d come to no decision. He asked for proofs, and none was
forthcoming, except some idle gossip of the streets and the foolish
threats of a few hot-headed Huguenots. Charles had learned to love the
admiral: could he believe that the gentle Coligny and that
Rochefoucault, the companion of his rough sports, were guilty of this
meditated plot? He desired to be the king of France--of Huguenots and
Catholics alike--not a king of party. Catherine, in her despair,
employed her last argument. She whispered in his ear, "Perhaps, sire,
you are afraid." As if struck by an arrow, he started from his chair.
Raving like a madman, he bade them hold their tongues, and with fearful
oaths exclaimed: "Kill the admiral, if you like, but kill all the
Huguenots with him--all--all--all--so that not one be left to reproach
me hereafter. See to it at once--at once; do you hear?" And he dashed
furiously out of the closet, leaving the conspirators aghast at his
violence.

But there was no time to be lost; the King might change his mind; the
Huguenots might get wind of the plot. The murderous scheme must be
carried out that very night, and accordingly the Duke of Guise was
summoned to the Louvre. And now the different parts of the tragedy were
arranged, Guise undertaking, on the strength of his popularity with the
Parisian mob, to lead them to the work of blood. We may also imagine him
begging as a favor the privilege of despatching the admiral in
retaliation for his father's murder. The city was parted into districts,
each of which was assigned to some trusty officer, Marshal Tavannes
having the general superintendence of the military arrangements. The
conspirators now separated, intending to meet again at ten o'clock.
Guise went into the city, where he communicated his plans to such of the
mob leaders as could be trusted. He told them of a bloody conspiracy
among the Huguenot chiefs to destroy the King and the royal family and
extirpate Catholicism; that a renewal of war was inevitable, but it was
better that war should come in the streets of Paris than in the open
field, for the leaders would thus be far more effectually punished and
their followers crushed. He affirmed that letters had been intercepted
in which the admiral had sought the aid of German reiters and Swiss
pikemen, and that Montmorency was approaching with twenty-five thousand
men to burn the city, as the Huguenots had often threatened. And, as if
to give color to this idle story, a