tophe, and will not fail to take advantage of it.

Upon which, Monsieur le syndic, we pray God to have you in His
keeping.

Pibrac,

At Nerac.
Chancellor of Navarre."

"Nerac, Pibrac, crack!" cried Babette. "There's no confidence to be
placed in Gascons; they think only of themselves."

Old Lecamus looked at his son, smiling scornfully.

"They propose to put on horseback a poor boy whose knees and ankles were
shattered for their sakes!" cried the mother. "What a wicked jest!"

"I shall never see you a counsellor of Navarre," said his father.

"I wish I knew what Queen Catherine would do for me, if I made a claim
upon her," said Christophe, cast down by the prince's answer.

"She made you no promise," said the old man, "but I am certain that
_she_ will never mock you like these others; she will remember your
sufferings. Still, how can the queen make a counsellor of the Parliament
out of a protestant burgher?"

"But Christophe has not abjured!" cried Babette. "He can very well keep
his private opinions secret."

"The Prince de Conde would be less disdainful of a counsellor of the
Parliament," said Lallier.

"Well, what say you, Christophe?" urged Babette.

"You are counting without the queen," replied the young lawyer.

A few days after this rather bitter disillusion, an apprentice brought
Christophe the following laconic little missive:--

Chaudieu wishes to see his son.

"Let him come in!" cried Christophe.

"Oh! my sacred martyr!" said the minister, embracing him; "have you
recovered from your sufferings?"

"Yes, thanks to Pare."

"Thanks rather to God, who gave you the strength to endure the torture.
But what is this I hear? Have you allowed them to make you a solicitor?
Have you taken the oath of fidelity? Surely you will not recognize that
prostitute, the Roman, Catholic, and apostolic Church?"

"My father wished it."

"But ought we not to leave fathers and mothers and wives and children,
all, all, for the sacred cause of Calvinism; nay, must we not suffer all
things? Ah! Christophe, Calvin, the great Calvin, the whole party, the
whole world, the Future counts upon your courage and the grandeur of
your soul. We want your life."

It is a remarkable fact in the mind of man that the most devoted
spirits, even while devoting themselves, build romantic hopes upon their
perilous enterprises. When the prince, the soldier, and the minister had
asked Christophe, under the bridge, to