"This is but a poor welcome that I am giving you; but I will make amends for it, when I have heard what Philip has to tell me.
"Now, Philip, tell me the worst, and let there be no concealment." Philip related the whole story of the massacre, his tale being interrupted by frequent exclamations of horror, by the countess.
"It seems incredible," she cried, "that a king of France should thus dishonour himself, alike by breaking his vows, disregarding his own safe conduct, and massacring those who had accepted his hospitality.
"And Francois, you say, was at the Louvre with the King of Navarre and Conde; and even there, within the walls of the royal palace, some of the king's guests were murdered; but more than this you know not ?" "That is the report that Pierre gathered in the street, aunt.

It may have been exaggerated.

Everyone eagerly seized and retailed the reports that were current.

But even if true, it may well be that Francois is not among those who fell.

To a certain extent he was warned, for I told him the suspicions and fears that I entertained; and when he heard the tumult outside, he may have effected his escape." "I do not think so," the countess said, drawing herself up to her full height.