eard any news at the governor's, Maignan?" one of
them asked the last comer.

"Bad news. Conde and the Admiral are not letting the grass grow
under their feet. They have captured not only Niort, as we heard
yesterday, but Parthenay."

"Peste! That is bad news, indeed. What a blunder it was to let them
slip through their fingers, when they might have seized them with
two or three hundred men, in Burgundy."

"It seems to me that they are making just the same mistake here,"
another put in. "As Jeanne of Navarre is well nigh as dangerous as
the Admiral himself, why don't they seize her and her cub, and
carry them to Paris?"

"Because they hope that she will go willingly, of her own accord,
Saint Amand. La Motte-Fenelon has been negotiating with her, for
the last fortnight, on behalf of the court. It is clearly far
better that she should go there of her own will, than that she
should be taken there a prisoner. Her doing so would seem a
desertion of the Huguenot cause, and would be a tremendous blow to
them.

"On the other hand, if she were taken there as a prisoner, it would
drive many a Huguenot to take up arms who is now content to rest
quiet. And moreover, the Protestant princes of Germany, and
Elizabeth of England would protest; for whatever the court may say
of the Admiral, they can hardly affirm that Jeanne of Navarre is
thinking of making war against Charles for any other reason than
the defence of her faith. Besides, she can do no harm at Nerac; and
we can always lay hands on her, when we like. At any rate, there is
no fear of her getting farther north. The rivers are too well
guarded for that."

"I don't know," another said, "after the way in which Conde and the
Admiral, though hampered with women and children, made their way
across France, I should never be surprised at anything. You see,
there is not a place where she has not friends. These pestilent
Huguenots are everywhere. She will get warning of danger, and
guides across the country--peasants who know every byroad through
the fields, and every shallow in the rivers. It would be far better
to make sure of her and her son, by seizing them at Nerac."

"Besides," Saint Amand said, "there are reports of movements of
Huguenots all over Guyenne; and I heard a rumour, last night, that
the Seneschal of Armagnac has got a considerable gathering
together. These Huguenots seem to spring out of the ground. Six
weeks ago, no one believed that there was a corner o