The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1903-05-22

II Il
down to Windsor and give
J vent to my indignation to-
ward the girls. but the more ! thought
about il the surer | felt there had
somehow been a mistake. ! could not
bring myself TO believe that Mary had
deliberately permitted matters TO 20
to such an extreme when IL was in her
power to prevent it. She might have
neglected her duty for a day or two.
but sooner or later her good impulses
always came to her rescue. and with
Jane by her side TO urge her on | was
almost sure she would have liberated
Brandon long ago. barring blunder OF
some sort
So | did not go to Windsor until
week after Brandon's release. when
the king asked me to go down with
him. wolsey and De Longueville. the
French ambassador special. for the
purpose of officially Offering to Mary
the hand of Louis MI. and the honor
of becoming queen OF France
The princess had known of the pro-
jected arrangement for many weeks.
but had no thought of the present for
ward condition of affairs or she would
have brought her energies to bear upon
Henry long before. She could not
bring herself to believe that her broth
er would really force her into such
wretchedness, and possibly he would
never have done so. much as he de-
sired it from the standpoint of personal
ambition, had il not been for the petty
excuse of that fatal trip to Grouche's-
All the circumstances of the case
were such as to make Mary's marriage
| a veritable virgin sacrifice. Louis was
| an old man, and an old Frenchman at
| that, full of French notions of morali-
| ty and immortality, and. besides. there
were objections that cannot be writ
ten. but of which Henry and Mary had
been fully Informed. She might as well
marry a leper. Do you wonder she was
| full of dread and fear and resisted with
the desperation of death?
So Mary. the person most interested,
was about the last to learn that the
treaty had been signed.
Windsor was nearly eight leagues
from London and at that time was oc-
cupied only by the girls and few old
ladies' and servants, so that news did
not travel fast in that direction from
the city 1t is also probable that. even
il the report of the treaty and Bran
don's release had reached Windsor. the
persons hearing it would have hesitat
ed to repeat it to Mary. However that
may be, she had no knowledge Of eithel
until she was Informed of the fact tha
the king and the French ambassador
would be at Windsor on certain day
to make the formal request for he
hand and to offer the gifts of Kin:
Louis.
1 had no doubt Mary was in trouble
and felt sure she had been making af
fairs lively about her. l knew her suf
fering was keen, but was glad of II il
view of her treatment of Brandon
A day or two after Brandon's liberia
ton had begun to speak to him of tn
girls. but he interrupted me with
. frightful oath: :'Caskoden, you are IN.
friend, but if you ever mention thei
names again in my hearing you ar
my friend no longer. | will curse you!
} / was frightened, so much stronge
I | did his nature show than mine. and
. took good care to remain silent on tina
subject until-but / am going too fas
. again / will tell you OF that herC
after.
! Upon the morning appointed th
king, wolsey. De Longueville and ny
self. with small retinue. rode over I
Windsor, where we found that Mar.
anticipating US, had barricaded herse
4 I'm her bedroom and refused to receiy
/. the announcement. The king went III
!. stairs to coax the fair young besiege
. through two inches OF oak door and
. induce her If possible to come dow
i We below could plainly hear the kir
70 pleading in the voice OF a Bashan bu
and II afforded us some amusemel
= behind our hands. Then his majest
grew angry and threatened TO brea
down the door, but the fair besieg,
maintained most persistent and pr
" voking silence throughout it all al
i. allowed him to carry out his thre
N without so much as whimper. L
= was thoroughly angry and called to
to to come up to see him compel obet
ence from the self willed hussy," Il tn
the magnitude OF which he unde
,s rated.
y The door was soon broken down. al
,r the king walked I'm first. with De Longu
vile and Wolsey next. and the re
ut of us following in close procession. B
ne we marched over broken walls TO Z
~ most laughable defeat ever suffered
= besieging army. Our foe. though sma
was altogether too fertile in expedieI
y. for us. There seemed no way to CO
quer this girl. Her resources were
inexhaustible that in the moment
your expected victory success W
turned into defeat; nay, more, rid
al ulous disaster.
70. We found Jane crouching on the flC
N in "a corner half dead with fright frC
oS the noise and tumult, and where
you think we found her mistres
Iai Frightened? Not at all. She was
'y' ing in bed with her face to the wall
cool as a January morning, her clio