Henry of Navarre, who was allowed to visit Bayonne, because, said Philip, “he is still a child, whom God will not allow to remain in ignorance.” One day when the Duke of Alva and Catherine were conversing together, the former, putting Tarquin’s gesture into words, advised her to get rid of the Huguenot nobles, after which all would be easy work: “Ten thousand frogs,” he said, “are not worth the head of one salmon.”[368] Henry overheard him, and the words struck him so much that he repeated them to Soffrey de Calignon, one of his attendants, by whom they were transmitted to the Queen of Navarre. They soon became known to the Huguenot leaders, and aroused a suspicion, which it would have been well for them had they never laid aside. The words produced a deep impression upon Catherine, and more than once she tried to act upon them, until at last she succeeded but too well. Giovanni Correro, the Venetian envoy, writing to his government in 1569, gives us a little insight into the queen-mother’s opinions about this time. Being one day in a confidential mood, she said to her fellow-countryman: “While at Carcassone, on my way back from Bayonne, I read a manuscript chronicle about the mother of St. Louis, a boy only eleven years old. She had to contend against malcontent nobles, but with time the king grew up and crushed his enemies beneath the vengeance they had drawn upon themselves. I applied the case to myself.” Correro observed: “Your majesty must have found comfort therein, for as the present is an image of the past, so you may be sure the end will not be unlike.” At this the queen began to laugh, as was her custom when she heard any thing that pleased her, and replied: “But I should not like any body to know that I have read that chronicle, for they would say that I am taking Queen Blanche of Castile for my pattern.”[369] It was not likely this precedent would be forgotten when opportunity served. It is certain that nothing was settled at the Bayonne meeting, Catherine being steadfast in her purpose to maintain her power by holding the balance between the two hostile parties. “She has promised to do wonders,” wrote Granvelle (20th August, 1565), “but will do nothing of any service.” The king, young as he was, proved equally immovable. “It is easy to see that he has been tutored,” wrote Alva contemptuously to his master. And thus terminated the interview from which so much had been expected.[370] It left, however, a very bitter feeling among the Huguenots, who believed that some devilish plot had been contrived against them, and tended to alienate them from the crown, although they still professed great loyalty to the king, not confounding him with the government, as the Parliamentarians expressed their devotion to Charles I.