But the words, even if accurately reported, will hardly bear such a formidable superstructure: they may refer to the marriage, which was yet unsettled, as well as to the projected massacre. Farther, if Charles compassed the death of Lignerolles because the wretched man was supposed to have become master of the king’s secret, would Charles (with his presumed craft and reticence) have spoken thus openly of what he desired to keep in utter obscurity?[504] Never had the little town of Blois been more gay than it was in the spring of 1572. Banquets, balls, and _fêtes_ followed each other in rapid succession, much to the discomfort of Joan, whose principles and sober taste did not harmonize with such gayeties. The king, who was delighted at the share his young queen took in these amusements, was among the liveliest of the court, and was seen to the best advantage. If the marriage of Henry and Margaret was part of the scheme by which the Huguenots were to be lured to their destruction, there was very little probability in March, 1572, that it would ever be accomplished. Even the mere rumor of it had aroused all the antagonism of Spain and Rome; but now that it appeared certain, those powers tried every means to thwart it. The pope ordered his nephew, then legate at the court of Portugal, to hasten to France and stop the marriage. Alessandrino actually reached Blois before the Queen of Navarre, having rudely passed her on the road. The particulars of his interviews with Charles are given by several contemporary writers, but all are manifestly derived from the same source. The cardinal, one of the most accomplished and eloquent men of his day, pressed the king to give Margaret to the King of Portugal, as had been once proposed, and enter into the holy alliance then forming against the Turks. The connection between these proposals is not very clear; but Alessandrino probably hoped that the excitement of war, which might bring increase of territory to France, would divert Charles from subjects nearer home. “It would be ruinous to your realm and to the Catholic Church,” urged the nuncio, “to form any alliance with the Huguenots.”