Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/171

I572-] THE MASSACRE OP ST BARTHOLOMEW. 151 but it would hardly be prudent, to fling the gauntlet in the face of England's solitary ally. The quarrel was likely enough to come ; but the Queen had work enough upon her hands, and while she was preparing for the worst, she felt that she could do no solid good by antici- pating it. At length, towards the middle of September, the ambassador was informed that he would be admitted. The Court was at Woodstock, on its way from Warwick to Windsor. The whole council was collected. Bedford and Bacon, though both unwell, had been particularly sent for. Queen, Ministers, attendants, were all in mourning; and when La Mothe Fenelon was intro- duced, he was received in solemn silence. On such oc- casions the littleness of Elizabeth's character entirely disappeared, and the Imperial majesty of her nobler nature possessed her wholly. If any misgiving crossed her mind on her own past proceedings, she showed no signs of it. She rose with a grave but not unkind ex- pression. She drew La Mothe aside into a window, and asked him if the dreadful news which she had heard could possibly be true. La Mothe Fenelon, who was by this time perfect in his lesson, produced the story of the Admiral's conspiracy, the plot for the surprise of the Court, the King's danger, and the necessity of a desper- ate remedy in a desperate case. Elizabeth did not say that she disbelieved him ; but if the charge was true, the King, she said, had brought a stain upon his reputation from which she had hoped he would have been able to clear himself. She had per-