Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/172

152 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 58. suaded herself that the miserable scenes in Paris had risen from some extraordinary accident which time would explain; but it appeared now from what La Mothe told her, that the King had himself sanctioned an insurrection in which thousands of innocent persons had lost their lives. The ambassador explained, protested, equivocated. He expressed a hope that at least the friendship between the two countries would not be disturbed. The Queen replied, coldly, that she feared that a King who had abandoned his subjects might desert his allies. She could only hope that for his own sake he would produce evidence of the alleged conspiracy, and would protect such of the Protestants as had no share in it. La Mothe, to turn the subject, said that the Queen of France was near her confinement, and he ventured to remind Elizabeth that she had promised to be god- mother to the child. She told him that she had intended to send to Paris on that occasion the most honourable embassy that had ever left the shores of England. She felt now that she could trust no one whom she valued in a country where his life would be unsafe. With these words she left him. He turned to the council, but only to hear the truth spoken to him in plainer language. The Queen had been at least cour- teous ; but he was not to go away with the belief that the English Government accepted his excuses. Lord Burghley said that the Paris Massacre was the