'Might there not be some truth in the story after all ?' Yet he answered as before.

'A mere panic.

I cannot believe in a plot so atrocious.

What! murder in cold blood the innocent, helpless wives and children of the brave men who are defending theirs from a common foe?
No, no; human nature is not so depraved!'" "'So it was thought on the eve of the Sicilian Vespers; on the eve of St.Bartholomew; at the time when Castracaro, when De La Trinite, when Pianeza--' "'Ah,' interrupted the general with a frown, 'but those were deeds of days long gone by, and men are not now what they then were.' "'Sir,' returned Maurice earnestly, 'for twelve hundred years the she-wolf of Rome has ravaged our fold, slaying sheep and lambs alike--sparing neither age nor sex; and, sir, it is her boast that she never changes.
"'Nor are men incapable of the grossest injustice and cruelty even in these days.

Look at the fearful scenes of blood enacted even now in France! General, the lives of thousands of his majesty's evangelical subjects are trembling in the balance, and I do most solemnly assure you that unless saved by your speedy interposition, or a direct miracle from Heaven, they will this night fall victims to a sanguinary plot.
"'Ah, sir, what more can I say to convince, to move you?
The assassins are already assembling, the time wanes fast, and will you stretch forth no hand to save their innocent, helpless victims ?' "The general was evidently moved by the appeal.