anquillity. We need judges rather
than soldiers for this business--and judges are never lacking. Victory
is always more certain in the parliament than on the field, and it costs
less."

"I consent, willingly," said the duke; "but do you think the Prince
de Conde is powerful enough to inspire, himself alone, the audacity
of those who are making this first attack upon us? Isn't there, behind
him--"

"The king of Navarre," said the cardinal.

"Pooh! a fool who speaks to me cap in hand!" replied the duke. "The
coquetries of that Florentine woman seem to blind your eyes--"

"Oh! as for that," exclaimed the priest, "if I do play the gallant with
her it is only that I may read to the bottom of her heart."

"She has no heart," said the duke, sharply; "she is even more ambitious
than you and I."

"You are a brave soldier," said the cardinal; "but, believe me, I
distance you in this matter. I have had Catherine watched by Mary Stuart
long before you even suspected her. She has no more religion than my
shoe; if she is not the soul of this plot it is not for want of will.
But we shall now be able to test her on the scene itself, and find out
then how she stands by us. Up to this time, however, I am certain she
has held no communication whatever with the heretics."

"Well, it is time now to reveal the whole plot to the king, and to the
queen-mother, who, you say, knows nothing of it,--that is the sole proof
of her innocence; perhaps the conspirators have waited till the last
moment, expecting to dazzle her with the probabilities of success. La
Renaudie must soon discover by my arrangements that we are warned. Last
night Nemours was to follow detachments of the Reformers who are pouring
in along the cross-roads, and the conspirators will be forced to attack
us at Amboise, which place I intend to let them enter. Here," added the
duke, pointing to three sides of the rock on which the chateau de Blois
is built; "we should have an assault without any result; the Huguenots
could come and go at will. Blois is an open hall with four entrances;
whereas Amboise is a sack with a single mouth."

"I shall not leave Catherine's side," said the cardinal.

"We have made a blunder," remarked the duke, who was playing with his
dagger, tossing it into the air and catching it by the hilt. "We ought
to have treated her as we did the Reformers,--given her complete freedom
of action and caught her in the act."

The cardinal looked at his broth