The message from the king was indeed but a message from Burgundy, but if
Burgundy was all-powerful just at present it had the same effect as if it
were the king and not he who had sent the summons. He could see no way of
temporizing save that Margaret and the children should go as hostages, and
the idea of this was wholly repugnant to him. Were he to admit a French
garrison the castle would be virtually lost to him; for once powerless, he
could easily be set aside in favour of one of Burgundy's followers. The
only alternative then seemed to be that he should altogether forsake the
castle and estate so long held by his ancestors, and retire to England,
until maybe some day Henry might again place him in possession of it. He
regretted now that he had not told Margaret that she had best keep her
chamber, for she then would have known nothing of the alternative that she
should go as a hostage--an alternative, he foresaw, that she was likely to
favour, as by so doing the necessity for making an absolute decision and
choosing between France and England would be postponed. At length, still
undecided in his mind, he descended from the wall and went up to his
wife's apartments.
CHAPTER V
HOSTAGES
Margaret rose to meet her husband when he entered. She had looked pale in
her dress of deep mourning before, but he thought that she looked paler
now. She, too, had evidently been thinking over the summons that he had
received, and there was an expression of firmness and resolution in her
face that seemed to say that she had arrived at a more definite conclusion
than he had done.
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