He tells his squire, Scianca Ferro, that France has offered him a close alliance, and, on the day when Madame Margaret shall present him with a son and heir to his principalities, it has undertaken to evacuate all the cities and fortresses of his domains which it still holds, conditional also upon him undertaking to extirpate the Vaudois heretics. Scianca Ferro is horrified at such cruelty to inoffensive peasants, but the Duke smiles and says he will recover his cities without a massacre. In fact, two months later the Duchess is delivered of a girl, but this is known only to the physician in attendance, who has already received his instructions, and a skilful substitution of Leona's boy for the daughter of the Duchess is effected. Chapters III and IV show us Emmanuel Philibert anxious to see the last of the French and Spanish garrisons, but to obtain this aim he must proceed against the Vaudois. He sends Scianca Ferro to discuss matters with their leaders.
Geneva also sends a deputation to stir up opposition.
The Duke kills Waldeck, but he and Scianca Ferro are in danger from the others, who have been joined by some of the Genevan delegation. The peasants, indignant at this attack upon their Duke, who had been so trustful of them, seize pitchforks and flails and quickly end the combat. Several of the attackers are killed, others captured and executed, and Malemort, thought to be dead, recovers once more by aid of his salve and is allowed to depart with a warning not to return. The Duke then advises France and Spain that, after a fight in which several of their leaders have been killed and others taken and executed, the Vaudois have submitted. This was the extent of the persecution, and his cities were now evacuated by the foreign soldiery.