ady among the leaders of the Reformation
by the fact of his martyrdom. His father, that old fox of commerce, so
shrewd, so perspicacious, ended by divining the secret thought of his
son; consequently, all his manoeuvres were now based on the natural
expectancy to which Christophe had yielded himself.

"Wouldn't it be a fine thing," he had said to Babette, in presence of
the family a few days before his interview with his son, "to be the wife
of a counsellor of the Parliament? You would be called _madame_!"

"You are crazy, _compere_," said Lallier. "Where would you get ten
thousand crowns' income from landed property, which a counsellor must
have, according to law; and from whom could you buy the office? No one
but the queen-mother and regent could help your son into Parliament, and
I'm afraid he's too tainted with the new opinions for that."

"What would you pay to see your daughter the wife of a counsellor?"

"Ah! you want to look into my purse, shrewd-head!" said Lallier.

Counsellor to the Parliament! The words worked powerfully in
Christophe's brain.

Sometime after this conversation, one morning when Christophe was gazing
at the river and thinking of the scene which began this history, of the
Prince de Conde, Chaudieu, La Renaudie, of his journey to Blois,--in
short, the whole story of his hopes,--his father came and sat down
beside him, scarcely concealing a joyful thought beneath a serious
manner.

"My son," he said, "after what passed between you and the leaders of the
Tumult of Amboise, they owe you enough to make the care of your future
incumbent on the house of Navarre."

"Yes," replied Christophe.

"Well," continued his father, "I have asked their permission to buy a
legal practice for you in the province of Bearn. Our good friend Pare
undertook to present the letters which I wrote on your behalf to the
Prince de Conde and the queen of Navarre. Here, read the answer of
Monsieur de Pibrac, vice-chancellor of Navarre:--

To the Sieur Lecamus, _syndic of the guild of furriers_:

Monseigneur le Prince de Conde desires me to express his regret
that he cannot do what you ask for his late companion in the tower
of Saint-Aignan, whom he perfectly remembers, and to whom,
meanwhile, he offers the place of gendarme in his company; which
will put your son in the way of making his mark as a man of
courage, which he is.

The queen of Navarre awaits an opportunity to reward the Sieur
Chris