, was so freely
talked of that it reached the citizens' ears, and only augmented their
suspicions. A more serious plot was set on foot, in accordance with which
one Jacques du Lyon, Seigneur de Grandfief, prominent in the late defence
of La Rochelle, was to gain possession of one of the city gates, and admit
Puigaillard, who, for this purpose, had massed considerable numbers of
royal soldiers at Nuaille, on the east, and at Saint-Vivien, on the south
of La Rochelle. Happily the treacherous design was itself betrayed by an
accomplice. Grandfief was killed while defending himself against those who
had been sent to arrest him. Several of the supposed leaders[1356] were
condemned to be broken on the wheel, and the barbarous sentence was
executed. The papers discovered in the house of Grandfief clearly proved
that the plot had received the full approval not only of Biron, but of the
queen mother herself. After inflicting summary vengeance on the miserable
instruments of perfidy, the Rochellois, therefore, addressed their
complaints to the French court. It need not surprise us, however, to learn
that they received in reply letters from Charles not only disowning the
conspiracy, but assuring them that he heartily detested it, and approved
the rigorous measures adopted.[1357]

[Sidenote: The Huguenots reassemble at Milhau.]

[Sidenote: They complete their organization.]

Shortly before the discovery of the conspiracy at La Rochelle, the
Huguenots had again assembled at Milhau-en-Rouergue. The delegates, about
one hundred in number, represented very fully the gentry and tiers etat of
the south and south-west of France, while a few names from the central and
northern provinces indicated the weaker hold gained by Protestantism in
that portion of the kingdom.[1358] Ostensibly meeting, with the royal
permission, to receive the report of the commissioners sent to the king,
and to entertain the terms proposed by Marshal Damville, the Huguenots
availed themselves of the opportunity to perfect the organization of their
party which had been sketched in previous political assemblies. Accepting
it as notorious that, whether in time of peace, or of open war, or of
truce, the Protestants were in peril from the daily intrigues and assaults
of their enemies, all tending to their complete ruin, the Huguenot
assembly renewed and swore to maintain a permanent union comprising all
their brethren of the same faith not only in France proper, but in