i. of the present
work, p. 84 (note 7) and pp. 122-4. Her successor as lady of
honour to Margaret was Brantome's own grandmother, of whom
he says that she was not so shrewd, artful, or ready-witted
in love matters as her predecessor. On the other hand,
Blanche de Tournon must have been over forty when La
Chastaigneraye engaged in this adventure, even allowing that
he was only a youth at the time.--Ed.
The regard which she had for honour and good name caused her to conceal
her affection, but after she had been consumed by this passion for a
full year, being unwilling to find relief as other lovers do in look and
speech, she felt her heart so aflame that, in the end, she sought the
final cure. And she resolved that it were better to satisfy her desire
with none but God in the secret of her heart, rather than speak of it to
a man who might some time make it known.
After taking this resolve, she chanced to be one day in her mistress's
apartment, when, looking out upon a terrace, she perceived walking there
the man whom she so dearly loved. She gazed upon him until the falling
darkness was hiding him from her sight, when she called a little page of
hers, and pointing to the gentleman, said--
"Do you see yonder that gentleman who wears a crimson satin doublet and
cloak of lynx fur? Go and tell him that one of his friends would speak
with him in the garden gallery.
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