ng-place.

"Good heavens! can he be dead?" he cried.

Hearing the words, a man rose to his feet and answered, "Ready to
serve!"--the password of the Reformers who belonged to Calvin.

This man was Chaudieu, to whom Tourillon now related the events of the
last eight days, during which time he had prudently left the minister
alone in his hiding-place with a twelve-pound loaf of bread for his sole
nourishment.

"Go instantly to the Prince de Conde, brother: ask him to give me a
safe-conduct; and find me a horse," cried the minister. "I must start at
once."

"Write me a line, or he will not receive me."

"Here," said Chaudieu, after writing a few words, "ask for a pass from
the king of Navarre, for I must go to Geneva without a moment's loss of
time."

XIII. CALVIN

Two hours later all was ready, and the ardent minister was on his way
to Switzerland, accompanied by a nobleman in the service of the king of
Navarre (of whom Chaudieu pretended to be the secretary), carrying with
him despatches from the Reformers in the Dauphine. This sudden departure
was chiefly in the interests of Catherine de' Medici, who, in order to
gain time to establish her power, had made a bold proposition to the
Reformers which was kept a profound secret. This strange proceeding
explains the understanding so suddenly apparent between herself and
the leaders of the Reform. The wily woman gave, as a pledge of her good
faith, an intimation of her desire to heal all differences between the
two churches by calling an assembly, which should be neither a council,
nor a conclave, nor a synod, but should be known by some new and
distinctive name, if Calvin consented to the project. When this secret
was afterwards divulged (be it remarked in passing) it led to an
alliance between the Duc de Guise and the Connetable de Montmorency
against Catherine and the king of Navarre,--a strange alliance! known in
history as the Triumvirate, the Marechal de Saint-Andre being the
third personage in the purely Catholic coalition to which this singular
proposition for a "colloquy" gave rise. The secret of Catherine's wily
policy was rightly understood by the Guises; they felt certain that
the queen cared nothing for this mysterious assembly, and was only
temporizing with her new allies in order to secure a period of peace
until the majority of Charles IX.; but none the less did they deceive
the Connetable into fearing a collusion of real interests between the