he bent over his revered and
much-loved friend. The intrepid and noble old man seemed perfectly
calm and composed, reposing unfailing trust in God.

"My friends," said he, "why do you weep? For myself, I deem it an
honor to have received these wounds for the name of God. Pray him to
strengthen me."

Henry proceeded from the bedside of the admiral to the Louvre. He
found Charles and Catharine there, surrounded by many of the nobles
of their court. In indignant terms Henry reproached both mother and
son with the atrocity of the crime which had been committed, and
demanded immediate permission to retire from Paris, asserting that
neither he nor his friends could any longer remain in the capital in
safety. The king and his mother vied with each other in noisy,
voluble, and even blasphemous declarations of their utter abhorrence
of the deed; but all the oaths of Charles and all the vociferations of
Catharine did but strengthen the conviction of the Protestants that
they both were implicated in this plot of assassination. Catharine and
Charles, feigning the deepest interest in the fate of their wounded
guest, hastened to his sick-chamber with every possible assurance of
their distress and sympathy. Charles expressed the utmost indignation
at the murderous attempt, and declared, with those oaths which are
common to vulgar minds, that he would take the most terrible vengeance
upon the perpetrators as soon as he could discover them.

"To discover them can not be difficult," coolly replied the admiral.

Henry of Navarre, overwhelmed with indignation and sorrow, was
greatly alarmed in view of the toils in which he found himself and his
friends hopelessly involved. The Protestants, who had been thus lured
to Paris, unarmed and helpless, were panic-stricken by these
indications of relentless perfidy. They immediately made preparations
to escape from the city. Henry, bewildered by rumors of plots and
perils, hesitated whether to retire from the capital with his friends
in a body, taking the admiral with them, or more secretly to endeavor
to effect an escape.

But Catharine and Charles, the moment for action having not quite
arrived, were unwearied in their exertions to allay this excitement
and soothe these alarms. They became renewedly clamorous in their
expressions of grief and indignation in view of the assault upon the
admiral. The king placed a strong guard around the house where the
wounded nobleman lay, ostensibly for t