“You see, fair lady, what risk I run in your service, and how the Queen
has forbidden you to speak with me. You see, further, what manner of
man is your father, who has no thought whatsoever of bestowing you in
marriage. He has rejected so many excellent suitors, that I know of
none, whether near or far, that can win you. I know that I am poor, and
that you could not wed a gentleman that were not richer than I; yet,
if love and good-will were counted wealth, I should hold myself for the
richest man on earth. God has given you great wealth, and you are like
to have even more. Were I so fortunate as to be chosen for your husband,
I would be your husband, lover and servant all my life long; whereas,
if you take one of equal consideration with yourself--and such a one
it were hard to find--he will seek to be the master, and will have
more regard for your wealth than for your person, and for the beauty
of others than for your virtue; and, whilst enjoying the use of your
wealth, he will fail to treat you, yourself, as you deserve. And now my
longing to have this delight, and my fear that you will have none such
with another, impel me to pray that you will make me a happy man, and
yourself the most contented and best treated wife that ever lived.”
When Rolandine heard the very words that she herself had purposed
speaking to him, she replied with a glad countenance--
“I am well pleased that you have been the first to speak such words as
I had a long while past resolved to say to you. For the two years that
I have known you I have never ceased to turn over in my mind all the
arguments for you and against you that I was able to devise; but now
that I am at last resolved to enter into the married state, it is time
that 1 should make a beginning and choose some one with whom I may look
to dwell with tranquil mind. And I have been able to find none, whether
handsome, rich, or nobly born, with whom my heart and soul could agree
excepting yourself alone. I know that in marrying you I shall not offend
God, but rather do what He enjoins, while as to his lordship my father,
he has regarded my welfare so little, and has rejected so many offers,
that the law suffers me to marry without fear of being disinherited;
though, even if I had only that which is now mine, I should, in marrying
such a husband as you, account myself the richest woman in the world. As
to the Queen, my mistress, I need have no qualms in displeasing her
in order to obey God, for never had she any in hindering me from any
blessing that I might have had in my youth. But, to show you that the
love I bear you is founded upon virtue and honour, you must promise that
if I agree to this marriage, you will not seek its consummation until my
father be dead, or until I have found a means to win his consent.”
To this the Bastard readily agreed, whereupon they exchanged rings in
token of marriage, and kissed each other in the church in the presence
of God, calling upon Him to witness their promise; and never afterwards
was there any other familiarity between them save kissing only.
This slender delight gave great content to the hearts of these two
perfect lovers; and, secure in their mutual affection, they lived for
some time without seeing each other. There was scarcely any place where
honour might be won to which the Bastard did not go, rejoicing that he
could not now continue a poor man, seeing that God had bestowed on him
a rich wife; and she during his absence steadfastly cherished their
perfect love, and made no account of any other living man. And although
there were some who asked her in marriage, the only answer they had of
her was that, since she had remained unwedded for so long a time, she
desired to continue so for ever. (6)
6 The speeches of Rolandine and the Bastard should be
compared with some of Clement Marot’s elegies, notably with
one in which he complains of having been surprised while
conversing with his mistress in a church.--B. J.
This reply came to the ears of so many people, that the Queen heard of
it and asked her why she spoke in that way. Rolandine replied that it
was done in obedience to herself, who had never been pleased to marry
her to any man who would have well and comfortably provided for her;
accordingly, being taught by years and patience to be content with her
present condition, she would always return a like answer whensoever any
one spoke to her of marriage.
When the wars were over, (7) and the Bastard had returned to Court, she
never spoke to him in presence of others, but always repaired to
some church and there had speech with him under pretence of going to
confession; for the Queen had forbidden them both, under penalty of
death, to speak together except in public. But virtuous love, which
recks naught of such a ban, was more ready to find them means of speech
than were their enemies to spy them out; the Bastard disguised himself
in the habit of every monkish order he could think of, and thus their
virtuous intercourse continued, until the King repaired to a pleasure
house he had near Tours. (8)
7 The wars here referred to would be one or another of Louis
XII.’s Italian expeditions, probably that of 1507, when the
battle of Aignadel was fought.--Ed.
8 This would no doubt be the famous château of Plessis-lez-
Tours, within a mile of Tours, and long the favourite
residence of Louis XI. Louis XII. is known to have sojourned
at Plessis in 1507, at the time when the States-general
conferred upon him the title of “Father of the People.”
English tourists often visit Plessis now adays in memory of
Scott’s “Quentin Durward,” but only a few shapeless ruins of
the old structure are left.--M. and Ed.
This, however, was not near enough for the ladies to go on foot to any
other church but that of the castle, which was built in such a fashion
that it contained no place of concealment in which the confessor would
not have been plainly recognised.
But if one opportunity failed them, love found them another and an
easier one, for there came to the Court a lady to whom the Bastard
was near akin. This lady was lodged, together with her son, (9) in the
King’s abode; and the young Prince’s room projected from the rest of the
King’s apartments in such a way that from his window it was possible to
see and to speak to Rolandine, for his window and hers were just at the
angle made by the two wings of the house.
9 This lady would be Louise of Savoy. She first came to the
Court at Amboise in 1499, a circumstance which has led some
commentators to place the incidents of this story at that
date. But she was at Blois on various occasions between 1507
and 1509, to negotiate and attend the marriage of her
daughter Margaret with the Duke of Alençon. Louis XII.
having gone from Blois to Plessis in 1507, Louise of Savoy
may well have followed him thither. Her son was, of course,
the young Duke de Valois, afterwards Francis I.--Ed.
In this room of hers, which was over the King’s presence-chamber, all
the noble damsels that were Rolandine’s companions were lodged with her.
She, having many times observed the young Prince at his window, made
this known to the Bastard through her governess; and he, having made
careful observation of the place, feigned to take great pleasure in
reading a book about the Knights of the Round Table (10) which was in
the Prince’s room.
10 Romances of chivalry were much sought after at this time.
Not merely were there MS. copies of these adorned with
miniatures, but we find that _L’Histoire du Saint Gréai, La
Vie et les Prophéties de Merlin, and Les Merveilleux Faits
et Gestes du Noble Chevalier Lancelot du Lac_ were printed
in France in the early years of the sixteenth century.--B.J.
And when every one was going to dinner, he would beg a valet to let him
finish his reading, shut up in the room, over which he promised to keep
good guard. The servants knew him to be a kinsman of his master and one
to be trusted, let him read as much as he would. Rolandine, on her part,
would then come to her window; and, so that she might be able to make
a long stay at it, she pretended to have an infirmity in the leg, and
accordingly dined and supped so early that she no longer frequented the
ladies’ table. She likewise set herself to work a coverlet of crimson
silk, (11) and fastened it at the window, where she desired to be alone;
and, when she saw that none was by, she would converse with her husband,
who contrived to speak in such a voice as could not be overheard; and
whenever any one was coming, she would cough and make a sign, so that
the Bastard might withdraw in good time.
11 In the French, “_Ung lût de reseul:” reticella--i.e._, a
kind of open work embroidery very fashionable in those days,
and the most famous designers of which were Frederic
Vinciolo, Dominic de Sara, and John Cousin the painter.
Various sixteenth and seventeenth century books on
needlework, still extant, give some curious information
concerning this form of embroidery.--M.
Those who kept watch upon them felt sure that their love was past, for
she never stirred from the room in which, as they thought, he could
assuredly never see her, since it was forbidden him to enter it.
One day, however, the young Prince’s mother, (12) being in her son’s
room, placed herself at the window where this big book lay, and had
not long been there when one of Rolandine’s companions, who was at the
window in the opposite room, greeted her and spoke to her. The lady
asked her how Rolandine did; whereon the other replied that she might
see her if she would, and brought her to the window in her nightcap.
Then, when they had spoken together about her sickness, they withdrew
from the window on either side.