brother of M. de Lignerac, received her with respect, and promised her
his protection, the enmity of Henri III pursued her even to this obscure
place of exile.

At this period even the high spirit of Marguerite de Valois was nearly
subdued, for she no longer knew in what direction to turn for safety.
She had become contemptible in the eyes of her husband, she was deserted
by her mother, hated by her brother, despised by her co-religionists
from the licentiousness of her life, and detested by the Protestants as
the cause, however innocently, of the fatal massacre of their friends
and leaders. The memory of the martyred Coligny was ever accompanied by
a curse on Marguerite; and thus she was an outcast from all creeds and
all parties. Still, however, confident in the good faith of the
Governor of Carlat, she assumed at least a semblance of tranquillity,
and trusted that she should be enabled to remain for a time unmolested;
but it was not long ere she ascertained that the inhabitants of the
town, like those of Agen, were hostile to her interests, and that they
had even resolved to deliver her up to the French King.

Under these circumstances, she had no alternative save to become once
more a fugitive; and having, with considerable difficulty, succeeded in
making her escape beyond the walls, she began to indulge a hope that she
should yet baffle the devices of her enemy; she was soon, however, fated
to be undeceived, for she had travelled only a few leagues when she was
overtaken and captured by the Marquis de Canillac,[24] who conveyed her
to the fortress of Usson.[25] As she passed the drawbridge, Marguerite
recognised at a glance that there was no hope of evasion from this new
and impregnable prison, save through the agency of her gaoler; and she
accordingly lost no time in exerting all her blandishments to captivate
his reason. Although she had now attained her thirty-fifth year, neither