"He will be defeated, as you term it, no more, fair lady," answered the Marquis; "for if report speaks true, he is even now marching against Henry of Bourbon with a force that shall crush him and his apostates, as men tread down an ants' nest." "Indeed?" asked his fair companion; "then there will be a battle soon?" "Within three days, men think," replied Chazeul. "And of course you will be present?" said Rose d'Albret. But the colour rose in her lover's cheek while he replied, "Nay, I cannot quit my bride and give up my bridal for any cause." "True! men would say it was an ungallant gallantry," she replied; "and yet ladies love heroic acts I have heard. God help us! We women, I believe, but little know what we would have." "That is very true," said the priest; "and, therefore, fair daughter, it is wisely arranged that others should decide for them." "Perhaps so," answered the lady; "but one thing is certain, they would do so, whether it were better for us or not." They then walked on once or twice along the whole range of the rampart without speaking, each seemingly busy with thoughts which they did not choose to utter; till at length the lady resumed the conversation on a new theme: "Methinks, cousin of Chazeul, the court in its days of splendour, must have been a gay place." "It was, indeed," replied the Marquis, glad of a subject which enabled him to speak more freely; "I know nought so brilliant on the face of the earth as was the court of Henry of Valois, some five years before his death; but I trust ere long we shall see a monarch who will hold as bright a one, without displaying his weaknesses; and then I trust Rose de Chazeul will shine amongst the very first in splendour, and in beauty." "I am determined," she answered, with a smile, "if ever I appear at the court, to have a coronet of diamonds fashioned into roses, to bear out my name." "Oh trust to me," cried Chazeul, "trust to me, to find devices which shall make you outshine the Queen." "Ha! there come a party over the hills," cried Mademoiselle d'Albret. "It is De Montigni, I am sure;" and running forward to the edge of the rampart, she looked forth; but, as she did so, she murmured, "Do they think to buy and sell me for a goldsmith's toy?" Her two companions joined her in a moment; and, as the party approached, she waved her hand as we have before related, gaily beckoning her cousin. He did not raise his eyes, however; and with an air of some mortification, she said, "He will not look up!" "He is bashful," said Chazeul; "too much study makes but a timid gentleman." "So they say," replied Rose d'Albret; "but let us in and meet him at all events." CHAPTER IV.