four years they had all regained foothold in the town; only now they were
in the position in which the Protestants had been formerly, they were
without churches, as their enemies were in possession of all the places
of worship. It also happened that a Jesuit high in authority, named Pere
Coston, preached with such success that the Protestants, not wishing to
be beaten, but desirous of giving word for word, summoned to their aid
the Rev. Jeremie Ferrier, of Alais, who at the moment was regarded as the
most eloquent preacher they had. Needless to say, Alais was situated in
the mountains, that inexhaustible source of Huguenot eloquence. At once
the controversial spirit was aroused; it did not as yet amount to war,
but still less could it be called peace: people were no longer
assassinated, but they were anathematised; the body was safe, but the
soul was consigned to damnation: the days as they passed were used by
both sides to keep their hand in, in readiness for the moment when the
massacres should again begin.




CHAPTER II

The death of Henri IV led to new conflicts, in which although at first
success was on the side of the Protestants it by degrees went over to the
Catholics; for with the accession of Louis XIII Richelieu had taken
possession of the throne: beside the king sat the cardinal; under the
purple mantle gleamed the red robe. It was at this crisis that Henri de
Rohan rose to eminence in the South. He was one of the most illustrious
representatives of that great race which, allied as it was to the royal
houses of Scotland, France, Savoy, and Lorraine; had taken as their
device, "Be king I cannot, prince I will not, Rohan I am."