d to the habits of
civilization. She died in a convent."

"What a strange history!" said Wyllys Wynn. "She must have found her
life in the convent very different from that of her childhood. What
was her name?"

"They called her Maria le Blanc."

CHAPTER XIV.

UPPER NORMANDY.

Calais.--The Black Prince.--Etretat.--French Bathing.--Legend.--
Rouen.--Story of St. Louis.--Story of St. Bartholomew's Eve.

The Class stopped briefly at Calais, and was disappointed to find a
city so famous in history situated in a barren district, and
surrounded with little that is picturesque. The old walls around the
town are, however, pleasant promenades, and command a view of the
white cliffs of England. It was here, after a siege of eleven months,
that Eustace de St. Pierre and his five companions offered themselves
to Edward III. as a ransom for the city, and were saved from death by
the pleading of Queen Philippa. The town was a fortress then, and
looked menacingly over to England. The English proudly held possession
of it for more than two hundred years, or from 1347 to 1558, when it
was captured in Bloody Mary's time by the French under the Duc de
Guise.

"When I am dead," said Mary in her last days, "and my body is opened,
ye shall find _Calais_ written on my heart."

Calais recalls the stories of valor of the chivalrous campaigns of
Edward III. and his son, the Black Prince, in Normandy. At Crecy, the
Black Prince, when only sixteen years of age, led the English army to
victory, and slew the King of Bohemia with his own hand.

King Edward watched this battle from a windmill on a hill. The French
army was many times larger than the English. The Prince during the
battle found himself hard pressed, and at one point the Earl of
Warwick sent to the king for assistance.

"Is my son killed?"

"No, sire," said the messenger.

"Is he wounded?"

"No, sire."

"Is he thrown to the ground?"

"No, but he is hard-pressed."

"Then," said the king, "I shall send no aid. I have set my heart upon
his proving himself a brave knight, and I am resolved that the victory
shall be due to his own valor."

[Illustration: CAPTURE OF KING JOHN AND HIS SON.]

In 1356, in another campaign in Normandy, the Black Prince won a most
brilliant victory at Poitiers, and captured the French King John. The
latter was a brave soldier, and fought with his battle-axe until all
the nobles had forsaken him. The Black Prince made a supper fo