ition,
making me see that the faith in which I had been born was the only one
for me. 'And I can assure your Majesty,' I added, 'that many of
the Languedoc bishops who ought, it seems to me, to try to make us
Catholics, are the instruments which Providence uses to prevent us
from becoming so. For instead of attracting us by gentleness and good
example, they ceaselessly subject us to all kinds of persecutions, as if
to convince us that God is punishing us for our cowardice in giving up
a religion which we know to be good, by delivering us up to pastors who,
far from labouring to assure our salvation, use all their efforts to
drive us to despair."

"At this the king shrugged his shoulders and said, 'Enough, do not say
any more.' I asked for his blessing as the king and father of all his
subjects. The king burst out laughing, and told me that M. de Chamillard
would give me his orders."

In virtue of this intimation d'Aygaliers went next day to the minister's
country house; for Chamillard had given him that address, and there he
learned that the king had granted him a pension of 800 livres. The baron
remarked that, not having worked for money, he had hoped for a better
reward; as far as money was concerned, he desired only the reimbursement
of the actual expenses of his journeys to and from, but Chamillard
answered that the king expected all that he offered and whatever he
offered to be accepted with gratitude. To this there was no possible
reply, so the same evening d'Aygaliers set out on his return to
Languedoc.

Three months later, Chamillard forwarded him an order to leave the
kingdom, telling him that he was to receive a pension of four hundred
crowns per annum, and enclosing the first quarter in advance.

As there was no means of evading this command, D'Aygaliers set out for
Geneva, accompanied by thirty-three followers, arriving there on the
23rd of September. Once rid of him, Louis the Magnificent thought that
he had done his part nobly and that he owed him nothing further, so that
d'Aygaliers waited a whole year in vain for the second quarter of his
pension.

At the end of this time, as his letters to Chamillard remained
unanswered, and finding himself without resources in a foreign country,
he believed himself justified in returning to France and taking up his
residence on his family estate. Unfortunately, on his way through Lyons,
the provost of merchants, hearing of his return, had him arrested, and
sent