Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-04-03

l -z4 1 June thouoIot I had gone stdTE mad mine and demoniac. Pardon me, la ] dies, if couple these two arts, but you
 must admit they are at times some l what akin. Soon she eluded him so 1 completely that for days he would not have glimpse of her, while she was l perhaps riding, walking or coquetting 1 with some of the, court gallants, who aided and abetted her in every way 1 they could. He became almost frantic l in pursuit of his elusive bride, and
 would expostulate with her, when he
 could catch her, and smile uneasily.
 like man who is the victim of prac-
 ticai joke of which he does not see or
 enjoy the point. On such occasions she
 would laugh in his face, then grow 1 angry-which was so easy for her to do
 and, grieve to say, would sometimes
 almost swear at him in manner to
 make the plous though ofttimes lax
 virtued court ladies shudder with hor-
 TOT. She would at other Hines make
 sport of his youthful ardor and tell him
 in all seriousness that it was indecorous l for him to behave so and frighten her, a poor, timid little child, with his inn l petuosities. Then she would manage l to give him the slip, and he would go 1 off and play a game of cards with him. l self, firmly convinced in his own feeble
 way that woman's nature had a tine 1 ,ture of the devil in 1t. He was the soul
 of concfliatory kindness to the young 1 vixen, but at times she would break l violently into tears, accuse him of cru ely mistreating her, a helpless woman and a stranger in his court, and threat en to go home to dear old England and
 tell her brother, King Henry, all about 1 it and have him put things to right and
 redress her wrongs generally. In fact, 1 she acted the part cf injured innocence
 so perfectly that the poor old man l would apologize for the wrongs she 1n-
 vented and try to coax her into good .humor. Thereupon she would weep
 more bitterly than ever, grow hyster- l ical and require to be carried off by her l women when recovery and composure 1 were usually instantaneous Of course the court gossips soon carried stories of 1 the quick recoveries to the king, and 1 when he spoke to Mary of them she 1 put on her injured air again and turned 1 the tables by upbraiding him for be- 1 lieving such calumnies about her, who was so good to him and loved him so l dearly.
 Mary would often bout for days to- | gether and pretend illness. Upon one
 occasion she kept the king waiting at
 her door all the morning, while she,
 having slipped through the window,
 was riding with some of the young peo- l pie in the forest. When she returned l through the window - she went to l the door and scolded the poor old king
 for keeping her waiting penned up in 1 her room all the morning. And he apol-
 ogized!
 She changed the dinner hour to noon
 in accordance with the English GUS
 tom, and had heavy supper at night, | when she would make the king gorge l himself with unhealthful food and coax 1 him ito drink as much as Brother
 Henry" which invariably resulted in
 Louis de Valois finding lodgment under l the table. This amused the whole court except a few old H%ronies and 1 physicians, who, of course, were scan- ]
 dalized beyond measure. She took the
 king on long rides with her on cold days, and would jolt him almost to
 death and freeze him until the cold
 tears streamed down his poor pinched
 nose, making him feel like a half anil
 mated iciclo and wish that he were one, in fact.
 l At night she would have her balls and keep him I'D till morning, drinking
 and dancing, or trying to dance, with
 her until his poor old heels, and his head, too, for that matter, were like to fall off; then she would slip away
 from him and lock herself in her room
 December, say I, let May alone; sbe
 certainly will kill you. Despite which sound advice, I doubt not December
 will go on coveting May up to the end of the chapter, each old fellow-being such fine man for his age, you under
 stand-fondly believing himself an ex- ception. Age in fool is damnable. ] Mary was killing Louis as certainly and deliberately as if she were feeding him slow poison. He was very weak
 and decrepit at best, being compelled
 frequently upon public occasions, such, for example, as the coronation tourna-
 nent of which I have spoken, to lie upon couch
 LcoNTINUED.l