Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-03-26
LOUIS XII. A sU1ToR.

 about 1t the surer I felt there had somehow been mistake. could not bring myself to believe that Mary had deliberately permitted matters to go to such an extreme when it was in her power to prevent 1t. She might have neglected her duty for 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 I was almost sure she would have liberated Brandon long ago, barring blunder of some sort.
 So did not go to Windsor until a 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 XII. and the honor of becoming queen of France.
 The princess had known of the pro- tected 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 CT would really force her into such wretchedness, and possibly he would never have done so, much as he de- sired 1t from the standpoint of personal ambition, had 1t not been for the petty excuse of that fatal trip to Grouche's.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 F'renchman at that, full of French notions of morali- Ky 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 leper. Do you wonder she was full of dread and fear and resisted with khe desperation of death?
 So Mary, the person most interested, nwas 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 mot travel fast in that direction from ithe city. It is also probable that, even If the report of the treaty and Bran don's release had reached Windsor, the persons hearing 1t would have hesitat- cd to repent 1t to Mary. However that may be, she had no knowledge of either until she was informed of the fact that khe king and the French ambassador would be at Windsor on certain day to make the formal request for her hand and to offer the gifts of King Louis.
 had no doubt Mary was in trouble and felt sure she had been making af- fairs lively about her. knew her suf- sfering was keen, but was glad of it in view of her treatment of Brandon.
 A day or two after Brandon's libera- ton had begun, to speak to him of the girls, but he interrupted me with frightful oath: "Caskoden, you are my friend, but If you ever mention their names again in my hearing you are my friend no longer. will curse you!'
 I was frightened, so much stronger did his nature show than mine, and I took good care to remain silent on that subject until-but I am going too fast again. will tell you of that here after.
 Upon the morning appointed the king, Wolsey, De Longueville and my. self. with a small retinue, rode over to Windsor, where we found that Mary, anticipating us, had barricaded herself in her bedroom and refused to receive the announcement. The king went up- stairs to coax the fair young besieged through two inches of oak door and to induce her if possible to come down. We below could plainly hear the king pleading in the voice of Bashan bull, and 1t afforded us some amusement behind our hands. Then his majesty grew angry and threatened to break down the door, but the fair besieged maintained most persistent and pro voking silence throughout it all and allowed him to carry out his threat without so much as whimper. He was thoroughly angry and called to us 10 come up to see him compel obedi- ence from the self willed hussy,'' task the magnitude of which he under gated
 The door was soon broken down, and the king walked in first, with De Longue- vile and Wolsey next, and the rest of US following in close procession But we marched over broken walls to the most Imaginable defeat ever suffered by besieging army. Our foe, though small, was altogether too fertile in expedients for us. There seemed no way to con quer this girl. Her resources were so inexhaustible that in the moment of your expected victory success was turned into defeat; nay, more, ridic- ulous disaster.
 We found Jane crouching on the floor in corner half dead with fright from the noise and tumult, and where do you think we found her mistress? :? Frightened? Not at all. She was ly- ing in bed with her face to the wall as cool as January morning, her cloth Ing in little heap in the middle of the room.
 Without turning her head, she ex- claimed: "Come in, brother. You are quite welcome. Bring in your friends. I am ready to receive them, though not in court attire, as you see" And she thrust her bare arm straight up from