small town
in the Franche-Comte, where he threw himself on the kindness of the
Prince of Orange.

How gossip about this strange departure of the French heir fluttered
here and there! Du Clercq[13] tells the story with some variation from
the above outline, laying more stress on the popular appeal to the
king for relief from Louis's transgressions as governor of Dauphine,
and enlarging on the accusation that Louis was responsible for the
death of _La belle Agnes_, "the first lady of the land possessing the
king's perfect love." He adds that the dauphin was further displeased
because the niece of this same Agnes, the Demoiselle de Villeclerc,
was kept at court after her aunt's death. Wherever the king went he
was followed by this lady, accompanied by a train of beauties. It was
this conduct of his father that had forced the son to absent himself
from court life for twelve years and more, during which time he
received no allowance as was his rightful due, and thus he had been
obliged to make his own requisitions from his seigniory.

There were other reports that the king was quite ready to accord his
son his full state; others, again, that Charles drove Louis into exile
from mere dislike and intended to make his second son his heir and
successor. At this point Du Clercq's manuscript is broken off abruptly
and the remainder of his conjectures are lost to posterity. Where the
text begins again, the author dismisses all this contradictory hearsay
and says in his own character as veracious chronicler, "I concern
myself only with what actually occurred. The dauphin gave a feast
in the forest and then departed secretly to avoid being arrested by
Dammartin."

This flight was the not unnatural termination of a long series of
misunderstandings between a father whose private conduct was not above
criticism, and a son, clever, unscrupulous, destitute of respect for
any person or thing except for the superstitious side of his religion.

Charles VII. was a curious instance of a man whose mental development
occurred during the later years of his life. When his son was under
his personal influence his character was not one to instil filial
deference, and Louis certainly cherished neither respect nor affection
for the father whose inert years he remembered vividly.

Whether, indeed, the dauphin had any part in Agnes Sorel's death which
gave him especial reason to dread the king's anger, is uncertain, but
of his action there is no do