Measures of precautions were accordingly taken; but at the hour appointed, the Count d'Aubin and one or two inferior leaders, who had joined their forces to his, presented themselves at the outposts of the army of the League; and once having placed their troops within the limits of the garrison of Paris, so as to be out of danger, D'Aubin and his companions rode into the city, followed by merely a small train of common attendants. His reception from the Duke of Mayenne was as gracious as the circumstances had led him to expect; and the news which he bore of the doubts and differences in the royal camp not only removed from the leaders of the League every fear of attack, but suggested the hope of obtaining some striking success by assuming the offensive. Mayenne, however, though a skilful general, and a bold, decided, and courageous man, was wanting in that great quality, activity. Much time was spent in preparation; and it was not till the third day after the king's death, that it was determined to march a body, consisting of ten thousand of the best troops of the League, by a circuitous route to Meulan, and to take up a position in the rear of the king's army, thus cutting off his retreat upon either Normandy or the south, and exposing him, if he held his present camp, to be attacked at once in front and flank. The command of the force destined for this important expedition was divided between the Chevalier d'Aumale and the Count d'Aubin, whose skill, courage, and activity, were undoubted, and whose zeal in favour of the League, and against the Royalists, was likely to be the more energetic from the fact of his having just joined the one and abandoned the others. The march was ordered to commence the next morning early; but late in the evening, when Mayenne, seated alone in his cabinet, was busily preparing his last written order for the two officers in command, the Count d'Aubin was suddenly announced, at least an hour before the Duke expected him. He was instantly admitted, however, and advanced to the table at which Mayenne was sitting, with one of those smiles upon his lips, which showed that his errand had its share of bitterness. "Well, my lord," he said, "I come to save you unnecessary trouble. You may lay down the pen; for--as I thought we should be--we are too late." "How so?" demanded the Duke of Mayenne. "We cannot be too late, if they have not bribed Saint Mark. The place could hold out a year."