"Are the two gentlemen you are with of our people, Monsieur Coligny?"
"Yes. One is French, the other a foreigner, both devoted to our cause. I have felt safe to bring them to our assembly. I vouch for them, as for myself. The foreigner is a German Prince, Charles of Gerolstein, a cousin of the Prince of Deux-Ponts, and, like him, one of the boldest followers of Luther. My other friend, a younger son of Count Neroweg of Plouernel, one of the great seigneurs of Brittany and Auvergne, is as zealous in favor of the Reformation as his elder brother for the maintenance of the privileges and dominion of the Church of Rome."
"Sad divisions of the domestic hearth!" observed John Calvin with a sigh. "It is to be hoped the truth of the Evangelium may penetrate and enlighten all the hearts of the great family of Christ!"
"May that era of peace and harmony soon arrive, Monsieur Calvin," replied Gaspard of Coligny. "The arrival of that great day is anxiously desired by my friend Gaston, the Viscount of Plouernel and captain of the regiment of Brittany. With all his power has he propagated the Reformation in his province. To draw you his picture with one stroke, I shall add that my mother has often said to me I could not choose a wiser and more worthy friend than Gaston Neroweg, the Viscount of Plouernel."
"The judgment of a mother, and such a mother as Madam Coligny, is not likely to go astray regarding her son's choice of his friends," answered John Calvin. "Our cause is the cause of all honorable people. I would like to express to your friends my great gratification at the support they bring to us."
Gaspard of Coligny stepped ahead to inform his friends of John Calvin's wish that they be introduced to him.
Upon hearing the name of the Viscount of Plouernel, Christian had started with surprise. Accident was bringing him in friendly contact with one of the descendants of the Nerowegs, that stock of Frankish seigneurs which the sons of Joel the Gaul had, in the course of generations, so often encountered, to their sorrow. He felt a sort of instinctive repulsion for the Viscount of Plouernel, and cast upon him uneasy and distrustful looks as, accompanied by Gaspard of Coligny and Prince Charles of Gerolstein, he stepped towards John Calvin. While the latter was exchanging a few words with his new friends, Christian examined the descendant of Neroweg with curiosity. His features reproduced the typical impress of his race—bright-blonde hair, aquiline nose, round and piercing eyes. Nevertheless, the artisan was struck by the expression of frankness and kindness that rendered the young man's physiognomy attractive.
"Gentlemen," said John Calvin, whose voice interrupted the meditations of Christian, "I am happy, in my turn, to introduce you to one of ours, Monsieur Lebrenn, a worthy coadjutor in the printing office of our friend Robert Estienne. Monsieur Lebrenn has incurred no little danger in affording hospitality to me. Moreover, it is to him we are indebted for the discovery of the locality where we are to meet to-night."
"Monsieur," replied Gaspard of Coligny addressing Christian with emotion, "my friends and I share the sentiments of gratitude that Monsieur John Calvin entertains for you."
"Besides that, Monsieur Lebrenn," added Neroweg, the Viscount of Plouernel, "I am delighted to meet one of the assistants of the illustrious Robert Estienne. All that we, men of arms and war, have to place at the service of the cause of religious liberty is our sword; but you and your companions in your pursuit, you operate a marvelous talisman—the press! Glory to that invention! Light follows upon darkness. No longer is Holy Writ, in whose name the Church of Rome imposed so many secular idolatries upon the people, an impenetrable mystery. Its truth owes to the press its second revelation. Finally, thanks to the effect of the press, the hope is justified that Evangelical fraternity will one day reign on earth!"