Protestantism in France From Death of Francis I to Edict of Nantes - James Aitken Wylie

of Sienna, creatures of the Duke of Guise. "Art
thou Coligny?" said Behme, presenting himself
before his victim, and awed by the perfect
composure and venerable aspect of the admiral. "I
am," replied Coligny; "young man, you ought to
respect my grey hairs; but do what you will, you
can shorten my life only by a few days." The
villain replied by plunging his weapon into the
admiral's breast; the rest closing round struck their
daggers into him. "Behme," shouted the duke from
below, "hast done?" "Tis all over," cried the
assassin from the window. "But M. d'Angouleme,"
replied the duke, "will not believe it till he see him
at his feet." Taking up the corpse, Behme threw it
over the window, and as it fell on the pavement,
the blood spurted on the faces and clothes of the
two lords. The duke, taking out his handkerchief
and wiping the face of the murdered man, said,
"Tis he sure enough," and kicked the corpse in its
face. A servant of the Duke of Nevers cut off the
head, and carried it to Catherine de Medici and the
king. The trunk was exposed for some days to
disgusting indignities; the head was embalmed, to
be sent to Rome; the bloody trophy was carried as
337