There was still so much uneasiness felt about them, that on the 16th of September, when the news spread that some Bernese gentlemen had arrived at the hostelry of the Tour Perse[628] with Baudichon and Collonier, many persons would hardly believe it. God gave the Genevans more than they hoped for. When friends who have been supposed lost are found again, those who had sorrowed over their bereavement run to meet them, and feel an inexpressible satisfaction as they look at them. So it happened at Geneva when the two prisoners returned. There was great joy in the city: many gave thanks to God that ‘the violent course of the wolves who would have devoured the best sheep of the flock had been frustrated,’ and praised the King of France because he valued the arquebuses of the Swiss more than the paternosters of the priests. Desirous of showing the ambassadors a mark of respectful gratitude, the four syndics and the councillors, with their ushers and serjeants, proceeded on the 17th of September to the Tour Perse[629] to hold an official sitting, at which the transfer of the prisoners was to be made. The chief magistrates of the republic having taken their seats in one of the large rooms, according to the usual order, Rodolph of Diesbach and G. Schœner entered, accompanied by the captives. Those noble gentlemen explained that they had come from Lyons and the court of France; that with God’s aid they had obtained the release of the two Genevans; that, according to rule, they ought to deliver the prisoners into the hands of the magnificent lords of Berne, to whose intervention their deliverance was due;[630] that they yielded, however, to the wishes of Baudichon and Collonier, who preferred to remain in the city of Geneva;[631] and that they only wanted a guarantee that the Council would be willing to produce them before Messieurs of Berne, whenever the latter demanded them.[632] The Genevese magistrates thanked the lords of Berne, and gave the required guarantee in writing.[633] At last De la Maisonneuve was free: he could return to his wife and children, and converse with his friends. The latter were never tired of listening to him: the particulars of his imprisonment, his examinations, and his dangers possessed the liveliest interest for them. Froment especially, who was fond of a gossip,[634] asked him many questions. ‘As Baudichon told me,’ we read in his _Gestes_, ‘all that could not be done without great expense, and his captivity cost him one thousand and fifty crowns of the sun.’[635] A letter from Francis I. completed this episode in the history of the Reformation. Four days after the prisoners had been restored to their homes, that prince wrote to the syndics at Geneva:—[636] ‘To our very dear and good friends the lords of Geneva: