"Gentlemen, I give you ten days to treat with your adherents, to break up your plots, and return to me, who will be a father to you. If you are refractory, you will see great changes. I shall make use of smaller men who, at my bidding, will rush upon the great lords. I will follow the example of a king who pacified his realm by striking down greater men than you are who dared to defy him. If Catholic troops are wanting, I can appeal to my brother of Spain to defend a threatened throne; nay, and if I need a Minister to carry out my will, he will lend me the Duke of Alva." "In that event, Sire, we can find Germans to fight your Spaniards," said one of the party. "I may remind you, cousin," said Charles IX. coldly, "that my wife's name is Elizabeth of Austria; your allies on that side might fail you. But take my advice; let us fight this alone without calling in the foreigner. You are the object of my mother's hatred, and you care enough for me to play the part of second in my duel with her--well, then, listen. You stand so high in my esteem, that I offer you the office of High Constable; you will not betray us as the other has done." The Prince thus addressed took the King's hand in a friendly grasp, exclaiming: "God's 'ounds, brother, that is indeed forgiving evil! But, Sire, the head cannot move without the tail, and our tail is hard to drag along. Give us more than ten days. We still need at least a month to make the rest hear reason. By the end of that time we shall be the masters." "A month, so be it; Villeroy is my only plenipotentiary. Take no word but his, whatever any one may say." "One month," said the three other gentlemen; "that will be enough time." "Gentlemen," said the King, "we are but five, all men of mettle. If there is any treachery, we shall know with whom to deal." The three gentlemen left the King with every mark of deep respect and kissed his hand. As the King recrossed the Seine, four o'clock was striking by the Louvre clock. Queen Catherine was still up. "My mother is not gone to bed," said Charles to the Comte de Solern. "She too has her forge," said the German. "My dear Count, what must you think of a king who is reduced to conspiracy?" said Charles IX. bitterly, after a pause. "I think, Sire, that if you would only allow me to throw that woman into the river, as our young friend said, France would soon be at peace." "Parricide!--and after Saint-Bartholomew's!" said the King. "No, no--Exile. Once fallen, my mother would not have an adherent or a partisan." "Well, then, Sire," the Count went on, "allow me to take her into custody now, at once, and escort her beyond the frontier; for by to-morrow she will have won you round." "Well," said the King, "come to my forge; no one can hear us there. Besides, I am anxious that my mother should know nothing of the arrest of the Ruggieri. If she knows I am within, the good lady will suspect nothing, and we will concert the measures for arresting her."