hese wars of religion continued--which they might well do for a
long time, as in Germany and Holland, as well as in France, the
reformed religion is battling for freedom--you would both rise to
eminence as soldiers.

"However, now that peace is made, we must make the best of it. I
should think it will not be broken until after the harvest and
vintage; for until then all will be employed, and the Catholics as
well as the Huguenots must repair their losses, and gather funds,
before they can again take the field with their retainers.
Therefore, until then I think that there will be peace."

The summer passed quietly at Laville. The tales of massacre and
outrage, that came from all parts of France, filled them with
horror and indignation; but in their own neighbourhood, all was
quiet. Rochelle had refused to open her gates to the royal troops
and, as in all that district the Huguenots were too numerous to be
interfered with by their neighbours, the quiet was unbroken.

Nevertheless, it was certain that hostilities would not be long
delayed. The Catholics, seeing the advantage that the perfect
organization of the Huguenots had given them at the commencement of
the war, had established leagues in almost every province. These
were organized by the clergy, and the party that looked upon the
Guises as their leaders and, by the terms of their constitution,
were evidently determined to carry out the extirpation of the
reformed religion, with or without the royal authority; and were,
indeed, bent upon forming a third party in the state, looking to
Philip of Spain rather than to the King of France as their leader.

So frequent and daring were the outrages, in Paris, that Conde soon
found that his life was not safe there; and retired to Noyers, a
small town in Burgundy. Admiral Coligny, who had been saddened by
the loss of his brave wife, who had died from a disease contracted
in attending upon the sick and wounded soldiers at Orleans, had
abandoned the chateau at Chatillon-sur-Loing, where he had kept up
a princely hospitality; and retired to the castle of Tanlay,
belonging to his brother D'Andelot, situated within a few miles of
Noyers. D'Andelot himself had gone to Brittany, after writing a
remonstrance to Catharine de Medici upon the ruin and desolation
that the breaches of the treaty, and the persecution of a section
of the population, were bringing upon France.

The Chancellor L'Hopital had, in vain, urged toleration. His