François, trembling in every limb, seemed struck by these words. He seized the queen's hand.
"Remember, Sire," said the stern voice of the nuncio, who wished to recall the king to a more severe view of his duty,—"remember that you are the very Christian king."
"Yes, I do remember it," replied François II., firmly. "Let mercy be shown to the Baron de Castelnau!"
But the Cardinal de Lorraine, feigning to misinterpret the meaning of the king's first phrase, had made an imperative sign to the executioner.
As François pronounced the word "mercy," Castelnau's head rolled upon the planks of the scaffold.
The next day the Prince de Condé set out for Navarre.
"O Lord, to us be merciful,
"And bless us with Thy grace,
"And show unto our humble hearts
The brightness of Thy face."
""O Lord, to us be merciful,
And bless us with Thy grace,
"And show unto our humble hearts
The brightness of Thy face."