Read Tannhauser 02: The Twelve Children of Paris for Free Online Page B

in various of the nearby
Hôtels Particuliers
.’
    He said this with the certainty of a man who possessed a list.
    ‘The attempt on Admiral Coligny’s life has left these noblemen shouting for justice. Some have threatened the person of Queen Catherine. Our young King is of a sensitive temperament and he holds the Admiral in very great affection and esteem. His Majesty is enraged that parties unknown should shoot his honoured guest while His Majesty was playing tennis. He smashed his racket in frustration. He wept with grief and shame at Coligny’s bedside. He has forbidden the people of Paris to take up arms. He has cleared all Catholics from the streets around the Hôtel Béthizy, so that the Admiral might be surrounded by his own men. He has sworn to avenge this crime or lose his soul. This morning a judicial inquiry, staffed at the King’s insistence with Huguenot sympathisers, concluded – but did not prove – that Henri, Duke of Guise, was behind the plot.’
    He paused and studied Tannhauser.
    An assassin acting in Coligny’s interest had murdered Guise’s father almost a decade before. Like the King, who loathed him, Guise was twenty-two. Some believed he coveted the throne on the basis of a bloodline to Saint Louis. Catholic militants, and the people of Paris, adored him.
    ‘If Guise wanted revenge for his father,’ said Tannhauser, ‘he has greater patience than I.’
    ‘Unrequited revenge is a potent elixir. Sip it every day and life has a meaning, a purpose.’
    ‘The true identity of the plotters is immaterial. The Huguenots will convince themselves that the scheme was hatched long ago – by the Queen, the King, the Guises, the Pope, and anyone else whose name they want to blacken.’
    ‘Would you suspect Catherine of the plot?’
    ‘It runs against the grain of her policy.’
    The satisfaction with which Retz received this made Tannhauser wonder if he, and most others, had not been gulled precisely as the Queen intended.
    ‘Suppose we yield to the King’s sensitivities,’ said Retz. ‘What next?’
    ‘That depends on Coligny.’
    ‘Coligny will carry himself like Christ Resurrected and garner more power. That’s why he’s stayed in the city, instead of leaving, as his comrades have urged. Which brings us to the heart of the problem. Coligny has been pressing the King to go to war with Spain, in the Low Countries. He believes it will unite French Catholics and Protestants under a single banner.’
    ‘That is hard to credit in a man of sound mind.’
    ‘He claims such a war was the price agreed for his consent to the marriage.’
    ‘The wedding required Coligny’s consent? And he’s allowed to say so?’
    Retz did not respond to this critique of the Crown’s diplomacy.
    ‘A month ago a Huguenot army crossed into Flanders. Alva crushed them at Mons. A letter from the King was found on Genlis, the leader of the disaster, promising His Majesty’s support for the Dutch rebels.’
    Tannhauser grunted and left it at that.
    ‘The Crown is massively in debt and dependent on Italian bankers,’ continued Retz. ‘Another conflict with Spain would be a catastrophe, yet His Majesty wavers, at least when Coligny has his ear.’
    ‘Why is an habitual warmonger like Coligny allowed anywhere near the King’s ear?’
    ‘The King is only twenty-two years old.’
    ‘By that age Alexander was sizing up the walls of Persepolis.’
    ‘You are right, up to a point.’ Retz paused. ‘On the night that His Majesty first slept with a woman, I was present throughout the occasion, to help make sure that all went well. And all did go well, for to make things go well for His Majesty is my calling. So you see, beyond that point, you are wrong, for, whatever his abilities, the King is the king.’
    Tannhauser gritted his teeth.
    ‘Tannhauser, I am surrounded by sycophants and liars. Your bluntness is gold, unaccustomed to it though I am. Now. Two days ago Coligny made an explicit threat: that the King