Of course, it was in one way a relief to us, when we crossed the river and did not find you there; for I was sure you would have been there to give us warning, had there been danger on the way; but I thought you might come in any case, and when we found that you had not arrived here before us, I was afraid that something might have befallen you." "I have had some slight troubles, your majesty; and to my great regret, I was unable to meet you at the passage of the river.

I should have been here long before daylight, but we were unable to find the road in the dark, and had to wait until we could inquire the way." "Monsieur Fletcher is pleased to say that he has had some slight troubles, madame," Gaston said; "but as the troubles included the slaying in a duel of Raoul de Fontaine, one of the bitterest enemies of our faith, and moreover a noted duellist; and an escape from the castle of Agen, where he was confined as a suspected Huguenot and spy, the term slight does not very aptly describe them." "What!" A tall soldierly old man, standing next to the queen, exclaimed.

"Do you mean to say, De Rebers, that Monsieur Fletcher has killed Raoul de Fontaine in a duel?
"If so, I congratulate your majesty.

He was a bitter persecutor of the Huguenots, and one of the hottest headed and most troublesome nobles in the province.

Moreover, he can put a hundred and fifty men into the field; and although his cousin Louis, who is his heir, is also Catholic, he is a man of very different kind, and is honoured by Huguenot and Catholic alike.