w of the young
king's closest followers. There was no shadow of disquiet in the
minds of any of them. The doctors reported that the Admiral's state
was favourable; and although all would have been glad to be on
their way south, they regarded the detention of a few days as a
matter of little importance. Listening to their talk about the
court entertainments and pleasures, Philip quite shook off his
uneasiness, and was angry with himself for having listened to
Pierre's prognostications of evil.

"All these Huguenot lords know France and the Parisians better than
I do," he said to himself. "No thought of danger occurs to them. It
is not even thought necessary that a few of them should take up
their abode at the Admiral's. They have every faith in the king's
protestations and pledges for their safety."

Philip dined at the Louvre, and it was ten o'clock before he
returned to his lodging. He was in excellent spirits, and saluted
Pierre with the laughing inquiry:

"Well, bird of ill omen, what fresh plottings have you discovered?"

"You do not believe me, master, when I tell you," Pierre said
gravely.

"Oh, then, there is something new?" Philip said, seating himself on
a couch. "Let me hear all about it, Pierre, and I will try not to
laugh."

"Will you descend with me to the door, Monsieur Philip?"

"Assuredly I will, if it will please you; though what you are going
to show me there, I cannot imagine."

Pierre led the way downstairs and out through the door.

"Do you see that, sir?"

"Yes, I see that, Pierre."

"What do you take it to be, sir?"

"Well, it is not too dark to see what it is, Pierre. It is a small
white cross that some urchin has chalked on the door."

"Will you please to walk a little farther, sir? There is a cross on
this door. There is none here, neither on the next. Here you see
another, and then a door without one. Now, sir, does not that
strike you as curious?"

"Well, I don't know, Pierre. A boy might very well chalk some
doors, as he went along, and leave others untouched."

"Yes, sir. But there is one very remarkable thing. I have gone on
through several streets, and it has always been the same--so far as
I can discover by questioning the concierges--at every house in
which Huguenots are lodging, there is a white cross on the door. In
the houses that are not so marked, there are no Huguenots."

"That is strange, certainly, Pierre," Philip said, struck alike by
the fact and by the