increased within the last half
hour. The silence in which in groups or singly these figures stole by
me was very striking. I heard no brawling, fighting or singing; yet if
it were too late for these things, why were so many people up and
about? I began to count presently, and found that at least half of
those I met wore badges in their hats and on their arms, similar to
mine, and that they all moved with a businesslike air, as if bound for
some rendezvous.

I was not a fool, though I was young, and in some matters less quick
than Croisette. The hints which had been dropped by so many had not
been lost on me. "There is more afoot to-night than you know of!"
Madame d'O had said. And having eyes as well as ears I fully believed
it. Something was afoot. Something was going to happen in Paris
before morning. But what, I wondered. Could it be that a rebellion was
about to break out? If so I was on the king's service, and all was
well. I might even be going--and only eighteen--to make history! Or
was it only a brawl on a great scale between two parties of nobles? I
had heard of such things happening in Paris. Then--well I did not see
how I could act in that case. I must be guided by events.

I did not imagine anything else which it could be. That is the truth,
though it may need explanation. I was accustomed only to the milder
religious differences, the more evenly balanced parties of Quercy,
where the peace between the Catholics and Huguenots had been welcome to
all save a very few. I could not gauge therefore the fanaticism of the
Parisian populace, and lost count of the factor, which made possible
that which was going to happen--was going to happen in Paris before
daylight as surely as the sun was going to rise! I knew that the
Huguenot nobles were present in the city in great numbers, but it did
not occur to me that they could as a body be in danger. They were many
and powerful, and as was said, in favour with the king. They were
under the protection of the King of Navarre--France's brother-in-law of
a week, and the Prince of Conde; and though these princes were young,
Coligny the sagacious admiral was old, and not much the worse I had
learned for his wound. He at least was high in royal favour, a trusted
counsellor. Had not the king visited him on his sick-bed and sat by
him for an hour together?

Surely, I thought, if there were danger, these men would know of it.
And then the Huguenots' main en