guerite or not, the king of France will never give it to you,
and unless you take it--"

"Oh, I would soon take it, if it was not so strong, and, above all, if I
did not hate war."

"Cahors is impregnable, sire."

"Oh! impregnable! But if I had an army, which I have not--"

"Listen, sire. We are not here to flatter each other. To take Cahors,
which is held by M. de Vesin, one must be a Hannibal or a Caesar; and
your majesty--"

"Well?" said Henri, with a smile.

"Has just said, you do not like war."

Henri sighed, and his eyes flashed for a minute; then he said:

"It is true I have never drawn the sword, and perhaps never shall. I am
a king of straw, a man of peace; but, by a singular contrast, I love to
think of warlike things--that is in my blood. St. Louis, my ancestor,
pious by education and gentle by nature, became on occasion a brave
soldier and a skillful swordsman. Let us talk, if you please, of M.
Vesin, who is a Caesar and a Hannibal."

"Sire, pardon me if I have wounded or annoyed you. I spoke only of M. de
Vesin to extinguish all hope in your heart. Cahors, you see, is so well
guarded because it is the key of the south."

"Alas! I know it well. I wished so much to possess Cahors, that I told
my poor mother to make it a sine qua non of our marriage. See, I am
speaking Latin now. Cahors, then, was my wife's dowry; they owe it to
me--"

"Sire, to owe and pay--"

"Are two different things, I know. So your opinion is, that they will
never pay me?"

"I fear not."

"Diable!"

"And frankly--"

"Well?"

"They will be right, sire."

"Why so?"

"Because you did not know your part of king; you should have got it at
once."

"Do you not, then, remember the tocsin of St. Germain l'Auxerrois?" said
Henri, bitterly. "It seems to me that a husband whom they try to murder
on the night of his marriage might think less of his dowry than of his
life."

"Yes; but since then, sire, we have had peace; and excuse me, sire, you
should have profited by it, and, instead of making love, have
negotiated. It is less amusing, I know, but more profitable. I speak,
sire, as much for my king as for you. If Henri of France had a strong
ally in Henri of Navarre, he would be stronger than any one; and if the
Protestants and Catholics of France and Navarre would unite in a common
political interest, they would make the rest of the world tremble."

"Oh, I do not pretend to make others tremble, so long as I do not
tr