he would never let her
involve herself, as she was ready to do, in the civil war, without even
knowing the doctrine which grave and earnest men had preferred to their
loyalty.

He could hear her murmuring to her baby, 'No, no, little one, we are not
fallen so low as to beg our bread among strangers.' To live upon her own
vassals had seemed to her only claiming her just rights, but it galled
her to think of being beholden to stranger Huguenots; and England
and her mother-in-law, without Berenger, were utterly foreign and
distasteful to her.

Her mood was variable. Messages from Blaise and Martin came and went,
and it became known that her intended shelter at Chollet, together
with all the adjacent houses, had been closely searched by the younger
Ribaumont in conjunction with the governor; so that it was plain that
some treachery must exist, and that she only owed her present freedom to
her detention in the ruined temple; and it would be necessary to leave
that as soon as it was possible for her to attempt the journey.

The plan that seemed most feasible to the vassals was, that Rotrou
should convey her in a cart of fagots as far as possible on the road
to Paris; that there his men should meet her by different roads, riding
their farm-horses--and Martin even hoped to be able to convey her own
palfrey to her from the monastery stable, and thence, taking a long
stretch across country, they trusted to be able to reach the lands of a
dependant of the house of Montmorency, who would not readily yield her
up to a Guise's man. But, whether instigated by Perrine, or by their own
judgment, the vassals declared that, though Madame should be conducted
wherever she desired, it was impossible to encumber themselves with the
infant. Concealment would be impossible; rough, hasty rides would be
retarded, her difficulties would be tenfold increased, and the little
one would become a means of tracing her. There was no choice but to
leave it with Simonette.

Angrily and haughtily did Eustacie always reject this alternative, and
send fresh commands back by her messenger, to meet the same reply in
another form. The strong will and practical resolution of the stout
farmers, who were about to make a terrible venture for her, and might
reasonably think they had a right to prescribe the terms that they
thought best. All this time Maitre Gardon felt it impossible to leave
her, still weak and convalescent, alone in the desolate ruin with her
y