Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-16

faithfully va GGAiVIlb CUIlECIlpldlCS
the world with disapproval. He had
reached the conclusion that It was nc
place for gentleman,
This happened In the year 1857
amid the opulent surroundings Of the
Burgundian Court, when and where
there were abundant grounds for his
harsh assumption.
Within his cousin, friend and broth
er-in-arms, Charles of Burgundy, II
was Anthony's bad or good fortune
who shall say which?-to have been
born in the expiring days of the age
of chivalry Almost from birth he
had been irnbued with the lofty ideals
Of that age, and In early years he had
taken for q pattern that peerless
knight, the Sieur Jacques de Lalaing,
who was almost the last to uphold the
chivalrous tradition. And Lalaing, who
might have lived for deeds Of high en-
deavor, had been stricken down and
slain at the age of 80 at Gaveren, in o
battle whose sordid purpose was the
imposition of a salt tax upon the
burghers of Client.
As a boy of 10, when newly appoint
ed page to Philip the Good, Anthony
had witnessed in the Feast of the
Pheasant the last princely endeavor to
fan the cooling embers of chivalry into
should rid Christendom of the Turk,
20 whom Constantinople had lately
fallen. He had seen that effort Ian
guiSh and finally perish without a sin
gle knightly blow being struck, and
there it seemed to him, the spirit of
chivalry had finally and utterly expired.
Great orders of chivalry still existed.
Perhaps the greatest was the Golden
Fleece, which the late Duke Philip had
founded, and of which Anthony himself
wore the coveted collar. But when
that same collar was hung about the
neck of the 2o-day-old Charles, blow
was struck at the very foundations of
an institution which demanded that
knighthocd should be the acquisition of
personal merit alone, to be attained
only after long and arduous physical
and spiritual novitiate.
Anthony, with a following out OF
Guelders, had been one OF The allies
who had lately fought on the Bur-
Rundian side of the War Of the Public
veal. war undertaken on the knight
~ grounds of abolishing extortionate
taxation and setting free from its IN
tolerable burden the ''poor oppressed
people of France Because deceived
by this preteXt, Anthony's disillusion
was the greater when the aims Of that
war of rapacity became apparent. Bur
gundy's sole interest in that rebellion
OF the French vassals against their
King was the retention of Picardy and
the cities Of the Somrne, which the
crafty Louis was scheming to restore
TO the crown of France, to which they
rightly belonged.
Anthony had fought at Montlhery
beside his cousin Charles and ne ac-
counted It an engagement refiecting
little military and no knlghtly creolt
upon either side. Instead of the I'M
arfned high-souled pageantry of war,
ne had beheld wars stark and plteouS
realities. And since then, his vision OF
other things, rendered keener and truer
by that one terrible glimpse OF truth,
he had viewed the court and the great
figures that composed it with new
perception of their real quality. Un-
der a noble, glittering exterior which
had hitherto deceived him, he now dis
covered mean faithlessness, vulgar
mendacity and sordid avarice.
Yet despite all this, he stu clung
to enc illusion which lent glamour 70
the world about him until the Lazy
Catharine of Bourbon robbed him OF
that. and brought him abruptly 10 the
conclusion we have discovered.
Already at the time of the War OF
Public Veal, Charles of Burgundy,
who. owing to his fathers failing
health. had assumed the regency OF
fhe Burgundian dominions, was con-
cerned with all those measures OF
statecraft by which a prince consoI-
dates his power. His possessions ex-
tending over the two Burgunoles'
Artois and Flanders, Namur, Brapane'
including MechIin and Antwerp. LIN.
bourg. Holland, Zealand, Hainault ana
Luxembourg, rendered MN the mlgns-
lest prince in Christendom whose
ducal coronet was ripe for conversion
into a royal crown. Towards TINS
coveted and merited kingship he already
steered a course With the title OF
King of the Romans the emperor
sio,ild presently crown him to a king
dom mirhtier than any other IN Europe,
and to render his position unassahapiy
secure he was already buttresslng IL
with desirable alliances. BY marrying
his sister-tn-law, Catherine OF Bour-
bon. to his dear friend and brother In
arms, Count Anthony, he insured NM
already existing between himself and
the Duchy of Guelders, to which An
thony was heir.
The beauty of the Lady Catharine
had conspired with Burgundian aspi-
rations to melt the Lord Anthonys
austerity. It was a beauty that had
melted the austerity of many men, ana
was to melt that of yet more. In the
case Of Count John of Armagnac, that
beauty was hardly required to accom-
plisn so much. For John OF Armagnac
was entirely without austerity OF any
kind. Greed-begotten disleyaKy 70 ms
driven him into alliance with Bur-
aundy in the War of Public Veal. The
alliance subsequently justified his seek
ing the relaxations offered by the Bur-
clndian court at Brussels, and the SOFT
eyes Of the Lady Catharine.
Because in all that concerned a lady
10 whom he was affianced, the romantic,
dreamy idealist Anthony was at this
stage incapable of thinking evil, it be-
came necessary for the duke, himself,
TO draw his attention to what was
passing.
Now Charles of Burgundy was never
remarkable for any gifts OF mincing
diplomacy. He sought the apartments
assigned to his cousin in the palace
of Brussels one July evening, and found
him, to his evaporation, at his studies
In his closet, small chamber whose
walls were hung with tapestries from
the looms of Arras. He drove out the
single page who was In attendance,
and came straight to business.
by Saint George, If were betrothed
as you are to a lady none too heedful
of the honor, I'd at least make my
betrothal respected. would so, by
Saint George!"
Count Anthony smiled now In toll
Grant amusement of the vehemence so
habitual TO his choleric cousin. He
spoke In the even, deliberate tones Of a
voice that was singularly attractive.
"Who is it that is lacking In re-
spect?"
"Who? The lady herself. Who
else?"
Count Anthony came abruptly to his
feet, his head thrown back, the color
deepening In his face.
at is being said quite openly that
Tsafharirnn WAS the subject of AnXnnnn'S