Ill with impatience, the King swore to make the citizens of Chartres pay dearly for the powder which they made him burn. But they, looking daily to be relieved by the Ligue from the quarter of Dreux or elsewhere, actively counter-mined the Royalist sappers, and when the fire of the arquebusiers had no effect upon them, they adopted Gramont’s suggestion, and hurled bottles of burning oil and _fleurs de soufre_ amongst the enemy. And now the siege had lasted a month, when one morning--it was the 15th of March--Henri was amazed to hear all the bells of the town, _Marie_ and _Gabrielle_ and the rest, ring out in joyful peals. The streets, it was soon reported, were filled with processions of the inhabitants, who were celebrating with unwonted fervour and extraordinary pomp the anniversary of the deliverance of the town upon the investment of Condé. Yet, even as they did so, many shook their heads at the evil augury of the statue of the Virgin that had been set above the Porte Drouaise. Throughout the siege of 1568, it was pointed out, the cannon-balls of the Prince de Condé had never been able to touch it, but Henri’s bombardment had succeeded in upsetting, though not in breaking it. Struck by the devotion of the citizens, it is said, and charmed by the melody of the bells, Henri gave orders that no guns should be fired that day, in order that the harmony of the celebration should not be troubled. If this story be true, the garrison acknowledged the courtesy of Henri in a scurvy fashion. For on the evening of this day Gramont exploded a counter-mine before the Porte des Épars. In so doing he not only destroyed the enemy’s works, but also a large section of his own ravelin. The result might have been serious if an assault had been delivered at once. But, contrary to the King’s directions, the citizens were given time to repair the damage.