of Guise are expecting reinforcements for your
army. That was what we were talking about."

"And these reinforcements are on their way," said the admiral.

"Have you had news of them?" asked the Bearnais.

"Yes, my son, and particularly of M. de la Mole; he was at Orleans
yesterday, and will be in Paris to-morrow or the day after."

"The devil! You must be a sorcerer, admiral," said the Duc de Guise, "to
know what is taking place at thirty or forty leagues' distance. I should
like to know for a certainty what happened or is happening before
Orleans."

Coligny remained unmoved at this savage onslaught, which evidently
alluded to the death of Francois de Guise, the duke's father, killed
before Orleans by Poltrot de Mere, and not without a suspicion that the
admiral had advised the crime.

"Sir," replied he, coldly and with dignity, "I am a sorcerer whenever I
wish to know anything positively that concerns my own affairs or the
King's. My courier arrived an hour ago from Orleans, having travelled,
thanks to the post, thirty-two leagues in a day. As M. de la Mole has
only his own horse, he rides but ten leagues a day, and will not arrive
in Paris before the 24th. Here is all my magic."

"Bravo, my father, a clever answer!" cried Charles IX.; "teach these
young men that wisdom as well as age has whitened your hair and beard;
so now we will send them to talk of their tournaments and their
love-affairs and you and I will stay and talk of our wars. Good
councillors make good kings, my father. Leave us, gentlemen. I wish to
talk with the admiral."

The two young men took their departure; the King of Navarre first, then
the Duc de Guise; but outside the door they separated, after a formal
salute.

Coligny followed them with his eyes, not without anxiety, for he never
saw those two personified hatreds meet without a dread that some new
lightning flash would leap forth. Charles IX. saw what was passing in
his mind, and, going to him, laid his hand on his arm:

"Have no fear, my father; I am here to preserve peace and obedience. I
am really a king, now that my mother is no longer queen, and she is no
longer queen now that Coligny is my father."

"Oh, sire!" said the admiral, "Queen Catharine"--

"Is a marplot. Peace is impossible with her. These Italian Catholics are
furious, and will hear of nothing but extermination; now, for my part, I
not only wish to pacify, but I wish to put power into the hands of those
that pr