Taupin polished the
+barrel of an arquebus just taken, tarnished and defaced, from the forge.
+The old leader of the Avengers of Israel, the man to whom circumstances
+had imparted an implacable ferocity towards papists, still always
+carried, hanging from a string fastened to the buttonhole of his coat,
+the little piece of wood on which, by means of notches, he kept tally of
+the Catholic priests whom he killed in reprisal for the death of his
+sister and the torture of Hena. The notches had now reached the number
+of twenty-four. The implacable avenger was seated on the other side of
+the cradle of Theresa's child, and shared the mother's duties of lightly
+rocking it. Whenever the child woke up, the Franc-Taupin would drop the
+barrel of the arquebus on his knees and smile to the baby--at least as
+hard as the Franc-Taupin could smile. He lived on a small pension
+granted to him by the municipality of La Rochelle, in reward for the
+long years of service that he rendered in the capacity of sergeant of
+the city archers. Josephin transferred to Antonicq, to Antonicq's sister
+and to their mother the devoted attachment of which he gave so many
+signal proofs to Christian Lebrenn and his wife Bridget, to their
+daughter Hena and their son Odelin. Finally, the two artisans employed
+in the shop, Bois-Guillaume and Roland, as well as Serpentin the
+apprentice, occupied themselves with something or other connected with
+their trade, more for the sake of keeping their hands busy than for
+actual work, while they listened to Antonicq, who was reading aloud.
+
+Antonicq read the _Contre-Un_, a work written by Estienne of La
+Boetie,[75] who died about nine years before. Never yet did reason,
+human dignity, the sense of justice, the holy love for freedom, the
+whole-souled horror for tyranny, speak a language more eloquent and more
+warm from the heart than the language spoken in that immortal book. It
+was a cry of execration, an anathema against oppression. The avenging
+cry, leaping from the indignant soul of a great citizen, caused all
+noble hearts to vibrate responsively. Those pages, every word of which
+breathes ardent conviction, steeled the faith of all the honorable
+people, who finally at the end of their patience with the monstrous
+crimes that royalty, the accomplice or tool of the Church of Rome, was
+still soiled with in this century, were seriously considering, the same
+as the Low Countries were doing, the advisability of following the
+example of the Swiss cantons, which federated themselves in a Republic.
+The work of Estienne of La Boetie, by calling upon all the oppressed to
+resistance _Against-One_ who oppresses them, laid bare to them, with
+terse and pitiless logic, the despicable causes of their _Voluntary
+Servitude_, the original title of that admirable work.
+
+Antonicq Lebrenn continued to read the _Contre-Un_ amid the profound
+silence maintained by the assembled family:
+
+     "There are three species of tyrants, I speak of wicked princes: The
+     first have the kingdom by popular election; the second by force of
+     arms; the third by inheritance. Those who acquired it by the right
+     of war deport themselves as on conquered territory; those who are
+     born kings are usually no better; nourished in the blood of
+     tyranny, they take in the tyrant's nature with their milk, and look
+     upon their people as hereditary serfs. He, to whom the people
+     conferred the State, should (it would seem) be more endurable, and
+     so would he be, I hold, if, seeing himself raised above all others
+     and flattered by the undefinable thing called grandeur, he did not
+     generally bend his energies to preserve the power that the people
+     loaned him, and to transmit the same to his own children.
+
+     "Accordingly, to speak truthfully, I do perceive that there is some
+     difference between these different tyrants. But if one is to
+     choose, the difference ceases. The act of reigning remains
+     virtually the same--the elective ones govern as if they had bulls
+     to tame; the conquering ones look upon their people as their prey;
+     hereditary kings see in their subjects natural slaves.
+
+     "Speaking intelligently, it is a great misfortune to be subject to
+     a master of whom one can never be certain that he will be good,
+     seeing he ever has it in his power to be bad whenever it should so
+     please him. I do not mean at this point to debate the question, to
+     wit, Whether Republics are better than monarchy? If I wished to
+     consider that question, I should first wish to know, What rank
+     monarchy is to take among Republics, or if monarchy can at all rank
+     with Republics, considering the difficulty of believing that there
+     could be anything public in a government where _all belongs to
+     one_?
+
+     "I wish I could understand how it happens that so many citizens, so
+     many men, so many cities, so many nations often endure only a
+     tyrant, who has no power except that given to him; who has no power
+     to harm them but because of their own power to endure him! What! A
+     million men, miserably held in subjection, their necks under the
+     yoke, not compelled by force, but enchanted and charmed by the word
+     ONE, neither the power of whom they need fear, seeing he stands
+     alone; nor the qualities of whom they should love, seeing that, as
+     to them, he is inhuman and savage! Such is the weakness among us,
+     men!
+
+     "Oh, good God! What can that be? What name shall we call the thing
+     by? What peculiar calamity is it? or what vice? or, rather, what
+     calamitous vice? To see a vast number, not obey, but serve! Not
+     governed, but tyrannized! With neither property, nor parents, nor
+     children, nor yet their own lives that they may call their own!
+     Suffer plunderings, pillagings, cruelties, not at the hands of an
+     army, not at the hands of a camp of barbarians, against which one
+     would shed his blood and risk his life--but endure all that from
+     ONLY ONE! Not from a Hercules, or a Sampson, but from a single
+     mannikin, generally the most cowardly, the most effeminate of the
+     nation, at that! Not accustomed to the powder of battles, but even
+     hardly to the dust of tourneys! Can we give to that the name of
+     cowardice? Are we to say that those who remain in subjection are
+     poltroons? That two, that three, that four should fail to defend
+     themselves against ONE, that would be singular enough, yet
+     possible; in which case we could justly say it is
+     faint-heartedness. But when a hundred, when a thousand endure
+     everything from ONLY ONE, can it then be said that they do not
+     want, that they dare not lay hands upon him, and that it is not a
+     case of cowardice, but rather of disdain and contempt? If so, what
+     monstrous vice is this that deserves not the title of cowardice,
+     that finds no name villainous enough to designate it by, that
+     nature disowns having brought forth, and that the tongue of men
+     refuses to name?"
+
+The eloquent malediction of the blindness of subjugated peoples drew a
+unanimous cry of admiration from the Lebrenn family. Antonicq
+interrupted his reading for a moment.
+
+"Oh, the book is right!" gravely observed Odelin's widow. "What
+monstrous vice can that be that bends under the yoke of ONLY ONE? It is
+not cowardice! The most cowardly, when they see they are a thousand
+against one, will not be afraid to attack him. That book is right. What
+may be the name of the nameless vice?"
+
+Antonicq proceeded:
+
+     "It is the people who subjugate themselves; who cut their own
+     throats; who, having the choice between being subject or free,
+     leave their freedom for a yoke; who give their consent to their own
+     ruin, or rather purchase the same. If the recovery of their freedom
+     would have to cost something, it is not I who would press them to
+     the act, although that which man should hold dearest is the
+     recovery of his natural rights, or, to be accurate, from beast to
+     return to man's estate.
+
+     "But no! I do not demand such boldness from the people. What! If,
+     in order to have its liberty, the people need but to will it, can
+     there be a nation on earth to consider the price too dear, being
+     able to regain the boon by wishing? Who would hesitate to recover a
+     boon that should be redeemed with the price of his blood, a boon,
+     which if lost, all honorable men must esteem life a burden and
+     death a relief?
+
+     "But no! The more do tyrants pillage, the more do they exact, the
+     more do they ruin, the more do they destroy,--all the more are they
+     paid to do it, all the more are they served, and all the more do
+     they fortify themselves.
+
+     "And yet, if nothing were to be allowed to them, if no obedience
+     were to be yielded to them, and that without combat, without
+     striking a blow, they would remain naked, undone, and would cease
+     to be anything--like roots, that, lacking nourishment, become a
+     dry, dead branch."
+
+"Right!" put in the Franc-Taupin. "Again that book is right. There are
+donkey-men and lion-men. Say to a donkey: 'Roar, jump, bite your enemy!'
+He will not listen. Say to the brute: 'Donkey you are, donkey you will
+be, remain donkey. One does not even expect of you that you rise to the
+Caesarian heroism of a kick! No, you peaceful beast! All that we ask is
+that you remain quiet, motionless, stubborn, and do not go to the mill!
+Aye, my donkey friends, what could the millers do, and their helpers,
+if, despite all their cudgels, the millions of donkeys, having passed
+the word along the line, refused point blank to march? Will the millers
+and their helpers shower blows upon you? Perhaps, but are you spared any
+blows when you do march? Beaten whether you march or stand still, you
+might as well stand still and ruin the miller.' Yes," added the
+Franc-Taupin, his face assuming a sad expression; "but how was this
+unhappy people even to conceive the bare thought of such an inert
+resistance? Have the monks not monked their brains from the cradle to
+the grave: 'Go, thou beast of burden, lick the hand that smites
+you--bless the burden that crushes your limbs, and galls your spine to
+the quick--thy salvation hereafter is to be bought by the torments you
+endure on earth--to the monks belong thy broad back--they straddle it in
+order to lead you to paradise!' And," proceeded the Franc-Taupin, more
+and more incensed, "should anyone attempt to wrest the besotted wretches
+from the grip of the monkery, why, then, quick, and quicker than
+quick!--the jail, the cutlass, the pyre, and torture! Thus came my
+sister Bridget to die in prison, and her daughter to be burned alive,
+and Christian to die of grief, and Odelin, his son, to have his throat
+cut by his own brother, Fra Herve, the Cordelier! That is the long and
+short of it!"
+
+These words, which recalled so many painful losses to the memory of the
+Lebrenn family, were followed by a mournful silence. Tears rolled down
+the cheeks of Marcienne, Odelin's widow; her wheel stopped whirring; her
+head dropped upon her breast and she muttered:
+
+"My mourning will be like my sorrow, eternal! Oh, my children, there are
+two places that will ever remain vacant at our hearth--your father's and
+your sister's. The poor girl doubted our indulgence and our love for
+her!"
+
+"Oh, Catherine De Medici! Infamous Queen! Mother of execrable sons! Will
+the hour of vengeance ever sound!" exclaimed Captain Mirant. "Even the
+perversest of people shudder at the crimes of the crowned monsters!
+Their acts are endured, and yet a breath could throw them down! Oh, well
+may we ask in the language of La Boetie's book: 'What is the nameless
+vice that causes millions of people to submit voluntarily to a power
+that is abhorred?'"
+
+"We Huguenots, at least, showed our teeth to the monsters," put in
+Barbot the boilermaker. "Nevertheless, to talk shop, I must confess our
+mistake. It was our duty to throw into the furnace and melt once for all
+that old royal boiler in which for a thousand and odd years the Kings
+have been boiling Jacques Bonhomme, and serving him up in all manner of
+sauces for their repasts. Once that boiler is melted, the devil's
+kitchen would be done for!"
+
+"Yes, indeed, comrade," replied Captain Mirant, "we made that mistake,
+and yet we were the most daring among the oppressed! And we made the
+mistake notwithstanding we were repeatedly imposed upon and betrayed by
+treacherous edicts. May it please God that this last edict do not fare
+like the previous ones, and that Louis Rennepont may speedily bring us
+tidings from Paris to dispel our apprehensions!"
+
+"Brother," observed Marcienne, "I can not but mistrust the pledges of
+Charles IX and his mother. Alas, I can not forget the revelations made
+in the letter to her father by my poor daughter before she leaped
+voluntarily to death at the battle of Roche-la-Belle. Catherine and her
+sons are well capable of scheming the massacre that she confided to the
+Jesuit Lefevre. At the same time we must not forget that Admiral
+Coligny, so prudent, so wise, so experienced a man, in short, better
+qualified than anyone else to appreciate the situation, seeing he is in
+close touch with the court, reposes full confidence in the peace. Did
+he not give us positive proof of his sense of security by inducing the
+Protestants to restore to the King, before the date fixed by the edict,
+the fortified towns of asylum that were placed in their power?"
+
+"Oh, sister, sister!" interjected Captain Mirant. "I shall ever
+congratulate myself upon having been on the Board of Aldermen among
+those who most decidedly opposed the relinquishing of La Rochelle! Thank
+God, this fortified place remains to us. Here at least we may feel safe.
+I very much fear the loyalty of the Admiral may not be a match for the
+duplicity of the Italian woman."
+
+"I must say that I am increasingly impatient for my husband's return
+home," observed Theresa. "He will have had an interview with Admiral
+Coligny; he will have expressed to him the fears and misgivings of the
+Rochelois. At least we shall know for certain whether we are to feel
+safe or not."
+
+"Do you call that living?" cried Captain Mirant. "Why should we,
+honorable people, be kept ever in suspense as though we were criminals!
+Mistrust ever sits in our hearts! Our ears ever are on the watch, our
+hands on our swords! Whence come these mortal alarms? The reason is
+that, despite our old municipal franchises, despite the ramparts of our
+town, we are, after all, the subjects of the King, instead of belonging
+to ourselves, like the Swiss cantons, that are freely federated in a
+Republic! Oh, liberty! liberty! Shall our eyes ever see your reign among
+us?"
+
+"Yes!" answered Antonicq. "Yes! We would see that beautiful reign if the
+admirable sentiments of La Boetie could be made to penetrate the souls
+of our people! But listen, I shall read on:
+
+     "Oh, liberty! So great, so sweet a boon, that, once lost misfortune
+     follows inevitably, and even the enjoyments that may remain behind
+     wholly lose their taste and flavor, being tainted with servitude!
+     Liberty is not desired by men for no other reason, it seems to me,
+     than that, if they were to desire it, they would have it! One would
+     think they refuse the priceless conquest only because it is so
+     easily won! The beasts (may God help me!) where men are too deaf to
+     hear, scream in their ears--_Long live Freedom!_ Many animals die
+     the moment they are captured. Fishes lose their lives with their
+     element: they die unable to survive their natural franchise! If
+     animals recognized rank in their midst they would turn liberty
+     into--_nobility!_ From the largest to the smallest, when caught,
+     they offer so emphatic a resistance with nails, horns, feet, or
+     beaks that they sufficiently declare how highly they prize what
+     they are losing. When caught, they give us so many manifest tokens
+     of how thoroughly they realize their misfortune that, if they
+     continue to live, it is rather to mourn over their lost freedom
+     than to accommodate themselves to servitude.
+
+     "Poor, miserable people! Poor senseless beings! Oh, ye nations
+     stubbornly addicted to your own evil! Blind to your weal! You allow
+     yourselves to be carried away, to be ravished of the best that you
+     have, of the prime of your revenue; your fields to be pillaged;
+     your homes to be robbed; your paternal furniture and heirlooms to
+     be taken for spoils! Your life is such that you may say nothing is
+     your own. Would it be that wise unless you are tolerant of the
+     thief who plunders you, and the accomplice of the murderer who
+     slays you? Are you not traitors to yourselves? You sow your fields
+     for him to gorge himself! You furnish your houses in order to
+     furnish matter for his burglaries! You bring up your daughters that
+     there may be food for his debauches! You bring up your sons that
+     he may lead them to slaughter and turn them into the instruments of
+     his greed and the executors of his revenges. You stint your bodies
+     that he may revel in the delights you are deprived of, and wallow
+     in lecherous and vile pursuits!
+
+     "True enough, physicians advise not to lay hands upon wounds that
+     are incurable. Perhaps I act not wisely in seeking to give advice
+     to the people in this matter. They have long lost consciousness;
+     they are no longer aware of their ailment; the disease is mortal!"
+
+"The reproach is severe, and, I think, unmerited," objected Odelin's
+widow. "Did not Estienne of La Boetie himself, who died only nine years
+ago, see the Protestants thrice run to arms in the defense of their
+faith?"
+
+"Sister," asked Captain Mirant, "did the whole people run to arms? Alas,
+no! The majority, the masses--blind, ignorant, wretched, and dominated
+by the monks--have they not ever risen at the command of their clerical
+misleaders, and fallen with fanatical rage upon what they call the
+'heretics'? Even among ourselves, is it not a small majority that
+realizes the truth of what Christian your husband's father used to say,
+when he warned the Protestants that neither religious nor any other
+freedom could ever be permanently secured so long as royalty, the
+hereditary accomplice of the Church, was left standing? Do not the
+majority of Protestants, even Admiral Coligny himself, entertain respect
+and love, if not for Kings, at least for the monarchy? Do they not seek
+to place that institution beyond the reach of the religious wars?
+Sister, Boetie's book tells the truth: The masses of the people,
+degraded, brutified, besotted and kept in ignorance by hereditary
+serfdom no longer feel the gall of servitude. Does it, therefore, follow
+the disease is incurable, and fatal? No! No! In that respect I look to
+better things than does La Boetie. History, in accord therein with the
+chronicles of your husband's family, proves that a slow and mysterious
+progress is taking its course across the ages. Serfs replaced slaves;
+vassals replaced serfs; some day, vassalage also will disappear as did
+slavery and serfdom! The religious wars of our century are another step
+toward ultimate freedom. The revolt against the throne will closely
+follow the revolt against the Church. But, alas! how many years are yet
+to elapse before the arrival of the day foretold by Victoria the
+Great--as narrated in your family history!"[76]
+
+"Oh, the genius of tyranny is so resourceful in infernal plans to
+protect its empire!" exclaimed Antonicq. "Do you remember, uncle, how
+surprised you and I were at the account, given us by some travelers who
+returned from Paris, of the infinite number of public
+festivities--tourneys, tilts, processions--gotten up to keep the people
+amused?"
+
+"Yes, and we listened to their report as to a fairy tale," interjected
+Cornelia. "We wondered how the people could feel so giddyheaded in
+Paris; how they could crowd to festivities given upon places that were
+still dyed red with the blood of martyrs, and still warm with the ashes
+of pyres!"
+
+"Cornelia," replied Antonicq, proud of the noble words of his bride,
+"tyrants rule less, perhaps, through force that terrorizes than through
+corruption that depraves. Listen to these profound and awful words of La
+Boetie upon this very subject:
+
+     "No better insight can be got into the craftiness of tyrants to
+     brutify their subjects than from the measure that Cyrus adopted
+     towards the Lydians after he took possession of Sardis, the
+     principal city of Lydia, and reduced to his mercy Croesus, the rich
+     King, and carried him off a prisoner of war. Cyrus was notified
+     that the people of Sardis rose in rebellion. He speedily reduced
+     them to order, but unwilling to put so beautiful a place to the
+     sack, and also to be himself put to the trouble of garrisoning the
+     city with a large force in order to keep it safe, he hit upon a
+     master scheme to make sure of his conquest. He set up in Sardis a
+     large number of public houses for debauchery, and issued a decree
+     commanding the people to frequent these brothels. That garrison
+     answered his purpose so well that never after did he have to draw
+     the sword against the Lydians.
+
+     "Indeed, no bird is more easily caught with bird-lime, no fish is
+     more securely hooked with an appetizing bait, than the masses of
+     the people are lured to servitude by the tickle of the smallest
+     feather, which, as the saying goes, is passed over their lips.
+     Theaters, games, farces, spectacles, gladiators, strange beasts,
+     medals, pictures and other trifles were, to the peoples of
+     antiquity, the charms of servitude, the price of their freedom, the
+     instruments of tyranny.
+
+     "These lures kept the people under the yoke. Thus, mentally
+     unnerved, they found the pastimes pleasant, they were amused by the
+     idle spectacles that were paraded before their eyes, and they were
+     habituated to obedience as fully, but not as usefully to
+     themselves, as little children, who, in order to gladden their eyes
+     with the brilliant pictures of illuminated books insensibly learn
+     to read.
+
+     "The tyrant Romans furthermore resorted to the plan of feasting
+     the populace, which can be led by nothing so readily as by the
+     pleasures of the mouth. The cleverest of them all would not have
+     dropped his bowl of soup to recover the liberty of the Republic of
+     Plato. The tyrants made bountiful donations of wheat, of wine and
+     corn. Whereupon the cry went up lustily--_Long live the King!_ The
+     dullards did not realize they were receiving but a small portion of
+     what belonged to them, and that even the portion which they
+     received the tyrant would not have it to give, but for his first
+     having taken it away from themselves."
+
+"_The cleverest of them all would not have dropped his bowl of soup to
+recover the Republic_," repeated Captain Mirant. "The fact is
+shockingly, distressfully true! Men become animals when they sacrifice
+everything to perverse instincts and vulgar appetites. Nevertheless, a
+curse upon all tyrants! It is they who incite these very appetites, in
+order to rule the heart through the stomach, and the mind through the
+eyes, by attracting the peoples to tourneys, tilts and such other
+pageants, amusements that are but disgraceful badges of servitude, and
+must be paid for by the fruit of the labor of the slaves themselves!"
+
+"Go to, poor Jacques Bonhomme!" added the Franc-Taupin. "Fill up your
+paunch, but bend your back! Pay for the gala! Gnaw at the bones cast to
+you, and cry 'Thanks!' Oh, if only you knew! If only you wanted to! With
+one shake of your shoulders, both the tyrants and their cohorts would be
+thrown to the ground!"
+
+"No! No!" interjected Antonicq. "Do not imagine that our tyrants
+Catherine De Medici and Charles IX are defended mainly by the
+arquebusiers of their bodyguards, their light mounted horse and their
+footmen in arms! Not at all! Just listen to this passage from La
+Boetie's book:
+
+     "I shall now touch upon a point that is the secret spring of the
+     sway, the support and the foundation of tyranny. He who imagines
+     that the halberdiers of the guard constitute the safety and the
+     bulwark of tyrants is, I hold, greatly in error. No; it is not arms
+     that defend a tyrant. At first blush the point may not be granted,
+     nevertheless it is true. It is only four or five men among his
+     accomplices who uphold a tyrant and who keep the country in
+     servitude to him. It has ever been only five or six who have a
+     tyrant's ear, and are invited by him to be the accomplices of his
+     cruelties, the sharers in his amusements, the go-betweens in his
+     debaucheries, the co-partners in his plunder, these five or six
+     hundred have, in turn, under them five or six who are to them what
+     they themselves are to the tyrant--and these five or six hundred
+     have, in turn, under them five or six thousand thieves among whom
+     they have caused the government of the provinces and the
+     administration of the funds to be distributed, in order that they
+     may cater to the avarice and the cruelty of the tyrant, in order
+     that they may promptly execute his orders, and be ready to do so
+     much mischief that they can hold their places only under the shadow
+     of his authority, nor be able to escape the just punishment of
+     their offences but through him. Wide and long is the train that
+     follows these latter ones. Whoever cares to amuse himself in
+     tracing the threads of this woof will see that, not the six
+     thousand only, but hundreds of thousands, aye millions depend
+     through that cord upon the tyrant, who, with the aid of the same,
+     can (as Jupiter boasts in Homer) pull over to himself all the gods
+     by pulling at the chain."
+
+"Well put! Never before has the centralized power of royalty, that
+fearful engine of tyranny, been more lucidly laid bare!" cried Captain
+Mirant. "I am more and more convinced--the federation of the provinces,
+each independent as to itself, but mutually united by the common bond of
+their common interests, like the Republic of the Swiss cantons, is the
+sole guarantee of freedom. COMMUNE AND FEDERATION!"
+
+"Now," said Antonicq, "do not fail to admire the penetration with which
+Estienne of La Boetie traces back the secret punishment that is visited
+upon tyrants, and the awful consequences of tyranny itself. He says:
+
+     "From the moment a King has declared himself a tyrant, then, not
+     merely a swarm of thieves and skip-jacks, but all those who are
+     moved by ardent ambition, or overpowering greed, gather around him,
+     and assist him in order to have a share in the booty, and to be,
+     under the great tyrant, petty tyrants themselves. Thus it happens
+     with highwaymen and pirates. One set holds the roads, the other
+     rifles the travelers; one set lies in ambush, the other is on the
+     watch; one set massacres, the other plunders.
+
+     "Hence it comes that the tyrant is never loved, and never loves.
+     Friendship is a sacred gift, a holy boon! It never exists but among
+     honorable people, it never arises but through mutual esteem. It is
+     preserved, not so much through gifts as by upright conduct. That
+     which makes one friend feel sure of another is the knowledge he has
+     of the other's integrity. The security he holds from his friend is
+     the latter's good character, his faith, his constancy. No
+     friendship can exist where cruelty, disloyalty and injustice hold
+     sway. When malignant people meet, they meet to plot, not for
+     companionship! They do not mutually aid if they mutually fear one
+     another. They are not friends, they are accomplices in crime and
+     felony.
+
+     "This is the reason why, as the saying goes, there is honor among
+     thieves at the distribution of the booty. They supplement one
+     another, and they are unwilling, by falling out, to reduce their
+     strength.
+
+     "In that begins the punishment of tyrants. When they die, their
+     execrated name is blackened by the ink of a thousand pens, their
+     reputation is torn to shreds; even their bones, pilloried by
+     posterity, chastise them for their wicked lives. Let us then learn
+     to be upright; let us raise our eyes to heaven; let us implore it
+     to bestow upon us the love of virtue. As to me, meseems nothing is
+     so contrary to God as tyranny, and that He reserves for tyrants
+     some special chastisement."
+
+"Oh, my children!" exclaimed Odelin's widow, "that book which breathes
+such hatred for tyranny and such generous indignation towards cowards
+that one must doubt divine justice if he can lightly submit to
+iniquity;--that book, every page of which bears the imprint of the love
+of virtue and the execration of evil;--that book should be placed in the
+hands of every lad about to enter manhood. It would be a wholesome and
+strong nourishment to their souls. From it they would gather a horror
+for that cowardly and blind voluntary servitude, and then all, in the
+name of justice, of human dignity, of right, and of honesty, would rise
+_Against-One_, the title of those sublime pages, and they would proclaim
+everywhere--Commune and Federation!"
+
+"But, aunt," timidly suggested Cornelia, "should not that book be also
+for girls who reach maturity? They become wives and mothers. Should not
+they also be nourished in the love of justice and in the abhorrence of
+tyranny, to the end that they may bring up their children to virile
+principles, regain for woman equal rights with man, and share both the
+self-denial and the dangers of their husbands when the hour of battle
+and of sacrifice shall have come?"
+
+Cornelia looked so beautiful as she gave utterance to these patriotic
+sentiments that all the members of the Lebrenn family turned their eyes
+admiringly toward the young girl.
+
+"Oh, my brave one!" exclaimed Antonicq, rising and taking Cornelia's
+hands in his own with a transport of love. "How proud I am of your love!
+What generous duties does it not impose upon me! Well, it is to be
+to-morrow--the happy day for you and me--the day when we are to be
+joined in wedlock!"
+
+Hardly had Antonicq finished his sentence when the tramp of a horse's
+hoofs was heard in the street. It stopped at the armorer's door. Theresa
+Rennepont rose with a start, and ran to the door crying: "My husband!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S NIGHT.
+
+
+The presentiment of the young wife did not deceive her. The door opened
+and Theresa fell into the arms of Louis Rennepont.
+
+The joy of the Lebrenn family over the return of one of its members from
+a distant journey dominated at first all other feelings and thoughts.
+Immediately after the first outpourings of affection the same question
+escaped at once from all lips:
+
+"What tidings from Paris, and about Admiral Coligny?"
+
+Alas! it was only then that the members of the Lebrenn family noticed
+the profound alteration of Louis Rennepont's appearance, and his wife,
+who had been scrutinizing the young man's face with eager and uneasy
+curiosity, suddenly cried:
+
+"Great God! Louis, your hair has turned grey!"
+
+Indeed, when Louis Rennepont left La Rochelle towards the end of the
+previous month, not a thread of silver whitened his raven locks. Now
+they were streaked with broad bands of grey! He seemed to have aged ten
+years. Such a change must have been produced by some terrible and sudden
+emotion. Theresa's exclamation was followed by a mournful silence. All
+eyes were fixed upon Louis Rennepont with increasing anxiety. He
+answered his wife with a trembling voice:
+
+"Yes, Theresa; yes, my friends; my hair turned grey in one night--the
+night before St. Bartholomew's day--the night of the 23d of this month
+of August, of this year, 1572!"
+
+And still shuddering with terror, his chest convulsed with repressed
+sobs, the young man hid his face in his hands and muttered: "My God! My
+God!"
+
+Presently the young man recovered sufficient composure to proceed.
+
+"Do you all remember," he said, solemnly addressing the stupefied
+members of his family, "the infernal scheme of Catherine De Medici that
+our poor Anna Bell overheard during the Queen's conversation with
+Loyola's disciple Lefevre at the Abbey of St. Severin?"
+
+"Great God!" cried Antonicq. "The scheme of massacring all the
+Protestants, disarmed by the peace?"
+
+"The massacre, begun in Paris under my own eyes, during the night before
+St. Bartholomew," answered Louis Rennepont with an effort, "that
+massacre is proceeding at this very hour in almost all the large cities
+of France!"
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed Captain Mirant. "In sight of such a stupendous crime
+one's head is seized with vertigo--one is not certain of himself--one
+asks himself whether he is awake, or dreams."
+
+"By my sister's death! We are not dreaming!" ejaculated the
+Franc-Taupin. "Friends, if we look down at a stream running under our
+feet, it often happens that, for a moment, our head turns. That is what
+we are now experiencing. We see at our feet a torrent flowing, a torrent
+of blood--the blood of our brothers!"
+
+"A curse upon my head," thundered the boilermaker Barbot, raising his
+clenched fist to the ceiling, "if the blood of the Catholics does not
+run, if not in torrents, at least drop by drop, before La Rochelle! Let
+them come and attack us!"
+
+"They will come," put in Captain Mirant. "They are surely on the march
+now! Our ramparts shall be our grave! God be thanked, we shall not be
+slaughtered like cattle in the shambles! We shall die like men!"
+
+Cornelia, pale and motionless like a statue of sorrow, her arms crossed
+over her palpitating bosom, and her face bathed in tears, remained in
+mute consternation until this moment. The girl now took two steps
+towards her betrothed and said to him in a trembling voice:
+
+"Antonicq, to-morrow we were to be married--people in mourning do not
+marry. From this instant I wear mourning for our brothers, massacred on
+St. Bartholomew's night! A woman owes obedience to her husband,
+according to our laws--iniquitous, degrading laws! I wish to remain free
+until after the war."
+
+"Cornelia, the hour of sacrifices has sounded," answered Antonicq with a
+trembling voice; "my courage shall vie with yours."
+
+"We have paid our tribute to human weakness," observed Odelin's widow,
+smothering a sob; "let us now bravely face the magnitude of the disaster
+that has smitten our cause. Louis, we listen to your account of St.
+Bartholomew's night."
+
+"When a few weeks ago I left for Paris, I concluded I would, in passing
+through Poitiers, Angers and Orleans, visit several of our pastors in
+order to ascertain whether they also shared our apprehensions. Some I
+found completely set at ease by the loyal execution of the last edict,
+above all by the certainty of the marriage of Henry of Bearn with the
+sister of Charles IX. They looked upon this as a pledge of the good
+intentions of the King, and of the end of the religious conflicts. Other
+pastors, on the contrary, felt vaguely uneasy. Being convinced that Joan
+of Albert was poisoned by Catherine De Medici, they saw with no little
+apprehension what they considered the heedless confidence that Admiral
+Coligny placed in the court. But in short, the vast majority of our
+brothers felt perfectly at ease.
+
+"Immediately upon my arrival at Paris I proceeded to Bethisy Street, the
+residence of Admiral Coligny. I expressed to him the fears that agitated
+the Rochelois concerning his life, so precious to our cause, and their
+mistrust of Charles IX and his mother. The Admiral's answer was: 'The
+only thing that keeps me back at court is the almost positive prospect
+of Flanders and the Low Countries rising against the bloodthirsty
+tyranny of Philip II. Only the support of France could insure the
+success of the revolt. If those rich industrial provinces secede from
+Spain, they will be the promised land to our brothers. These will find
+there a refuge, not as to-day, behind the ramparts of a very few cities
+of safety, but either in the Walloon provinces, which will have become
+French territory under solid guarantees for their freedom, or in the Low
+Countries, which will be federated upon a republican plan, in imitation
+of the Swiss cantons, under the protectorate of the Prince of Nassau. By
+family tradition, and on principle, I am attached to the monarchic form
+of government. But I am well aware that many of our brothers, you of La
+Rochelle among them, shocked at the crimes of the reigning house, are
+strongly inclined towards a republic. To these, the federation of the
+Low Countries, should the same be established, will offer a form of
+government to their taste.' 'But, Admiral,' I replied, 'suppose our
+suspicions prove true, and the help that the King and his mother have so
+long been holding out the prospect of proves to be but a lure to hide
+some new trap?' 'I do not think so,' rejoined Admiral Coligny, 'although
+it may be. One must be ready for anything from Catherine De Medici and
+her son.' 'But,' I cried, 'Admiral, how can you, despite such doubts
+entertained by yourself, remain here at court, among your mortal
+enemies! Do you take no precautions to protect yourself against a
+possible, if not probable, act of treachery?' 'My friend,' was the
+Admiral's reply given in a grave and melancholy tone, 'for long years I
+have conducted that sort of war which, above all others, is the most
+frightful and atrocious--civil war. It inspires me with insurmountable
+horror. An uprising in Flanders and the Low Countries offers me the
+means of putting an end to the shedding of French blood and of securing
+a new and safe country to our brothers. It will be one way or the
+other--either the King's promises are sincere, or they are not. If they
+are I would consider it a crime to wreck through impatience or mistrust
+the success of a plan that promises so favorable a future to the
+Protestants.' 'And if the King should not be sincere,' I inquired, 'if
+his promises have no object other than to gain time to the end of
+insuring the success of some new and frightful treachery?' 'In that
+event, my friend, I shall be the victim of the treachery,' calmly
+answered Coligny. 'Is it my life they are after? I have long since
+offered it up as a sacrifice to God. Moreover, only day before
+yesterday, I declared to the King that, after the suppression of the
+revolt at Mons, as a consequence of which Lanoue, my best friend, fell a
+prisoner into the hands of the Spaniards, France should no longer
+hesitate to give her support to the insurrection of the Low Countries
+against Philip II.' 'And what did the King say to that? Did he give you
+any guarantee of his honest intentions?' 'The King,' Coligny answered
+me, 'said this to me: "_My good father, here are the nuptials of my
+sister Margot approaching; grant me only a week longer of pleasures and
+enjoyment, after which, I swear to you, by the word of a King, you and
+your friends will all be satisfied with me._"'"
+
+At this passage Louis Rennepont interrupted his narrative and cried with
+a shudder:
+
+"Would you believe it, my friends, Charles IX addressed these ambiguous
+and perfidious words to Coligny on the 13th of August--and on the night
+of the 23rd the massacre of our brothers took place!"
+
+"Oh, these Kings!" exclaimed Marcienne, raising her eyes to heaven.
+"These Kings! The sweat of our brows no longer suffices to slake their
+thirst. They are glutted with that--they now joke preparatorily to
+murder!"
+
+"By my sister's death!" shouted the Franc-Taupin, furiously. "The
+Admiral must have been smitten with blindness. Acquainted as he was from
+a long and bitter experience with that tyrant whelp, that tiger cub, how
+is it he did not take warning from the double sense that the King's
+words carried! What imprudence!"
+
+"Alas, far from it!" said Louis Rennepont. "In answer to the remarks I
+made to him, calling his attention to the suspiciousness of the King's
+words, a suspiciousness rendered all the more glaring by reason of the
+tyrant's character, the Admiral merely replied: 'If they are after my
+life, would they not long ago have killed me, in the course of these six
+months that I have been at court?' 'But monsieur,' I observed, 'it is
+not your life only that is threatened; they probably aim also at the
+lives of all our Protestant leaders. Our enemies rely upon your example,
+upon your presence at court, and upon the festivities of the marriage of
+Henry of Bearn, to attract our principal men to Paris--then to strike
+them all down at the giving of a signal, and to massacre the rest of our
+brothers all over France. Do you forget the scheme that Catherine De
+Medici talked over with the Jesuit Lefevre?' 'No, no, my friend,' he
+replied serenely, 'my heart and my judgment refuse to believe such a
+monstrous plan possible; it exceeds the bounds of human wickedness. The
+most reckless tyrants, whose names have caused the earth to grow pale,
+never dreamed of anything even remotely approaching such a horrible
+crime--it would be nameless!"
+
+"That crime now has a name--it is called 'St. Bartholomew's Night'!"
+said Cornelia with a shudder. "What will be the name of the vengeance?"
+
+"Mayhap the vengeance will be called the 'Siege of La Rochelle'!"
+answered Captain Mirant, the girl's father. "Our walls are strong, and
+resolute are our hearts."
+
+"The war will be a bloody one!" interjected Master Barbot the
+boilermaker.
+
+Louis Rennepont proceeded with his narrative: "I left Admiral Coligny,
+unable to awaken his suspicions. He went to his Chatillon home, spent
+two days in that retreat so beloved of him, and returned to Paris on the
+17th of August, the eve of the marriage of Henry of Bearn and Princess
+Marguerite. The union of a Protestant Prince with a Catholic Princess,
+in which so many of us saw the end of the religious struggles, drew to
+Paris almost all the Protestant leaders. I shall mention, among those
+whom I visited, Monsieur La Rochefoucauld, Monsieur La Force, and brave
+Colonel Piles. Apprehending no treason, they all shared the expectations
+of Coligny with respect to the revolt in the Low Countries. The feeling
+of safety that prevailed among my brothers gained upon me also. The
+marriage of Henry of Bearn and Princess Marguerite took place on the
+18th of this month. From that day to the 21st there was a perpetual
+round of splendid festivities and general merrymaking at court and in
+the city. I took up my lodgings at the sign of the Swan, on St.
+Thomas-of-the-Louvre Street, not far from the residence of Monsieur
+Coligny. The inn-keeper was of our people. On the 22d he came to my room
+at about nine in the morning and said to me with surprise not unmixed
+with alarm: 'Something strange is going on. I just learned that the
+provosts of each quarter of the city are going from house to house
+inquiring about the religion of the tenants, and noting down the
+Huguenots. The reason given is that a general census of the population
+is wanted. Subsequently,' the inn-keeper proceeded to say, 'the regiment
+of the Arquebusiers of the Guard entered Paris. Finally, I learn that
+last night a large number of arms, especially cutlasses and daggers,
+were transported to the City Hall. I received this information from my
+niece. She is a Catholic and a chamber maid of the Duchess of Nevers.
+The taking of a list of the Huguenots in town, the arrival of a whole
+regiment of Arquebusiers of the Guard, and finally the conveying of such
+large stores of arms to the City Hall, seem to me to foreshadow some
+plot against the Protestants. I wish you would notify the Admiral of
+these occurrences.' The inn-keeper's advice seemed wise to me. I
+hastened to Bethisy Street and knocked at the Admiral's house. He was
+not home. As was his habit, he had departed early in the morning to the
+Louvre. His old equerry Nicholas Mouche, to whom I imparted some of my
+information, seemed not a little startled. We agreed to proceed to the
+entrance of the palace and wait for the Admiral. We were passing by the
+cloister of St. Germain-L'Auxerois, where several houses were in the
+course of construction, when we caught sight of Coligny returning on
+foot and followed by two of his serving men. He was reading a letter,
+and walked slowly. We hastened our steps to meet him. Suddenly we were
+blinded by the flash of a firearm, fired from the ground floor window of
+one of the houses contiguous to the cloister. Nicholas Mouche rushed to
+his master, screaming: 'Help! The Admiral is assassinated! Help! Help!'"
+
+A cry of horror leaped from the lips of all the members of the Lebrenn
+family, who followed breathlessly the report of Louis Rennepont. Captain
+Mirant exclaimed:
+
+"Murder and treason! To kill that great man in such a way! Vengeance!
+Vengeance!"
+
+"No," put in Louis Rennepont with a painful effort. "Monsieur Coligny,
+killed by a bullet, would at least have met a soldier's death. I
+followed close upon the heels of Nicholas Mouche and reached him at the
+moment when Coligny, pale but calm, pointed to the window from which the
+shot was fired, and said: 'The shot came from there.' The arquebus was
+loaded with two balls. One carried off the Admiral's left thumb, while
+the other lodged in his arm near the elbow. Weakened by the loss of
+blood, that ran profusely, Coligny said to Nicholas Mouche: 'If I leaned
+upon your arm I could walk to my house--proceed!' In fact, he walked
+home. Several Protestant officers happened to be not far behind. Upon
+learning of the crime that was committed, they forced their way into
+the house where the would-be assassin had lain in ambush. They were
+informed that he fled through a rear door, where a saddled horse, held
+by a page in the Guise livery, stood waiting for him. Their searches
+proved vain. No trace of the assassin could they find."
+
+"The Guises! Always the Guisards, either directly guilty, or the
+accomplices of assassins!" exclaimed Odelin's widow with a shudder.
+"With how much blood have not those Lorrainian Princes reddened their
+hands since the butcheries of Vassy! But did Monsieur Coligny's wound
+prove fatal?"
+
+"No, unfortunately for the Admiral--because the very next day--" Louis
+Rennepont broke off suddenly. "Do you want to know, mother, whether the
+Guises were accomplices in the attempted murder upon the Admiral? Yes,
+they had their hands in that fresh misdeed, at the instigation of the
+Queen-mother. And here a plot begins to unroll itself, the deep villainy
+of which would seem incredible if Catherine De Medici and her son were
+not known. Presently I shall tell you from whom I have my information;
+it is reliable. In line with the conversation which she had with the
+Jesuit Lefevre, and which Anna Bell overheard, Catherine De Medici hated
+and feared the Guises no less than she did the Admiral. Her scheme was
+to cause the Admiral to be assassinated by the Guises; then to rid
+herself of them through the Protestants; and finally to rid herself of
+the Protestants by the King's soldiers. Does such an infernal
+combination seem impracticable to you? Well, it came near succeeding.
+This was the plot: The Guises continued to slander the Admiral by
+accusing him of having suborned Poltrot who killed Francis of Guise at
+the siege of Orleans; the old family hatred burned as implacable as
+ever. On the day after the marriage of Henry of Bearn, the Queen and her
+son Charles IX said with much unction to Henry of Guise that, in order
+to preserve the confidence of the Huguenots and the Admiral, it was
+necessary to seem to give him a pledge of reconciliation, to request of
+him that the flames of hatred, so long burning in the breasts of the two
+families, be extinguished, and to offer him the hand of friendship. All
+the more reassured by the cordial advance, the Admiral was expected to
+be thrown still more off his guard, and his assassination was considered
+all the more certain! The Queen offered for the deed a man after her own
+and the King's heart--Maurevert, surnamed the 'King's Killer,' since his
+assassination of brave Mouy, a crime for which the felon received the
+collar of the Order of St. Michael. The Queen's advice was relished.
+Young Guise gave his hand to the old Admiral, and two days later
+Monsieur Coligny, on his return from the Louvre, received a load of
+arquebus shot from--Maurevert!"
+
+Louis Rennepont stopped for a moment, and then proceeded amid the
+profound silence of the family:
+
+"By wounding, instead of killing Coligny, the 'King's Killer' ruined the
+project of the Queen and her son. They had counted upon the murder of
+the Admiral to incite a great tumult in Paris; their agents were to
+scatter among the mob the information that the heinous murder was the
+work of the Guisards; the exasperated Huguenots were expected to run to
+arms and avenge Coligny's death with the massacre of the whole Guise
+family and their partisans; that done, the royal troops were in turn to
+overwhelm the Protestants, on the pretext of being guilty of a flagrant
+breach of the edict of pacification. The last massacre was to extend
+from Paris all over France, under the guise of a vindication of the
+outraged edict of pacification. Machiavelli could not have plotted
+better. The arquebus shot of Maurevert would have rid Charles IX at once
+of Coligny, the Guises and the Protestants. The 'King's Killer' having
+missed fire, another course had to be pursued, and, above all, the
+reformers had to be convinced that Maurevert's attempt was merely an act
+of individual vengeance. Accordingly Charles IX hastened to the
+Admiral's residence. The tiger-cub wept. He called the old Admiral his
+'good father.' He promised, 'upon the word of a King, however high the
+station of the would-be murderers, they should not escape just
+punishment.' I was an eye-witness of those tears and royal
+protestations; many of our brothers, myself among them, remained near
+the bed where Coligny lay while awaiting the surgeon. We were present at
+that interview with Charles IX--"
+
+"Then you saw him, Louis, that tiger with the face of a man?" asked
+Cornelia with a curiosity born of disgust and horror. "How does the
+monster look?"
+
+"Pale and atrabilious of face, with dull, glassy eyes, and a sleepy
+look, as if the fervent Catholic and crowned murderer were ever
+dreaming of crime," answered Louis Rennepont. "Now watch the sanguinary
+craftiness of that pupil of Machiavelli's, to whom neither pledge nor
+oath is aught but a more effective form of perfidy. Would you believe
+it, that after having expressed sympathy for the wounds of his 'good
+father,' and after having pledged his royal word to secure justice, the
+first words of Charles IX were: 'I shall forthwith issue orders to close
+the gates of Paris, so that none shall leave the city; the murderer will
+not be able to flee. Moreover, I authorize, or rather I strongly urge
+the Protestant seigneurs, to whom I have offered the hospitality of the
+Louvre during the nuptial festivals of my sister Margot, to summon their
+friends near them for safeguard.'"
+
+"I perceive the trick of the tiger," broke in Captain Mirant. "By
+closing the gates of Paris he prevented the escape of the Huguenots whom
+he had consigned to death!"
+
+"No doubt," added Master Barbot the boilermaker, "the same as by
+inducing the Protestant seigneurs, who were lodged at the Louvre, to
+summon their friends to them, Charles IX only aimed at having them more
+ready at hand for his butchers!"
+
+"The issue proved that such were the secret designs of the King,"
+replied Louis Rennepont. "But haste was urgent. If tidings of the
+attempted murder of the Admiral reached the provinces, the Huguenots
+would be put on their guard. The Queen assembled her council that very
+night, and presided at its meeting. These were the members at the
+council: The King Charles IX; his brother, the Duke of Anjou; the
+Bastard of Angouleme; the Duke of Nevers; Birago and Gondi, the Queen's
+messengers of evil. It was decided that the butchery should start at
+early dawn. The provosts of the merchants, all exemplary Catholics, had,
+under pretext of taking a general census, drawn up full lists of all the
+Huguenots in the city. Their places of residence being thus accurately
+indicated, the assassins would know exactly where to go. The next
+question that came up was whether Henry of Bearn also was to be killed.
+Catherine De Medici and her son, the King, were strongly in favor, and
+urged the necessity of the murder. The other councillors, however, more
+scrupulous than their monarchs, objected that the whole world would be
+shocked at the assassination of a Prince whose throat was cut, so to
+say, under the very eyes of the mother and brother of his wife.
+Moreover, the young Prince was lightheaded, unsteady of purpose, they
+thought, and without any rooted religious belief. It would be easy, they
+concluded, either by means of promises or threats to cause him to abjure
+the Reformed religion. The death of the Prince of Conde was also long
+discussed. Twice the decision was in favor. But his brother-in-law, the
+Duke of Nevers, saved him by guaranteeing the Prince's abjuration. For
+the rest, the lad, only the rallying ground of the Huguenots and without
+personal valor, inspired but little fear, especially if compared with
+Coligny. Towards one o'clock in the morning, the young Duke of Guise was
+summoned to the Louvre and introduced to the council. The principal
+leadership of the carnage was offered to and accepted by him. A strange
+thing happened. At the last moment, Charles IX was assailed by some
+slight qualms of conscience at the thought of the murder of the Admiral,
+the old man whom that very morning he had addressed with the title of
+'my good father.' But the King's hesitance was short-lived. His last
+words were: 'By the death of God! Seeing you think the Admiral should be
+killed, I will it, too; but I demand that all the Huguenots be killed,
+all, to the last one, that there may not be one left alive to reproach
+me with the Admiral's death'!"
+
+"Oh, just God!" exclaimed Odelin's widow, raising her hands to heaven.
+"Since you consented to the unheard-of deed, Oh, God of Vengeance, You
+must have reserved some frightful punishment for him! Oh, You gave Your
+consent to that palace plot! to that nocturnal council! There Charles
+IX, armed with sovereign power, and certain of the ferocious obedience
+of his soldiers and his minions, like an assassin in ambush in the edge
+of a forest, laid in the dark the infamous, bloody and cowardly trap
+into which, when they awoke, so many of our brothers, who went to sleep
+confiding in the law, in their right and in the oath of that Prince,
+fell to their death! How many times did he not swear in the presence of
+God and man to respect the edict of peace! Yes, You allowed those
+horrors, O, God of Vengeance, to the end that this Frankish royalty and
+the Roman Church, its eternal accomplice, soon may fall under the
+general execration that the massacre of St. Bartholomew will arouse!
+Death to Kings! Death to their infamous accomplices, the nobles and
+priests!"
+
+The Lebrenn family joined with hearts and lips in the widow's
+imprecations. When the excitement again subsided Louis Rennepont
+proceeded:
+
+"Before retiring that night to my inn, I walked through a large number
+of streets. At least in appearance they were quiet. I met many of our
+brothers. Alarmed at the attempted murder of the Admiral, several had
+tried to leave Paris. They found the gates rigorously closed by orders
+of Charles IX. Back at night in my inn, I did not find the keeper, upon
+whom I relied for further information. Broken with fatigue and agitated
+by vague fears, I threw myself in my clothes upon my bed and fell
+asleep. At about three in the morning I was awakened by my inn-keeper.
+He was trembling with terror. 'The death of all the Protestants of Paris
+is decreed,' he whispered to me; 'the massacre is to begin at daybreak.
+My niece, the chambermaid of the Duchess of Nevers, overheard some words
+about the plot; she hastened to warn me. I have notified all our
+brothers who are lodged here. They have all fled. Your only chance to
+escape the carnage is to join the first gang of the cut-throats whom you
+may run across; you must pretend to be of them; you may in that way be
+able to reach some place of safety. For a sign among themselves they
+have a white paper cross attached to their hats, and a white shirt
+sleeve slipped like an armlet over the sleeve of their coats. Their
+password is: "God and the King!" Flee! Flee! May the Lord protect you!
+Thanks to my niece I have a safe retreat in the palace of Nevers.' While
+the inn-keeper was giving me these last directions, there came through
+my window, which I had left open on that hot and sultry night of August,
+the measured tintinnabulation of the large bell in the tower of the
+palace. The sound seemed to leap strangely from the depths of the
+silence in which the city was shrouded. 'It is the signal for the
+massacre!' cried my inn-keeper, leaving the room precipitately and
+whispering his last warnings to me: 'Flee! You have not a minute to
+spare; my house is marked! It will be instantly assaulted by the
+butchers!'"
+
+"Great God!" cried Theresa, Louis Rennepont's young wife, pressing her
+child distractedly to her breast, and unable to hold back her tears. And
+addressing her husband: "You are here, near us, safe and sound, poor
+friend! and yet I shiver. I weep at the thought of the cruel agonies
+that you must have undergone. Did you follow the inn-keeper's advice,
+and assume the signs of the Catholics?"
+
+"It was my only safety. I cut a cross of white paper and stuck it in my
+hat; I cut off a shirt sleeve and thrust my right arm through it; I then
+sallied out into the street. It was still silent and deserted. But the
+funeral knell from all the Paris churches had by that time joined the
+clangor of the tower bell, which then was ringing at its loudest.
+Windows were thrown open. Little by little lights appeared in them."
+
+"Malediction upon the people of Paris!" cried Odelin's widow. "It seems
+most of them were accomplices in the butchery!"
+
+"Alas, yes, mother! To their eternal shame, the fact must be admitted;
+the people of Paris were the accomplices of Charles IX, and our
+butchers! The people and a considerable portion of the bourgeoisie,
+being drugged by the fanaticism of the monks, did take part in the
+massacre. Some, yielding to the fear of being suspected, obeyed the
+orders of the provosts, and placed lights at their windows at the sound
+of the first strokes of the bells that they heard. My first thought was
+to run to the residence of the Admiral and notify him of the projected
+butchery. As I entered Bethisy Street I saw men emerging from several
+houses; all carried white crosses in their hats and their arms in shirt
+sleeves. They brandished pikes, swords and cutlasses, and cried: 'God
+and the King! Kill! Kill all the Huguenots!' They then gathered into
+groups, drew themselves up before certain doors that bore the mark of a
+cross in white chalk, beat upon and broke them down, and rushed in
+yelling: 'Kill! Kill the Huguenots!'
+
+"I was rushing towards the residence of the Admiral when I saw a
+battalion of Arquebusiers of the Guard turn into Bethisy Street. The
+troop was headed by the young Duke Henry of Guise, accompanied by his
+uncle Aumale and the Bastard of Angouleme, brother of Charles IX. All
+three were clad in war armor. Pages carrying lighted torches preceded
+them. Among the soldiers were interspersed a large number of Catholic
+cut-throats, recognizable by the signs which I also wore. I mixed with
+them. The crowd arrived before Coligny's residence. The soldiers knocked
+at the main door with the butts of their arquebuses. It was instantly
+opened. Despite the prompt obedience shown, all the serving-men of
+Coligny found in the corridor and the yard were promptly done to death.
+The Guises and the Bastard of Angouleme, surrounded by their pages,
+remained outside in front of the facade of the house at the foot of the
+porch, the stairs of which led to the vestibule. Duke Henry of Guise
+made a sign; instantly his equerry Besmes, followed by Captains
+Cosseins, Cardillac, Altain and Petrucci, rushed forward with a
+detachment of soldiers and dashed up the stairs to the first floor, on
+which the Admiral's room was. I realized the Admiral was lost, and
+remained unobserved below among the Catholics, where the details of the
+murder were soon reported. Awakened by the outcry of his servants, and
+the tumult on the street, the Admiral guessed the fate that awaited him.
+His faithful Nicholas Mouche and Pastor Merlin were with him. They had
+watched all night at his bedside. 'Our hour has come; let us commend our
+souls to God!' said Coligny, with which words he rose from his bed,
+threw a morning gown over his shoulders and knelt down. The minister and
+his old servant knelt down beside him. The three began to pray. The door
+was broken in. Besmes, the equerry of Henry of Guise, was the first to
+enter, sword in hand, leading in his captains. He walked straight to
+Coligny, who, having finished his prayer was rising from the floor
+serene and dignified. 'Is it you who are the Admiral?' shouted Besmes;
+'Well, you shall die!' 'The will of God be done! Young man, you shorten
+my life only a few days,' answered Coligny. These were that great man's
+last words. Besmes seized him by the throat with one hand, and with the
+other thrust his sword through him. The old man sank on his knees.
+Captain Cardillac threw him down, and opened his throat with one slash
+of his dagger. The other officers despatched Merlin and Nicholas Mouche.
+
+"I had remained below. There I witnessed an even more execrable scene.
+Only a minute or two after the murderers had rushed upstairs, the Duke
+of Guise stepped closer to the facade of the house and called out
+impatiently in a ringing voice: 'Well, Besmes! Is it done?' Thereupon a
+casement was thrown open on the first floor; the equerry appeared at the
+window holding his bloody sword in his hand, and answered: 'Yes,
+monseigneur! It is done! He is dead!' 'Then throw the corpse down to us
+that we may see it!' commanded Henry of Guise. Besmes vanished, and
+reappeared dragging, with the aid of Captain Cosseins, the corpse of
+Admiral Coligny; the two raised it--meseems I still behold the grey head
+of the venerable old man, pale and limp, as the body was pushed out of
+the window, with his lifeless arms swinging in space. Besmes and the
+captain made a final effort; the corpse was precipitated upon the
+pavement, where it rolled down at the feet of the Duke of Guise. Coligny
+was clad only in the morning gown that he had hurriedly put on. Thus
+half-naked and still warm he was hurled out of the window. The venerable
+head rebounded upon the cobblestones and reddened them with blood. The
+victim had fallen on his face. The Duke of Guise stooped down, and,
+aided by the Bastard of Angouleme, turned the corpse over on its back,
+wiped with his sash the blood that covered the Admiral's august visage,
+contemplated it for a moment with ferocious glee, and then kicked the
+white head with the tip of his boot, crying: 'At last! Dead at
+last--thoroughly dead!' The Duke then turned to his henchmen: 'Comrades,
+let us proceed with our work! The Pope wills it! the King so orders it!'
+Almost fainting with sickening horror and unable to move, I witnessed
+this cannibal scene--it was only the prelude for another and still more
+horrifying one. The Dukes of Guise and of Aumale and the Bastard of
+Angouleme departed with their soldiers from Monsieur Coligny's
+courtyard. Almost immediately the same was invaded by a band of men,
+women and children in rags. They were a troop hideous to look upon, as
+they brandished their sticks, butcher knives and iron bars, under the
+leadership of a Cordelier monk who held a jagged cutlass in one hand and
+a crucifix in the other, yelling at the top of his voice: 'God and the
+King!' The howlings of the mob kept time to the monk's yells. Two men
+with hang-dog looks carried torches before the monk. The moment that he
+recognized the corpse of our martyr, the Cordelier emitted a screech of
+infernal glee, threw himself upon the lifeless body of the Admiral,
+squatted down upon its chest, sawed at the neck with his cutlass,
+severed the head from the trunk, seized it by its grey locks, and held
+it up to the mob, crying in a resonant, though cracked voice: 'This is
+the share of the Holy Father! I shall send him Coligny's head to
+Rome!'[77]--That monk," added Louis Rennepont in a tremulous voice, and
+answering a cry of execration that leaped from the hearts of his
+listeners, "that monk, O shame and O misfortune!--that monk was the
+assassin of Odelin! Oh, may God have pity upon us!"
+
+"Fra Herve!" exclaimed all the members of the Lebrenn family in chorus.
+A silence of terror and horror reigned in the armorer's hall.
+
+"I wish to come quickly to an end with these monstrosities," proceeded
+Louis Rennepont, catching his voice. "After the tiger come the jackals,
+after the ferocious beasts the unclean ones. Hardly had Fra Herve
+severed the Admiral's head from his trunk, amid the hideous acclamations
+of the ragged crew, when they fell upon the corpse. Its feet and hands
+were cut off. The entrails were torn out of the abdomen and were
+struggled for by the human jackals. The sacrilegious mutilations seemed
+to go beyond the boundaries of the horrible, and yet the limit was not
+reached. Women, veritable furies, pounced upon the bleeding limbs,
+and--but I dare say no more before mother, or before Cornelia, nor
+before you, my wife. The stentorian voice of Fra Herve finally silenced
+the tumult and quelled the anthropophagous orgie. 'Brothers!' he cried,
+'to the Pope I shall send the head of this Huguenot carrion, but let us
+carry the stripped carcass to the gibbet of Montfaucon! It is there
+that should be exposed the remains of the villain who has infested
+France with his heresy, and lacerated the bosom of our holy mother the
+Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church!' 'To Montfaucon with the Huguenot
+carrion!' howled the ferocious band. A procession was improvised. Fra
+Herve sheathed his cutlass, planted the Admiral's head on the point of a
+pike, and raised the trophy in one hand. In the other he waved aloft his
+crucifix, and, lighted by his two torch-bearers, headed the procession.
+The now shapeless remnants of the corpse were tied to a rope, a team of
+cut-throats harnessed to it, and the bloody lump was dragged through the
+gutters. The procession marched to the cry of 'To Montfaucon with the
+Huguenot carrion! God and the King!' At that moment, and despite the
+terror that held me rooted to the ground, my inn-keeper's last
+suggestions occurred to me. Montfaucon was situated outside of the walls
+of Paris. No doubt some city gate would be opened to the Cordelier's
+band. I joined it, in the hope of escaping from Paris. We left the
+courtyard of Monsieur Coligny's house. It was now broad day. Before
+proceeding to Montfaucon, Fra Herve wished to exhibit his bloody trophy
+to the eyes of Charles IX and his mother. We directed our course to the
+Louvre. Other scenes of carnage were taking place there. The Protestant
+seigneurs and officers who came in the suite of the Princes of Bearn and
+Conde to participate in the wedding festivities of the King's sister,
+were lodged at the palace. Relying upon the royal hospitality, they were
+taken by surprise while asleep, dragged half naked to the courtyard,
+and there either brained or stabbed to death. Among others whom I
+recognized at a distance were Morge, Pardillan, St. Martin, besides the
+brave veterans Piles, Baudine and Puy-Vaud. They struggled in their
+shirts against the soldiers who beat them down with their halberds, and
+then stripped the corpses of their last shreds of clothing. The
+moanings, the imprecations of the victims, the streams of steaming blood
+through which we tramped, and that often reached our ankles, made my
+head reel. The butchers laid the corpses out in rows in front of the
+facade of the Louvre. The bodies were yet warm; many a bloody limb still
+seemed to palpitate; the corpses lay stripped naked, upon their backs. I
+counted over four hundred. Suddenly there appeared Catherine De Medici
+accompanied by her maids of honor and other ladies of the court. She
+mounted a terrace from which a full sight of the carnage could be had.
+They came--"
+
+Louis Rennepont stopped short. He hid his face in his hands. "Alas! I
+have to inform you of something still more horrible than anything I have
+yet said! The furies who profaned the corpse of Coligny were beings,
+who, depraved by misery and ignorance, and besotted by a brutish
+paganism, yielded obedience to fanatic promptings. But Catherine De
+Medici and the women of her suite were brought up in the splendors of
+court life, and yet they came to mock and insult the bodies of the dead.
+And would you believe it--" but again Louis Rennepont found it
+impossible to proceed. "No!" he cried; "I shall not soil your ears with
+the nameless infamies of those worse than harpies.[78] While Catherine
+De Medici, her maids of honor and a bevy of court ladies were amusing
+themselves on the terrace, Fra Herve, still carrying Coligny's head on
+the point of the pike, addressed to the Queen a few words that I did not
+hear, my attention being at that moment diverted by the appearance of
+Charles IX at the balcony of one of the windows of the Louvre. The King
+held a long arquebus in his hand; a page carried another of identical
+shape and stood behind his master ready to pass it over to him. Suddenly
+I saw the King lower the arm, take aim, blow upon the fuse on the cock,
+approach it to the pan--and the shot departed. Charles IX raised his
+arquebus, looked into the distance, and started to laugh--pleased as a
+hunter who has brought down his game. The monster with a human face was
+firing upon the Huguenots who were fleeing from the butchery in the St.
+Germain quarter, and were attempting to escape death by swimming across
+the Seine.
+
+"After haranguing Catherine De Medici, Fra Herve resumed his march to
+Montfaucon at the head of his band, dragging behind them the now
+shapeless remains of the Admiral. I had to cross Paris almost from one
+end to the other in the wake of Fra Herve's procession. In the course of
+the march my eyes encountered fresh horrors. We ran across Marshal
+Tavannes, the commander of the royal army at the battle of
+Roche-la-Belle. At the head of a regiment of the guards he was urging
+his men and the mobs to massacre, shouting to them: 'Kill! Bleed them!
+Bleed them! A bleeding is good in August as well as in May!' And his men
+did the bleeding. They bled so well that the gutters ran no longer water
+but blood. The smoldering hatreds of neighbors against neighbors were
+now given a loose to, under the pretext of religious fervor. Among a
+thousand atrocities that I witnessed on that frightful day, I shall
+mention but one, because it exceeds any other that I have yet mentioned.
+When I first arrived in Paris, and despite the apprehensions that were
+uppermost on my mind, I often went to the lectures of the illustrious
+scientist Remus. The man's renown, he being one of the most celebrated
+professors at the University, besides enjoying the reputation of a
+foremost philanthropist of these days, attracted me. I found students,
+grown-up men and even greyheads crowding around his chair. Well, holding
+close to Fra Herve's band, I passed by the house of Remus, which the
+cut-throats had invaded. A large concourse of people blocked our way,
+and interrupted our march for awhile. The mob clamored aloud for the
+life of the celebrated scientist. The most frantic in their cries for
+the murder were a bunch of pupils, between fourteen and fifteen years of
+age, whom two monks--a Carmelite and a Dominican--had in lead. The
+assassins finally pushed Remus, half naked, out of his house. The
+unhappy man, already wounded in many places, and blinded by the blood
+that streamed down his face, staggered like a drunken man, and held his
+hands before him. I see him yet--he falls to the ground, they despatch
+him, and thereupon the pupils, boys yet, throw themselves upon the
+corpse of the scientist, rip his bowels open, tear out the steaming
+entrails, turn the body around, raise the bloody shirt that barely
+covered it, and thrash the corpse with its own intestines amid roars of
+laughter, while they shout: 'Remus has whipped enough of us, it is now
+our turn to whip him.'
+
+"Fra Herve's band again resumed its march. It arrived at one of the city
+gates that leads to the gibbet of Montfaucon. As I had hoped, the gate
+was thrown open before the Cordelier. I slackened my pace, fell to the
+rear of the procession, and, at the first practicable turn on the road,
+I jumped aside and blotted myself out of sight in a wheat field. The
+tall stalks concealed me completely. I waited till Fra Herve's band was
+a safe distance away. I crept to the road that encircles the ramparts
+and towards sunset I arrived, worn out with fatigue, at an inn where I
+spent the night, giving myself out for a good Catholic. Early in the
+morning I started for Etampes. They had just finished the carnage when I
+arrived! It was still going on in Orleans when I passed that city. At
+Blois, at Angers, at Poitiers--the same massacres of our brothers. Thus,
+after long years of hypocrisy and craftiness, the pact of the
+triumvirate inspired by Francis of Guise, the butcher of Vassy, was
+finally carried out. Oh, my friends! Not for nothing did Catherine De
+Medici say to the Jesuit Lefevre: 'Induce the Holy Father and Philip II
+to be patient; let us lull the reformers with a false sense of safety; I
+shall hatch the bloody egg that the Guise laid--on one day, at the same
+hour, the Huguenots will be exterminated in France.' The Italian woman
+kept her promise. The shell of the egg, nursed in her bosom, has broken,
+and the extermination has leaped out full armed."
+
+Odelin's widow rose to her feet pale and stately. She raised one of her
+venerable hands to heaven, and with a gesture of malediction she uttered
+these words, solemnly, amidst the profound silence of her family:
+
+"Be they eternally accursed of God and man, who, from this day or in the
+centuries to come, do not repudiate the Church of Rome, that infamous
+Church, the only Church that has ever given birth to such misdeeds!"
+
+"By my sister's death!" cried the Franc-Taupin. "Shall the voice of
+Estienne of La Boetie be hearkened to at last? Shall we at last see
+_all_ leagued _against one?_ the oppressed, the artisans, the plebs,
+finally annihilate the oppressor and crush royalty?"
+
+Hardly had the Franc-Taupin finished speaking when James Henry, the
+Mayor of La Rochelle, entered precipitately, and addressing Louis
+Rennepont, said: "My friend, the few words dropped by you to some of the
+people whom you met on your arrival, have flown from mouth to mouth and
+thrown the city into a state of alarm! Is it true that Monsieur Coligny
+has been assassinated?"
+
+"Monsieur Coligny has been assassinated! All the Protestant leaders are
+murdered!" answered Louis Rennepont. "All the Protestants of Paris were
+massacred on St. Bartholomew's night! At Etampes, at Orleans, at Blois,
+at Tours, at Poitiers, the work of extermination is still in progress.
+It was expected to steep in blood the rest of France as well. It is a
+fact!"
+
+"To arms! And may the Lord protect us!" shouted James Henry vigorously.
+"Let us make ready for a desperate defense. La Rochelle is now the only
+safe city left to the Huguenots. Charles IX will not be long in laying
+siege to us. I shall order the belfry to ring. The City Council shall be
+in session within an hour. It shall proclaim La Rochelle in a state of
+danger. To arms! War to the knife against the King and his Catholics,
+against the assassins of our brothers! To arms!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE SIEGE OF LA ROCHELLE.
+
+
+For the first time in their lives did Charles IX, his mother and her
+priests discover that there was a limit to endurance. The crime so long
+elaborated, so skilfully planned, and carried out with incredible
+audacity, so far from annihilating the Reformation gave it fresh life,
+steeled its nerves, and rendered it unconquerable. Hardly had two months
+elapsed since the massacres of St. Bartholomew, when, not Huguenots
+only, but a considerable portion of the Catholic party itself, in open
+revolt at the cruel excesses of the court, the fanaticism of the papacy
+and the subjection of France to the exactions of Philip II, took up
+arms, and made common cause with the Huguenots in order to bring about
+the triumph not only of the religious but of a political reformation
+also. The new adversaries of Charles IX and his mother took the name of
+the "Politicals." Alarmed at the renewed and more threatening attitude
+of the now so unexpectedly reinforced Huguenots, the King endeavored
+once more to beguile them with false promises. He doubled and twisted,
+sought to deal and compromise. It was too late. A fourth religious war
+broke out. Several provinces federated together upon a republican plan.
+La Rochelle became the fortified center of the Protestants. Against that
+city Charles IX concentrated and directed all his forces in the course
+of the last month of the year 1572--less than six months after St.
+Bartholomew's night.
+
+La Rochelle, situated at the further extremity of a wide and safe bay,
+presented the aspect of an elongated trapezium, the wide side of which
+was about three thousand feet in length, while the narrow one was only
+twelve hundred feet, and faced the sea. The city extended from
+north-east to southwest, and stretched between the salt marshes of
+Rompsai, Maubec and Tasdon, on the east, and those of the New Gate, on
+the west. These marshes, then partly dried or turned into meadows, were
+intersected by a large number of canals the locks of which enabled the
+land to be readily inundated, and presented an impassable barrier to any
+hostile force. The entrance of the port was at the Center of the sea
+frontage, and at the further end of the bay. It was defended by the two
+large towers of Chaine and St. Nicholas, both built of brick, equipped
+with cannon, and also used for powder magazines. To the right and left
+of the two towers, and leaving between them the narrow port entrance,
+extended a wall made of cut stone which at high tide was washed by the
+waves. The wall reached, to the east, the St. Nicholas Gate, and, to the
+west, the Lantern Gate, at the summit of which was a beacon to guide the
+sailors by night. From that side the city was unapproachable by an armed
+force except along a narrow tongue of land which joined the suburb of
+Tasdon with the St. Nicholas Gate. Furthermore, besides the water-filled
+fosse, Scipio Vergano, a skilful Italian engineer, employed by us, the
+Rochelois, had raised an additional protection to this gate by a sort of
+double counter-guard made of earth, and flanking the entrance of the
+port. The eastern front which extended from the St. Nicholas Gate to the
+Congues Gate, was along its whole extent but a poor wall, flanked by two
+round towers. It was one of the weak sides of our city. The western
+front ran in a straight line from the Lantern Tower to the bastion that
+we called the Bastion of the Evangelium. This portion of the
+fortifications consisted of a wall flanked by a large number of small
+and closely built towers, with occasional terraces. In the middle of
+this long line of defenses, which the large number of canals rendered
+almost unapproachable, Scipio Vergano cut the New Gate, flanked with a
+solid bastion. Finally the north front extended from the Bastion of the
+Evangelium to the Congues Gate, a distance of nearly two thousand five
+hundred feet. The left extremity of that vast and very vulnerable front
+was defended by the Bastion of the Evangelium, which was itself
+protected by a terrace of earth. In the center and the highest spot of
+the line rose the demi-bastion of the Old Fountain. True enough, it
+commanded the whole plain, but both the slightness of its projection and
+the insufficiency of its flanks unfitted it for real purposes of
+defense. This bastion covered the ramparts but imperfectly.
+
+Such, Oh, sons of Joel, was the aspect of the fortifications of La
+Rochelle, the bulwark of the Reformation and of freedom, the holy city
+against which Charles IX was about to hurl his Catholic hordes and the
+most powerful army ever commanded by his generals.
+
+I, Antonicq Lebrenn, kept a sort of diary of the siege of La Rochelle,
+and of the defense made by its inhabitants, among whom our own family
+combated gloriously.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+SEPTEMBER 1, 1572.--Informed of the massacre of St. Bartholomew, and
+foreseeing that the Huguenots would once more take up arms, the
+Rochelois placed their city in a state of defense. James Henry, the
+Mayor, took an accurate census of the inhabitants. The serviceable part
+was divided into eight companies, exclusive of the Colonel, the name
+given to the ninth, in which the Mayor and aldermen, all anxious to
+share the perils of the other citizens, are enrolled. The respective
+captains elected over these bodies are: James David, Louis Gargouillaud,
+Peter Portier, John Colin, Charles Chalemont, Marie Mari, Mathurin the
+elder, and Bonneaud. These are all made members of the Council of the
+Commune. The aldermen and other Councilmen who command no company, are
+charged with inspecting the posts, and shall be on guard, day and night,
+in the ranks of the Colonel. Besides these, six other companies are
+formed of volunteer foot-soldiers, each a hundred and twenty men strong.
+The chiefs of these are: Dessarts, Montalembert, La Riviere, De Lys,
+Bretin, called the Norman, and Virolet. All these captains, men well
+known for their bravery, took a glorious part in the last civil wars.
+The magistrates are engaged in increasing the food supply of the city,
+so long as the sea is still open to them. Captain Mirant, the father of
+Cornelia, my betrothed, is charged with the command of a foraging
+flotilla. He is to go for wheat to the coast of Brittany, and for
+ammunitions to England. The daring sailor will know how to elude the
+royalist corsairs, or to give them battle. Cornelia is to accompany her
+father on the voyage, and will combat like a true Gallic woman. We bade
+each other good-bye this morning.
+
+SEPTEMBER 5, 1572.--Yesterday there arrived at La Rochelle Colonel
+Plouernel, who is now head and heir of that powerful house by the death
+of Count Neroweg of Plouernel and his son Viscount Odet, both killed at
+the battle of Roche-la-Belle in the encounter with my father and myself.
+The colonel left his wife and children with his father-in-law at the
+manor of Mezlean, situated near the sacred stones of Karnak--a fief
+which includes among its dependencies a house, a large garden and
+several fields that once belonged to our ancestor Joel before the
+conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar.
+
+SEPTEMBER 9, 1572.--During the last few days a large number of fugitives
+who escaped the massacre of St. Bartholomew arrived at La Rochelle.
+There are to-day in our city fifty noblemen of the neighborhood,
+together with their families, besides sixty ministers of the Reformed
+religion. Over fifteen hundred soldiers, who deserted the royal army
+with arms and baggage, have come over to us.
+
+OCTOBER 30, 1572.--Mayor James Henry and the City Council, who are
+charged with watching over the safety of the city, display marvelous
+activity. A military council has been established with Colonel Plouernel
+and my uncle the Franc-Taupin as members. My uncle is an expert in
+matters appertaining to siege work, and especially in mining and
+counter-mining. The military council is strengthening the
+fortifications, and throwing up fresh ones. New batteries have been set
+up at all the weak points that might invite an attack between the
+Congues Gate and the Bastion of the Evangelium. A redoubt is being
+raised on Notre Dame Church, and upon one of its remaining towers two
+large cannons, capable of sweeping the surrounding fields far and wide,
+are being raised and mounted. Other engines of bombardment are mounted
+upon the platforms of all the belfries that are strong enough to support
+the weight and shock of artillery. The towers of Aix, of St. Catherine,
+of Verdiere and of Crique are all armed in this way. Noticing that
+certain portions of the moat between the Congues Gate and the Evangelium
+Bastion are poorly flanked, the Franc-Taupin proposed the construction
+of what he calls _taupinieres_, that is, casemates, the protected
+embrasures of which are on a level with the ground, and can open an
+almost subterranean, and therefore destructive fire upon the enemy. The
+casemates are being constructed. Men, women and children labor at the
+fortifications with inexpressible enthusiasm.
+
+NOVEMBER 3, 1572.--A heroic decision was taken yesterday. It recalls the
+decision that our ancestors Albinik the sailor and his wife Meroe saw
+put into execution when the Bretons, to the end of famishing the army
+of Julius Caesar, reduced to ashes their rich and fertile fields,
+turning the same into a desert that extended from Nantes to Vannes![79]
+Yesterday, by order of the Mayor of La Rochelle, all the houses of the
+suburb of St. Eloi, and of the quarters of Salines, Volliers and Patere,
+were torn down or burned by their owners. No place is to be left to the
+enemy under shelter of which they can approach the city, and render the
+investment more dangerous to us.
+
+NOVEMBER 8, 1572.--Monsieur Biron has received considerable
+reinforcements and advance supplies of siege material with which to
+invest our city. He set up his camp before the city with headquarters at
+St. Andre. Colonel Strozzi, one of the ablest officers of the Catholic
+army, occupies Puy-Liboreau; Colonel St. Martin occupies Gord with
+twelve hundred men under him; Colonel Goas is encamped at Rompsai with
+six companies of artillery; and Monsieur Du Guast, a minion of the Duke
+of Anjou, the brother of King Charles IX, is at Aytre with two regiments
+of veterans. We prepared for these dispositions of the enemy. The
+inhabitants of Aytre left only ruins for Du Guast to house in.
+
+DECEMBER 8, 1572.--The enemy's army is steadily receiving
+reinforcements, and extending its lines. The land blockade is
+tightening. Every day there are bloody skirmishes between us and the
+royalists. They lose heavily at this game. Relying upon their numbers,
+they venture far into the network of our defenses. These are cut up by
+moats and protected by walls, where, amid the labyrinth of hardly
+distinguishable paths across the salt marshes, we find many available
+places to hide in ambush, and our arquebusiers easily decimate the
+Catholics. When, surprised, they seek to pursue us, they are swallowed
+up in the depths of the turf-pits the surface of which is covered by a
+greenish weed that they have not learned to distinguish from the grass
+of the prairie. It has so far been a war of ambuscades, similar to the
+patriotic resistance that the Armoricans offered on their moors, their
+marshes and their forests, against the soldiers of the son of
+Charlemagne, in the days of our ancestor Vortigern.[80]
+
+DECEMBER 13, 1572.--Yesterday was fought a stubborn encounter at the
+Font suburb where, led from rich springs, there pours into a reservoir
+the water that an aqueduct takes into the city. The Catholics took
+possession of the place for the purpose of turning off the water and
+depriving La Rochelle of it. They succeeded. My uncle, the Franc-Taupin,
+and his friend Barbot, the boilermaker of the isle of Rhe, proposed to
+enter the aqueduct, which had been allowed to run dry, and in that way
+to arrive under the camp of the enemy's troops at Font, and then blow
+them up with a mine. Unfortunately their proposition was not favored. An
+open attack was preferred. It cost us many men, and Font remained in the
+hands of the Catholics. The canals have been cut. But the village
+fountains and wells furnish us with enough water.
+
+JANUARY 7, 1573.--In order still more to tighten the land blockade, the
+enemy has erected two forts at the entrance of the bay, on the roadstead
+in front of the inside port, thereby compelling our vessels to run the
+gauntlet of those batteries in order to reach the city.
+
+JANUARY 12, 1573.--Our friend Master Barbot, the boilermaker, achieved
+day before yesterday a deed, unmatched, I think, in the annals of
+military exploits. Not far from the counterscarp of the Evangelium
+Bastion, stands a mill which we call Brande, and where Captain Normand
+placed a small advanced day guard. At night they returned to the city,
+leaving at the mill their arms and only one sentinel. Evening before
+last, Colonel Strozzi, profiting by the moonlight, marched at the head
+of a strong detachment, supported by two light pieces of artillery, to
+the attack of the mill, where Master Barbot was alone on guard. Barbot
+decided to remain firmly at his post, which he did, discharging one
+after the other upon the assailants the arquebuses which were left
+loaded on the gunrack of the post. Our friend made simultaneously a
+great noise, counterfeiting a variety of voices, with the view of
+causing the enemy to believe that the mill was strongly defended. On
+hearing the rattle of the arquebus shots, Captain Normand ran to the
+parapet of the bastion, and shouted to Master Barbot to hold out and
+that reinforcements were hurrying to his support! The road was
+circuitous and therefore rather long. As a consequence, before our men
+could reach the bastion of the mill, which lay on the other side of the
+moat, and despite all his intrepidity, Master Barbot found himself on
+the point of yielding. His ammunition had run out. He parleyed, and
+demanded quarter for himself and his pretended garrison. Colonel Strozzi
+granted quarter to our friend, who, stepping out, revealed the fact that
+his garrison consisted of himself alone. Furious at the discovery,
+Strozzi was about to hang Master Barbot, when Captain Normand's men
+arrived at the double quick, routed the royalists and snatched our
+intrepid boilermaker from their clutches.
+
+JANUARY 15, 1573.--God be blessed! My mother, my sister Theresa
+Rennepont, Cornelia, my betrothed, and several other brave Rochelois
+women had a narrow escape last night. The brigantines of Captain Mirant,
+charged with the duty of provisioning La Rochelle with munitions of war
+and grain, frequently set sail for the shores of Brittany or for Dover,
+and re-entered our port with their cargoes of supplies. To the end of
+blocking these excursions, or rendering them too perilous to be
+frequently attempted, the royalists brought from the port of Brouage the
+hull of a large dismantled vessel. They filled the same with sand, and
+sank it at the entrance of the bay that leads to our port. The water in
+that spot being shallow, the sunken hull was thus turned into a species
+of half-submerged pontoon, and was mounted with a number of artillery
+pieces which, jointly with those on the redoubts raised by the enemy on
+the opposite sides of the bay, could cross their fires upon any of our
+ships that either left or entered the roadstead. Yesterday the City
+Council decided that during the night, at low tide, the vessel, left dry
+upon the sand banks by the outflowing sea, was to be set on fire. The
+audacious stroke--audacious because those who were commissioned to
+execute it had to leave the city by the Two Mills Gate, and were forced
+to heap up the combustibles around the hull under the fire of the
+soldiers on guard--the audacious expedition did not otherwise require
+military skill. It only required stout hearts; it devolved upon the
+Rochelois women, at their unanimous and pressing demand. "The blood and
+lives of the men, already numerically inferior to the besiegers,
+should," said they, "be preserved for battle." The brave women
+assembled, about three hundred strong, together with a goodly number of
+children of about twelve years who insisted upon accompanying their
+mothers. The troop consisted of bourgeois women, noble ladies, female
+servants, and wives of artisans, fishermen and merchants. Among these,
+and foremost among them--I mention it proudly--were my mother, my sister
+Theresa, and Cornelia Mirant, recently returned from one of her father's
+foraging expeditions to Brittany. At about three in the morning they
+started from the city, carrying bundles of dry kindling wood and
+packages of hay. A strong wind was blowing. Deep darkness favored their
+march under the guidance of a fisherman's wife who bore the nickname of
+the _Bombarde_, by reason of her having extinguished one of the enemy's
+projectiles. Due to her often dragging for oysters and clams, which
+abounded on our coasts, the Bombarde was acquainted with the safe
+passages between the rocks and the quicksands that strewed the bay. She
+led the Rochelois women through the darkness. The following is
+Cornelia's own and thrilling account of the affair:
+
+"Thanks to the darkness, the whistling wind, and our silent footsteps,
+we approached within an arquebus shot of the vessel's hull without being
+noticed by the royalists. Your mother, marching among the front ranks
+between Theresa and myself, and often, like ourselves, sinking up to her
+knees in water or mud, steadfastly refused to be relieved of the weight
+of the bundle of kindlings that she carried. We were a short distance
+from the vessel, the lights of which guided us from afar through the
+mist, when the soldier on watch took alarm, and called out: 'Who goes
+there!' 'Fire! Fire' answered your mother. It was the signal agreed
+upon. We covered on a run the short distance that separated us from the
+hull, and rapidly heaped up along its flanks the kindling wood and straw
+that we brought with us. The soldier fired upon us at haphazard in the
+dark, and called his companions to arms. They hastened upon the bridge
+with the cannoniers, but unable to take aim upon us at so short a
+distance, and from above down, they left the cannons alone and sent us
+through the darkness a shower of arquebus shots that struck several of
+us. The bullets whistled. One of them carried off my bonnet. Your
+mother, sister and myself were close together, but we could not see one
+another on account of the darkness. 'Cornelia, are you wounded?' they
+asked. 'No! and you?' 'We neither!' answered your mother; and again she
+called out: 'Firm, my daughters! Fire!' Thereupon she and the Bombarde,
+who had just lighted a link dipped in sulphur set fire to the first
+bundles of wood and straw. Their example was followed simultaneously at
+a score of different places, despite fresh arquebus discharges from the
+royalists. In a minute thick clouds of smoke enveloped the hull. The
+flaming combustibles cast their reflection upon the puddles of water on
+the sandbanks, and beyond them upon the two towers of the port. We could
+see as clearly as by day. The royalists, however, blinded with the smoke
+which the wind blew upon them, together with wide sheets of flame, could
+no longer see to fire upon us. Thus protected, we threw three relays of
+combustibles upon the flames along the flanks of the accursed hull,
+which was so saturated with salt water and coated with ooze that,
+despite the heat, it could only be made to sweat by the flames. When our
+combustibles were exhausted, we were compelled, in order to effect a
+safe retreat, to profit by the last clouds of smoke that, concealing us
+from the enemy's eyes, prevented them from aiming upon us. We returned
+to the city carrying the dead bodies of five of our troop. Among these
+was Marie Caron, the worthy wife of our neighbor the mercer. She was
+shot stone dead by a bullet in the left temple. Her son, a lad of
+thirteen, had his arm broken. We also helped back a number of women and
+girls of our band who were more or less seriously wounded. There were
+fifteen of these. Our only sorrow was to have failed in carrying our
+enterprise to a successful end."[81]
+
+Such, sons of Joel, was the intrepidity and courage of the Rochelois
+women during the siege of the city. Do they not approve themselves
+worthy daughters of the Gallic women of the old heroic times?
+
+FEBRUARY 12, 1573.--The brother of Charles IX, the Duke of Anjou,
+arrived yesterday at the royal camp to assume the supreme command of the
+army. He is accompanied by his two cousins, Henry of Bearn and Conde.
+The two apostates, after seeing their co-religionists and best friends
+slaughtered under their very eyes on St. Bartholomew's night, gave the
+kiss of peace and forgetfulness to Charles IX, and now follow his army
+to the siege of La Rochelle. These degenerate sons of Joan of Albert,
+and of Conde have come to battle beside the butchers of their families.
+Among the other seigneurs and captains in the suite of the Duke of Anjou
+are the Duke of Montpensier, the Dauphin Prince of Auvergne, the Dukes
+of Guise and Aumale, the Dukes of Longueville and Bouillon, the Marquis
+of Mayenne, the Duke of Nevers, Anthony and Claude of Bauffremont, Rene
+of Voyer, Viscount of Paulmy, the Duke of Uzes, the Bastard of
+Angouleme, Marshal Cosse, the Count of Retz, and many other illustrious
+seigneurs. Among the most noted captains is old Marshal Montluc, a tiger
+with a human face. The presence of the experienced general, with whom
+age has not softened his proverbial ferocity, sufficiently announces
+that, if La Rochelle should fall into the power of the enemy, we shall
+be put to the sword, to the very last one of us.
+
+FEBRUARY 14, 1573.--The brave Francis of Lanoue joined us at La
+Rochelle, thanks to a curious agreement with Charles IX. The revolt of
+the Low Countries, so ardently wished for by Coligny, miscarried through
+the treachery of the French court, whose anxiety to please the Pope and
+Philip II was so thoroughly attested by the massacres of St.
+Bartholomew's night, that all expectation of seeing it give serious
+support to a republican insurrection in one of the provinces of the
+Spanish monarchy had to be abandoned. Lanoue, deceived by the same hopes
+that deceived the Admiral, whom the lying promises of Catherine De
+Medici and her son had kept in Paris, went to Mons in order to concert
+measures with the chiefs of the proposed uprising; made an unsuccessful
+effort to call the people to arms; was taken prisoner, and thus escaped
+St. Bartholomew's night by the merest accident. Every day more alarmed
+at the indomitable attitude of the Huguenots, and aware of the influence
+Lanoue enjoyed among them, Charles IX demanded his liberation at the
+hands of Philip II, obtained it, summoned the Huguenot leader to the
+Louvre, and said to him: "I place confidence in your word. Go to La
+Rochelle. Induce the Protestants to surrender and submit. Should they
+refuse, I want you to promise me that you will return, and surrender
+yourself to me at discretion." "I consent," was Lanoue's answer; "I
+shall go to La Rochelle. Should it appear to me, in all conscience, that
+the resistance of the Huguenots is hopeless, I shall do all in my power
+to induce them to capitulate. But should it appear to me that the
+chances are favorable to them, I shall induce them to persevere, shall
+tender them my services. If they decline my offer I shall return and
+surrender myself to you." Such is the confidence that an upright man
+inspires even in hardened criminals, that Charles IX accepted Lanoue's
+word. Lanoue sent ahead a courier to the Mayor of La Rochelle to inform
+him of his compact with the King and request admittance to the city. The
+City Council assembled. Some of the members severely condemned Lanoue
+for lowering himself to the point of dealing with Charles IX; others, a
+considerable majority, realized the value of Lanoue's assistance, and
+favored the acceptance of his services. He was introduced into the city.
+His patriotic words brought all dissidents over to his side. He
+inspected the defensive works of the place, and being convinced that it
+could repel the royalist attack, was invested with the supreme command
+of the troops, under the surveillance of the aldermen.
+
+FEBRUARY 23, 1573.--The presence of Lanoue among us already bears
+magnificent fruit. He introduces discipline among our troops. No longer
+are the murderous skirmishes tolerated in which so many of our men ran
+foolhardily to death. He curbs the ardor of the hotheads; drills the
+volunteers in the handling of their arms and in the precision of
+military evolutions, and he substitutes the tactics of prudence for the
+rashness of blind bravery and unthinking enthusiasm that have been the
+bane of the Protestant arms.
+
+MARCH 27, 1573.--Faithful to his word, Lanoue yesterday left La Rochelle
+and returned to the camp of Charles IX where he surrendered himself a
+prisoner. From the moment that he took command, our sallies caused
+great damage to the enemy, but also cost us dearly. We were not able to
+repair our losses, seeing that our communications by land are cut off,
+while the enemy is constantly receiving strong reinforcements. We now
+number only 4,500 men able to carry arms. The enemy, on the other hand,
+has to-day 28,000 men in line, and sixty cannon. The siege is conducted
+with consummate skill by Scipio Vergano, the identical engineer who
+fortified La Rochelle. The traitor knows the strong and the weak points
+of the place. Accordingly he has concentrated all the attacking forces
+of the Catholics upon the Bastion of the Evangelium. Their batteries
+keep up an incessant fire upon that side of our city. Finally we begin
+to lack for munitions of war. The works raised by the enemy at the mouth
+of the bay render difficult the entrance of the ships upon which we
+depend for provisions. Both powder and grain are running low. Captain
+Mirant's flotilla sailed to England for munitions of war, and to
+Brittany for food. The vessels are daily expected. If unfavorable winds
+should delay their return, or if they fail to run the gauntlet of the
+enemy's outer harbor fortifications, a fearful dirth will soon set in.
+Having considered the grave difficulties of our situation, Lanoue was of
+the opinion that we could not long resist the pressure of forces five or
+six times stronger than our own. He endeavored to induce the City
+Council to parliamentarize with the Duke of Anjou, with the end in view
+of obtaining an honorable capitulation and favorable terms of peace,
+adding that he, Lanoue had pledged his word as a man to encourage and
+aid the Rochelois to resistance so long as he believed resistance to be
+effective; but that, so soon as he considered resistance futile, he
+would urge the besieged to capitulate, promising, should his advice not
+be accepted, to surrender himself a prisoner to the King. After a solemn
+session, under the presidency of Mayor James Henry, who, worn out and
+almost dying with fatigue and in consequence of his wounds, but steeled
+by his republican energy, administered his office, the City Council
+declared by a large majority that the Rochelois would resist the
+Catholics to the death. Lanoue thereupon left the city.
+
+Oh, sons of Joel! Fail not to admire the resolute posture of the Mayor,
+aldermen and heads of the civic military forces of La Rochelle! Those
+generous citizens did not take up arms out of ambition, or cupidity, as
+was the case with the majority of the captains in the army of Charles
+IX--faithless mercenaries; swordsmen, who sell their skins and kill as a
+trade by which to live; fighters by profession; men to whom war, for
+whatever cause, whether just or otherwise, holy or unhallowed, is a
+lucrative pursuit. No; the Rochelois fought in defense of their freedom,
+their rights, their hearths. Only the consciousness that the struggle is
+in behalf of the most sacred of causes can beget prodigies of heroism.
+All honor to those brave men! Shame and execration upon professional men
+of war.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The above fragments on the siege of La Rochelle, written by me, Antonicq
+Lebrenn, take us down to the middle of the month of May, 1573, when the
+following events occurred.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE LAMBKINS' DANCE.
+
+
+The City Hall of La Rochelle, an edifice that was almost wholly re-built
+nearly a century ago, in the year 1486, is one of the most beautiful
+monuments that patriotism and the love for one's city can boast.
+Catholic faith has raised up as high as the clouds the spired cathedrals
+where the priests, Oh, Christ! exalt the assassination of the Huguenots,
+and preach the extermination of heretics. The cult of the communal
+franchises has reared City Halls, the cradles of our liberties, the
+civic sanctuaries, where, upon the banner of the commune, oath is taken
+to die for freedom--as did the communiers, at whose side our ancestor
+Fergan the Quarryman fought in the days of Louis the Lusty.[82] The
+municipal monument that we, Rochelois, are so justly proud of, consists
+of a vast central building, flanked by two pavilions with pointed roofs.
+Its principal facade--ornamented with twenty-seven lofty arches, the
+triple entablature of which disappears under garlands of leaves and
+fruits chiseled in the stone--is surmounted by a crenelated terrace
+festooned with thick wreaths of acanthus leaves. From the top of each of
+the two pavilions a belfry of marvelous architectural beauty pierces
+the air. The one to the left presents to the wondering eye the sight of
+a gilt iron cage, that is no less admirably constructed than its dome,
+carved on the outside as delicately as a piece of lace-work, and held up
+by three stone figures of colossal stature. One must renounce the task
+of describing the profusion of crockets that jut out from the walls, and
+represent sphinxes and chimeras executed with boldness and grace. One
+must renounce the task of describing the stone festoons that embellish
+the edifice from its base to its pinnacles, or the infinite wreaths of
+fruit or flowers that clamber up the ogive moldings, doors and windows,
+that weave their lintels together, wind themselves around the pillars
+and columns, and finally crown the capitals. The aspect is that of a
+mass of verdure--flowers and leaves in bud and full bloom--suddenly
+petrified by some magic power. This imperfect description can only
+impart a partial idea of the material beauty of the City Hall of La
+Rochelle. But the edifice had, if the word may be used, a soul, a
+breath, a voice! It was the daring soul, the powerful breath, the
+patriotic voice of the Commune that seemed to animate the mass of stone
+of which the antique edifice was built. There, especially since the war,
+and as life centers in the heart, centered the pulsations of the city.
+All energy started there and rushed back thither. It was there that the
+sovereign power of the urban republic, represented by the Mayor and
+aldermen whom the citizens elected, had its seat.[83] Assembled night
+and day at the City Hall in sufficient number to meet all emergencies,
+the valiant ediles never left the hall of the council but to mount the
+ramparts, or join in sallies against the enemy's redoubts. Not
+infrequently theirs was also the task of calming, controlling or even
+suppressing popular tumults, engendered by the sufferings of these days.
+Such was the complex and arduous task reserved for Morrisson, the
+successor of James Henry, who died in consequence of his wounds and
+overexertion. Glorify the Commune, sons of Joel, and its heroic
+defenders.
+
+Well, on that day, towards the middle of May, 1573, a tumultuous mob,
+made up exclusively of women and children--the able-bodied men were on
+the ramparts, or taking a few hours' rest--invaded the square of the
+City Hall of La Rochelle, crying with the heartrending fury that hunger
+inspires: "Bread!" "Bread!" No less haggard, no less pinched with hunger
+than their children, a considerable number of these women, having
+combatted beside the men of La Rochelle in repelling the royalist
+attacks, had heads bandaged in blood-stained handkerchiefs, or carried
+their arms in slings. Several children, of ten or twelve years of age,
+also bore the marks of wounds received in battle whither they
+accompanied their mothers. The mob, embittered and exhausted by the
+trials and all manner of privations that resulted from the long siege,
+saw with terror the approach of famine. Since the day before the baker
+shops had been closed for want of flour. The supply of food was nearly
+exhausted. The wretched crowd clamored aloud for bread; they also
+clamored for Morrisson, the new Mayor, and head of the commune.
+
+Morrisson appeared at the portico of the City Hall and stepped towards
+the mob. He was at once beloved, feared and respected. Still at the age
+of vigorous manhood, he wore an iron corselet and arm-pieces, while a
+heavy sword hung from his side. He jumped upon one of the stone
+balustrades placed at either side of the door, motioned for silence, and
+addressed the crowd in a sonorous, firm and yet paternal voice:
+
+"My children! The Council is in session. I have no time to lose in
+speechmaking. Delegate to me one from among you. Let her inform me what
+it is that you want. I shall answer."
+
+The Bombarde, acclaimed with one voice as the delegate of her
+companions, pushed her way forward and approached the Mayor: "Mayor, we
+are hungry, and want bread! The bakers have neither corn nor flour. The
+butchers' stalls are closed. Two days ago only a few handfuls of beans
+and peas were distributed. Since then nothing more has come. Before the
+siege most of us lived off our fisheries, and we asked help from nobody.
+To-day every fisherman's boat that ventures out of port is sunk under
+the cannon balls of the royalist redoubts. What are we to do? We cannot
+remain without food; we are hungry; we want bread for our children and
+ourselves!"
+
+"Yes!" echoed the Rochelois women with loud cries. "Bread! Bread!
+Morrisson, we must have bread!"
+
+After this explosion of outcries and complaints, silence was restored,
+and the Mayor resumed in a moved voice:
+
+"Poor dear women! You want bread, and how do you expect me to give you
+any? There is not a single grain of wheat in the city granary. But we
+are hourly expecting Captain Mirant's brigantines. They bring from
+England a cargo of powder, and from Brittany a cargo of wheat. They are
+anchored only eight leagues from here, near the coast, at the port of
+Redon. They cannot, in the absence of a favorable wind, run into La
+Rochelle. The chances are a hundred to one that the adverse wind, which
+has been blowing all these days, will change. It may change almost at
+any moment. It may be changing now. If it does, the city will again be
+supplied for several months. For the present, there is left to us a
+precious resource, so far neglected--the clams and oysters. We must turn
+our hands to that. You understand me?"
+
+"Mayor! Do you know that it is now as dangerous to go out for clams as
+to march upon a battery?" answered the Bombarde. "To go out for clams is
+to run into the jaws of death!"
+
+"I know it--and if the brigantines of Captain Mirant do not run into
+port to-day, my wife and two daughters will go out with you to-night, at
+one in the morning, when the tide will be low, and dig for clams," was
+Morrisson's stoic reply.
+
+"It will be done! Count upon us, Mayor!" replied the Bombarde. "If the
+brigantines of Captain Mirant do not arrive before night, we shall put
+up with hunger until night--and then we shall go out and dig for clams.
+Those of us who will be killed on the banks will no longer need
+anything. That is agreed upon, in God's name!"
+
+As the Bombarde was uttering these last words, the detonations of
+several discharges of artillery that shattered the window panes in the
+City Hall announced the enemy was about to renew the cannonade which it
+had suspended in the morning. Almost at the same instant the sonorous
+sound of clarion blasts was heard drawing nearer and nearer, and
+presently a large number of women of all conditions, marching at the
+heels of a pastor on a white horse, ahead of which marched the
+clarion-blower, turned into Caille Square.
+
+"To the ramparts, my sisters! To the ramparts!" shouted the pastor with
+martial exaltation. "The Lord of Hosts will steel your arms! Your
+husbands, your fathers, your brothers and your sons are battling for the
+triumph of liberty. Come to their help! To the ramparts! To the
+ramparts! The enemy is about to storm the Bastion of the Evangelium!
+Long live the Commune!"
+
+"To the ramparts, my brave women! And to-night, after clams on the
+banks, as perilous an expedition as battle itself!" cried Morrisson,
+while the Bombarde and her companions, joining the other crowd of
+Rochelois women, repeated in chorus the following psalm, led by the
+pastor:
+
+    "O, Lord do guide these feeble women,
+    With souls ablaze, inflamed as strong men!
+    Break our foes like Oreb!
+    Break them like proud Zeeb!
+    Throw down those wicked kings and princes,
+    Who in their fury, and their ire,
+    Laugh at our tears and distress dire,
+    Who devastate our glad provinces!
+    Who are as a torrent wildly boiling,
+    A tempest, wildly rushing, rolling,
+    A hurricane, impetuous driven,
+    The tops of haughty mountains lashes,
+    A hellish flame that turns to ashes,
+    The rooks by lightning struck and riven!
+
+    "May, Oh, Lord! the storm of Thy wrath
+    Strew Thy foes away from our path!
+    May, Oh, Lord! Thy thunders and fire,
+    Smite Thy foes! Oh, smite with Thy ire!"
+
+The Bastion of the Evangelium, upon which the enemy had long been
+concentrating all their forces, formed a sharply protruding angle. Its
+flanks were not sufficiently protected by other works of defense.
+Accordingly, by directing against the left flank of the bastion the fire
+of their principal batteries, the enemy had opened a breach in the
+rampart by the repeated pounding of their shots. At the place where the
+breach was effected, the upper part of the earthworks, to a width of
+about fifty feet, crumbled down into the moat, filling it up so fully as
+to render an assault practicable. Thanks to this mass of debris which
+answered the purpose of a bridge, the assailants could cross the fosse
+on a run, could scale the last steps of the last wall already laid in
+ruins, and could enter the city, provided they could bear down the
+defenders who stood in the breach. From the top of the bastion the eye
+swept the plain far and wide. A cannon-shot off, the long line of the
+enemy's trenches could be seen, stretching from the suburb of St. Eloi
+on the edge of the salt marshes, to the suburb of Colombier. That line
+bounded the field from end to end; it intercepted the roads to Limoges
+and Nantes at the crossings of which the batteries were erected which
+broke a breach through the bastion. The whole stretch between the
+trenches of the besiegers and the fortifications of the city--one time
+covered with trees and houses--now lay bare, exposed, devastated, and
+deeply furrowed by the projectiles. Beyond the desert waste, lay the
+enemy's entrenchments--earthworks strengthened with gabions and trunks
+of trees, and here and there crenelated with the embrasures for their
+batteries. Behind that line of earthworks, the tops of the officers'
+tents, surmounted with bannerets and floating pennants, could be seen.
+Finally, on the extreme horizon rose the undulating and woody hills. The
+breach once made, the Catholics suspended their fire in order to open it
+again shortly before marching to the assault. It was in answer to the
+thunder of the cannonade, which announced an imminent and decisive
+attack, that the old pastor crossed the square of the City Hall at the
+head of his bevy of Rochelois women, recruited the Bombarde and her
+companions, and wended his course to the Bastion of the Evangelium. At
+that place about one-half of the defenders of La Rochelle were gathered,
+ready for a stubborn conflict. The other troops, distributed in other
+places, were to be on the alert to repel other attacks. The Council of
+defense foresaw that the enemy, while hurling one column against the
+breach, would undoubtedly attempt a simultaneous assault upon other
+places; consequently women were commissioned to close up the breach as
+best they might with logs of wood and other material. Colonel Plouernel,
+upon whom the defense of the bastion that day devolved, and Captain
+Gargouillaud, in charge of the artillery, gave their last orders. The
+bourgeois cannoniers were pointing their pieces in advance upon the open
+and absolutely exposed ground which the royalists had to cross when they
+sallied from their trenches in order to reach the opposite side of the
+fosse where the breach was effected. The breach was wide; nevertheless,
+before they could reach the parapet, the besiegers would have to clamber
+over a heap of debris ten or eleven feet high, on the top of which a
+redoubtable engine of defense was mounted, and placed in charge of the
+women of La Rochelle. This engine of war, an invention of Master Barbot
+the boilermaker, received the name of the _censer_. It consisted of a
+huge copper basin, holding a ton, suspended from iron chains at the end
+of a long beam that revolved upon an axis, and was so adjusted to a post
+firmly set in the ground, that by means of a slight motion imparted to
+the beam, the huge caldron would empty upon the heads of the assailants
+the deadly fluid that it was filled with, to wit, a mixture of boiling
+tar, sulphur and oil. A number of Rochelois women, Theresa Rennepont and
+Cornelia my betrothed among them, were busy either keeping up the fire
+under the copper basin, or pouring into it the oil, tar and sulphur from
+little kegs that lay near at hand. With her sleeves rolled back above
+her elbows, and leaving her strong white arms exposed, Cornelia stirred
+the steaming mixture with an iron rod supplied with a wooden handle.
+Master Barbot--his head covered with an iron morion, his chest protected
+with a brigandine, and his cutlass and dagger by his side--leaned upon
+the barrel of his arquebus and smiled complacently upon his invention.
+From time to time he would address the women and girls at work.
+
+"Courage, my brave girl!" he said to Cornelia. "Mix up the oil well with
+the tar and sulphur. Make the mixture thick, soft, and toothsome, like
+those omelettes made of eggs, flour and cheese that you are so skilled
+in dishing up, and which your good father and myself relish so much! But
+the devil take those dainty thoughts! In these days of dearth one may
+deem himself happy if he but have a handful of beans. By the way of
+famine and of your father--the heavy clouds that are rising yonder in
+the south almost always announce a change of wind. Mayhap we shall see
+this very day the brigantines of Captain Mirant, loaded with wheat and
+powder, sailing before the wind into port, every inch of sail spread to
+the breeze, and successfully running the gauntlet of the royalist guns.
+Long live the Commune!"
+
+"May God hear you, Master Barbot! I would then embrace my father this
+very day, and the threatened famine would be at end," answered Cornelia
+without interrupting her work of stirring the mixture, into which
+Theresa Rennepont just emptied a bucketful of sulphur--on account of
+which Master Barbot called out to her:
+
+"No more sulphur, my dear Theresa. The tar and oil must predominate in
+the infernal broth. The sulphur is thrown in only to improve the taste
+by pleasing the eye with the pretty bluish flame, that gambols on the
+surface of the incandescent fluid. Now, my little girls, turn the beam
+just a little to one side in order to remove the basin from the fire
+without cooling off the broth. We shall swing it back over the fire the
+instant the Catholics run to the assault--then we shall dish up the
+broth to them, hot and nice."
+
+While these Rochelois women were thus engaged in preparing the censer,
+others rolled enormous blocks of stone--the debris of the bastion that
+was shattered by the enemy's cannonade--and placed them in such
+positions over the breach that a child's finger could hurl them down
+upon the assaulting column. Others rolled barrels of sand, which after
+having served for protection to the arquebusiers on the ramparts, were
+likewise to be rolled down the steep declivity which the enemy had to
+climb. Finally, a large number of women were busy preparing stretchers
+for the wounded. These women worked under the direction of Marcienne,
+Odelin's widow. Theresa and Cornelia, left for a moment at leisure from
+their work on the censer, came over to the widow, and were presently
+joined by Louis Rennepont and Antonicq.
+
+"Mother," said Antonicq, tenderly addressing Marcienne, "when I left the
+house this morning at dawn you were asleep; I could not tell you
+good-bye--embrace me!"
+
+Marcienne understood what her son meant. A murderous assault was about
+to be engaged. Perhaps they were not to meet again alive. She took
+Antonicq in her arms, and pressing him to her breast she said in a moved
+yet firm voice: "Blessings upon you, my son, who never caused me any
+grief! If, like your father, you should die in battle against the
+papists, you will have acted like an upright man to the very end. Should
+I succumb, you will carry with you my last blessing. And you also,
+Cornelia," added Marcienne, "I bless you, my child. I shall die happy in
+the knowledge that Antonicq found in you a heart worthy of his own in
+virtue and bravery. You have been the best of daughters to your
+parents--you will likewise be a tender wife to your husband."
+
+Odelin's widow was giving expression to these sentiments when Louis
+Rennepont, after exchanging in a low voice a few words with his wife
+Theresa, words such as the solemnity of the occasion prompted, cried out
+aloud: "Look yonder! there, under us--among the debris of the breach--is
+not that the Franc-Taupin? Your uncle seems to be emerging from
+underground. He must be preparing some trick of his trade."
+
+"It is he, indeed!" exclaimed Antonicq, no less surprised than his
+brother-in-law. "And there is my apprentice Serpentin also--who is
+following the Franc-Taupin out of the hole."
+
+These words drew the attention of Cornelia, Theresa and Odelin's widow.
+They looked down the steep slope formed by the ruins of that portion of
+the bastion that the enemy had demolished. The Franc-Taupin had emerged
+from a narrow and deep excavation, dug under the ruins. A lad of
+thirteen or fourteen years followed him. They covered up the opening
+that had given them egress. After doing so, Serpentin, the apprentice of
+the armorer Antonicq, went down upon his knees, and moving backward on
+all fours, uncoiled, under the directions of the Franc-Taupin, a long
+thin fuse, the other end of which was deep down the excavation which
+they had just covered. Still moving towards the parapet, Serpentin
+continued to uncoil the fuse, and, upon orders from the Franc-Taupin,
+stopped at about twenty paces from the wall and sat down on a stone.
+
+"Halloa, uncle!" cried Antonicq, leaning over the edge of one of the
+embrasures. "Here we are; come and join us."
+
+Hearing his nephew's voice, the Franc-Taupin raised his head, made him a
+sign to wait, and after giving Serpentin some further directions, the
+aged soldier clambered over the ruins with remarkable agility for a man
+of his years, and walked over to where Antonicq stood waiting for him.
+
+"Where do you come from, uncle?"
+
+"Well, my boy, what do you expect of me? A _taupin_ I was in my young
+days, and now in my old days I relapse into my old trade. I come from
+underground, through a shaft that I dug through the ruins with the aid
+of Serpentin, about a hundred paces from here. There I laid a mine,
+right in the middle of the breach where the good Catholics will soon be
+running to the assault. The moment I see them there I shall lovingly set
+the fuse on fire--and, triple petard! the St. Bartholomew lambkins will
+leap up in the air yelling and spitting fire like five hundred devils,
+their heads down, their legs skyward. The dance will end with a shower
+of shattered limbs."
+
+"Well schemed, my old mole!" said Master Barbot. "Fire below, fire
+above, like the beautiful sheets that I hammer on the anvil. The burning
+lava of my censer will blaze over the skulls of the royalists, your fuse
+will blaze under the soles of their feet, and hurl the miscreants into
+the air capering, turning somersaults, whirling, cavorting, and--" but
+suddenly breaking off, Master Barbot let himself down upon the ground,
+and joining the word to the deed, called out:
+
+"Down upon your faces, everybody! Look out for the bullets!"
+
+Master Barbot's advice was quickly followed. Everybody near him threw
+himself down flat at the very moment that a volley of bullets whistled
+overhead or struck the parapet, some ricocheting and upturning gabions
+and logs of wood, others plowing their way through the debris where the
+imperturbable Serpentin was seated near the fuse that led down to the
+mine. Despite the danger, the brave lad did not budge from his post. A
+lucky accident willed it that none of the besieged was wounded by this
+first salvo of artillery. Master Barbot, the first one to rise to his
+feet, cast his eyes upon the enemy's batteries, which were still partly
+wrapped in the clouds of smoke from the first discharge, perceived the
+first ranks of the assaulting column sallying from its trenches, and
+instantly gave the signal:
+
+"Everyone to his post! The enemy is advancing!"
+
+"To arms! Rochelois, to arms!"
+
+Master Barbot's call, was answered by a long roll of drums, ordered by
+Colonel Plouernel. His strong and penetrating voice rose above the din,
+and his words were heard:
+
+"Soldiers, to the ramparts! Cannoniers, to your pieces! Fire, all along
+the line!"
+
+"May God guard you, mother, sister, Cornelia!" said Antonicq.
+
+"May God guard you, my wife!" said Louis Rennepont.
+
+"So long, comrade Barbot!" cried the Franc-Taupin, pulling a tinder box
+from his pocket and sliding down the slope of the breach to rejoin
+Serpentin. "I shall get myself ready to make the limbs of those St.
+Bartholomew lambkins scamper through the air."
+
+"And you, my brave girls, to the censer!" cried Master Barbot to the
+Rochelois women. "Replace the caldron over the fire, and, when you hear
+me give the order: 'Serve it hot!' turn it and empty it over the heads
+of the assailants. You others, hold your levers ready near those stones
+and hogsheads of sand. When you hear me say: 'Roll!' push hard and let
+it all come down upon them."
+
+Suddenly, fresh but more distant and redoubling detonations of artillery
+in the direction of the Congues Gate announced the enemy's intention of
+making a diversion by attempting two simultaneous attacks upon the city.
+The pastor arrived at that moment upon the ramparts at the head of his
+troop of women whom the Bombarde and her companions had joined. Some
+reinforced the women charged with rolling the stones upon the
+assailants; others organized themselves to transport the wounded;
+finally a third set, armed with cutlasses, pikes and axes, made ready to
+resist the assailants at close quarters. At the head of these the
+Bombarde brandished a harpoon.
+
+His best marksmen had been placed by Colonel Plouernel in the
+underground casemates, thereby forming, on the other side of the
+circumvallation, a second line of defense, the loop-holes of which,
+bearing a strong resemblance to the airholes of a cavern, allowed a
+murderous fire to be directed upon the enemy. Finally, the companies of
+arquebusiers were massed upon the breach, which was defended by
+heaped-up beams and gabions that the Rochelois women assisted in
+bringing together. A solemn silence reigned among the besieged during
+the short interval of time that the royalists occupied in rushing
+through the distance that separated them from the outer edge of our
+moat. All of us felt that the fate of La Rochelle depended upon the
+issue of the assault.
+
+Old Marshal Montluc was in chief command of the Catholics. Monsieur Du
+Guast, at the head of six battalions of veteran Swiss troops, led the
+column, with Marshal Montluc in the center, and in the rear Colonel
+Strozzi, one of the best officers of the Catholic army. His task was to
+reinforce and sustain the attack in case the first companies wavered, or
+were repulsed. These troops advanced in good order, drums beating,
+trumpets blaring, colors flying, and captained by the flower of the
+nobility--the Dukes of Guise and Aumale, the Bastard of Angouleme, Henry
+of Bearn, who was now the King's brother-in-law, and Henry of Conde. The
+two renegates now were in arms against our cause. Finally, there were
+also Mayenne, Biron, Cosseins, D'O, Chateau-Vieux, and innumerable other
+noble captains, all crowding near the King's brother, the Duke of Anjou,
+who marched in the center at the side of Marshal Montluc. The moment
+that the front ranks of the vanguard reached the thither side of the
+fosse, Alderman Gargouillaud considered the enemy to be within reach of
+his cannoniers, and gave the order for a plunging and ricocheting fire.
+The effect of the salvo was deadly. The thunder-struck vanguard wavered
+and recoiled. The Rochelois gained time to reload their pieces. A second
+discharge, fully as deadly as the first, mowed down as many as before,
+and increased the indecision of the assailants. Old Marshal Montluc,
+Biron and Cosseins revived the shaken courage of their troops, held
+them, and forced them back. The dash was made. Leaving the dead and
+wounded behind, the column crossed the moat; it answered with its
+arquebuses those of the besieged as it pushed up the slope of the
+breach, receiving the cross fire from the casemates upon both its
+flanks, while, from the companies ranged upon the ramparts, its front
+was met with a hailstorm of bullets. Despite severe losses, the
+royalists steadily climbed up the slope of the breach. The Franc-Taupin
+and his aide, who until that instant lay flat upon their faces behind a
+heap of debris, suddenly rose and ran towards the circumvallation as
+fast as their legs could carry them. They had fired the fuse. Hardly
+were they at a safe distance, when the mine took fire under the feet of
+the enemy. A frightful explosion threw up a spout of earth, dust and
+rocks, interspersed with jets of fire, fulgent like lightning through
+thick clouds of smoke. The smoke slowly dissipated. The slope of the
+breach reappeared to view. It was torn up and cut through by a deep and
+wide cleft, the sides of which were strewn with the dismembered bodies
+of the dead and dying. The soldiers of the vanguard who escaped the
+disaster were seized with terror, turned upon their heels, rushed back
+upon their center, trampled it down, threw it into a panic, and spread
+consternation, crying that the passage of the breach was mined under the
+feet of the besiegers. The ranks were broken; confusion reigned, the
+rout commenced. The Rochelois cannoniers now worked their pieces in
+quick succession, and plowed wide gaps into the compact mass of the
+fleeing invaders, while the Franc-Taupin, standing beside one of the
+embrasures and calmly crossing his hands behind his back, remarked to
+Master Barbot:
+
+"Well, comrade, there they are--heads, arms, trunks, legs. They have
+danced the saraband to the tune of my mine. I have given a ball to the
+Catholics, to the defenders of the throne and the altar!"
+
+"Ha! Ha!" replied the boilermaker. "The St. Bartholomew lambkins are
+going back faster than they came. Should they come back again I shall
+dish up to them my steaming basin in order to comfort the lacerated
+feelings of those cut-throats whom the Pope has blessed."
+
+The royalist soldiers could not be rallied by their officers until they
+were beyond the reach of our guns. They were then re-formed into a new
+column. The most daring of their captains placed themselves resolutely
+at their head in order to lead them back to the assault. Preceding this
+phalanx of intrepid men by several paces, a Cordelier monk, holding a
+crucifix in one hand and a cutlass in the other, rushed forward to be
+the first to storm the breach, shouting in a piercing voice the ominous
+slogan of St. Bartholomew's night: "God and the King!" The monk's
+example and the enthusiasm of the captains carried the assailants away.
+They forgot their recent panic, and turned about face to renew the
+struggle, shouting in chorus "God and the King!" In vain did the fire of
+the besieged make havoc among them. They closed ranks; they rushed
+forward at the double quick; they ran up the slope of the breach; they
+even passed beyond the chasm produced by the late mine explosion. At
+that moment Master Barbot called out to the Rochelois women in charge of
+the censer: "Quick! Quick! my daughters! Pour it down hot upon the
+Catholic vermin! Anoint the devout papists with our holy and consecrated
+oil!"
+
+And immediately turning to the other set of women charged with rolling
+stones down upon the enemy's heads, "To work, my brave women!" shouted
+the boilermaker. "Crush the infamous pack to dust! Exterminate the brood
+of Satan!"
+
+Instantly a flood of incandescent oil, bitumen and sulphur poured down
+like a wide sheet of flame upon the front ranks of the besiegers. They
+recoiled, trampled down the ranks behind them, and emitted hideous cries
+of anguish. Every drop of the molten liquid bored a hole through the
+flesh to the bone. At the same moment enormous blocks of stone and
+masses of sand rolled, rapid and irresistible, down the slope of the
+breach, overthrowing, breaking, crushing, smashing whatever stood in
+their way. Joined to this murderous defense was the frightfully
+effective fire of our arquebusiers, who shot unerringly, at close range,
+themselves safe, upon a foe in disorder. And yet, however decimated and
+broken, the royalists stuck to the assault until they finally reached
+the circumvallation. The exchange of arquebus shots then ceased and a
+furious hand-to-hand struggle ensued with swords, cutlasses and pikes.
+No quarter was given. The conflict was pitiless. The Rochelois women,
+among them Cornelia, armed with the iron rod of the censer, and the
+Bombarde, brandishing her harpoon, vied with the men in deeds of daring.
+These Rochelois women were everywhere among the male combatants, and cut
+a wide swath with their weapons, wielded by their white yet nervy arms,
+after the fashion of the Gallic women who made a front to the legions of
+Caesar. Twice did Colonel Plouernel, Captain Normand, Alderman
+Gargouillaud, Master Barbot, Antonicq Lebrenn, Louis Rennepont and their
+fellow defenders drive the Catholics back beyond the breach; twice did
+the Catholics, superior in numbers, drive the Rochelois back to the
+terrace of the rampart. Thus did the battle fluctuate, when Mayor
+Morrisson came to the aid of the Protestants with a fresh troop of
+citizens. The timely reinforcement changed the face of the struggle. For
+a third time rolled back beyond the breach, the assailants were
+precipitated into the pits or whipped down the slope. Their rout then
+became complete, wild, disordered. Our arquebusiers, whose fire had
+stopped during the hand-to-hand conflict, now took aim again, and
+decimated the fleeing, while our artillery mowed them down. This time
+the royalist rout was complete--final. Those of them who escaped the
+carnage, made haste to place themselves behind the shelter of their own
+lines.
+
+Victory to the Rochelois! Oh, sons of Joel, victory! Long live the
+Commune!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+CAPTURE OF CORNELIA.
+
+
+The victory of the Rochelois was a bloody one, and dearly did we pay for
+it. We numbered over eleven hundred of our people killed or disabled,
+men and women. Cornelia Mirant received a wound upon the neck; the
+Bombarde perished in the breach. Marcienne, Odelin's widow, was struck
+by a bullet and killed near the rampart as she was bringing aid to a
+wounded soldier; Antonicq's arm was run through by a pike; Colonel
+Plouernel was carried to his house in a nearly dying condition with two
+arquebus shots in his chest. Louis Rennepont, his wife Theresa, Master
+Barbot, the Franc-Taupin and Serpentin, his assistant in mining, came
+safe and sound out of the engagement. The Rochelois gathered in the dead
+and wounded. The Lebrenn family carried to their house the corpse of
+Odelin's widow. A sad funeral march! But, alas, in these distressful
+times the exigencies of the public weal have precedence over the holiest
+of sorrows. One enjoys leisure to weep over his dead only after having
+avenged them. The triumph of a day does not remove the apprehensions for
+the morrow. The royalist assault, so valiantly repelled by the people of
+La Rochelle, might be renewed the very next day, due to the large
+reserve forces of the Catholic army, only a small portion of which took
+part in the attack upon the Bastion of the Evangelium. The City Council
+urged all the remaining able-bodied citizens to proceed without delay to
+repair the breach, seeing that the moon, then at her full, would light
+them at their work during the whole night. Fresh defenses were to be
+immediately raised upon the side of the assaulted bastion. Then, also,
+famine was staring the city in the face. Precautions were needed against
+that emergency. Captain Mirant's ships, which were to revictual the city
+and replenish its magazines of war, still failed to be descried at sea,
+notwithstanding a strong wind rose from the southwest towards sunset.
+The last bags of beans were distributed among the combatants, whose
+exhaustion demanded immediate attention after the day's conflict. The
+supply barely sufficed to allay the pangs of hunger. Consequently, in
+order to insure food for the next day, the women and children were
+summoned by the aldermen to be at the Two Mills Gate by one o'clock in
+the morning, the hour of low tide, and favorable for the digging of
+clams. The gathering of these mollusks offered a precious resource to
+the besieged, but it was as perilous as battle itself. The Bayhead
+redoubt, raised by the royalists at the extremity of the tongue of land
+that ran deep into the offing, could sweep with its cannon the beach on
+which the clams were to be dug. Towards one in the morning the City Hall
+bell rang the summons. Upon hearing the agreed-upon signal, the
+Rochelois women of all conditions issued forth with those of their
+children who were considered strong enough to join the expedition. Each
+was equipped with a basket. They met at the Two Mills Gate where they
+found the wife and two daughters of Morrisson the Mayor. They set the
+example of public spirit. Accordingly, while the male population of La
+Rochelle was busily engaged in repairing the breach, the women and
+children sallied forth from the city in search of provisions for all.
+Although smarting from her wound, and despite the protests of Antonicq,
+Cornelia Mirant determined to share with Theresa Rennepont the risks of
+the nocturnal expedition after clams. She joined the troop of women and
+children.
+
+About four or five hundred Rochelois women issued forth from the Two
+Mills Gate, situated near the Lantern Tower, in search of clams to feed
+the population. They were soon upon the beach. Bounded on the right by a
+ledge of rocks, the beach extended to the left as far as the roadstead
+in front of the inner port of La Rochelle, a roadstead narrowed towards
+its entrance by two tongues of land, each of which was armed with a
+hostile redoubt. The Bayhead redoubt could at once cover with its fire
+the narrow entrance of the bay, and sweep the full length and breadth of
+the beach upon which the Rochelois women now scattered and were actively
+engaged in picking up at the foot of the rocks, aided by the light of
+the moon, the mollusks that they came in search of. At the start the
+Bayhead redoubt gave them no trouble, although the enemy's attention
+must undoubtedly have been attracted by the large number of white
+head-covers and scarlet skirts, the time-honored costume of the
+Rochelois women. Already the baskets were handsomely filling with
+clams--the "celestial manna" as Mayor Morrisson called them--when
+suddenly a bright flash of light threw its reflection upon the small
+puddles of water on the beach, a detonation was heard, and a light cloud
+of smoke rose above the redoubt. A shiver ran over the clam-digging
+Rochelois women, and profound silence took the place of their previous
+chatter.
+
+"The royalists have seen us!" said Theresa Rennepont to Cornelia. "They
+have begun firing upon us."
+
+"No!" cried Cornelia with mixed joy and alarm as she looked in the
+direction of the battery. "The enemy is firing upon my father's
+brigantines! There they are! There they are, at last! God be praised! If
+they enter port, La Rochelle is saved from famine! Do you see them,
+Theresa? Do you see, yonder, their white sails glistening in the
+moonlight? The ships are drawing near. They come laden with victory to
+us!"
+
+And the young maid, moved with a joy that overcame her alarm, raised her
+beautiful face to heaven, and in a voice quivering with enthusiasm
+exclaimed: "Oh, Lord! Guard my father's life! Grant victory to the
+sacred cause of freedom!"
+
+All thought of the clams was instantly dropped. The women pressed close
+to the water's edge; with eyes fixed upon the ships, they awaited
+anxiously the issue of the combat upon which depended the victualing of
+their city. It was a solemn moment; an imposing spectacle. The further
+extremities of the two tongues of land that enclosed the outer bay and
+left but a narrow entrance to the port, threw their black profiles upon
+the waves, silvered by the moon. The four brigantines were sailing in
+single file before the wind with a full spread of canvas, towards the
+dangerous passage which they had to enter under the cross fire of the
+enemy's redoubts. A rapid and frightful cannonade followed upon the
+first shot which had startled the women. Already the first one of the
+four vessels had entered the passage, when, despite the firmness of her
+nature, Cornelia emitted a cry of distress and said in consternation to
+Theresa:
+
+"Look, the mast of the forward brigantine is down! It must have been
+struck by a ball! Good God, my father is lost if he should be on that
+vessel--dismantled--unable to move--exposed to the fire of the enemy!"
+
+"All is lost! Alas, all is lost!"
+
+"The brigantines are returning to the open sea!"
+
+"Captain Mirant flees without giving battle! without answering the
+enemy's fire! without giving back a single shot!"
+
+"Come, let us return to our clams--henceforth the only resource of La
+Rochelle! Let us continue picking up clams!"
+
+"No! My father is not fleeing from battle," answered Cornelia. "By
+sailing back he means to tow the dismantled ship out of harm's way. No,
+Captain Mirant is not fleeing from battle! Do you not see that his
+vessels are now lying to? They are not sailing away!"
+
+The words of Cornelia, who was long familiar with nautical manoeuvres,
+thanks to the many voyages she made on board her father's vessels,
+revived the hopes of the Rochelois women. Their eyes returned with
+renewed anxiety to the entrance of the port. But, alas, as they did so,
+none perceived that soldiers of the royal army were coming out of the
+Bayhead redoubt, and, screened by the shadows cast by the rocks that
+were strewn to the right of the beach, were silently creeping nearer
+behind the massive blocks.
+
+"What did I tell you?" Cornelia proceeded to explain. "The brigantines
+are sailing back again into the passage. The forward one, with the
+dismantled vessel in tow, is opening fire upon the royalist redoubt. No!
+Captain Mirant's cannons have not lost their speech!"
+
+And so it was. The brigantine that had the dismantled vessel in tow
+sailed intrepidly into the passage, returning the enemy's fire from both
+broadsides. The enemy's redoubts, especially the Bayhead, being the
+better equipped, replied to the brigantine. Suddenly, however, a cry of
+terror escaped from all breasts. The brigantine that led was enveloped
+in a thick smoke which here and there was reddened by the ruddy glow of
+flames.
+
+The agony of the women of La Rochelle redoubled. Their attention, held
+captive by the spectacle in the bay, prevented their noticing the
+Catholic soldiers, who, in increasing numbers, were approaching, hidden
+behind the last rocks of the ledge. Suddenly the echoes around the rocks
+repeated, like the reverberations of thunder, the roar of a tremendous
+explosion. The dismantled vessel, which carried a full load of powder,
+was blown into the air after being set on fire, not by the enemy, but
+by Captain Mirant himself; and, as it blew up, it partly dismantled the
+Bayhead redoubt. The manoeuvre was successful. Not only was the redoubt
+crippled, but a large number of the soldiers and cannoniers who manned
+it perished under the ruins of their own batteries. So soon as the
+intrepid mariner saw one of his vessels disabled from proceeding on its
+voyage, he had taken her in tow; veered about with the end in view of
+withdrawing his flotilla from the enemy's fire long enough to enable him
+to perfect his newly conceived strategy; heaped inflammable materials
+upon the disabled ship; left the powder in her hold; transferred the
+sailors to his own bottom; veered again; sailed under full canvas before
+the wind straight into the passage; and leading in tow the floating
+incendiary machine which he had just improvised, set it on fire, and cut
+the cable just before arriving in front of the redoubt, convinced, by
+his intimate acquaintance with the currents along the coast, that they
+would drive ashore and against the redoubt the floating firebrand loaded
+with powder, which, when exploding, would shake the royalist battery to
+pieces. It happened as Captain Mirant calculated. Once the redoubt was
+in ruins, Captain Mirant had nothing to fear except from the inferior
+battery raised on the opposite tongue of land. The bold mariner now
+proceeded on his course followed by his remaining vessels, deliberately
+answering the inoffensive shots from the opposite side. Finally, with
+only the perforation of some of their sails, and a few bullets lodged in
+their sides, the three vessels steered straight towards the entrance of
+the interior port of La Rochelle, which they were to save from famine,
+and re-supply with munitions of war.
+
+"God be praised! The city is saved! May my father have come off safe and
+sound from the combat!" cried Cornelia, while the other Rochelois women
+loudly acclaimed with shouts of joy and hope the brilliant triumph of
+the captain.
+
+The last of the three brigantines had just entered the port when the
+rattle of arquebus shots resounded from behind the rocks which bordered
+the beach to the right of where the Rochelois women were assembled. It
+rained bullets. Women and children, mortally wounded, dropped dead
+around Theresa and Cornelia. The unexpected attack of the royalist
+soldiers in ambush threw the unfortunate women into a panic. They had
+come wholly unarmed, bent upon gathering clams along the beach, and not
+looking for danger except from the batteries of Bayhead. It happened
+that a part of that garrison consisted of troops of the guard of the
+Duke of Anjou, under the command of the Marquis of Montbar, one of the
+Prince's favorites, and the most noted debauchee of the whole royalist
+army. So soon as he perceived the Rochelois women spread along the
+beach, the Marquis set his soldiers in motion, ordered them to slide out
+of the redoubt, and to creep noiselessly, under cover of the rocks and
+of the shadows that they projected, with the object in view of
+massacring a large number of the heroic women, whose intrepidity the
+royalists had more than once tasted to their sorrow, and of seizing
+several of them for the orgies of the Duke of Anjou's tent. Accordingly,
+after unmasking his ambuscade by the first round of arquebus shots, the
+Marquis of Montbar rushed with his soldiers upon the startled and
+panic-stricken women, crying: "Kill all the old ones! Take the
+handsomest and youngest prisoners! God's blood! You can easily
+distinguish the pretty girls from the old and ugly! The moon is bright!"
+
+The scene that followed was frightful to behold. Many of the "old" ones
+were ruthlessly butchered, as ordered by the Catholic captain. Others,
+having escaped the fire of the arquebuses and the ensuing carnage,
+finding themselves unarmed, and unable to resist the soldiers, sought
+safety in flight in the direction of the Two Mills Gate. Still others
+stood their ground and defended themselves with the energy of despair
+against the guards who sought to seize them. Among the latter was
+Cornelia, who, in the turmoil, was separated from Theresa Rennepont as
+both sought to reach the city. The Marquis of Montbar, happening to be
+near where Cornelia was struggling in the hands of several soldiers, and
+struck by the beauty of the girl, called out to his men: "Take care you
+do not hurt her--keep her alive! God's blood, she is a royal morsel! I
+reserve her for Monseigneur the Duke of Anjou."
+
+Cornelia, whose wound was re-opened in her struggle with the soldiers,
+felt herself losing strength and consciousness through loss of blood.
+She fell in a faint at the feet of Montbar. By his orders two of his
+guards raised her by her feet and shoulders, and carried her away like
+a corpse. Several other Rochelois women, who were likewise carried off
+captive to the Bayhead redoubt, now lying in ruins through Captain
+Mirant's manoeuvre, were that night victims of the brutality of both
+captains and soldiers. Finally many others succeeded in reaching the Two
+Mills Gate at the moment that a company of Protestants, attracted by the
+sound of arquebus shots, sallied from the city and were hastening to the
+beach. Alas, it was too late! Already the inrushing tide was submerging
+the dead and the dying victims of the royalist ambush. Already the water
+reached the foot of the rocks and intercepted the progress of the
+Rochelois. They could not pursue the enemy who, among other prisoners,
+carried away the inanimate body of Captain Mirant's daughter at the very
+hour that the daring mariner weighed anchor in the port of La Rochelle
+amidst the acclamations of the inhabitants.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+THE DUKE OF ANJOU.
+
+
+The headquarters of the royal army were at the suburb of Font, now in
+ruins. The Duke of Anjou, brother of King Charles IX, occupied at Font,
+in the center of the royal encampment, a house that went by the name of
+the "Reservoir," since within its yard lay the reservoir into which the
+waters were gathered that the now destroyed aqueduct conducted into La
+Rochelle. The Prince's headquarters, although wrecked by the war, were
+repaired, and made fit for the royal guest, thanks to the industry of
+his valets, who upholstered and equipped the ruins with a mass of
+tapestries and furniture which the pack-mules carried in the wake of the
+army. The Prince's oratory, where, either in sacrilegious derision, or
+perhaps yielding to a mixture of fanaticism and lewdness, he both
+performed his orisons and indulged his debaucheries, was tapestried in
+violet velvet, garlanded with fringes that were gathered up by gold and
+silver tassels. Daylight never penetrated the voluptuous retreat, which
+only a vermillion chandelier illumined with its candles of perfumed wax.
+On one side of the apartment stood a prayer-stool surmounted with an
+ivory crucifix; on the opposite side was a thickly cushioned lounge. A
+Turkish carpet covered the floor. A velvet portiere, closed at this
+moment, communicated with an inside room.
+
+It was about eight in the evening. Cornelia Mirant, captured on the
+beach of La Rochelle the night before by the Marquis of Montbar, had
+just been introduced by him into the oratory of the Duke of Anjou. A
+feverish agitation imparted an unwonted glow to the countenance of the
+young girl. Her eyes glistened; her beauty was particularly radiant; a
+certain coquetish touch was noticeable in the arrangement of her hair;
+her Rochelois clothing, torn to shreds during the previous night's
+encounter, had been changed for a robe of poppy-red brocade. A broad
+embroidered scarf supported and concealed her right hand. The wound she
+received the day before on the neck had been dressed with care by one of
+the Duke's own surgeons. Monsieur Montbar--a youth barely twenty years
+of age, but whose delicate features were prematurely blighted by
+incontinence--had exchanged his war armor for the apparel of the court.
+His hair was artistically curled. From his ears hung a pair of earrings
+encrusted with precious stones; jet black frills hung down from his
+wrists and encased his hands; a short mantle was thrown over his
+shoulders; tight-fitting hose and a toque garnished with a brooch of
+rubies completed his dainty outfit. The Marquis had just brought
+Cornelia into the oratory, and was saying to her: "My pretty saucebox,
+you are now in the oratory of the Prince of Anjou, brother of our
+well-beloved King Charles IX."
+
+"One feels as if in a palace of fairies!" answered Cornelia looking
+around with feigned and childish wonderment. "Oh, what splendid
+tapestries! What gorgeous ornaments! It seems I must be dreaming,
+monseigneur! Can it be possible that the Prince, so great a Prince,
+deigns to cast his eyes upon so poor a girl as I?"
+
+"Come, my pretty lassy, do not cast down your eyes. Be sincere--you
+shall ever after feel the glory of having been, if but for one day, the
+mistress of the King of France's brother. But what are you thinking
+about?"
+
+"Monseigneur, all this that is happening to me seems a dream. No! You
+are making sport of a poor girl. Monseigneur the Duke of Anjou does not
+think of me."
+
+"You will see him in a minute, I assure you; he is just now in
+conference with Fra Herve, his confessor." And turning towards the still
+closed portiere, he proceeded: "I hear the curtains drawn back, and
+steps in the neighboring room--it is monseigneur."
+
+Hardly had the Marquis pronounced these last words when the drapery was
+raised, giving passage to the Duke of Anjou. The Prince was then
+twenty-eight years of age; overindulgence had weakened his gait, and
+imparted to his effeminate physiognomy a wily aspect, and a suggestion
+of cruelty and hypocrisy to his smile; added to this, excessive
+ornamentation rendered his appearance trivial and even sinister.
+Monsieur Montbar took a few steps towards the Duke, whispered in his ear
+and pointed to Cornelia. The girl thrilled with suppressed emotion; her
+right hand, hidden in the wide folds of her scarf, seemed to twitch
+convulsively and involuntarily to rise to her bosom. She contemplated
+the Prince with mixed horror and curiosity. Her eyes glistened, but she
+quickly lowered them before the libidinous glance of the Prince, who,
+while speaking with the Marquis, regarded her covetously. He said to his
+favorite: "You are right, my pet; her beauty gives promise of great
+delight; leave us alone; I may call you in again."
+
+The Marquis of Montbar withdrew. Left alone with Cornelia, the Duke of
+Anjou stepped to the lounge, stretched himself out upon it nonchalantly
+with his head resting on the cushion, pulled a gold comfit-holder from
+his pocket, took a pastille out of it, masticated it, and after a few
+minutes of silent revery said to the Rochelois:
+
+"Approach, my pretty girl!"
+
+Cornelia raised her eyes heavenward. Her countenance became inspired. A
+slight pallor overcast it. Her glistening eyes grew moist. Distress was
+stamped on her features as she muttered to herself: "Adieu, father!
+Adieu, Antonicq! The hour of self-sacrifice has sounded for me!"
+
+Surprised at the immobility of Cornelia, whose face he could not see
+distinctly, the Duke of Anjou sat up and repeated impatiently:
+"Approach! You seem to be deaf, as well as mute. I told you to approach.
+By God's death, hurry up! Come and lie down beside me!"
+
+Cornelia, without the Prince's noticing her motions, disengaged her arm
+from the folds of the scarf, and stepped deliberately towards the lounge
+on which he had again stretched himself out. Again he motioned her to
+approach, saying: "Come here, I tell you. I would fear to damn myself
+forever by contact with such a satanic heretic as you, but for Fra
+Herve's promise to give me absolution after our amorous encounter."
+
+And rising from his soft lounge, the Prince opened his arms to Cornelia.
+The girl approached; she bowed down; then, quick as thought she seized
+the Duke by the hair with her left hand, at the same time drawing out of
+the folds of her scarf her right hand armed with a short sharp steel
+dagger with which she struck the Prince several blows in the region of
+the heart, crying: "Die, butcher of my brothers! Die, cowardly assassin
+of women and children!"
+
+The Duke of Anjou wore under his jacket a coat of mail of steel so close
+meshed and well tempered that Cornelia's dagger broke under the blows
+that she dealt, while the frightened Prince called out for help,
+gasping: "Murder! She assassinates me! Murder!"
+
+At the Prince's cries and the noise of the struggle between them the
+Marquis of Montbar, together with several domestics of the royal
+household, hurried into the oratory, from the contiguous room where they
+always stood in waiting; they flung themselves upon Cornelia and seized
+her by the wrists, while the Prince, freed from the grasp of the brave
+maid, ran livid and demented to his prayer-stool, where he threw himself
+down upon his knees, and, with lips white with terror, shivering in
+every part of his body, and with his teeth clattering in his head, he
+stammered: "Almighty God, thanks be to Thee! Thou hast protected Thy
+unworthy servitor!" And bending low, till his forehead touched the
+ground, the terrified libertine smote his chest exclaiming: "_Mea culpa!
+mea culpa! mea maxima culpa!_"[84]
+
+While the Duke of Anjou was thus giving thanks to his God for having
+escaped the dagger of the young Protestant girl, she, held firmly by the
+seigneurs and retainers who heaped upon her insults and threats of
+death, stood erect with proud front, defied them with steady eyes, and
+preserved a disdainful silence. Holding himself responsible for the
+conduct of the Huguenot girl, whom he had taken to his master's bed, the
+Marquis of Montbar drew his sword and was about to run her through, when
+the Prince, rising from his prayer-stool cried out: "Do not kill her, my
+pet! Oh, no, she must not die so soon!"
+
+The favorite re-sheathed his sword. The Duke of Anjou, now pale with
+rage, staggered to his lounge and sat down. He wiped the perspiration
+from his forehead, cast a look of implacable hatred upon Cornelia, and
+after regarding her in silence for a moment, said: "Well, my pretty
+lass--so you meant to assassinate me!"
+
+"Yes--because you are the worthy son of Catherine De Medici, the worthy
+brother of Charles IX; because you suborned an assassin to poison
+Coligny!"
+
+The Duke of Anjou remained unmoved, and remarked with a cruel smile:
+"You are a resolute girl, resolute in word and deed. I came near
+learning as much at my cost! What is your name?"
+
+"Cornelia Mirant."
+
+"What! You are the daughter of the mariner who last night almost threw
+into utter ruins our Bayhead redoubt? You are the daughter of the
+devilish Huguenot who has just revictualed La Rochelle?"
+
+The Cordelier Fra Herve had just raised the portiere and was about to
+step into the oratory, when he heard the young girl declare her name to
+be Cornelia Mirant. The monk immediately stopped. Half-hidden by the
+tapestry, he remained on the threshold of the room and listened to the
+rest of the dialogue between the Huguenot girl and the Prince.
+
+"You must be a girl of honorable habits. How came you to yield so
+readily to the propositions of the Marquis?"
+
+"In the hope of being able to strike you dead with the dagger that I
+found in the tent of your officer," boldly answered Cornelia.
+
+"A new Judith, you seem to see in me a modern Holofernes! Everything
+about you breathes courage, honor, chastity. By God! I am becoming
+interested in you. You have wished my death--well, I wish that you live.
+So brave a girl should not die."
+
+"What, monseigneur! Shall this wretch escape punishment!" cried the
+Marquis of Montbar, while Cornelia thought to herself with a shudder: "I
+dread the clemency of the son of Catherine De Medici more than I do his
+ire."
+
+"Yes, my pet," answered the Duke of Anjou to his minion; "to-day I am in
+a merciful mood. I shall practice the evangelical morality of Jesus our
+Savior; I shall return good for evil! I wish well to this haughty
+republican girl, worthy of the days of Sparta and Rome! I wish the brave
+girl so well that--here is my sentence: Pinion the virgin's arms firmly;
+have her watched carefully in order that she may not do away with
+herself; and then throw her to the common soldiers of the camp. By God's
+death! The gay fellows will have a dainty repast! Take away from my
+sight the immaculate virgin, who will not be a virgin much longer!"
+
+"Oh! Mercy! Mercy! Death sooner! The most horrible death! Mercy!"
+stammered Cornelia, aroused from her stupor; and dropping upon her knees
+at the feet of the Duke of Anjou, she raised to him her hands in
+supplication, and implored in heartrending accents: "Martyrdom! For
+mercy's sake, martyrdom!"
+
+The Prince turned to his favorites: "Let the pretty heretic be taken to
+the garrison on the spot--on the spot, my pets. We shall follow and
+witness the sport of our soldiers."
+
+Already was Cornelia being dragged away when Fra Herve suddenly
+interposed. The courtiers bowed low before the confessor of the Duke of
+Anjou.
+
+"My son," said the Cordelier, stepping straight towards the Prince,
+"revoke the order you have given. The heretic should not be thrown to
+the soldiers."
+
+"Father," broke in the Duke of Anjou with exasperation, "are you aware
+the girl tried to assassinate me?"
+
+"I know it all--both the attempted crime and its failure. You shall
+revoke your order."
+
+"God's blood! Reverend Father, seeing you know it all, I declare,
+notwithstanding my profound respect for you, that I insist upon my
+revenge. My orders shall be executed."
+
+"My son, you are but a child," answered Fra Herve in a tone of
+disdainful superiority; and leaning towards the Prince the monk
+whispered in his ear, while Cornelia, now recognizing Fra Herve,
+shuddered from head to foot.
+
+"I dreaded the clemency of the Prince--the monk's mercy terrifies me.
+Oh, Lord God, my only hope lies in You!"
+
+"As God lives, my reverend Father, you are right! I am but a child!"
+cried the Duke of Anjou, beaming with infernal joy after listening to
+the confidential remarks whispered to him by the monk. He then again
+addressed his favorites: "Take the heretic girl to the reverend Father's
+cell. But, good Father, keep a watchful eye upon her. Her life is now as
+precious to you as to me."
+
+Cornelia was led away upon the steps of the fratricidal monk.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+THE BILL IS PAID.
+
+
+Fra Herve lived in the house of the Reservoir of the Font suburb in a
+sort of cellar that was vaulted, somber and damp as a cave, and which
+one time served as the direct communication to the aqueduct by means of
+a stone staircase, closed from above by a trap door. The monk's gloomy
+lodging was reached through a corridor that opened into one of the rooms
+situated on the ground floor, and, since the siege, transformed into a
+hall reserved for the officers of the Duke of Anjou.
+
+The interior of Fra Herve's retreat revealed the austerity of the man's
+cenobitic habits. A wooden box, filled with ashes and resembling a
+coffin, served him for bed. A stool stood before a rough hewn table on
+which were an hour-glass, a breviary, a skull and an iron lamp. The
+latter cast a pale light over the cave, in a corner of which a heavy
+trap door masked the now disused stone staircase, the entrance to which
+had been walled from within by the royalists, in order to prevent a
+surprise from that quarter, seeing the water was turned off.
+
+Taken to the gloomy cell, Cornelia found herself alone with the monk.
+She was aware there was no hope of escape or of mercy for her. The cell
+had no issue other than the corridor that connected with the hall of the
+Prince's officers of the guard, which was constantly crowded with the
+Prince's retinue. Fra Herve's face was emaciated. His forehead, over
+which a few locks of grey hair tumbled in disorder, was bony and
+lustrous as the skull upon his table. Except for the somber luster of
+his hollow eyes, one would at first sight take the scarred and fleshless
+head of the monk for that of a corpse. He was seated on the stool.
+Cornelia, standing before him, shuddered with horror. She found herself
+alone with the monster who, at the battle of Roche-la-Belle, cut the
+throat of Odelin, the father of Antonicq, her betrothed. Fra Herve
+remained meditative for a moment, and then addressed the young girl in a
+hollow voice:
+
+"You are aware of the fate that Monseigneur the Duke of Anjou reserved
+for you in punishment for your attempted murder? You were to be thrown
+to the soldiers of the garrison--"
+
+"I am in your power--what do you want of me?" interrupted Cornelia.
+
+"The salvation of your soul."
+
+"My soul belongs to God. I have lived and I shall die in my faith, and
+in execration for the Catholic church."
+
+"This is but another evidence of the impiousness of the Lebrenn family,
+a family of reprobates, of accursed people, to whom this poor creature
+was soon to be joined by even closer bonds than those that already join
+her to them!"
+
+"What! You know--?"
+
+"A Rochelois prisoner informed me that you were the betrothed of
+Antonicq, the son of him who was my brother."
+
+"Monk, I shall not invoke to you the bonds of family--you have reddened
+your hands with your brother's blood. I shall not invoke your pity--you
+are pitiless. But, seeing that no heretics have been burnt for quite a
+while, I hope you will consent to cause me to be condemned to the pyre
+for a hardened heretic. I abhor the Pope, his Church and his priests! I
+abhor them as I do Kings. I execrate all monks, and the whole tonsured
+fraternity."
+
+Cornelia calculated upon exasperating the Cordelier to fury, and thus to
+wrest from him the order to be taken to immediate execution--her only
+refuge from the threats of the Duke of Anjou. But the unfortunate girl
+deceived herself. Fra Herve listened to her impassively, and resumed:
+
+"You are cunning. You aspire to martyrdom because death will protect you
+from the outrage that you fear. I am not your dupe. There will be no
+pyre for you!"
+
+"Woe is me!" murmured the young girl, seeing her last hope dashed. "Woe
+is me! I am lost!"
+
+"You are saved--if you will!" Fra Herve proceeded to say.
+
+"What do I hear?" cried Cornelia perceiving a new glimmer of hope. "What
+must I do? Speak!"
+
+"Publicly abjure your heresy! Renounce Satan and your father! Humbly
+implore our holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church to receive you into
+her bosom at her mercy and discretion. The soilure, now upon you, being
+washed off, you shall take the eternal vows and shall bury in the shadow
+of the cloister the criminal life you have led in the past. Choose:
+either immediate abjuration, or--to the soldiers. These pious Catholics
+will slake their amorousness upon you."
+
+"Oh, Lord! Oh, Lord!" exclaimed Cornelia, seized with terror, and her
+head reeling. "Am I awake? Am I dreaming? Can a man, a priest, outrage a
+woman's modesty to such an extent? A curse upon you, wretch!"
+
+"What audacity! 'Outrage' a 'woman'!" put in Fra Herve with a wild and
+diabolical guffaw. "Is there such a thing as a heretic being a
+'_woman_'? No! A heretic is a female, like the she-wolf in the jungle.
+Is there such a thing as outrage with a she-wolf?"
+
+"Mercy!" stammered Cornelia in despair. "Have mercy upon me!"
+
+"No mercy!" answered Fra Herve sententiously. "You shall enter a
+cloister, or--you shall be given over to the lust of the soldiers. It
+shall be so! And now, keep your eyes upon this hour-glass," added the
+monk, pointing to the instrument for marking time that stood near the
+dead man's skull. "Should you, when the water is run down, not have
+decided instantly to abjure and to depart this very night to a convent,
+you shall be delivered to the Catholic soldiers!"
+
+And the monk, resting his elbow on the table and his chin on his hand,
+remained silent as he looked with fixed eyes at the running of the water
+from the upper into the lower bulb of the clepsydra, while fondling his
+heavy chaplet with the hand that remained free.
+
+"What am I to do?" the Protestant girl asked herself. "What am I to do
+in this extremity? Almighty God, have mercy upon me!"
+
+"One-half of the water has run down!" observed Fra Herve in his
+sepulchral voice. "Decide! There is still time!"
+
+At the lugubrious announcement Cornelia's mind began to wander; still,
+one lucid thought rose clear above the growing vertigo that obsessed the
+young girl's thoughts--the thought of putting an end to her life. Her
+bewildered eyes sought to penetrate here and there the dark recesses of
+the cell, which the dim light of the lamp threw heavily into the shade.
+They sought mechanically for some article that she might use as a weapon
+with which to inflict death upon herself. Suddenly Cornelia's eyes
+bulged out in amazement. She held her breath and remained petrified,
+thinking herself the sport of a vision. Fra Herve, because of his eyes
+being fixed upon the hour-glass and his back turned to the trap door
+that masked the stone stairs leading to the aqueduct, could not take in
+what was happening. But Cornelia saw the trap door rise noiselessly,
+inexplicably; presently, in the measure that it rose, the two hands and
+then the two arms that raised it heaved in sight; simultaneously there
+appeared the top of an iron casque, and an instant later the face under
+the casque--and Cornelia recognized Antonicq--her betrothed, Antonicq
+Lebrenn!
+
+"The water will run out before you have time to say an _Ave_," warned
+the Cordelier in a hollow voice, without removing his eyes from the
+clepsydra, and he added: "Heretic! Heretic! Make haste! Abjure your
+idolatry! If not you shall be thrown to the soldiers, you shall be given
+to the good Catholics of the whole army!"
+
+The imminence of the danger and the prospect of safety restored the
+young girl's presence of mind. The instant her eyes discovered her
+betrothed she became silent, motionless, watchful. The last threats of
+the monk reached Antonicq's ears at the moment when he had completely
+raised the trap door, and wrung from him despite himself an exclamation
+of fury. Fra Herve turned sharply around and bounded from his seat in
+bewilderment at the sight of the young man leaping into the room from
+underground. Cornelia, in full control of herself, and remembering that
+the monk's cell was separated from the hall of the officers of the guard
+by a short corridor of only about twenty paces, ran back to the door
+that opened on the corridor intending to close it, and bolt it from
+within. Fra Herve divined the young girl's purpose, and, meaning to
+prevent it, precipitated himself upon her. That instant Antonicq reached
+his betrothed, disengaged her from the clutches of the monk, seized him
+by the shoulders and flung him back violently. Free once more, Cornelia
+quickly carried out her purpose. She closed the door gently, and bolted
+and barred it from within, thus shielding herself and Antonicq behind a
+barrier that the officers of the Duke of Anjou would consume
+considerable time before they could succeed in breaking down. At the
+very moment that Cornelia closed the door Fra Herve sounded the alarm
+in a sufficiently penetrating voice to be heard in the hall of the
+guards:
+
+"Help! Treason! To arms! Help! The Huguenots!"
+
+But instantly the Cordelier's voice expired upon his lips. A vigorous
+hand seized him by the throat, the blade of a dagger shone in the air
+and twice plunged into the fratricide's breast. He fell over backward,
+bathed in his own blood, straightened himself for an instant, foamed at
+the mouth, and breathed his last;--and a muffled voice cried
+"_Twenty-five_--the bill is paid. Now I can die in peace. My sister and
+her daughter are avenged! The ransom of the crime is paid in full."
+
+The Franc-Taupin had emerged from under ground after Antonicq, and
+preceded Captain Mirant, who rushed to his daughter's embrace while the
+Franc-Taupin stabbed the fratricidal monk to death.
+
+"Let us flee!" said Cornelia to her father and her betrothed, after
+responding to their demonstrations of tenderness. "The monk's cries
+reached the hall of the guards at the head of the corridor. I hear them
+coming. Do you hear those steps? The sound of those approaching voices?"
+
+"We have nothing to fear. Your presence of mind, my dear girl, has
+insured our safe retreat. They will find it no easy task to enter the
+cell. The door is thick, the bolt solid," remarked the Franc-Taupin,
+examining and fastening more tightly the bolt with imperturbable
+calmness. "Cornelia, Antonicq, and you, Captain Mirant, descend to the
+aqueduct quickly, and wait for me just this side of the mine that I
+planted in the underground passage, and near which Master Barbot and
+the sailors are waiting for our signal."
+
+Turning to Serpentin, the apprentice, who also came in after Captain
+Mirant the Franc-Taupin said:
+
+"Come here, my gay fellow--bring me the little machine and implements.
+We shall serve up a peppery broth to the royalists."
+
+Cornelia, her father and Antonicq hastened to descend the stairs of the
+underground passage that the trap door masked. Hardly had they
+disappeared, leaving the Franc-Taupin and the apprentice behind in Fra
+Herve's cell, when they heard violent knocks given at the door, and a
+confused noise of voices calling out:
+
+"Fra Herve! Fra Herve!"
+
+The Marquis of Montbar was heard saying: "A minute ago he cried: 'Help!
+Treason!' He now makes no answer. The witch may have strangled the
+reverend Father!"
+
+And the voices outside continued to cry tumultuously: "Fra Herve! Fra
+Herve! We can not get in! The door is bolted from within. The devil take
+it! Open to us, Fra Herve! We come to help you!"
+
+"Quick! Bring levers and an axe--or, better yet, let us break in the
+door!" the voice of the Marquis of Montbar was again heard to say. "Run
+for a company of my soldiers! We shall wait here. Hurry up!"
+
+"Oh! Oh!" observed the Franc-Taupin, after silently listening to the
+observations from the other side of the door, to which he had glued his
+ears. "The royalists are inviting themselves in large numbers to the
+banquet that I am preparing for them! And why not? When there is broth
+for five guests, there is enough for ten, if the housekeeper is
+economical. Just wait, my friends! My broth is cooking! It is so
+toothsome that a single spoonful will do the work for twenty or thirty
+persons."
+
+"Master Josephin, here are the implements and the little machine," said
+Serpentin in a low voice, as he drew out of a bag that he brought
+suspended from his shoulders and handed over to the Franc-Taupin a heavy
+iron box about one foot long and six inches high and wide. The box,
+filled full with powder, was pierced in the center by a narrow slit
+through which a sulphured fuse was inserted. The Franc-Taupin took in
+his hands the redoubtable petard, examined the structure of the door
+minutely, and after a moment's reflection inserted the iron box with no
+little difficulty under the lower hinge. The Franc-Taupin then rose, and
+patting the apprentice upon the cheek said to him in a low voice:
+
+"Tell me, my lad, why do I place the little machine so tightly between
+the floor and the hinge?"
+
+Serpentin reflected for a moment, scratched his ear, and then reeled off
+his answer after the fashion of a boy who recites his lesson:
+
+"Master, you place the little machine in that way in order that, when it
+blows up, it may tear up the door along with the hinge; the torn up
+hinge will tear up the masonry in which it is fastened; the torn up
+masonry will tear up a part of the wall; and the torn up wall will bring
+down the ceiling. As a result of all this the debris will roll down
+upon the St. Bartholomew lambkins, whose flesh will have been scratched
+by the flying fragments of the little machine which will have been
+hurled in all directions, and will have whistled and ricocheted like
+artillery balls."
+
+"Wise--wise answer, my lad," observed the Franc-Taupin pinching the
+apprentice's ear with a satisfied look. "Continue to profit by my
+lessons in this manner, and you will become an accomplished miner, and
+you then will be able to contribute handsomely towards the scattering
+into fragments of a goodly number of papists and royalists. Now, off
+with you, hurry down the stone steps, and wait for me at the bottom."
+
+Serpentin obeyed. The Franc-Taupin knelt down at the threshold of the
+door, took from his belt a horn of powder and spilt along the floor a
+sufficient quantity to quite cover up the fuse. Thereupon, retreating on
+his knees, he laid down a long train of powder. The train skirted Fra
+Herve's corpse and ended at the opening of the trap door, down which he
+descended. Josephin stopped on the stair so that only his head appeared
+above the level of the flooring. Listening in the direction of the door,
+behind which he could hear a confused noise of voices, he said to
+himself: "The Catholic vermin is swarming behind the door, but I still
+have time to cut my _twenty-fifth_ notch."
+
+He took the little stick which he habitually carried hung on a string
+from a buttonhole of his jacket, pulled out his dagger, and cutting into
+the wood, the aged soldier said:
+
+"Hena, my sister's daughter, was plunged twenty-five times into the
+flames by the priests of the Church of Rome. I have just put to death
+my twenty-fifth Roman Catholic and Apostolic priest!"
+
+As he murmured these words to himself, Josephin contemplated the corpse
+of Fra Herve, stretched out upon his back in a pool of blood, with
+stiffened arms, clenched fists and half bent knees. The light from the
+lamp shed its pale luster upon the monk's face upon which the agony of
+death was still stamped. The jaws were close set; foam oozed out at the
+lips; the corpse's glassy and fixed eyes still seemed to preserve their
+threatening aspect from the depth of their cavities.
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed the Franc-Taupin with a terrible sigh, "How many times,
+alas! how very many times, seated at the hearth of my poor sister, when
+the unfortunate being who lies there dead and still foaming at his mouth
+with rage was a little boy, how often I took him and his younger brother
+Odelin upon my knees! caressed their little blonde heads! kissed their
+plump cheeks! Joining in their infantine amusements, I entertained them,
+I gladdened them with my Franc-Taupin songs! In those days Herve
+equalled his brother in the gentleness of his character and the kindness
+of his heart. The two were the joy, the pride, the hope of my sister and
+of Christian! But one day a monk, a demon, Fra Girard, took possession
+of the mind of unhappy Herve, dominated it, led it astray, corrupted it,
+and debased it forever! Oh! priests of Rome! priests of Rome! A curse
+upon you! Alas! out of the sweet boy, whom I loved so dearly, you made a
+bloodthirsty fanatic, a wrathful madman, a fratricide--and it became my
+duty to smite him with my dagger--him--him--my own sister's child!"
+
+The Franc-Taupin was drawn from his revery by the ringing sound of blows
+struck with maces and the butts of arquebuses against the door from
+without, and splintering its woodwork, while, rising above the tumult,
+the voice of the Marquis of Montbar was heard crying: "To work! Strike
+hard! Harder still! Break in the door!"
+
+"Well! The hour has come for the St. Bartholomew lambkins to dance in
+the air!" said the Franc-Taupin. Without hurrying, without losing his
+calmness, he pulled from his pocket a tinder box, a wick and a flint and
+steel. Striking upon the flint with the iron, he hummed between his
+teeth the old song that the memories of Odelin's and Herve's infancy had
+recalled to his mind:
+
+    "A Franc-Taupin had an ash-tree bow,
+    All eaten with worms, and all knotted its cord;
+    His arrow was made out of paper, and plumed,
+    And tipped at the end with a capon's spur.
+    _Derideron, vignette on vignon! Derideron!_"
+
+During the song of the old soldier, who calmly continued to strike at
+the flint, the blows aimed at the door redoubled in violence. Presently
+it was heard to crack, yield, break, and one of its fragments fell
+inside the apartment. Immediately thereupon Josephin applied the lighted
+wick to the train of powder and vanished underground letting down the
+heavy trap door over his head. The train of powder took fire, shot along
+its course as rapid as a flash of lightning, and reached the fuse of
+the petard, which exploded with a great crash at the very moment when
+the door, finally broken through, offered a passage to the Marquis of
+Montbar, closely followed by his henchmen. Like himself, they were blown
+up, mutilated or killed by the fragments of the iron box which flew into
+pieces. The masonry of the door, being torn down by the explosion,
+ripped the rest of the wall after it, bringing down the ceiling which
+fell in a heap upon the heads of the royalists.
+
+Cornelia, Antonicq, Master Barbot, Captain Mirant and six resolute
+mariners who accompanied him but whose help was not needed, were soon
+joined at the bottom of the aqueduct by the apprentice and the
+Franc-Taupin. Josephin forthwith blew up the mine that he had laid at
+that place in order completely to obstruct the passage of the royalists
+in case they attempted to pursue the fugitives. The whole party soon
+arrived safe and sound at La Rochelle, where they met Louis Rennepont
+and his wife, a prey to mortal anxiety upon the issue of the enterprise,
+which had that morning been planned, upon Theresa's bringing back from
+the beach the news of Cornelia's capture and reservation for the Duke of
+Anjou.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The bloody defeat, sustained by the royalists at the assault of the
+Bastion of the Evangelium, was the presage of the raising of the siege
+of La Rochelle. After two other stubbornly contested encounters, at
+which the royalist forces were again repulsed, the Duke of Anjou
+commissioned several seigneurs as parliamentarians to the Rochelois
+with propositions of peace. The majority of the City Council took the
+stand that the Huguenots refused to lay down arms until a new royal
+edict consecrated their rights and their liberty. The minority of the
+City Council, aware of the worthlessness of all royal edicts, favored
+breaking with royalty for all time. The view of the majority prevailed.
+Commissioners were appointed by both sides, to agree upon the bases of a
+new edict. The Catholic commissioners were the Seigneur of La Vauguyon,
+Rene of Villequier, Francis of La Baume, the Count of Suze, the Seigneur
+of Malicorne, Marshal Montluc, Armand of Gontaut-Biron, and the Count of
+Retz. The Rochelois commissioners were two bourgeois, Morrisson the
+Mayor, and Captain Gargouillaud. The reformers stoutly maintained their
+position, and stipulated for the same, not in the name of their own city
+only, but in the name of all the reformers of the Protestant Republican
+Union. These stipulations were subsequently rejected by the Union, so
+soon as they became known, upon the just ground of the rest of the
+Union's not having been consulted, and of its declining to recognize the
+royal authority. Thus, thanks to their bold insurrection and their
+heroic resistance the Rochelois imposed upon Charles IX the new edict of
+July 15, 1573. This edict consecrated and extended all the rights
+previously conquered by the reformers. A clause in this edict, which was
+a crushing document to the Catholic party, provided: "That all armed
+insurrections which took place AFTER THE NIGHT OF AUGUST 23, 1572, are
+amnestied." Thus Charles IX was made to admit that the reformers had
+justly drawn the sword to avenge the crime of St. Bartholomew's night!
+
+Thus the siege of La Rochelle was disgracefully raised by the Catholic
+army. This expedition cost the King immense sums of money, and he lost
+in the course of the several assaults upon the city, and also from
+sickness, about twenty-two thousand men. Among the seigneurs and
+captains killed during the siege were the Duke of Aumale, Clermont,
+Tallard, Cosseins, Du Guast, etc., besides over three hundred subaltern
+officers.
+
+Thus you see, Oh, sons of Joel! the glorious issue to the Rochelois of
+the siege of their city once more consecrates this truth, so often
+inscribed in the annals of our plebeian family: "Never falter! Let us
+struggle, let us battle without flagging. It is fatedly decreed that,
+only and ever through force, arms in hand, through INSURRECTION, we can
+conquer our freedom and our rights, which are ever denied to us, ignored
+and violated by our eternal foes--ROYALTY AND THE CHURCH OF ROME."
+
+
+
+
+EPILOGUE.
+
+
+On this day, the 29th of September, 1609, I, Antonicq Lebrenn, now in my
+sixty-first year, close, on our farm of Karnak, this legend of our
+family, which is the continuation of the narrative written and
+bequeathed to us by my grandfather Christian the printer and friend of
+Robert Estienne.
+
+Immediately upon the raising of the siege of La Rochelle I married
+Cornelia Mirant. Shortly after I put into execution a project that I had
+long been fondly nursing--that of moving to Brittany and establishing
+myself in the neighborhood of the cradle of my family. Before leaving La
+Rochelle, Colonel Plouernel, who recovered from his wounds sustained in
+the siege, renewed his offer of leasing out to me a farm belonging to
+the seigniorial estate of Mezlean, a patrimony of his wife's father, and
+known as the Karnak farm by reason of its being in the close
+neighborhood of the druid stones that bear that name. These stones are
+still extant, ranged in wide avenues, as they stood in the days of
+Julius Caesar, when our ancestress Hena, the Virgin of the Isle of Sen,
+offered herself to the gods as a holocaust, in the hope of causing them
+to render the arms of the Gauls victorious in their impending struggle
+for independence. I accepted Colonel Plouernel's offer, an offer that
+also pleased Cornelia and her father, who, as he continued almost
+constantly to travel by water between La Rochelle and Vannes, a port
+located near Karnak, foresaw, as happened in fact, that he would spend
+near us all the time that he did not spend aboard ship. I sold my
+armorer's shop. Leaving my sister Theresa and her husband Louis
+Rennepont at La Rochelle, where the latter practiced the profession of
+law, and taking with us my uncle the Franc-Taupin, who promised to
+himself the pleasure of rocking our children on his knees and singing to
+them his Franc-Taupin songs, as he had done to my father Odelin, my
+ill-starred aunt Hena, and my uncle Herve of sad memory, we departed
+from La Rochelle and settled down on our farm of Karnak on October 20 of
+the year 1573.
+
+My sister Theresa and her husband Louis Rennepont still reside in the
+old Protestant city. Every year they come to see us. Thanks to the
+numerous trips that his profession compelled him to make to Paris, my
+brother-in-law came in contact with several Huguenots who were well
+informed on current events. His conversations with them, together with
+extracts from several books that were published concerning leading
+public men and important occurrences, furnished him with copious
+materials which he left with me. These materials enable me here to make
+a summary sketch of the leading events since the siege of La Rochelle
+was raised:
+
+The edict of pacification of La Rochelle was not wholly satisfactory to
+the Huguenots of the other provinces. The example of the Low Countries,
+then in successful revolt against the monarchic-clerical power of Spain,
+and organized upon the republican pattern, inspired their brothers in
+France to renewed efforts. The "Politicals" gained new recruits every
+day. The Prince of Conde, ashamed of his act of desertion, fled the
+court and issued a manifesto from Strasburg repudiating his abjuration.
+Measures were in train to renew the war, and to overthrow Charles IX,
+when his death gave a new turn to affairs.
+
+The monster expired in 1574, barely twenty-four years of age and haunted
+by his bloody deeds. "Oh! nurse, nurse!" he would cry in agonies of
+terror; "Oh! nurse, how much blood--it is St. Bartholomew's blood! Oh!
+how many murders--how many victims struggling to escape under the sword.
+I see them--Oh! what wicked councillors I had! Oh, God! Oh, God! have
+mercy upon me!"[85]
+
+Charles IX was followed by his brother the Duke of Anjou, who, in the
+meantime, had been elected King of Poland. Apprized by his mother of his
+brother's decease, he fled his Polish kingdom, and mounted the French
+throne under the name of Henry III. True to his family traditions, Henry
+III sought at first to violate the Edict of La Rochelle. Finding this
+act of treachery unfeasible, he vacillated between extreme reaction and
+progress. This course earned for him the suspicion of the Catholic
+clergy and he was assassinated by a Dominican monk, James Clement, in
+1589.
+
+War again broke out, with Henry of Bearn now at the head of the
+Huguenots, to whom he returned during the reign of Henry III. Henry of
+Bearn now claimed the crown by inheritance as Henry IV, besieged Paris,
+and was finally crowned, but not until he once more abjured
+Protestantism. His reign was benign and favorable to the Reformation. In
+1598 the Edict of Nantes was signed, granting the Huguenots absolute
+freedom of conscience. The policy of Henry IV enraged the priesthood,
+and he also fell a victim to the assassin's knife. The assassin's name
+was Francis Ravaillac. "Nine days after the death of Henry IV, on
+Tuesday, May 23, 1610, an altercation took place between Monsieur
+Leomenie and Father Cotton in full council. Leomenie said to the Jesuit
+that it was he _and his Society of Jesus that murdered the King_. On
+that same day, Ravaillac, being interrogated by the commission, answered
+_in accordance with the maxims of the Jesuits Mariana, Becanus and
+others, whose writings recommend the killing of a tyrant_."
+
+The death of Henry IV conjured away the danger that Rome, the Empire and
+Spain saw themselves threatened with--the Christian Republic and the
+perpetual peace of Europe. The fresh murder, also committed at the
+instigation of the disciples of Loyola, had fatal consequences. But
+sooner or later Right triumphs over Wrong, Justice over Iniquity.
+Therefore, Oh, sons of Joel! no faltering. Some day the Universal
+Republic will unfurl the red banner of freedom, and will break the yoke
+both of the Roman Church and of this royalty that has oppressed Gaul
+for so many centuries.
+
+As to our own family, Cornelia Mirant with whom I have now been married
+thirty-seven years, gave me after twenty years of our wedded life, a son
+whom I have named Stephan. We have lived on our farm near the sacred
+stones of Karnak, and not far from Craigh, the high hill upon which,
+according to our family traditions, stood the house of our ancestor Joel
+in the days of Julius Caesar. My uncle the Franc-Taupin remained with us
+to the end of his long and eventful life. He died on the 12th of
+November, 1589.
+
+My brother-in-law Louis Rennepont continues to exercise his profession
+at La Rochelle. The youngest of his sons, Marius Rennepont, embraced the
+career of merchant mariner and sailed away, when still very young, on
+board a merchant vessel commanded by one of Captain Mirant's friends.
+Captain Mirant died in 1593. That same year we lost our old friend
+Master Barbot, the boilermaker of the isle of Rhe.
+
+I preserved amicable relations to the end with Colonel Plouernel, since
+the battle of Roche-la-Belle the head of his house. Shortly before his
+death we visited upon his invitation the old Castle of Plouernel, where
+our ancestor Den-Brao the mason was buried alive together with other
+serfs in the donjon constructed by themselves, and out of which Fergan
+the Quarryman, Den-Brao's son, rescued his own child, a poor boy whose
+blood was to assist the incantations of Azenor the Pale, the mistress of
+Neroweg VI. Nothing is left to-day of that feudal edifice but imposing
+ruins. Its place is now taken by a magnificent castle built in the style
+of the Renaissance, and raised at the foot of the mountain. Colonel
+Plouernel's son remained faithful to the Reformed religion, but, after
+his death, his son abjured Protestantism and took up his residence at
+the court of Louis XIII, the successor of Henry IV, with whom he became
+a favorite. The new head of the family never returned to his own castle,
+which, together with the vast domains attached to it, is ruled by the
+bailiffs of the seigniories of Plouernel and Mezlean.
+
+Once, on the occasion of a trip to the port of Vannes, I met a traveler
+just arrived from Germany, who informed me of the death of Prince
+Charles of Gerolstein, a descendant of one of the branches of our
+plebeian family whose ancestor was Gaelo, one of the companions of old
+Rolf, the chief of the Northman pirates. Prince Charles left a son
+behind, heir of his principality, who remains faithful to the Reformed
+religion.
+
+Our life has run peaceful and happy at this place. We cultivate our
+fields, and they satisfy our wants. My son Stephan, now sixteen years of
+age, helps me in my field labors. He is of a kind, timid and diffident
+disposition, although born of so intrepid a mother as Cornelia. He will,
+I hope, live peacefully here, unless the civil discords, which already
+begin to threaten the minority of Louis XIII, should extend into
+Brittany.
+
+I shall here close this narrative which my grandfather Christian the
+printer began under the reign of Francis I. I shall join it to the
+archives and relics of our family together with the pocket Bible printed
+by my grandfather, and which his daughter Hena, baptized in religion
+Sister St. Frances-in-the-Tomb, held in her hands before she was plunged
+twenty-five times into the flames on the 21st of January, 1535, under
+the eyes of King Francis I, to the greater glory of the Roman Catholic
+and Apostolic Church.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Tire-Laines means literally Wool-Pluckers.
+
+[2] Tire-Soies: literally Silk-Pluckers.
+
+[3] Mauvais-Garcons; literally Bad Boys.
+
+[4]
+
+    From the bowels of the earth I have cried up to thee, O, Lord;
+    O, Lord, give ear unto my voice.
+    May thy ears be ready to listen
+    To the voice of my supplications.
+
+
+[5] This whole sermon la a reproduction from the records of the time.
+See Merle d'Aubigne, _History of the Reformation in the XVI Century_,
+vol. 1. p. 332. (Pp. 86, 87, edition H. W. Hagemann Publishing Co., New
+York, 1894.)
+
+[6] We consider it our duty to cite literally the monstrous fact against
+which the heart rises in revolt, and reason feels indignant:
+
+"Sub commissariis insuper ac praedicatoribus veniarum imponere ut si
+quis, per impossibile. _Dei genetricem_, semper virginem violasset, quod
+eundem indulgentiarum vigore absolvere posset luce clarius
+est...."--(l'ositiones fratris J. Tezelil, quibus defendit indulgentias
+contra Lutherum. Theses 99, 100 and 101). Cited by Merle d'Aubigne,
+_History of the Reformation in the XVI Century_, p. 86, edition H. W.
+Hagemann Publishing Co., New York, 1894.
+
+[7] Merle d'Aubigne. _History of the Reformation in the XVI Century_,
+vol. I, pp. 328, 329. (P. 88, edition H. W. Hagemann Publishing Co., New
+York, 1894.)
+
+[8] The seat of the University of Paris.
+
+[9] For these horrible calumnies spread by the clergy against the
+Reformation, see De Thou, vol. I, book II, p. 97.
+
+[10] In Spanish, as well as French, "woman" and "wife" are the same
+word. Loyola punned upon the word.
+
+[11] For a thrilling account of one of these invasions, see "The Iron
+Arrow Head," the tenth of this series.
+
+[12] "Executio ad alios pertinet."--Bellarmin, vol. I, chap. VII, p.
+147.
+
+[13] Mariana, _De Rege, vol. I_, chap. VI, p. 60.
+
+[14] "'Alas', the monk explained, ' ... men have arrived at such a pitch
+of corruption now-a-days, that unable to make them come to us, we must
+e'en go to them, otherwise they would cast us off altogether; ... our
+casuists have taken under consideration the vices to which people of
+various conditions are most addicted, with a view of laying down maxims
+which ... are so gentle that he must be a very impracticable subject
+indeed who is not pleased with them.'"--Blaise Pascal, _Letters to a
+Provincial_, Letter VI, pp. 219, 220, edition Houghton, Osgood & Co.,
+Boston, 1880.
+
+[15] _Practice According to the School of the Society of Jesus (Praxis
+ex Societatis Jesu Schola)._ The passage reads: "Si habitum dimmittat ut
+furetur occulte, vel fornicetur."--Treatise 6, example 7, number 103.
+Also in Diana: "Ut eat incognitus ad lupanar."--Cited by Blaise Pascal,
+_Letters to a Provincial_, Letter VI, p. 215, edition Houghton, Osgood &
+Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[16] Father Gaspar Hurtado, _On the Subject of Sins (De Sub. Pecc._),
+diff. 9; Diana, p. 5; treatise 14, r. 99.--Cited by Blaise Pascal,
+_Letters to a Provincial_, Letter VII, p. 234, edition Houghton, Osgood
+& Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[17] Father Anthony Escobar of Mendoza, _Exposition of Uncontroverted
+Opinions in Moral Theology_, treatise 7, example 4, no. 223.--Cited by
+Pascal, _Letters to a Provincial_, Letter VI, p. 226, edition Houghton,
+Osgood & Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[18] Father Etienne Bauny, _Summary of Sins_ (1633), sixth edition, pp.
+213, 214.--Cited by Pascal, _Letters to a Provincial_, Letter VI, p.
+226, edition Houghton, Osgood & Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[19] "Non ut malum pro malo reddat, sed ut conservet honorem." are the
+words of Reginaldus, in _Practice According to the School of the Society
+of Jesus_, book 21, no. 62, p. 260. Also Lessius, _Concerning Justice
+(De Justitia)_, book 2, chap. 9, division 12, no. 79.--Cited by Pascal,
+_Letters to a Provincial_, Letter VII, pp. 233, 234, edition Houghton,
+Osgood & Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[20] Sanchez, _Moral Theology_, book 2, chap. 39, no. 7.--Cited by
+Pascal, _Letters to a Provincial_, Letter VII, p. 237, edition Houghton,
+Osgood & Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[21] Molina, vol. 1, treatise 2, division 88, no. 6. Also Escobar,
+_Moral Theology_, treatise 6, example 6, no. 48.--Cited by Pascal,
+_Letters to a Provincial_, Letter VIII, pp. 249, 250, edition Houghton,
+Osgood & Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[22] Father Bauny, _Summary of Sins_, chap. 14.--Cited by Pascal,
+_Letters to a Provincial_, Letter VIII, p. 252, edition Houghton, Osgood
+& Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[23] "Media benevolentia."--Escobar, _Moral Theology_, treatise 3,
+example 5, no. 4.33,34.--Cited by Pascal, _Letters to a Provincial_,
+Letter VIII, p. 253, edition Houghton, Osgood & Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[24] Lessius, confirmed by Escobar, treatise 3, example 2, no.
+163.--Cited by Pascal, _Letters to a Provincial_, Letter VIII, pp. 254,
+255, edition Houghton, Osgood & Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[25] Lessius, book 2, chap. 14, division 8; approved and endorsed by
+Escobar: "Quamvis mulier illicite acquirat, licite tamen retinet
+acquisita." treatise 1, example 8, no. 59.--Cited by Pascal, _Letters to
+a Provincial_, Letter VIII, pp. 257, 258, edition Houghton, Osgood &
+Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[26] Lessius, book 2, chap. 14, division 8. Also Escobar, treatise 1,
+example 9, no. 9.--Cited by Pascal, _Letters to a Provincial_, Letter
+VIII, p. 256, edition Houghton, Osgood & Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[27] Vasquez, _Treatise upon Alms_, chap. 4. So, also, Diana.--Cited by
+Pascal, _Letters to a Provincial_, Letter VI, p. 214, edition Houghton,
+Osgood & Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[28] Escobar, treatise 3, example 1, no. 23; treatise 5, example 5, no.
+53.--Cited by Pascal, _Letters to a Provincial_, Letter VIII, p. 258,
+edition Houghton, Osgood & Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[29] Sanchez, part 2, book 3, chap. 6, no. 13; Filiutius, treatise 25,
+chap. 11, nos. 331, 328.--Cited by Pascal, _Letters to a Provincial_,
+Letter IX, pp. 276, 277, edition Houghton, Osgood & Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[30] Father Bauny, _Summary of Sins_, p. 148.--Cited by Pascal, _Letters
+to a Provincial_, Letter IX, p. 279, edition Houghton, Osgood & Co.,
+Boston, 1880.
+
+[31] Escobar, chapter on thieving, treatise 1, example 9, no. 13.--Cited
+by Pascal, _Letters to a Provincial_, Letter IX, p. 281, edition
+Houghton, Osgood & Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[32] "Ob naturalem fastus inclinationem"--Escobar, treatise 1, example
+8, no. 5.--Cited by Pascal, _Letters to a Provincial_, Letter IX, pp.
+279, 280, edition Houghton, Osgood & Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[33] Father Bauny, _Summary of Sins_, p. 165.--Alluded to by Pascal,
+_Letters to a Provincial_, Letter IX, p. 279, edition Houghton, Osgood &
+Co., Boston, 1880.
+
+[34] To the greater glory of God.
+
+[35] Confession of Faith of the English Reformers.--Theodore de Beze,
+_Ecclesiastical Annals_, vol. 1, pp. 109-118.
+
+[36] This charming passage is to be found in _The Book of Master Bernard
+Palissy_; quoted in the _Protestant Review_, vol. I, p. 23.
+
+[37] Form adopted by the Consistory
+
+[38] Protestant marriage service, according to the Psalms of David;
+translated into French by Clement Marot, Geneva.
+
+[39] _History of the Town of Paris_, by Dom Felibien, of the
+congregation of St. Maur; Paris, 1725, vol. V, p. 343. Also given in the
+_Registers of the Town Hall of Paris_, and the _Registers of the
+Parliaments_, folios 507-686.
+
+[40] Dom Felibien, _History of the Town of Paris_, vol. V, pp. 343-347;
+_French Ceremonial_, pp. 940 and following; _Registers of the Town Hall
+of Paris_, etc.
+
+[41] De Thou, _History of France_, book I, p. 271.
+
+[42] These monstrosities seem to exceed the boundaries of the possible.
+Let us quote literally the text of the historians:
+
+"On the evening of the same day (January 21, 1535) the six culprits were
+taken to the parvise of Notre Dame, where the fires were prepared to
+burn them. Above the pyres rose a sort of scaffolding on which the
+patients were tied fast. The fire was then lighted under them, and the
+executioners, GENTLY slacking the rope of the lever, allowed the
+miscreants to dip down to the level of the flames, in order that they be
+caused to feel the sharpest smart; they were then raised up again, kept
+hanging ablaze in midair, and, after having been several times put
+through that painful torment, they were dropped into the flames where
+they expired." (_History of France_ by Father Daniel of the Society of
+Jesus, vol. IV, page 41, Paris, 1751.)
+
+"On the said day (January 21, 1535) in the presence of the King, the
+Queen and all the court, and after the aforesaid remonstrances, the six
+heretics were brought forward to make the _amende honorable_ before the
+church of Notre Dame of Paris, and immediately after they were burned
+alive." (_Acts and Deeds of the Kings of France and England_, by Jean
+Bouchet. Poitiers, 1557, in-folio, pp. 271-272.)
+
+"In order to purge their sin, the said heretics were burned to death on
+the said day (January 21, 1535) at several places, as the King passed
+by, while in vain the poor sufferers cried and implored him for mercy."
+(_History of the State of Religion_, by Jean Sleidan. 1557, vol. IX, p.
+137). (Quotations from Catholic works.)
+
+[43] _Exhortation of the King of France against the Heretics_, Jean
+Bouchet, Poitiers, 1557, in-folio, p. 272.
+
+[44] On the subject of this decree, which was later forcibly annulled,
+see _Extracts of the Registers of the Parliament of Paris_, LXXVI, folio
+113, collated and extracted by M. Taillandier.--Cited in the
+introduction to the _History of the Printing Press in Paris, Memoirs of
+the Society of Antiquaries_, vol. XII.
+
+[45] It was no infrequent occurrence to cause the tongues of heretics to
+be cut out, in order to prevent them from confessing aloud the
+Evangelical doctrine as they marched to the stake.--See the following
+citation, from Theodore of Beze.
+
+[46] "Among those burnt at Paris that day, January 21, 1535, were: John
+Dubourg, a merchant-draper of Paris, living in St. Denis Street, at the
+sign of the Black Horse; Etienne Laforge, of Tournay, but long an
+inhabitant of Paris, a man very rich and very charitable; a
+schoolmistress named Mary La Catelle; and Anthony Poille, an architect
+formerly of Meaux, and blessed of God in that he carried off the palm
+among the martyrs, for having been the most cruelly treated. He had his
+tongue cut out, as more fully it is set forth in the book of the
+martyrs."--_Ecclesiastical Chronicles_, Theodore of Beze, vol. I, p. 1.
+
+[47] "Jacques Bonhomme," literally Goodman Jack, or Jack Drudge.
+
+[48] Contribution in forced labor.
+
+[49] Latin: "Let us pray."
+
+[50] Brantoine, _Illustrious Women_, vol. IX, p. 171.
+
+[51] _Register Journal of L'Etoile_, p. 28.
+
+[52] The queen's words are historical. The book was _Marvelous
+Discourses on Catherine De Medici_, by Robert Estienne, Geneva, 1565.
+
+[53] _Register Journal of L'Etoile_, p. 30.
+
+[54] That was the familiar appellation at court of Princess Marguerite,
+the daughter of Catherine of Medici and Henry II, so famous for her
+excesses. She married Henry IV, who later divorced her.
+
+[55] De Thou, _History of France_, book LXXIV, p. 240.
+
+[56] _Register Journal of L'Etoile_, supplement, p. 57.
+
+[57] _Register Journal of L'Etoile_, supplement, p. 198.
+
+[58] _Register Journal of L'Etoile_, p. 234. It is impossible to cite in
+full this all too true satire on the abominable morals of the court of
+France in the sixteenth century.
+
+[59] _Register Journal of L'Etoile_, supplement, pp. 236, 239.
+
+[60] _Register Journal of L'Etoile_, supplement, p. 239.
+
+[61] "Driven thereto by the Cardinal of Lorraine, who blamed the conduct
+of the Duke of Anjou, the Queen came to the army in person in order to
+enlighten herself upon the mistake of not having engaged battle before
+the enemy's forces had effected a junction, that is, after the death of
+the Duke of Deux-Ponts, who was poisoned by some wine presented to him
+by a wine merchant of Avallon. Her Majesty wished to take the field with
+Marshal Tavannes."--_Memoirs of Gaspard of Sault, Seigneur of Tavannes._
+pp. 322-323.
+
+[62] Letters of Pius V. March 23-April 13, 1569, at Catena--_Life Of
+Pius_ V, p. 85.
+
+[63] De Thou, _History of France_, LXXXV, p. 129.
+
+[64] Machiavelli, _The Prince_, chap. 18.
+
+[65] _Journal and Memoirs of Francis of Lorraine_, Duke of Aumale and of
+Guise, containing the affairs of France and the negotiations with
+Scotland, Italy and Germany, pp. 664-665.
+
+[66] Exodus 21, 23-25.
+
+[67] Morning prayer of the guard, 1569.--_Protestant Review_, vol. I, p.
+105.
+
+[68] The document, here reproduced, is the literal testament of Admiral
+Coligny, taken from the original manuscripts of the National Library,
+Collection of Puy, vol. LXXXI. This document, of so great a historic
+value, was first published in full in 1852 by the Historical Society of
+French Protestants, vol. I. p. 263. That which, in our estimation,
+imparts a double interest to the testament, is the circumstance that it
+was written by the Admiral during the war (June, 1569) after the battle
+of Jarnac and before the battle of Montcontour.
+
+[69] _Register Journal of L'Etoile_, p. 217. The original of this
+monstrous letter was deposited among the manuscripts of the National
+Library of France by decree of the Convention, the 11th, Ventose, year
+II of the Republic. The immortal Constitutionals wished thus to nail
+royalty once more to the pillory of history.
+
+[70] "While the admiral was in camp, Dominic, one of his chamber valets,
+convicted of having tried to poison his master, was hanged.... Having
+been captured by La Riviere, captain of the guard of the Duke of Anjou,
+he was overwhelmed with promises; he was made to expect everything, if
+he would poison his master. Dominic yielded, received money and a
+poisonous powder, and returned to the camp of Monsieur Coligny."--De
+Thou, _History of France_, vol. V, p. 626-627. See the same historian on
+the poisoning of the Duke of Deux-Ponts, of Dandolet, and others.
+
+[71] Inhabitants of the fortified city of La Rochelle.
+
+[72] For the details of this battle, see De Thou, vol. V. p. 500;
+_Memoires of Gaspard of Sault_, Seigneur of Tavannes, vol. I, p. 323 and
+following. _Memoires of Francis of Lanoue_, vol. I, p. 623, and
+following.
+
+[73] _Memories of the State of France under Charles IX_, vol. 1, pp.
+5-12.
+
+[74] "Contre-Un" (Against-One) is the title at a book written in the
+sixteenth century by Estienne of La Boetie against monarchy.
+
+[75] La Boetie is to-day known mainly through the friendship that united
+him to Montaigne, and which inspired the latter to write one of his most
+charming passages.
+
+La Boetie was born in Sarlat, November 1, 1530; he died in Germignat,
+near Bordeaux, August 18, 1563. He left several works, all of which are
+to-day almost unknown. Unquestionably the most curious of his
+productions is the one mentioned by Montaigne in these terms:
+
+"My power of handling not being such that I dare to offer as a fine
+piece richly painted and set off according to art, I have therefore
+thought best to borrow one of Estienne of La Boetie, and such a one as
+will honor and adorn all the rest of my work: namely, a discourse that
+he called _Voluntary Servitude_, which others have since further
+baptized the _Contre-Un_, a piece written in his younger years, by way
+of essay, in honor of liberty against tyranny, and which has since been
+in the hands of several men of great learning and judgment, not without
+singular and merited commendation, for it is finely written and as full
+as anything can possibly be."--Montaigne, Essays, Book I, chap. 27.
+
+[76] An allusion to the Vision of Victoria, depicted in "The Casque's
+Lark," the fifth of this series.
+
+[77] It is certain that Admiral Coligny's head departed for Rome;
+whether it ever arrived there is not known. Mandelot, the Governor of
+Lyons, acknowledged receipt of a letter from Charles IX ordering the
+nobleman "_to arrest the carrier of the head, and to take the same away
+from him_."--Extracts from the correspondence of Mandelot, published by
+M. Paulin, Paris, 1845, p. 119.
+
+[78] Out of respect for our female readers we dare not here quote the
+_Register Journal of L'Etoile_, page 81, where is found _in extenso_ the
+conversation, marked by a savage obscenity, between the Queen and the
+court ladies who accompanied her. The conversation is confirmed by all
+contemporaneous historians.
+
+[79] See "The Brass Bell," number two in this series.
+
+[80] See "The Carlovingian Coins," the ninth of this series.
+
+[81] See, on the siege of La Rochelle, the daring manoeuvres of Captain
+Mirant; the combat sustained by Barbot the boilermaker, single-handed
+against two companies; the firing of the stranded ship _L'Ensensoir_ by
+the Rochelois women, and their heroism in the combats in which they took
+part, _History of La Rochelle and of the Country of Aunis_, by Arcere
+1756, 2 vols. in quarto. I refer my readers to that excellent work in
+order that those who would wish to certify the facts may see that all
+the episodes herein narrated concerning the siege of La Rochelle are
+strictly historic.
+
+[82] As thrillingly recounted in "The Pilgrim's Shell," the twelfth work
+of this series.
+
+[83] As an instance of the proud and noble bearing of the staunch
+republicans in this Council, the story is told that when it was found
+that in the passport issued by the Duke of Anjou the Rochelois were
+designated as "rebels," they refused to accept it, and Anjou was forced
+to send another passport.--_History of La Rochelle_, by Arcere, p. 417.
+
+[84] "I am guilty, I am guilty, I am very guilty."
+
+[85] _Register Journal of L'Etoile_, p. 34.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
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