"Too late!" he exclaimed, in passionate regret.
"Come, Pierre," and he broke into a rapid run.
Several times groups of men came out from bye-streets at the sound of the rapid footsteps, but Philip exclaimed:
"Away there! I am on urgent business for Anjou and Guise."
The men fell back at once, in each case, not doubting from the badges on the arms, which they could make out in the darkness, that Philip was bearing some important order.
"To the Admiral's, first," he said to Pierre. "It is there they will surely begin."
But as they entered the Rue de Bethisy, he saw a number of men pouring out from the Admiral's house, with drawn swords and waving their torches over their heads. By the light, Philip could make out Henri of Guise and Henry of Valois, with their attendants and soldiers.
"We are too late here, Pierre. The Admiral has doubtless been murdered. His confidence in the king's word has undone him."
Coligny, indeed, had refused the offer of many Protestant gentlemen to spend the night in the house; and even Teligny, his son-in-law, had gone to his own lodgings a short distance away. He had with him only his chaplain Merlin, the king's surgeon, three gentlemen and four or five servants; while in the court below were five of the King of Navarre's Swiss guards.
The Admiral had been awakened by the increasing noise without, but entertained no alarm whatever. Suddenly a loud knocking was heard at the outer gate, and a demand for entrance, in the king's name.