Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1903-07-22
CHAPTER XII.

u u soon as I could leave Bran
l0 don I had intended to go
s5e0S down to Windsor and give
$S.J vent to my indignation to-
Sward5 the girls, but the more thought
about 1t the surer felt there had
somehow been a mistake. I could not
Or1ng myself to believe that Mary had
deliberately permitted matters to go
TO such an extreme when it was in her
power to prevent it. She might have
neglected her duty for a day or two,
out 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
come 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-
]CNlCO dAAdAGc"cAI AOI ulduy "0ShSs
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 it 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 moraH-
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 we'll
marry 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 &C.
'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
Of the report Of the treaty and Bran
alon'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 either
until she was Informed of the fact that
the 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 SUI
fering was keen, but was glad of it in
view Of her treatment of Brandon.
A day or two after Brandons liberia
ton had begun to speak to him Of the
girls, but he interrupted me with a
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 your
l was frightened, so much stronger
did his nature show than mine and l
took good care to remain silent on that
subject until-but l am going too fast
again. 1 will tell you Of that here
after.
Upon the morning appointed the
king, Wolsey, De Longueville and my.
self, with q small retinue, rode over tc
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 tc
induce her if possible to come down
We below could plainly hear the king
pleading in the voice of a Bashan bull
and it 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
to come up to see him compel obedi
ence from the self willed hussy," task
the magnitude of which he under
3, rated.
~ The door was soon broken down, and
the king walked in first, with De Tongue
vile and Wolsey next, and the rest
OF us following in close procession. But
4 we marched over broken walls to the
most laughable defeat ever suffered by
J besieging army. Our foe, though small
3 was altogether too fertile in expedients
for us. There seemed no way to con
4 quer this girl. Her resources were sc
1nexhaustible that in the moment OF
8 your expected victory success was
4. turned into defeat; nay, more, ridic
&ulous disaster.
s$s We found Jane crouching on the floor
4 in a corner half dead with fright from
the noise and tumult, and where dc