ain their strong inclination to take Narcisse by the throat
and demand whether this were another of his deceptions, a train of
fireworks suddenly exploded in the middle of the Styx--a last surprise,
especially contrived by King Charles, and so effectual that half the
ladies were shrieking, and imagining that they and the whole hall had
blown up together.

A long supper, full of revelry, succeeded, and at length Sidney ad
Ribaumont walked home together in the midst of their armed servants
bearing torches. All the way home Berenger was bitter in vituperation of
the hateful pageant and all its details.

'Yea, truly,' replied Sidney; 'methought that it betokens disease in the
mind of a nation when their festive revelry is thus ghastly, rendering
the most awful secrets made known by our God in order to warm man from
sin into a mere antic laughing-stock. Laughter should be moved by what
is fair and laughter-worthy--even like such sports as our own "Midsummer
Night's Dream." I have read that the bloody temper of Rome fed itself in
gladiator shows, and verily, what we beheld to-night betokens something
at once grisly and light-minded in the mood of this country.'

Sidney thought so the more when on the second ensuing morning the
Admiral de Coligny was shot through both hands by an assassin generally
known to have been posted by the Duke of Guise, yet often called by the
sinister sobriquet of _Le Tueur de Roi_.




CHAPTER XI. THE KING'S TRAGEDY.



     The night is come, no fears disturb
     The sleep of innocence
     They trust in kingly faith, and kingly oath.
     They sleep, alas! they sleep
     Go to the palace, wouldst thou know
     How hideous night can be;
     Eye is not closed in those accursed walls,
     Nor heart is quiet there!
                       --Southey, BARTHOLOMEW'S EVE


'Young gentlemen,' said Sir Francis Walsingham, as he rose from dinner
on the Saturday, 'are you bound for the palace this evening?'

'I am, so please your Excellency,' returned Berenger.

'I would have you both to understand