ells of the church nearest to the Louvre rang out on the Eve of St
Bartholomew--they gave the signal for a cruel massacre. After the
devout Protestant, Coligny, was slain in the presence of the Duke of
Guise, there was little resistance from the other defenceless Huguenot
nobles. They were roused from sleep, surprised by treacherous foes,
and relentlessly murdered. It was impossible to combine in their
perilous position. Two thousand were put to death in Paris, where the
very women and children acted like monsters of cruelty to the heretics
for three days, and proved themselves as cunning as the Swiss guards
who had slain the King's guests on the night of Saint Bartholomew. A
Huguenot noble escaped from his assailants and rushed into Henry's very
bridal chamber. He cried, "Navarre! Navarre!" and hoped for
protection from the Protestant prince against four archers who were
following him. Henry had risen early and gone out to the tennis-court,
and Margaret was powerless to offer any help. She fled from the room
in terror, having heard nothing previously of the Guises' secret
conspiracy.

{108}

Charles IX sent for Navarre and disclosed the fact that he had been
privy to the massacre. He showed plainly that the Protestants were to
find no toleration henceforth. Henry felt that his life was in great
jeopardy, for most of the noblemen he had brought to Paris had fallen
in the massacre, and he stood practically alone at a Catholic court.
Henry understood that if he were to be spared it was only at the price
of his conversion, and with the alternatives of death or the Mass
before him, it is little wonder that he yielded, at least in
appearance, to the latter. There were spies and traitors to be feared
in the circle of the Medici. Even Margaret was not safe since her
marriage to a Protestant, but she gave wise counsel to her husband and
guided him skilfully through the perils of court life.

Catherine disarmed the general indignation of Europe by spreading an
ingeniously concocted story to the effect that the Huguenots had been
sacrificed because they plotted a foul attack on the Crown of France.
She had been hostile to Coligny rather than to his policy, and
continued to follow his scheme of thwarting Spain by alliances with
Elizabeth and the Prince of Orange.

Henry of Guise met the charge of excessive zeal in defending his King
with perfect equanimity. He was a splendid figure at the court,
winning populari