The chants went on; the axe still fell. The sublime spectacle of men singing as they died, and, above all, the impression produced upon the crowd by the progressive diminution of the chanting voices, superseded the fear inspired by the Guises. “Mercy!” cried the people with one voice, when they heard the solitary chant of the last and most important of the great lords, who was saved to be the final victim. He alone remained at the foot of the steps by which the others had mounted the scaffold, and he chanted:-- “Thou, O God, be merciful unto us, And bless us, And cause thy face to shine upon us. Amen!” “Come, Duc de Nemours,” said the Prince de Conde, weary of the part he was playing; “you who have the credit of the skirmish, and who helped to make these men prisoners, do you not feel under an obligation to ask mercy for this one? It is Castelnau, who, they say, received your word of honor that he should be courteously treated if he surrendered.” “Do you think I waited till he was here before trying to save him?” said the Duc de Nemours, stung by the stern reproach. The clerk called slowly--no doubt he was intentionally slow:-- “Michel-Jean-Louis, Baron de Castelnau-Chalosse, accused and convicted of the crime of _lese-majeste_, and of attempts against the person of the king.” “No,” said Castelnau, proudly, “it cannot be a crime to oppose the tyranny and the projected usurpation of the Guises.” The executioner, sick of his task, saw a movement in the king’s gallery, and fumbled with his axe. “Monsieur le baron,” he said, “I do not want to execute you; a moment’s delay may save you.” All the people again cried, “Mercy!” “Come!” said the king, “mercy for that poor Castelnau, who saved the life of the Duc d’Orleans.” The cardinal intentionally misunderstood the king’s speech. “Go on,” he motioned to the executioner, and the head of Castelnau fell at the very moment when the king had pronounced his pardon. “That head, cardinal, goes to your account,” said Catherine de’ Medici. The day after this dreadful execution the Prince de Conde returned to Navarre.