Sir," answered Cavalier, "we are all ready to obey him, provided that he
graciously grant us our just demands; if not, we shall die weapon in
hand, rather than expose ourselves once more to such outrages as have
already been inflicted on us."

"Your demands shall be transmitted word for word to M. de Villars, who
will lay them before the king," said Lalande, "and you may be sure, sir,
that my most sincere wish is that His Majesty may not find them
exorbitant."

With these words, M. de Lalande saluted Cavalier, and turned to rejoin
his escort; but Cavalier, wishing to return confidence with confidence,
crossed the bridge with him, and accompanied the general to where his
soldiers had halted. There, with another salute, the two chiefs parted,
M. de Lalande taking the road to Uzes, while Cavalier rejoined his
comrades.

Meantime d'Aygaliers, who, as we have seen, had not left Uzes until the
5th May, in order to join Cavalier, did not come up with him until the
13th, that is to say, the day after his conference with Lalande.
D'Aygaliers gives us an account of their interview, and we cannot do
better than quote it.

"Although it was the first time that we had met face to face, we embraced
each other as if we were old acquaintances. My little band mixed with
his and sang psalms together, while Cavalier and I talked. I was very
much pleased with what, he said, and convinced him without difficulty
that he should submit for the sake of the brethren, who could then choose
whichever course best suited them, and either leave the kingdom or serve
the king. I said that I believed the last course to be the best,
provided we were allowed to worship God according to our consciences;
because I hoped that, seeing their faithful service, His Majesty would
recognise that he had been imposed upon by those who had described us as
disloyal subjects, and that we should thus obtain for the whole nation
that liberty of conscience which had been granted to us; that in no other
way, as far as I could see, could our deplorable condition be
ameliorated, for although Cavalier and his men might be able to exist for
some time longer in the forests and mountains, they would never be strong
enough to save the inhabitants of towns and other enclosed places from
perishing.

"Upon this he replied, that although the Catholics seldom kept a promise
made to those of our religion, he was willing to risk his life for the
welfare of his brethren and the p