Nothing was easier for him than to return shamelessly to a party which he had shamelessly deserted, save perhaps to betray it again, should his interest prompt him to do so, on the morrow.
Since the peace of 1576, it had been evident that the Protestants could not count upon his friendship, and he had soon afterwards been placed at the head of the army which was besieging the Huguenots of Issoire.

He sought to atone for having commanded the troops of the new religion by the barbarity with which he now persecuted its votaries.

When Issoire fell into his hands, the luckless city was spared none of the misery which can be inflicted by a brutal and frenzied soldiery.

Its men were butchered, its females outraged; its property plundered with a thoroughness which rivalled the Netherland practice of Alva, or Frederic Toledo, or Julian Romero.

The town was sacked and burned to ashes by furious Catholics, under the command of Francis Alencon,--almost at the very moment when his fair sister, Margaret, was preparing the way in the Netherlands for the fresh treason--which he already meditated to the Catholic cause.