the king, as above, in order to have their opinion, counsel, and
consent." Thus, during the real king's very captivity, and so, long as
it lasted, France was again about to have a king whom the States General
of France would be called upon to support with their counsels and
adhesion.

[Illustration: Louise of Savoy and Marguerite de Valois----102]

This resolution was taken and these letters patent prepared just at the
expiry of the safe-conduct granted to the Princess Marguerite, and,
consequently, just when she would have to return to France. Charles V.
was somewhat troubled at the very different position in which he was
about to find himself, when he would have to treat no longer at Madrid
with a captive king, but at Paris with a young king out of his power and
with his own people about him. Marguerite fully perceived his
embarrassment. From Toledo, where she was, she wrote to her brother,
"After having been four days without seeing the emperor, when I went to
take leave I found him so gracious that I think he is very much afraid of
my going; those gentry yonder are in a great fix, and, if you will be
pleased to hold firm, I can see them coming round to your wishes. But
they would very much like to keep me here doing nothing, in order to
promote their own affairs, as you will be pleased to understand."
Charles V., in fact, signified to the king his desire that the
negotiations should be proceeded with at Madrid or Toledo, never ceasing
to make protestations of his pacific intentions. Francis I. replied
that, for his part, "he would not lay any countermand on the duchess,
that he would willingly hear what the emperor's ambassadors had to say,
but that, if they did not come to any conclusion as to a peace and his
own liberation, he would not keep his own ambassadors any longer, and
would send them away." Marguerite set out at the end of November; she at
first travelled slowly, waiting for good news to reach her and stop her
on the road; but, suddenly, she received notice from Madrid to quicken
her steps; according to some historians, it was the Duke of Bourbon who,
either under the influence of an old flame or in order to do a service to
the king he had betrayed, sent word to the princess that Charles V.,
uneasy about what she was taking with her to France, had an idea of
having her arrested the moment her safe-conduct had expired. According
to a more probable version, it was Francis I. himself who, learning