on a journey, and
set out from the Court. On the very first day, however, he left all his
following and returned at night to receive fulfilment of the promises
that the Countess had made him. These she kept so much to his
satisfaction, that he was content to remain shut up in a closet for five
or six days, without once going out, and living only on restoratives.

During the week that he lay in hiding, one of his companions called
Durassier (4) made love to the Countess. At the beginning she spoke to
this new lover, as she had spoken to the first, with harsh and haughty
speech that grew milder day by day, insomuch that when the time was come
for dismissing the first prisoner, she put the second into his place.
While he was there, another companion of his, named Valnebon, (5) did
the same as the former two, and after these there came yet two or three
more to lodge in the sweet prison.

4 This in all probability is the doughty James Galliot de
Genouillac, who--much in the same way as in our own times
the names of the "Iron Duke" and the "Man of Iron" have been
bestowed on Wellington and Bismarck--was called by his
contemporaries the "Seigneur d'Acier" or "Steel Lord,"
whence "Durassier"--hard steel. Born in Le Quercy in or
about 1466, Genouillac accompanied Charles VIII. on his
Italian expeditions, and, according to Brantome, surpassed
all others in valour and influence. He greatly distinguished
himself at the battle of Fornova (1495), and in 1515 we find
him one of the chief commanders of the French artillery. For
the great skill he displayed at Marignano he was appointed
Grand Master of the Artillery and Seneschal of Armagnac, and
he subsequently became Grand Equerry of France. At Pavia,
where he again commanded the artillery, he would have swept
away the Spaniards had not the French impetuously charged
upon them, preventing him from firing his pieces. Most of
the latter he contrived to save, severe as was the defeat,
and he effectually protected the retreat of the Duke of
Alencon and the Count of Clermont into France. Genouillac
died in 1546, a year after he had been appointed Governor of
Languedoc.--B. J. and Ed.

5 Valnebon is an anagram of the name Bonneval, and Queen
Margaret evidently refers here to a member of the Bonneval
family. In the time of Charles VIII. this illustrious
Lim