Calvin accepted Chaudieu's very humble bow, and replied by slightly bending his head. Chaudieu slipped the bridles of both horses over his right arm and followed the two great Reformers, keeping on the right of Théodore de Bèze, who was walking on Calvin's right. Calvin's housekeeper ran forward to prevent the gate being shut, by telling the captain of the Guard that the Pastor had just had a severe attack of pain. Théodore de Bèze was a native of the Commune of Vézelay, the first to demand for itself corporate government, of which the curious tale has been told by one of the Thierrys. Thus the spirit of citizenship and resistance which were endemic at Vézelay no doubt contributed an item to the great rising of the Reformers in the person of this man, who is certainly a most singular figure in the history of heresy. "So you still suffer great pain?" said Théodore to Calvin. "The sufferings of the damned, a Catholic would say," replied the Reformer, with the bitterness that colored his least remarks. "Ah! I am going fast, my son, and what will become of you when I am gone?" "We will fight by the light of your writings," said Chaudieu. Calvin smiled; his purple face assumed a more gracious expression, and he looked kindly on Chaudieu. "Well, have you brought me any news?" he asked. "Have they killed a great many of us?" he added, with a smile, and a sort of mocking glee sparkled in his brown eyes. "No," said Chaudieu; "peace is the order of the day." "So much the worse, so much the worse!" cried Calvin. "Every form of peace would be a misfortune if it were not always, in fact, a snare. Our strength lies in persecution. Where should we be if the Church took up the Reformation?" "Indeed," said Théodore, "that is what the Queen-mother seems inclined to do." "She is quite capable of it," said Calvin. "I am studying that woman." "From hence?" cried Chaudieu. "Does distance exist for the spirit?" said Calvin severely, regarding the interruption as irreverent. "Catherine longs for power, and women who aim at that lose all sense of honor and faith.--What is in the wind?" "Well, she suggests a sort of Council," said Théodore de Bèze. "Near Paris?" asked Calvin roughly. "Yes." "Ah! that is well!" said Calvin. "And we are to try to come to an understanding, and draw up a public Act to consolidate the two Churches." "Ah! if only she had courage enough to separate the French Church from the Court of Rome, and to create a patriarch in France, as in the Greek Church!" cried the Reformer, whose eyes glistened at this idea, which would place him on a throne. "But, my son, can a Pope's niece be truthful? She only wants to gain time." "And do not we need time to recover from our check at Amboise, and to organize some formidable resistance in various parts of the kingdom?" "She has sent away the Queen of Scotland," said Chaudieu.