Gaspard sat thoughtful, for some time, after he had finished.
"It is new to me," he said at last.

"I believed the general report that Henry of Navarre was a frank, careless young fellow, fond of the chase, and, like his mother, averse to all court ceremony; likely enough to make a good soldier, but without ambition, and without marked talent.

If what Francois says is true--and it seems that you are inclined to agree with him--it may make a great difference in the future of France.

The misfortune of the Huguenots, hitherto, has been that they have been ready to fall into any trap that the court of France might set for them and, on the strength of a few hollow promises, to throw away all the advantages they had gained by their efforts and courage, in spite of their experience that those promises were always broken, as soon as they laid down their arms.
"In such an unequal contest they must always be worsted and, honest and straightforward themselves, they are no match for men who have neither truth nor conscience.

If they had but a leader as politic and astute as the queen mother and the Guises, they might possibly gain their ends.