He believed that the assassination of M.de Guise would alienate so much of France from the king that his majesty would have little left save the towns on the Loire, and some other places lying within easy reach of his court at Blois.
'But,' I said,'things seem quiet now.

Here, for instance.' 'It is the calm before the storm,' he answered.

'There is a monk in there.

Have you heard him ?' I nodded.
'He is only one among a hundred--a thousand,' the horsedealer continued, looking at me and nodding with meaning.

He was a brown-haired man with shrewd grey eyes, such as many Normans have.