m unseemly; and to remain a grave and silent listener to their
talk of their unhappy country, and their discussions on religious
matters.

To his schoolfellows he was somewhat of an enigma. There was no
more good-tempered young fellow in the school, no one more ready to
do a kindness; but they did not understand why, when he was
pleased, he smiled while others roared with laughter; why when, in
their sports, he exerted himself to the utmost, he did so silently
while others shouted; why his words were always few and, when he
differed from others, he expressed himself with a courtesy that
puzzled them; why he never wrangled nor quarrelled; and why any
trick played upon an old woman, or a defenceless person, roused him
to fury.

As a rule, when boys do not quite understand one of their number
they dislike him. Philip Fletcher was an exception. They did not
understand him, but they consoled themselves under this by the
explanation that he was half a Frenchman, and could not be expected
to be like a regular English boy; and they recognized instinctively
that he was their superior.

Much of Philip's time was spent at the house of his uncle, and
among the Huguenot colony. Here also were many boys of his own age.
These went to a school of their own, taught by the pastor of their
own church, who held weekly services in the crypt of the cathedral,
which had been granted to them for that purpose by the dean. While,
with his English schoolfellows, he joined in sports and games;
among these French lads the talk was sober and quiet. Scarce a week
passed but some fugitive, going through Canterbury, brought the
latest news of the situation in France, and the sufferings of their
co-religionist friends and relations there; and the political
events were the chief topics of conversation.

The concessions made at the Conference of Poissy had infuriated the
Catholics, and the war was brought on by the Duke of Guise who,
passing with a large band of retainers through the town of Vassy in
Champagne, found the Huguenots there worshipping in a barn. His
retainers attacked them, slaying men, women, and children--some
sixty being killed, and a hundred or more left terribly wounded.

The Protestant nobles demanded that Francis of Guise should be
punished for this atrocious massacre, but in vain; and Guise, on
entering Paris, in defiance of Catharine's prohibition, was
received with royal honours by the populace. The Cardinal of
Lorraine, th