Turenne, "and no doubt will turn round to dispute our passage at the ford !"

"I lodge to-night at Coutras, be that as it may!" cried Navarre.

The Ritters then passed in review before the King. Turenne made excuses for the irregularity of their equipments.

"We are no better off," replied Navarre smiling; "rusty armour, worn out arquebuses, and cannon with rotten carriages abound in our camp. But our hearts are of iron."

In truth, the Germans had no occasion to be ashamed in the company of their friends. The Huguenot army was composed chiefly of veterans who had fought under Coligni, and suffered alternate victory and defeat with that renowned old warrior. When Navarre, who in his youth had been proclaimed by Coligni the hereditary chief of their party, once more appeared amongst them, after his mysterious escape from Fontainebleau; they rallied with enthusiasm around the man whose presence they had invoked. The noble left his castle to display once more an unforgotten pennon in the cause of religion and toleration; the peasant brandished his trusty sword and pike and followed his lord; while the brave and unflinching

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burghers, who had suffered many a cruel siege for the sake of their faith, declared their firm resolution to submit to the same dangers for the good cause in which they were embarked.

As the old Huguenot nobles looked upon each other's armour and ensigns it seemed to them as though Coligni were still alive; that he, whom defeat could never subdue, and who renewed his army and his strength as the sun renews its course, was about once more to lead them to the desperate fight. But the absence of many a friendly face reminded them of a sadder spectacle,-when the streets of Paris flowed with the blood of slaughtered guests invited to a marriage feast; when the bloody Charles, of infamous memory, encouraged by his presence the myrmidons of Catholic cruelty; and the fierce Tavannes gallopped up and down the ensanguined streets, his own pale features lit with the red glow of the murderers' torches, and crying out in a stern voice-"Bleed! Bleed! Bleeding is as healthy in August as in the month of May !"

This was a scene never to be forgotten by the veterans who escaped the fearful banquet. But delight entered their souls when they beheld in the station of the venerable and majestic old Coligni the gallant Navarre, erst the young pupil of the admiral, but now a noble Prince in the

lustre and prime of manhood. As he rode through their ranks with uncovered head, they took confidence in his heroic face, and chivalric mien, and gladly hailed him as the chief who was to deliver them from the most intolerable of oppressions; the thraldom of ecclesiastical bondage, and a life passed in the hourly dread of priestly cruelty.

With such advisers and friends as the Duke De la Tremouïlle, the Count De Grammont, the Baron De Rosny, Monsieur De Vivans, the Baron De Salignac, and many others, old and tried Huguenots, Navarre performed wonders in the organization of an army, without having at his command those necessary resources of money and military stores, without which, even the ill-equipped Germans could not have been assembled. But the love of the Huguenot noblesse and citizens for the cause they had so much at heart, triumphed over every obstacle; and enabled the monarch to oppose an army of veterans to the gorgeous armament of the royal favourite De Joyeuse.

Such was its condition when it received the reinforcement of Turenne's regiment. No time was lost in the march to Coutras; the King was bent on lodging there that night, and the intelligence brought by the Viscount, confirmed him in his resolution. While Turenne was receiving the

congratulations of the nobles for his desperate and successful attempt, Navarre and De Nevailles had leisure to confer with each other on many interesting topics.

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"I owe all this noble array to you, Baron," exclaimed the grateful Prince, as they rode through the lines;-"you found me in my prison a sluggard almost beyond hope-but the free air of France has made me another man, as you shall witness when we encounter De Joyeuse."

"Valour, my liege," replied De Nevailles, with his usual boldness; "is but a secondary, though essential virtue. I look upon this well-disciplined army-the work of a brief span of time-as a greater triumph than if you had borne De Joyeuse and a score of his gentlemen to the dust. It is to me a stirring presage of future triumphs well sustained; and a success not easily to be lostbecoming one who strives with our great mistress -for such I must still call her-Catherine of France."

"Well thought of, De Nevailles," cried the Bourbon Prince; "she has a brave heart, and one that lives healthily in a sea of trouble, like a stout barque in our Biscay waters! Poor Villeroi! what a tale he had to tell of our hunting party! I should like to have been present, unseen, at the interview

with the Queen-mother.-I suspect my capricious plague, Margaret, has fallen in for a share of the Queen's anger-yet Margaret has, I can assure you, both a soul and a tongue of her own! There would be a glorious contest!"

"Yes!" replied De Nevailles, " your royal consort would storm both heroically and pathetically; she is much taller and possesses equal fluency of language, but wants the concentred strength or venom-if I may so express myself, without offence, for loss of a better word-of her subtle parent."

"Just so," said the nobler of these familiar worthies; "while Margaret was flourishing her weapon like a posture-master showing off his skill, Catherine would throw in the close rapid thrust that kills ere it is felt! What would our lady of the Louvre do with you, Baron, if she caught you ?"

"I know not," replied De Nevailles, laughing; "it may be brought to the trial some day. If she could gain more by my life than in cutting off my head I should be safe-and it would be no difficult matter to persuade her to believe that--but failing there the Chateau and Barony of De Nevailles would become the property of your Majesty, for I have no heirs."