do mistake us; let every one do therein what best liketh him.”[480] Affairs were hurrying on more quickly than Charles had anticipated; Spain was threatening war, and no preparations had been made. A matrimonial alliance between Anjou and Elizabeth, which would place the resources of England at the disposal of France, was the key of the position; but the queen was coy, and refused to give a decided answer. Without such close alliance war with Spain was impossible; for England cast a longing eye on Flanders, and would regard the French conquests in that quarter with suspicion. What was to be done? Should Charles give way, or brave the consequences? There was only one man in France competent to advise on such a point, and he still remained aloof at Rochelle. When Louis of Nassau left that city to confer with Charles, he bore a letter from the admiral, complaining of a plot that had been got up to treat the Huguenots worse than before, and that no attempt had been made to punish the perpetrators of the outrages at Orange and Rouen. He then went on to justify his suspicions and his absence from the court: “It will be difficult for those of the religion to believe that your majesty desires things should go on well, so long as they see the authors of the tumults about him.” He followed up this side-blow at the Guises by suggesting that all suspicions would be allayed were the king to punish the perpetrators of the outrages at Rouen and Orange. Charles IX. acted upon the advice: he sent a commission of inquiry to Rouen. Many of the rioters were hanged, but the ringleaders escaped and found shelter among the Catholics, who seem to have received them rather as heroes than as criminals; much in the same way as a murderer is still harbored among the Irish peasantry. The king also manifested great displeasure toward his brother of Anjou, and so openly insulted the Duke of Guise that he had no alternative but to leave the court.