exhibition of his favour must be recompensed
by a return of affection on her part; and thus he continued to
participate in the gaieties of the Court with a zest which was strangely
contrasted by the gloom and sadness of his royal consort, and even
derived amusement from the epigrams and satires which were circulated at
his expense among the people.

On the 13th of the month M. de Rohan[291] was married at Ablon[292] to
Marguerite de Bethune, the daughter of the Duc de Sully, whom Henry had
previously determined to bestow upon the Comte de Laval,[293] and not
only did he confer the honour of his presence upon the well-dowered
bride, but he also signed her marriage contract and presented to her ten
thousand crowns for the purchase of her _trousseau_, with a similar sum
to her bridegroom to defray the expenses of the wedding-feast. A
singular ceremony followed upon the nuptial blessing, for M. de Rohan
had no sooner led his newly-made wife from the altar than his ducal
coronet was placed upon his brow, his ducal mantle flung upon his
shoulders, and in this pompous costume he was, at the close of the
banquet, escorted to Paris by the princes and nobles who had been the
guests of M. de Sully.

Seldom had the King evinced more gaiety of heart than at this particular
period, or appeared to derive greater amusement from the gossipry of the
Court and the gallantries of the courtiers; and he no sooner ascertained
that Mademoiselle d'Entragues had become the mistress of Bassompierre
than he said laughingly to the Duc de Guise: "D'Entragues despises us
all in her idolatry of Bassompierre. I have good grounds for what
I state."

"Well, Sire," was the reply, "you can be at no loss to revenge the
affront; while for myself I know of no means so fitting as those of
knight-errantry, and I am consequently ready to break three lances with
him this afternoon at any hour and place which your Majesty may be
pleased to ordain."

The preparations for this combat are so graphically described by
Bassompierre himself, and so characteristic of the manners of the time,
that we shall offer no apology for giving them in his own words.

"The King acceded to our wishes, as such encounters were by no means
unusual, and told us that the tilting should take place in the great
court of the Louvre, which he would cause to be covered with sand. M. de
Guise selected as his seconds his brother the Prince de Joinville and M.
de Thermes;[294] while I chose