“Your highness is in error; your brother’s throne will only come to you if you take it. MM. de Guise cannot be kings themselves, but they will only allow to reign a king of their own making, a king whom they substitute for the reigning one. They count on your highness, but if you refuse, they will seek another.”
“And who will dare to seat himself on the throne of Charlemagne?”
“A Bourbon instead of a Valois, monseigneur; a son of St, Louis, instead of a son of St. Louis.”
“The king of Navarre?”
“Why not? He is young, and brave,”
“He is a Huguenot.”
“Was he not converted at the St. Bartholomew?”
“Yes, and he abjured afterwards.”
“Oh, monseigneur, what he did for his wife, he will do again for the crown.”
“They think, then, that I will yield my rights without a struggle.”