Anna Bell's mind began to wander. Livid and shivering she crouched in a heap upon the ground, her voice choked in her throat, already rigid with terror, and escaped only in convulsive sobs. The Avengers of Israel hurried to heap up the bare branches around a tall oak-tree planted before the portico of the chapel. The Franc-Taupin stepped towards the Cordelier, who muttered in an agonizing voice, "Miserere mei, Domine—miserere!"
Again the solemnity of ordaining the monk a Cardinal was suddenly interrupted. The sound of an approaching and numerous cavalcade reached the Avengers of Israel. A moment later Prince Franz of Gerolstein appeared at the head of a mounted troop.
The personage who now stepped upon the scene was the grandson of Charles of Gerolstein, who in 1534 assisted at the council of the Calvinists in the quarry of Montmartre, together with Christian the printer. The young Prince was twenty-five years of age. The short visor of his helmet exposed his features. Their regularity and symmetry were perfect; they expressed at once benevolence and resolution. Of tall and wiry build, the young man's heavy black cuirass, worn German fashion, and his thick armlets, seemed not to weigh upon him. His wide hose, made of scarlet cloth, were almost overlapped by his long boots of buff leather armed with silver spurs. A wide belt of white taffeta—the Protestants' rallying sign—was fastened with a knot on one side.
Immediately upon entering the chapel the Prince addressed the Franc-Taupin:
"Comrades, I have just learned that your scouts have arrested one of the Queen's maids of honor—"
Before the Franc-Taupin had time to answer the Prince, Anna Bell jumped up, ran to Franz, and threw herself at his feet, crying: "For mercy's sake, monsieur, deign to hear me!"
Franz of Gerolstein recognized the young girl at once. He reached out his hand to her and made her rise, saying: "I remember to have met you, mademoiselle, at the French court, last year. Be comforted. There must be some untoward misunderstanding in regard to you."
Anna Bell in turn seized the Prince's hands and covered them with kisses and tears. "I am innocent of the horrible crime that they charge me with!" she cried.
"Prince," broke in the Franc-Taupin, "the woman must die! The wretch is a poisoner; she is an emissary of Catherine De Medici; and you were singled out for her victim. We are about to do justice to the case."
"No pity for the prostitutes of the Italian woman! None for her messengers of death!" cried several Huguenots.