Within my castle fair.
Ah, feast with me, or pluck a rose
Within my pleasant garth,
Or stroll beside yon brook which flows
In brawling, sylvan mirth."

"Nor feast nor flowers nor evening air
I wish; I do entreat,
Fair Seigneur, let me now repair
To those who bind the wheat."
"Nay, damsel, fill thy milking-pail:
The dairy stands but here.
Ah, foolish sweeting, wherefore quail,
For thou hast naught to fear?"

The castle gates behind her close,
And all is fair within;
Above her head the apple glows,
The symbol of our sin.
"O Seigneur, lend thy dagger keen,
That I may cut this fruit."
He smiles and with a courteous mien
He draws the bright blade out.

[Illustration: THE DEATH OF MARGUERITE IN THE CASTLE OF TROGOFF]

She takes it, and in earnest prayer
Her childish accents rise:
"O mother, Virgin, ever fair,
Pray, pray, for her who dies
For honour!" Then the blade is drenched
With blood most innocent.
Vile Roger, now, thine ardour quenched,
Say, art thou then content?

"Ha, I will wash my dagger keen
In the clear-running brook.
No human eye hath ever seen,
No human eye shall look
Upon this gore." He takes the blade
From out that gentle heart,
And hurries to the river's shade.
False Roger, why dost start?

Beside the bank Du Guesclin stands,
Clad in his sombre mail.
"Ha, Roger, why so red thy hands,
And why art thou so pale?"
"A beast I've slain." "Thou liest, hound!
But I a beast will slay."
The woodland's leafy ways resound
To echoings of fray.

Roger is slain. Trogoff's chateau
Is level with the rock.
Who can withstand Du Guesclin's blow,
What towers can brave his shock?
The combat is his only joy,
The tournament his play.
Woe unto those who would destroy
The peace of Brittany!

In the decisive battle of Auray (1364) Charles was killed and Du
Guesclin taken prisoner. John of Montfort, son of the John who had
died, became Duke of Brittany. But he had to face Oliver de Clisson,
round whom the adherents of Blois rallied. From a war the strife
degenerated into a vendetta. Oliver de Clisson seized the person of
John V and imprisoned him. But in the end John was liberated and the
line of Blois was finally crushed.

_Anne of Brittany_

The next event of importance in Breton history is the enforced
marriage of Anne of Brittany, Duchess of that country in her own
right, to Charles VIII of