"I guessed what had happened, and searched the streets. Finally I reached the house where you had taken refuge. I was too late for Monsieur Bellièvre; he was dead."
"As true a heart as beat in France!" I said.
"Yes," agreed L'Estang, "he was a gallant youngster. Turning from him I saw you fall, and ran across the room. The mob recognized me as Monseigneur's attendant, or it would have gone hard with you. Even as it was—but there, do the details matter? I got you away at last to the room I had prepared; then it was necessary to return to my patron."
I endeavoured to thank him, but he would hear nothing, saying, "A promise to the dead is sacred, monsieur."
"Charles may not be a strong king," I remarked some time later, "but he plays the hypocrite vastly well. One would have thought from his visit to the Admiral that he was devoured by grief."
"He was both sorry and angry at the attempt on Coligny's life; it was not his work."
"But surely he must have given orders for the massacre!"
"Afterwards, monsieur. At first I do not believe that even Guise meant to do more than kill Coligny and a few of the most powerful leaders. But they were blinded by panic; carried away by their own fears, and they swept Charles into the same stream."
"The world will say the horrible tragedy was planned from the beginning."
"The world may be right, but I hardly think so. No one, monsieur, can be more cruel than a panic-stricken man."