There was something sneering and bitter in the tone of the Count d'Aubin, which, though it made the Duke of Longueville, and others of the undecided party, hate him, and inclined them more than before to the service of Henry IV. yet rendered others, even better disposed towards the monarch, afraid to answer; and, for a moment there was a pause. Seeing that no one spoke, however, St. Real took a step forward to the table, and, without the slightest degree of hesitation, addressed the assembly, while his name passed from mouth to mouth, and many an enquiring ear was turned to hear what one of the simple St. Reals would say, after the speech of the sarcastic Count d'Aubin. "Gentlemen of France," he said, "my opinion, in many respects, coincides with that of my cousin who has just spoken." D'Aubin, De Sancy, and Biron, looked at him and each other in astonishment. "My opinion," he repeated, "in many respects coincides with his; but, as is very often the case with us, my conduct will be the direct reverse. I think as he does, that to ask his Majesty to change his religion on a sudden change of fortune, were to ask him to become a hypocrite; and I should as soon think of requiring him to do so, in order to gain my services, as he would think of requiring me to abandon my faith to merit his favour. Let us be too just to do the one, and we may feel sure that he is too just to do the other. The claims of his majesty, King Henry IV. are known to us all. As the lineal descendant of St. Louis, he is king of this realm of France, unless some of his acts have been so black as to render him incapable of reigning. Now what have his acts throughout life been up to this day, but noble, generous, chivalrous, worthy to lead a nation of brave hearts upon the path of honour? And shall we attempt to pry into his conscience? Shall we demand that, by a sudden abjuration of his long-cherished belief, he should stain that honour which he has ever held so pure and spotless? The worst that the most zealous Catholic can apprehend--and none is more zealous than I am--is that a Protestant monarch should interfere with our faith. Let us not set him the example by interfering with his, and take for a guarantee of his future conduct the whole of his conduct that has gone before. We have, at this moment, two claims upon us--the claims of our country and our king,--both equally powerful on the hearts of Frenchmen, and happily both in this instance leading us in the same direction. Our first duty is to put an end to the factions which have torn this unhappy land, and left her scarce a shadow of her former prosperity; to compel the rebellious to submission, and teach the ambitious to limit their expectations to their rights,--to bring back, in short, security, and peace, and union to France. This can only be done by bending all our energies to uphold the shaken throne, and with those good swords, which have never yet been drawn in an unjust quarrel, to open a way