untess was fully occupied in seeing to the comforts of her guests
of higher degree, while Francois saw that the men-at-arms and
others were bestowed as comfortably as might be. Then oxen and
sheep were killed, casks of wine broached, forage issued for the
horses; while messengers were sent off to the nearest farms for
chicken and ducks, and with orders for the women to come up, to
assist the domestics at the chateau to meet this unexpected strain.

"It is good to sit down in peace and comfort, again," Conde said
as, supper over, they strolled in the garden, enjoying the cool air
of the evening. "This is the first halt that we have made, at any
save small villages, since we left Noyers. In the first place, our
object was concealment; and in the second, though many of our
friends have invited us to their castles, we would not expose them
to the risk of destruction, for having shown us hospitality.

"Here, however, we have entered the stronghold of our faith; for
from this place to La Rochelle, the Huguenots can hold their own
against their neighbours, and need fear nothing save the approach
of a large army; in which case, countess, your plight could
scarcely be worse for having sheltered us. The royal commissioners
of the province must long have had your name down, as the most
stiff necked of the Huguenots of this corner of Poitou, as one who
defies the ordinances, and maintains public worship in her chateau.
Your son and nephew fought at Saint Denis; and you sent a troop
across France, at the first signal, to join me. The cup of your
offences is so full that this last drop can make but little
difference, one way or the other."

"I should have felt it as a grievous slight, had you passed near
Laville without halting here," the countess said. "As for danger,
for the last twenty years we have been living in danger; and
indeed, during the last year I have felt safer than ever for, now
that La Rochelle has declared for us, there is a place of refuge,
for all of the reformed religion in the provinces round, such as we
have not before possessed. During the last few months, I have sent
most of my valuables in there for safety; and if the tide of war
comes this way, and I am threatened by a force against which it
would be hopeless to contend, I shall make my way thither.

"But against anything short of an army, I shall hold the chateau.
It forms a place of refuge to which, at the approach of danger, all
of our religion for m