I would that I were out of this city of Paris, and away from France
itself," said Nigel.

"Many think and feel as you do, and are acting upon it," answered the
steward. "Already many thousand men of science and clever artisans have
left, to carry their knowledge and industry to other lands; and others,
in all directions, are preparing to follow. You will hear more about
the matter when you visit the admiral, and my good master, who does not
look unmoved on such proceedings. More on the subject it would not
become me to say. Not long ago an edict was issued, by which all the
old laws on heresy were revived, it being the resolution of the king to
purge and clear the country of all those who are deemed heretics.
Magistrates are ordered to search unceasingly for them, and to make
domiciliary visits in quest of forbidden books, while the informer is to
obtain one-third of the heretic's confiscated property. Should a person
be acquitted of heresy in any ordinary court of justice, he may be again
tried before an ecclesiastical tribunal, thus depriving him of all
chances of escape. Even interference on behalf of a heretic is made
penal, and should a person be suspected, he must exhibit a certificate
of orthodoxy, or run the risk of being condemned. You see, therefore,
young sir, that I am right in recommending caution as to what you say;
not that these edicts have the effect expected, for Calvinism increases
rapidly, and the stream of emigration continues from all parts of the
kingdom."

They walked on in silence, Nigel meditating on what he had heard.

"Some fresh air will do you good after the scenes we have witnessed,"
observed Maitre Leroux. "We will take a turn in the Pre-aux-Clercs. It
is but a short distance past the Invalides."

It was evening, and a number of people were thronging that pleasant
meadow on the banks of the Seine, the Hyde Park of that period. A party
of young men coming by struck up one of the hymns of Marot, a
translation of one of the psalms of David, written some years before by
the Protestant poet. Others joined in, and evidently sang them
heartily; several other parties, as they passed along, were indulging in
the same melodies.

"How is it, after what you have told me, that the people venture to sing
these hymns?" asked Nigel. "I know them well, for they have already
been introduced into our Protestant congregations in Scotland."

"They became the favourites of the king and court