BROKEN PROMISES
After meeting "little Mademoiselle of Austria," as Marguerite was called
in the court of Brittany, both Le Glorieux and Antoine felt that they
would like to be in her service, and that it was to her, the daughter of
their own Mary of Burgundy, to whom they owed their loyalty.
The morning after her arrival the princess sent for Le Glorieux and
Antoine to come to her. The Duchess Anne had seen to it that her guest
should be clad in a costume befitting her rank, and the coarse gown of
the peasant child had been discarded for ever.
Marguerite asked the two comrades a great many questions about the
province of Burgundy, and the jester told her many incidents of her
mother's girlhood. She listened to Antoine's Burgundian songs with great
delight, and she expressed a wish that both jester and musician might
accompany her to Amboise, though she said she would not be so selfish as
to deprive the Duchess of Brittany of two such merrymakers.
Cunegunda, however, was not happy at the court of Brittany. "I wish that
we had been permitted to continue our journey as we began it," she
said. "I am convinced that it would have been far better for both of
us."
"I am not afraid," replied her mistress calmly. "The Lady Anne has
promised that we shall return in safety, and she will not break her
word." But Cunegunda's round rosy face remained thoughtful and sad.
"Something tells me that things are not right," said she. "I seem to
feel it in the air. Everything is going too well for us. Here is your
little Highness treated like a very queen with everything done to amuse
you, and both of us so comfortable in this beautiful palace that I feel
that it is all too good to be true."
The next afternoon Le Glorieux, who, as has been said, being a jester
was privileged to go where he liked, rushed into the apartments of the
princess with the remark, "Our Duchess of Brittany soon to be married is
listening to a strange man by the oriel window in the grand corridor."
"A jest upon such a subject does not amuse me in the least," replied the
Lady Marguerite reprovingly.
"By the mass! nor does it amuse me, for from the few words I caught I am
sure it means something quite serious for you, little Cousin."
"Please explain your meaning."
The jester replied, "I was looking at those suits of armor, in the
corridor, worn by the ancient Dukes of Brittany. I was counting the
dents made in the helmets and corselets by mace and battle-ax, and
wondering if it paid to fight so fiercely, since, after all, the time
would come when the bravest would be as dead as anybody else, when I
heard the tinkle of ladies' voices, and who should come into the
corridor but Cousin Anne and Clotilde."
[Illustration: "I slipped behind the armor of a giant duke"]
"I slipped behind the armor of a giant duke and stood waiting to see
what was going to happen, for the duchess was as white as Dame
Cunegunda's cap and the countenance of Clotilde was screwed into an
expression I never had seen it wear in all the years I have reveled in
the joy of her acquaintance. They waited for a few moments, then the
door at the other end of the corridor was opened and two gentlemen
entered."
"And who were they?" asked Cunegunda breathlessly.
"I have not the pleasure of the acquaintance of all the gentlemen of
Europe," replied the fool, "and I did not recognize them; but I knew at
once that they were Frenchmen. As soon as they had greeted the ladies
the taller of the two retired to the other end of the corridor, and
Clotilde, as if not to be outdone in politeness, withdrew to the other
door; but I remained quietly in my place, for I wanted to hear what was
going on. Why is it that people always talk in such low mumbling voices
when one is trying to hear what they are saying? I have good large
ears, and I strained them to their utmost capacity, but I could only
catch a word now and then.
"I know that the gentleman was urging Cousin Anne to do something she
did not want to do, and that it was a plot against Mademoiselle of
Austria, for I heard Anne say, 'Dishonorable both to the King of the
Romans and to the Lady Marguerite.' I wanted to hear more, but Clotilde,
who I verily believe was created on purpose to make me uncomfortable,
seemed to suspect that there was somebody in the place who had not been
invited and began to peer about pop-eyed, like a cat in search of a
mouse."
"Well, continue!" said Cunegunda impatiently, as the fool paused.
"Let a man reach for his breath, can't you? That was a long sentence. I
felt that I was not safe with Clotilde on the hunt for me, so, keeping
well in the shadows, I managed to slip to the nearest archway, and I am
here with a whole skin, which might not have been the case if Clotilde
had spied me out."
"How did the gentleman appear?" asked Cunegunda.
"He appeared to be pretty well, though somewhat anxious," replied the
jester.
"She meant to ask you to describe him," said the princess.
"He was not beautiful," was the reply. "I could show you a handsomer
man among her Grace's falconers and could pick a better-looking one from
a good many other crowds. Put into the suit of armor behind which I
stood he would have rattled about like a nut on the inside of a drum.
His head was large and his nose, instead of coming straight down, as a
sensible nose should do, made a curve over the top. His eyes were big
and bright, and Nature, as if to make an apology for giving him such a
nose, had stuck a dimple in his chin, which was poor taste on her part,
for a dimple looks queer with that kind of a nose. But his manner was so
gracious that I fancy one would soon forget his ugliness and think only
of the real man shut inside that unprepossessing shell.
"That was a clever sentence, was it not?" asked the fool, stopping
suddenly. "I did not know that I could do it. I wish I could always talk
like that."
"Did he have a fashion of smoothing his hair from his brow as he
talked?" asked the princess.
"Yes, I noticed that. He held his cap in his hand, as a gentleman
should. It was black, with a long black plume clasped in place by a
great jewel that seemed to wink at me as he talked."
"It was Charles of France!"
"It was the King!" exclaimed Marguerite and her woman in the same
breath.
"Because he wore a jewel in his cap?" asked the jester. "Oh, fie! that
is a common fashion."
"You have described the King's face and figure exactly," said Cunegunda.
"Since you mention it, I think it must have been the King," said the
fool, "for I now recall the fact that the lady addressed him as
'Monseigneur,' a title not given to common mortals."
"Oh, what is going to happen to us now?" cried Cunegunda, in an agony of
distress. "I have known all along that something dreadful was in store
for us in this place."
"Then it must be a mournful satisfaction to you to know that you were
not mistaken," remarked Le Glorieux.
"Do not stand there making senseless speeches," cried the Austrian woman
angrily, "but try to help us out of our troubles. But why do I appeal to
you? You do not care for us; you are in the service of our enemies."
The jester instantly became serious. "If danger threatens I will serve
but one. I shall know no allegiance but to the princess of my own
country, the daughter of my beloved mistress."
Marguerite smiled brightly as she said, "I have no fear that you will
not defend me if it should become necessary, Le Glorieux. But I do not
think the time has yet come for you to fight for me.
"Your Highness talks like a baby," cried Cunegunda, "and as if you were
a person of no consequence! Is it a matter of small moment that the
granddaughter of the emperor should be in the clutches of Anne of
Brittany, who is plotting against her with the King of France?"
"But why should the King of France plot against me, since I am to be the
queen and my provinces will one day belong to him?" replied her little
mistress.
"Who can account for the strange schemes of great nations?" asked
Cunegunda. "Perhaps your marriage with the King of France is about to be
broken off and he and the Duchess of Brittany will hold you as a hostage
to extract a large sum from the emperor, your grandfather."
"It would be cruel to demand a large sum from that old and stingy man,"
remarked Le Glorieux. "The gold of Frederick is as hard to dig out of
his coffers as if it were a thousand feet under ground."
"We shall not need his money for that purpose," said the princess. "My
dear Duchess of Brittany will never betray me, nor will Charles of
France, who is too good and kind to seek to injure me."
"The King is under the influence of his sister, who has no thought but
for her own schemes," replied the woman firmly. "We must leave here at
once! We can escape to-night unseen and remain in some quiet village
until we shall be able to communicate with Austria."
Le Glorieux sat down on the floor and pressed his hands to his head.
"This matter is enough to puzzle a wise man, to say nothing of a fool,"
said he dolefully. "Now, let us look at it as it really is and try to
straighten it all out." Holding his left hand out in front of him and
gesticulating with his right, he went on. "This thumb is Mademoiselle of
Austria; this forefinger is the Duchess Anne; the second finger is the
King of France, and the third is the King of the Romans. Now, Anne is
going to marry the King of the Romans, whose daughter is going to marry
the King of France. But what must Anne be at but engaged in a plot
against the daughter of the man she is going to marry in order to make
things fine and pleasant for her by the time she arrives in Austria.
This plot, so far as I can see, is one which the King of France has no
reason in this world to have a finger in, but which he takes all the
trouble to come in secret to help carry out!"
"Do not sit there tapping first one finger and then the other like a
great booby, but help us to get away from here," said Cunegunda angrily.
"Here is money to bribe the groom to keep silent. See that our mules are
brought out----"
"Stop!" said Marguerite, in a tone of calm authority. "I have told the
Duchess of Brittany that I would trust her, and intend to do so. I shall
remain here until she goes."
"Remain here with your life in danger?" cried Cunegunda, aghast.
"My life is not in danger. I know not of what she was speaking to the
King of France, nor how Le Glorieux may have misunderstood her, but
whatever it is, my life is not in peril while I am beneath the roof of
Anne of Brittany. Therefore I will not steal away in the night like a
criminal. She has said that not one hair of my head shall be touched,
and she will not be faithless to her promise. There is nothing for us to
do but to keep silent and wait."
"And those two are the hardest things in this world to do," said the
fool. "To wait is worse than the toothache, to keep silent is worse than
the plague, but put the two together and they are enough to destroy life
and reason."
At supper the question of the significance of dreams came up, all
discussing it in an animated manner save the Lady Anne, who toyed with
her wineglass, often gazing down into it as if trying to read her future
in its ruby depths. Le Glorieux sat on a low stool at her side, making a
remark when he felt so inclined, and studying her face when he was not
talking.
"There are dreams which always come true for _me_," said the Lady
Clotilde in the tone of one whose word can not be disputed. "A dream of
the dead is one of great importance, as every one knows. When I dream of
my father something of moment always happens. He always addresses me as
'My sweet and amiable child.'"
"All kinds of love are blind," remarked the jester. "I had a dream
myself last night that is of great importance," he went on with his
eyes fixed on the Lady Anne's face. "I thought the affairs of Brittany,
Austria, and France were a pack of cards, all arranged smoothly, with
the proper kings and queens together and the knaves at the bottom of the
pack. Then I could see the knaves grow restless and begin to flutter,
and lo! the whole pack went spinning in the air, whirling about like
dead leaves in the mistral. And when they came together again the wrong
kings and queens were mated; for instance, the Queen of Diamonds was
paired with the King of Clubs!"
A wave of color swept over the fair face of the duchess, but she said
calmly, "It is said that dreams go by contraries, Fool; therefore yours
signifies that the kings will find their proper queens."
But the Lady Clotilde, as the jester afterward said, "pinned him with
her eye," and later she said in his ear, "I heard a 'fluttering' behind
the armor this afternoon that was not cards, for with it was a faint
jingle of bells."
"It must have been a dream, Cousin Clotilde," he returned boldly, but he
gnashed his teeth as he thought, "Those wretched bells have betrayed me,
though I put up my hands and muffled them."
It was late on the following morning when the watchman blew his horn,
and when the Lady Marguerite woke it seemed to her that the palace was
unusually quiet. She threw her arms over her head and smiled happily as
one who has pleasant anticipations, for a new game in the courtyard had
been promised and it was of that she had thought upon wakening.
The Lady Clotilde entered, followed by a tiring woman. "Her Grace, the
Duchess of Brittany, bade me tell your Highness that she was obliged to
depart early this morning for reasons which she can not at present
explain," said Lady Clotilde. "A proper escort has been provided for
you. I shall take charge of you, and in two days we shall start for
Amboise."
"The Duchess of Brittany has gone to join my father without a word of
farewell to me?" cried the princess, in astonishment. "And she promised
so faithfully that I should accompany her as far as possible on her
journey!"
"A change of circumstances sometimes necessitates a change of plans, and
one is often compelled to break a promise made in good faith. Her Grace
bade me assure you upon her honor that no harm shall come to you, and
that you shall return to Amboise in safety, and also that neither you
nor your nurse shall be reproached for your escapade. And now the mind
of your Highness should be at rest. Moreover, she bade me say that since
the jester, Le Glorieux, is so devoted to your Highness she has given
him to you. And permit me to say upon my own account, that as the
singing of the page Antoine la Fitte affords your Highness so much
pleasure I shall feel highly honored if you will deign to accept his
services and keep him as your own."
"I thank you," replied the princess. "I shall be delighted to have in my
service two servitors who amuse me so much, and who will be as faithful
to me as I am sure the Burgundians will be. And I feel that I can safely
trust in the promise of the Lady Anne."
"I begin to think that my dream about the cards is likely to come true,"
said Le Glorieux later to the Lady Clotilde.
"And I think that for you a tongue well behind the teeth is the safest
attitude to assume in this case," she returned with a frown.
"That is a strange piece of advice to give, Cousin Clotilde," he
replied. "Do you usually talk with your tongue in front of your teeth? I
never do."
"You know quite well what I mean," snapped the lady.
* * * * *
The journey from Rennes to Amboise was not a pleasant one, for the fine
weather had been succeeded by chill winds, but the litter of
Mademoiselle of Austria was furnished with rich furs to protect her from
the cold, and with her train of guards and attendants she traveled in a
style befitting a princess.
News traveled very slowly in the fifteenth century, and it was not until
they had reached Amboise that the mystery which had so puzzled
Marguerite and her friends was explained.
The little Lady Marguerite was received in great state at the palace of
Amboise by Anne of Beaujeu, Duchess of Bourbon. This princess was a
tall, handsome, and resolute woman. Louis the Eleventh said of her when
he named her Regent of France, "She is the least foolish of women," for,
being crabbed and disagreeable, he thought all women more or less
foolish, but that this stately daughter was the most sensible of her
sex.
The clandestine journey of the little princess and her woman was not
alluded to by the Duchess of Bourbon, and one would have thought that
the escapade of a princess disguised as a peasant was an event of common
occurrence.
"And now, Madame," said Marguerite, "perhaps you can tell me why the
city of Amboise is draped in cloth of gorgeous colors, and why
everywhere is the air of a festival which I can not think is caused by
my return."
"Madame," replied Anne of Beaujeu in even tones, "a matter has been kept
from you for some days, for to me was assigned the duty of acquainting
you with a certain piece of news. It has been deemed best that the
marriages between the houses of Austria and France and Austria and
Brittany should be broken off, although both France and Brittany have
appreciated the honor of the alliance. Therefore, a marriage has taken
place between the King of France and the Duchess of Brittany."
"The King of France and the Duchess of Brittany!" exclaimed Marguerite,
with flashing eyes. "The King of France was solemnly betrothed to _me_!
Has the treaty of Arras been forgotten? And the King of the Romans, my
father, too, has been insulted! Oh, I _hate_ France, I hate every inch
of it! And the Lady Anne! Why, she told me that she was to marry my
father, that she had accepted safe conduct to Austria! And her eyes were
so truthful when she said it. Why should she have deceived me when I
trusted her, when I--I--loved her so!"
The wound to her heart was greater than that to her pride, and, covering
her face with her hands, the little princess wept.
"The Duchess of Brittany expected to be married to Maximilian of Austria
when she talked of the matter to you," said Anne of Beaujeu. "It was but
a few days before the marriage that she agreed to accept the King of
France, an alliance which she was convinced was for the best interests
of her people."
"And what is to become of me?" asked Marguerite.
"You shall be sent in the state suited to your rank back to Austria. I
beg your Highness to take the matter more philosophically. I greatly
deplore the fact that you should have been thus wounded, but in the
great affairs of nations personal concerns must take a second place."
[Illustration: The little Princess continued to sob]
The little princess continued to sob, and all withdrew save the jester,
who, kneeling at her feet, said gently, "Little Cousin, when the
daughter of Austria is ready to wed, the prince of a greater nation than
France may be found for her." Then, assuming a lighter tone, he went on,
"And a handsomer husband can be easily found than this stunted king. And
think of it, little lady, you will shortly see your father!"
"Ah!" cried Marguerite, dashing away her tears and springing to her
feet, while a smile dimpled the corners of her mouth, "I had not thought
of that! At last I shall see my father! Happy as a peasant child I shall
live under his roof! After all, the good God has been gracious to me and
has granted my wish."
"And Antoine and I will go with you, leaving the Lady Clotilde carefully
behind," cried Le Glorieux. "The Lady Anne has give me to you, and you
see I am still, in another way, the Lady Anne's present!"