ce--'from Dan to Beer-sheba, and from Zidon even to the sunny
slopes of Engedi--lest we be too late, lest we also pass away, as in the
summer sky the trace of a cloud. For the Sea of Death is beneath--the
Sea of Death is beneath!' Aha, aha! The mouth of the Lord hath spoken by
Guise, even as by the mouth of Balaam his ass, in the strait-walled path
betwixt the two vineyards, as thou comest unto Arnon!"

At the voice of the Fool turned Prophet, all sound ceased in the wide
kitchen-place of good Dame Granier. Anthony Arpajon stood rapt, not
daring to move hand or foot. For he believed that the word of the Lord
had entered into Jean-aux-Choux, and that he was predicting the fall of
the Guises.

"Verily, the bloody and deceitful man shall not live out half his days!"
he muttered.

"It were truer, perhaps, to say," the Professor interjected, "that they
who take the sword shall perish by the sword, and that those who arouse
in King Henry of Valois the blackness of his gall, shall perish by the
sword held under the cloak--suddenly, secretly, with none to help, and
with the sins of a lifetime as lead upon their souls!"

"Amen!" cried Jean-aux-Choux; "stamp on the serpent's eggs! Cut the
Guisards off, root and branch----"

"Is not that only your own Saint Bartholomew turned upside down?"
demanded the Professor of Eloquence sharply. "You have read the Book of
the Wisdom, I hear. I would remind you of the better way which you will
find written therein. For, if prudence worketh, what is there that
worketh better than she? You, who are a learned theologue, answer me
that!"

"Prudence," cried the Genevan fiercely. "Have not I made myself a fool
for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake? This is no time for prudence, but for
fewer soft answers and more sharp swords! Ha, wait till the Bearnais
comes to his own. Then there will be a day when the butchers of Paris
shall cry to their shambles to fall on them and hide them. We of the
Faith will track them with bloodhounds, and trap them like rats!"

"Then," retorted the Professor, "if that be so, I solemnly declare that
you of the Huguenots are no whit better than the Leaguers and Guisards,
who are even now seeking my life. I stand in the middle way. May God
(such is your cry) give you victory or give you death. Well, I am sure
that victory would be the worst present He could give you, if such were
the use you would make of it."

But Jean-aux-Choux, pupil of Calvin, was not to be put down.