order to deceive the king. Scarcely had he arrived in Champagne when he
heard of the retaking of Lagny and Corbeil. So soon as his back was
turned, the League thus showed its impotence to retain the advantage
which his genius had won. Corbeil, which had cost him a month of hard
work, was recaptured in two days. Lagny fell almost as quickly.
Earnestly did the confederates implore him to return to their rescue,
but he declined almost contemptuously to retrace his steps. His march
was conducted in the same order and with the same precision which--had
marked his advance. Henry, with his flying camp, hung upon his track,
harassing him now in front, now in rear, now in flank. None of the
skirmishes were of much military importance. A single cavalry combat,
however, in which old Marshal Biron was nearly surrounded and was in
imminent danger of death or capture, until chivalrously rescued by the
king in person at the head of a squadron of lancers, will always possess
romantic interest. In a subsequent encounter, near Baroges on the Yesle,
Henry had sent Biron forward with a few companies of horse to engage some
five hundred carabineers of Farnese on their march towards the frontier,
and had himself followed close upon the track with his usual eagerness to
witness or participate in every battle. Suddenly Alphonse Corse, who
rode at Henry's aide, pointed out to him, not more than a hundred paces
off, an officer wearing a felt hat, a great ruff, and a little furred
cassock, mounted on a horse without armour or caparisons, galloping up
and down and brandishing his sword at the carabineers to compel them to
fall back.

This was the Duke of Parma, and thus the two great champions of the
Huguenots and of the Leaguers--the two foremost captains of the age--had
met face to face. At that moment La Noue, riding up, informed the king
that he had seen the whole of the enemy's horse and foot in battle array,
and Henry, suspecting the retreat of Farnese to be a feint for the