The troop will, of course, start in the morning for Laville." "We have another destination for them," the prince said.

"A messenger rode yesterday to Laville, to bid the young count start, the day after tomorrow, with every man he can raise, to join me before Niort; for which place I set out, tomorrow at midday.

Of course we had no idea that he had already come to blows with that city; but we resolved to make its capture our first enterprise, seeing that it blocks the principal road from Paris hither, and is indeed a natural outpost of La Rochelle.

Niort taken, we shall push on and capture Parthenay, which still further blocks the road, and whose possession will keep a door open for our friends from Brittany, Normandy, and the north.

When those places are secured and garrisoned, we can then set about clearing out the Catholics from the towns to the south." "Very well, sir.