g psalms together, while Cavalier and I talked.
I was very much pleased with what, he said, and convinced him without
difficulty that he should submit for the sake of the brethren, who could
then choose whichever course best suited them, and either leave the
kingdom or serve the king. I said that I believed the last course to
be the best, provided we were allowed to worship God according to our
consciences; because I hoped that, seeing their faithful service, His
Majesty would recognise that he had been imposed upon by those who had
described us as disloyal subjects, and that we should thus obtain for
the whole nation that liberty of conscience which had been granted to
us; that in no other way, as far as I could see, could our deplorable
condition be ameliorated, for although Cavalier and his men might be
able to exist for some time longer in the forests and mountains, they
would never be strong enough to save the inhabitants of towns and other
enclosed places from perishing.

"Upon this he replied, that although the Catholics seldom kept a promise
made to those of our religion, he was willing to risk his life for
the welfare of his brethren and the province but that he trusted if he
confided in the clemency of the king for whom he had never ceased to
pray, no harm would happen him."

Thereupon d'Aygaliers, delighted to find him so well inclined, begged
him to give him a letter for M. de Villars, and as Cavalier knew the
marechal to be loyal and zealous, and had great confidence in him, he
wrote without any hesitation the following letter:

"MONSEIGNEUR,--Permit me to address your Excellency in order to beg
humbly for the favour of your protection for myself and for my soldiers.
We are filled with the most ardent desire to repair the fault which we
have committed by bearing arms, not against the king, as our enemies
have so falsely asserted, but to defend our lives against those who
persecuted us, attacking us so fiercely that we believed it was done
by order of His Majesty. We know that it was written by St. Paul that
subjects ought to submit themselves to their king, and if in spite of
these sincere protestations our sovereign should still demand our blood,
we shall soon be ready to throw ourselves on his justice or his mercy;
but we should, Monseigneur, regard ourselves as happy, if His Majesty,
moved by our repentance, would grant us his pardon and receive us
into his service, according to the example of the God