r whensoever any
one spoke to her of marriage.

When the wars were over, (7) and the Bastard had returned to Court, she
never spoke to him in presence of others, but always repaired to
some church and there had speech with him under pretence of going to
confession; for the Queen had forbidden them both, under penalty of
death, to speak together except in public. But virtuous love, which
recks naught of such a ban, was more ready to find them means of speech
than were their enemies to spy them out; the Bastard disguised himself
in the habit of every monkish order he could think of, and thus their
virtuous intercourse continued, until the King repaired to a pleasure
house he had near Tours. (8)

7 The wars here referred to would be one or another of Louis
XII.'s Italian expeditions, probably that of 1507, when the
battle of Aignadel was fought.--Ed.

8 This would no doubt be the famous chateau of Plessis-lez-
Tours, within a mile of Tours, and long the favourite
residence of Louis XI. Louis XII. is known to have sojourned
at Plessis in 1507, at the time when the States-general
conferred upon him the title of "Father of the People."
English tourists often visit Plessis now adays in memory of
Scott's "Quentin Durward," but only a few shapeless ruins of
the old structure are left.--M. and Ed.

This, however, was not near enough for the ladies to go on foot to any
other church but that of the castle, which was built in such a fashion
that it contained no place of concealment in which the confessor would
not have been plainly recognised.

But if one opportunity failed them, love found them another and an
easier one, for there came to the Court a lady to whom the Bastard
was near akin. This lady was lodged, together with her son, (9) in the
King's abode; and the young Prince's room projected from the rest of the
King's apartments in such a way that from his window it was possible to
see and to speak to Rolandine, for his window and hers were just at the
angle made by the two wings of the house.

9 This lady would be Louise of Savoy. She first came to the
Court at Amboise in 1499, a circumstance which has led some
commentators to place the incidents of this story at that
date. But she was at Blois on various occasions between 1507
and 1509, to negotiate and attend the marriage of her
daughter Margaret with the Duke of Alencon. Louis XII.