The king awaited the princes in his chamber; behind him were ranged the Guises and the principal lords; not a word, not a salutation on their part.

After this freezing reception, Francis II.
conducted the two brothers to his mother, who received them, according to Regnier de la Planche's expression, 'with crocodile's tears.' The Guises did not follow them thither, in order to escape any personal dispute, and so as not to be hearers of the severe words which they had themselves dictated to the young monarch.

The king questioned Conde sharply; but the latter, 'who was endowed with great courage, and spoke as well as ever any prince or gentleman in the world, was not at all startled, and defended his cause with many good and strong reasons,' protesting his own innocence and accusing the Guises of calumniation.

When he haughtily alluded to the word of honor which had been given him, the king, interrupting him, made a sign; and the two captains of the guard, Breze and Chavigny, entered and took the prince's sword.

He was conducted to a house in the city, near the Jacobins', which was immediately barred, crenelated, surrounded by soldiers, and converted into a veritable bastile.