any one else, and less from me than from any other, as you well know that
I am of the religion, and that you keep me by you not as a theologian and
councillor of church, but as a man of action and councillor of state,
seeing that you have given me that title, and for a long space employed
me as such."

The king burst out laughing, and, sitting up in his bed, said, after
scratching his head several times, to Rosny,--

"All you say to me is true; but I see so many thorns on every side that
it will go very hard but some of them will prick me full sore. You know
well enough that my cousins, the princes of the blood, and ever so many
other lords, such as D'Epernon, Longueville, Biron, d'O, and Vitry, are
urging me to turn Catholic, or else they will join the League. On the
other hand, I know for certain that Messieurs de Turenne, de la
Tremoille, and their lot, are laboring daily to have a demand made, if I
turn Catholic, on behalf of them of the religion, for an assembly to
appoint them a protector and an establishment of councils in the
provinces; all things that I could not put up with. But if I had to
declare war against them to prevent it, it would be the greatest
annoyance and trouble that could ever happen to me: my heart could not
bear to do ill to those who have so long run my risks, and have employed
their goods and their lives in my defence."

At these last words, Rosny threw himself upon his knees, with his eyes
full of tears, and, kissing the king's hands, he said, "Sir, I am
rejoiced beyond measure to see you so well disposed towards them of the
religion. I have always been afraid that, if you came to change your
religion, as I see full well that you will have to do, you might be
persuaded to hate and maltreat those of us others, of the towns as well