and the white
cloaks of Conde's attendants were to be seen indiscriminately mingled with
the crimson cloaks of his brother's escort. Yet, after all, the interview
came to nothing. Neither side could accept the only terms the other would
offer, and Catharine returned disappointed to Paris, to be greeted by the
populace with the most insulting language for imperilling the orthodoxy
of the kingdom.[135] Not, however, altogether despairing of effecting a
reconciliation, Conde addressed a letter to the King of Navarre,
entreating him, before it should be too late, to listen to his brotherly
arguments. The answer came in a new summons to lay down his arms.[136]

[Sidenote: The "loan" of Beaugency.]

Yet, while they had no desire for a reconciliation on any such terms as
the Huguenots could accept, there were some substantial advantages which
the Roman Catholic leaders hoped to reap under cover of fresh
negotiations. All the portion of the valley of the Loire lying nearest to
Paris was in the hands of the confederates of Orleans. It was impossible
for Navarre to reach the southern bank, except by crossing below Amboise,
and thus exposing the communications of his army with Paris to be cut off
at any moment. To attain his end with less difficulty, Antoine now sent
word to his brother that he was disposed to conclude a peace, and proposed
a truce of six days. Meanwhile, he requested Conde to gratify him by the
"loan" of the town of Beaugency, a few miles below Orleans, where he might
be more comfortably lodged than in his present inconvenient quarters. The
request was certainly sufficiently novel, but that it was granted by Conde
may appear even more strange.

[Sidenote: Futile negotiations.]

This was not the only act of folly in which the Huguenot leaders became
involved. Under pretence of showing their readiness to contribute their
utmost to the re-establishment of peace, the constable, Guise, and Saint
Andre, after obtaining a declaration from Catharine and Antoine that their
voluntary retreat would do no prejudice to their honor,[137] retired from
the royal court, but went no farther than the neighboring city of
Chateaudun. The Prince of Conde, swallowing the bait, did not hesitate a
moment to place himself, the very next day, in the hands of the queen
mother and his brother, and was led more like a captive than a freeman
from Beaugency to Talsy, where Catharine was staying. Becoming alarmed,
however, at his isolated sit