Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1903-06-26

cOlneU WIFI HeT Whole soul, ana 10 dcceut
it and nail assurance, | fear, played
ever so lightly and coyly upon the
heartstrings of the young duke. which
responded all too loudly to her velvet
touch and almost frightened her to
death with their volume of sound later
on. This Francis dAngouleme, the
dauphin. had fallen desperately in love
with Mary at first sight. something
against which the fact that he was
married to Claude. daughter of Louis,
in no way initiated. He was very
distant relative of Louis going away
back to st. Louis for his heirship to
the French crown. The king had
daughters in plenty, but, as you know,
the gallant Frenchmen say. according
to their law salic, The realm of
France is so great and glorious a heri-
tage that it may not be taken by
woman" Too great and glorious to be
taken by woman, forsooth! France
would have been vastly better off had
she been governed by "A woman now
and then, for Il country always pros
pers under Il queen.
Francis had for many years lived at
court as the recognized heir, and, as
the custom was. called his distant cous-
in Louis "Uncle." Uncle" Louis in
turn called Francis "Ce eros Garcon,"
and Queen Mary called him Monsieur,
mon beau fills" in Il mock motherly
manner that was very laughable. y
mother of eighteen to good boy" of
twenty-five, dangerous relationship,
And dangerous indeed it would have
been for Mary had she not been as
pure and true as she was willful and
impetuous. Mon beau fills" allowed
neither his wife nor the respect he
owed the king to stand in the way of
his very marked attention to the queen.
His position as heir and his long resi-
dcnce at court, almost as son to Louis,
gave him ample opportunities for press
ing his unsccmly suit. He WAS the
first to see Mary at the meeting place
this side of Abbevlle, and was the
kings representative on all occasions.
Beau fills" was rather a handsome
fellow, but thought himself vastly
handsomer than he was, and had some
talents, which he was likewise careful
to estimate at their full value, 70 say
the least. He was very well liked by
women. and in turn considered himself
irresistible He was very impression
able to feminine charms, was at heart
libertne, and. as he grew older, be-
came a debauchee whose memory will
faint France for centuries to come.
Mary saw his weakness more clearly
than his wickedness being blinded to
the latter by the veil of her own inno-
cence. She laughed at and with him.
and permitted herself great deal of
his company-so much, in fact that
grew little Jealous for Brandons
sake, and if the truth must be told. for
the first time began to have doubts of
her. | seriously feared that when
Louis should die Brandon might find
much more dangerous rival in the
new king, who, although married,
would probably try to keep Mary at
his court even should he be driven to
the extreme of divorcing Claude as
Claude's father had divorced Joan.
l believed, in case Mary should vol
UNFAIRLY prove false and remain in
France either as the wife or the mis-
tress Of Francis, that Brandon would
quietly but surely contrive some means
10 take ner life, and hoped he would.
l spoke to my wife, Jane, about the
queens conduct, and she finally admit
ted that she did not like it, so l. unable
to remain silent any longer, determined
to put Mary on her guard. and for that
purpose spoke very freely to her on the
subject.
"Oh, you goose!' she said laughingly.
HE is almost as great fool as Hen
ry.' Then the tears came to her eyes,
and half angrily, half Historically,
shaking me by the arm, she continued:
"Do you not know? Can you not see
that would give this hand or my eyes,
almost my life, just to fall upon my
face in front of Charles Brandon at
this moment? Do you not know that
a woman with n love in her heart such
MS l have for him is safe from every
one and everything: that it is her sheet
anchor, sure and fast? Have you not
wit enough to know that?"
"Ies, | have" | responded, for the
time completely silenced. With her ia
vorite tactics she had, as usual. put me
in the wrong, though | soon came
again to the attack.
but he is so base that l grieve to
see you with him"
81 suppose he is not very good" she
responded, "but it seems TO be the way
of these people among whom | have
fallen, and he cannot harm me-"
"Oh, but he can. one does not go
near smallpox, and there is moral
contagion quite as dangerous, if not so
percepuble, and equally to be avoid
ed. 1t must be a wonderfully healthy
moral nature, pure and chaste to the
core, that will be entirely contagion
proof and safe from it,"
She hung her head in thought and
then lifted her eyes appealingly to me,
IAN not that, Edwin? Tell me! Tell
me frankly; am | not? 1t is the one
| ,f 81, ,tpfxtS,