“He wants freedom for Protestants to worship.”

“Yes, certainly. He also wants to help the Protestants in the Netherlands against their Catholic oppressors, the mighty Hapsburgs. Quite apart from the fact that I am a Catholic, I happen to think it’s madness. The last thing we need is to put ourselves at war with the Hapsburg king of Spain.”

“God forbid.”

“Indeed. Yet now, to please Coligny, Catherine has even sent some troops to the Netherlands to support the Protestants. What do you make of that?”

“To me, it is very strange.”

“Well, I think it’s more than strange. I think it’s unbelievable. Are we really suggesting that an Italian Médicis, the kinswoman of popes, is going to tolerate Protestants in her realm?” He paused. “There is one more person to consider. Who is Catherine’s greatest supporter?”

“I should say the Duke of Guise.”

“Indeed. The mighty house of Guise. Her closest counselors. The duke’s uncle is a cardinal in Rome. And let us not forget Mary, Queen of Scots. Devout Catholic. Rightful Queen of Scotland. Claimant to the throne of England. Elizabeth of England holds her in captivity now, and fears her. And who was the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots? The cardinal’s sister, Mary of Guise.”

“Unlikely sponsors of Protestants.”

“Exactly. Now I have one last question. Knowing what we do of Catherine de Médicis, by what principles will she be guided in all her actions?”

“By her faith, surely.”

“I said in her actions.”

“I do not understand.”

“You have heard of the great Machiavelli, I am sure.”

“Who has not? An evil man.”

“He merely described the ruthless cunning, the cold calculation, the poisonings and murders that he saw all around him among the rulers of Italy—the Florence of the Médicis in particular. Our queen mother will act exactly like that.”

“And so this wedding …?”

“Is a diabolical trap. Think of it. Coligny is here. Almost every leading Protestant in France has come into Paris for this wedding, along with their followers. What a chance.”

“I don’t understand.”

“She’s going to kill them all. She and the Guises.”

“But there are hundreds of them.”

“Thousands. It’s most convenient.”

“But that is evil. Unspeakably evil.”

“You have missed the point. It is logical.”

“But we are Christians.”

“You think the pope is going to object?”

“But what of Henry of Navarre? The bridegroom.”

“Ah. That is interesting. Catherine has already isolated him. Very cleverly.”

“In what way?”

“Who made Henry a Protestant in the first place?”

“His mother, the Queen of Navarre.”

“And what happened to her?”

“She died.”

“Exactly. Not long ago. When she was visiting the queen mother, who had begged her to come—so that they might learn to be friends.”

“What are you saying?”

“Catherine poisoned her.”

“There is no proof.”

“There never will be. But once Henry is left married to Catherine de Médicis’s daughter, with his mother gone, and Coligny and all his supporters murdered, he will be entirely isolated. He will either convert to Catholicism, or …”