"Monseigneur," said De Mouy, "I swear to you"—
"Do not swear, monseigneur; the reformed church forbids the taking of oaths, and especially of false oaths."
De Mouy frowned.
"I tell you I know all," continued the duke.
De Mouy was still silent.
"You doubt it?" said the prince with affected persistence. "Well, my dear De Mouy, we shall have to be convinced. Come, now, you shall judge if I am wrong. Did you or did you not propose to my brother-in-law Henry, in his room just now," the duke pointed to the chamber of the Béarnais, "your aid and that of your followers to reinstate him in his kingdom of Navarre?"
De Mouy looked at the duke with a startled gaze.
"A proposition which he refused with terror."
De Mouy was still amazed.
"Did you then invoke your old friendship, the remembrance of a common religion? Did you even hold out to the King of Navarre a very brilliant hope, a hope so brilliant that he was dazzled by it—the hope of winning the crown of France? Come, tell me; am I well informed? Is that what you came to propose to the Béarnais?"