Read My Brother's Crown for Free Online Page B

You know, keep an eye on stuff.”
    Why the thought of seeing him again on Friday wasn’t exactly unpleasant was beyond me.
    Turning toward Dr. Underwood, I opened the case and held it out. He gently removed the document and slid it into the cabinet. Under the warm glow of a UV-safe beam, inside the clear acrylic vitrine display box, the Persecution Pamphlet looked more regal than ever. As he went back and forth between adjusting its position and aiming the lights, I hovered nearby, ready to help, my eyes drawn to the sight of the treasure on display and its unwieldy title:
    Un Recueil de Poésie pour l’Encouragement des Hommes et Femmes Jeune
    â€œ A Collection of Verse for the Encouragement of Young Men and Women ?” Blake asked. “That’s a mouthful for such a little booklet.”
    I shrugged, trying not to look surprised at his command of the French language. “Typical for the era.”
    He was quiet for a moment. “So why is it called the Persecution Pamphlet?”
    â€œLong story,” I said, waving away the question.
    â€œNo, really. I want to know.”
    Glancing at him, I could see he meant it, so I took a few moments to explain a little about the Huguenots’ plight in seventeenth-century France, when Louis XIV was on the throne and he and his government were anxious to convert all the Huguenots to Catholicism.
    â€œThey sent out missionaries and offered financial incentives and things like that,” I said, “but it wasn’t enough to convert the masses. So as time went on, they got meaner about it and started imposing penalties and taking away certain rights and freedoms for those who refused to convert. When that didn’t do it either, they instituted the dragoons.”
    â€œDragoons. That sounds familiar. Weren’t they military troops of some kind?”
    â€œYeah, but instead of fighting some foreign enemy, they were dispatched against their fellow citizens, the Huguenots within their own country. On orders from the king, the dragoons fanned out across France with the directive to make conversions happen, whatever it took. As you can imagine, the madness that ensued was horrible. They went way too far, ridiculing, tormenting, looting, torturing, raping, killing—you name it. They confiscated homes and businesses, burned down churches, all kinds of things. It was a terrible time of persecution, so bad that ultimately an estimated four hundred thousand Huguenots ended up fleeing the country. Some estimates put that number even higher.”
    â€œWow. It couldn’t have been good for France either, to lose so many productive citizens in such a short period of time.”
    â€œOh, it was extremely damaging. The Huguenots were bankers, merchants, weavers, that sort of thing, with good job skills and educations. Some had titles of nobility. France may have confiscated many of their homes and money and businesses, but the skills and knowledge and work ethic the Huguenots took with them when they left were worth far more. Their departure created a serious brain drain.”
    â€œWhere did they go?”
    â€œLots of places.” I gestured toward one of the posters on the wall, which showed a map of their migration routes, with arrows leading to various other European countries as well as Africa and America.
    He was studying it when Dr. Underwood interrupted to ask Blake if he would mind going up the ladder to adjust one of the directional lamps at the ceiling.
    â€œSure thing.” He climbed up and began working with the lamp, twisting it in tiny increments until it was just right. As he started back down again, he asked me what happened to the denomination itself. “I mean, I see the word ‘Huguenot’ in this area all the time—on roads and historical markers and buildings and stuff. There’s even Huguenot High School. But I’ve never seen any Huguenot churches. Is there still such a