uation, he wrote to his comrades in arms, and
within a few hours so goodly a company of knights appeared, with Coligny,
Andelot, Prince Porcien, La Rochefoucauld, Rohan, and other distinguished
nobles at their head, that any treacherous plans that may have been
entertained by the wily Italian princess were rendered entirely futile.
She resolved, therefore, to entrap them by soft speeches. With that utter
disregard for consistency so characteristic both of her actions and of her
words, Catharine publicly[138] thanked the Huguenot lords for the services
they had rendered the king, who would never cease to be grateful to them,
and recognized, for her own part, that her son and she herself owed to
them the preservation of their lives. But, after this flattering preamble,
she proceeded to make the unpalatable proposition that they should consent
to the repeal of the edict so far as Paris was concerned, under the
guarantee of personal liberty, but without permission to hold public
religious worship. The prince and his associates could listen to no such
terms. Indeed, carried away by the fervor of their zeal, they protested
that, rather than surrender the rights of their brethren, they would leave
the kingdom. "We shall willingly go into exile," they said, "if our
absence will conduce to the restoration of public tranquillity." This
assurance was just what Catharine had been awaiting. To the infinite
surprise of the speakers themselves, she told them that she appreciated
their disinterested motives, and accepted their offer; that they should
have safe-conducts to whatever land they desired to visit, with full
liberty to sell their goods and to receive their incomes; but that their
voluntary retirement would last only until the king's majority, which
would be declared so soon as he had completed his fourteenth year![139] It
needs scarcely be said that, awkward as was the predicament in which they
had placed themselves, the prince and his companions had little
disposition to follow out Catharine's plan. On their return to the
Protestant camp, the clamor of the soldiers against any further exposure
of the person of their leader to peril, and the opportune publication of
an intercepted letter said to have been written by the Duke of Guise to
his brother, the Cardinal of Lorraine, on the eve of his departure for
Chateaudun, and disclosing treacherous designs,[140] decided the Huguenot
leaders to break off the negotiations.[141]

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