bright and clear, but I rose from my bed
with a troubled and unquiet feeling. I had passed a restless night,
dreaming that all Paris was ablaze, and that the streets of the city
were running with blood, and I could not get rid of the thought that
some terrible calamity was about to happen.

Directly it was light the house began to fill with Huguenot gentlemen,
asking eagerly how it fared with their beloved chief. He was still
extremely weak, but Pare spoke hopefully, declaring there was no cause
for alarm, and that his illustrious patient required only rest and
quietness.

"In a few days he will be able to leave Paris," said the famous surgeon,
"and his recovery is certain. I have not the slightest anxiety about
him."

This was cheering news, but as the day wore on strange and alarming
rumours began to reach us from the city. Our spies reported that the
streets were thronged with excited people, cheering for Guise and
threatening the Huguenots with death.

"There is some one behind all this," said Felix, "some one working in
secret to stir up the passions of the citizens. Unless the king
interferes there will be a terrible outbreak shortly."

About noon--we had not long risen from dinner--a man arrived bearing
news that, to our heated imaginations, was startling indeed. A great
meeting was taking place at the _Hotel de Guise_, where our bitterest
enemies had assembled. The spy brought a list of the names, and as he
recounted them one by one our feeling of uneasiness deepened.

"'Tis a plot against us," said one, "with Guise at the head, and Anjou
secretly favouring it."

"Are we to wait to be killed like sheep?" demanded Felix. "Have we not
swords of our own? Shall we keep them in their scabbards? Out upon us
for timid hares! We deserve to die, if we have not the courage to strike
a blow in our own defence!"

"What can we do?" asked Carnaton, who had just come from the sick-room.
"The Admiral is helpless, and Henry of Navarre is being closely watched.
We have no leaders, and it would be folly for us to break the peace."

"Let us wait," laughed Felix mockingly, "till this dog of a Guise has
murdered us all! Then, perhaps, it will be time to strike."

"The king has pledged his word to protect us," said La Bonne; "let us
ask him to send a guard for our chief."

"A guard for Coligny!" cried Felix in a bitter tone; "a guard for
Coligny, and a thousand Huguenot gentlemen in Paris! Let us summon our
comrades and