It was delightful, therefore, to find himself in company with his royal
brother; making and unmaking kings; destroying empires, altering the
whole face of Christendom, and, better than all, settling then and for
ever the theology of the whole world, without the trouble of moving from
his easy chair, or of incurring any personal danger.

He entered at once, with the natural tendency to suspicion of a timid
man, into the views presented by De Rosny as to the perfidy of his
counsellors. He changed colour; and was visibly moved, as the ambassador
gave his version of the recent conference with Cecil and the other
ministers, and, being thus artfully stimulated, he was, prepared to
receive with much eagerness the portentous communications now to be made.

The ambassador, however, caused him to season his admiration until he had
taken a most solemn oath, by the sacrament of the Eucharist, never to
reveal a syllable of what he was about to hear. This done, and the royal
curiosity excited almost beyond endurance, De Rosny began to, unfold.
the stupendous schemes which had been, concerted between Elizabeth and
Henry at Dover, and which formed the secret object of his present
embassy. Feeling that the king was most malleable in the theological
part of his structure, the wily envoy struck his first blows in that
direction; telling him that his own interest in the religious, condition
of Europe, and especially in the firm establishment of the Protestant
faith, far surpassed in his mind all considerations of fortune, country,
or even of fidelity to his sovereign. Thus far, political considerations
had kept Henry from joining in the great Catholic League, but it was
possible that a change might occur in his system, and the Protestant form
of worship, abandoned by its ancient protector, might disappear entirely
from France and from Europe. De Rosny had, therefore, felt the necessity
of a new patron for the reformed religion in this great emergency, and