nst it. This feeble barrier was soon broken down, and the
Swiss who had attempted to resist were shot. The tumult woke Coligny
from his slumbers, and divining what it meant--that Guise had made an
attack on the house--he was lifted from his bed, and, folding his
_robe-de-chambre_ round him, sat down prepared to meet his fate.
Cornaton entering the room at this moment, Ambrose Pare asked him what
was the meaning of the noise. Turning to his beloved master he replied:
"Sir, it is God calling us to himself. They have broken into the house,
and we can do nothing."

"I have been long prepared to die," said the admiral. "But you must all
flee for your lives, if it be not too late; you cannot save me. I commit
my soul to God's mercy." They obeyed him, but only two succeeded in
making their way over the roofs. Pastor Merlin lay hid for three days in
a loft, where he was fed by a hen, that every morning laid an egg within
his reach.

Pare and Coligny were left alone--Coligny looking as calm and collected
as if no danger impended. After a brief interval of suspense the door
was dashed open, and Cosseins, wearing a corselet and brandishing a
bloody sword in his hand, entered the room, followed by Behm, Sarlabous,
and others; a party of Anjou's Swiss guard, in their tricolored uniform
of black, white, and green, keeping in the rear. Expecting resistance,
the ruffians were for a moment staggered at seeing only two unarmed men.
But his brutal instincts rapidly regaining the mastery, Behm stepped
forward, and pointing his sword at Coligny's breast asked, "Are you not
the admiral?"

"I am, but, young man, you should respect my gray hairs, and not attack
a wounded man. Yet what matters it? You cannot shorten my life except by
God's permission." The German soldier, uttering a blasphemous oath,
plunged his sword into the admiral's breast.

"_Jugulumque parans, immota tonebat_
_Ora senex._"

Others in the room struck him also, Behm repeating his blows until the
admiral fell to the floor. The murderer now ran to the window and
shouted into the court-yard, "It is all over." Henry of Guise, who had
been impatiently ordering his creatures to make haste, was not satisfied.
"Monsieur d'Angouleme will not believe it unless he sees him," returned
the Duke. Behm raised the body from the ground, and dragged it to the
window to throw it out; but life was not quite extinct, and the admiral
placed his foot against the wall, faintly resist