"And why," he asked, half sulkily and half ponderously, "after midnight only, M.le Comte ?" "Merely that I may be clear of all suspicion of having lot or part in the matter," Count Hannibal answered pleasantly.

"After midnight of to-night by all means do as you please.

Until midnight, by your leave, we will be quiet." The Lieutenant-Governor moved doubtfully in his chair, the fear--which Tavannes had shrewdly instilled into his mind--that he might be disowned if he carried out his instructions, struggling with his avarice and his self-importance.

He was rather crafty than bold; and such things had been, he knew.

Little by little, and while he sat gloomily debating, the notion of dealing with one or two and holding the body of the Huguenots to ransom--a notion which, in spite of everything, was to bear good fruit for Angers--began to form in his mind.