on his face.

"You may do any thing you consider necessary," said the duke.

The officers standing around looked on with horror as the king's
surgeon, aided by an experienced practitioner, tore out thus violently
the barbed iron, fracturing the bones, and tearing nerves, veins, and
arteries. The hardy soldier bore the anguish without the contraction
of a muscle, and was only heard gently to exclaim to himself, "Oh my
God!" The sufferer recovered, and ever after regarded the frightful
scar which was left as a signal badge of honor. He hence bore the
common name of Le Balafre, or _The Scarred_.

As the duke returned to court, the king hurried forth from his chamber
to meet him, embraced him warmly, and said,

"It is fair that I should come out to meet my old friend, who, on his
part, is ever so ready to meet my enemies."

Gradually, however, Francis, the king, became very jealous of the
boundless popularity and enormous power acquired by this ambitious
house. Upon his dying bed he warned his son of the dangerous rivalry
to which the Guises had attained, and enjoined it upon him to curb
their ambition by admitting none of the princes of that house to a
share in the government; but as soon as King Francis was consigned to
his tomb, Henry II., his son and successor, rallied the members of
this family around him, and made the duke almost the partner of his
throne. He needed the support of the strong arm and of the
inexhaustible purse of the princes of Lorraine.

The arrogance of the Guises, or the princes of Lorraine, as they were
frequently called, in consequence of their descent from Claude of
Lorraine, reached such a pitch that on the occasion of a proud
pageant, when Henry II. was on a visit of inspection to one of his
frontier fortresses, the Duke of Guise claimed equal rank with Henry
of Navarre, who was not only King of Navarre, but, as the Duke of
Vendome, was also first prince of the blood in France. An angry
dispute immediately arose. The king settled it in favor of the
audacious Guise, for he was intimidated by the power of that arrogant
house. He thus exasperated Henry of Navarre, and also nurtured the
pride of a dangerous rival.

All classes were now courting the Duke of Guise. The first nobles of
the land sought his protection and support by flattering letters and
costly presents. "From all quarters," says an ancient manuscript, "he
received offerings of wine, fruit, confections, ortolans, horses,
dogs,