will go on coveting May up to the end of
the chapter; each old fellow--being such a fine man for his age, you
understand--fondly believing himself an exception. Age in a fool is
damnable.

Mary was killing Louis as certainly and deliberately as if she were
feeding him slow poison. He was very weak and decrepit at best, being
compelled frequently, upon public occasions, such, for example, as the
coronation tournament of which I have spoken, to lie upon a couch.

Mary's conduct was really cruel! but then, remember her provocation
and that she was acting in self-defense. All this was easier for her
than you might suppose, for the king's grasp of power, never very
strong, was beginning to relax even what little grip it had. All faces
were turned toward the rising sun, young Francis, duke of Angouleme,
the king's distant cousin, who would soon be king in Louis's place.
As this young rising sun, himself vastly smitten with Mary, openly
encouraged her in what she did, the courtiers of course followed suit,
and the old king found himself surrounded by a court only too ready to
be amused by his lively young queen at his expense.

This condition of affairs Mary welcomed with her whole soul, and to
accent it and nail assurance, I fear, played ever so lightly and coyly
upon the heart-strings of the young duke, which responded all too
loudly to her velvet touch, and almost frightened her to death with
their volume of sound later on. This Francis d'Angouleme, the dauphin,
had fallen desperately in love with Mary at first sight, something
against which the fact that he was married to Claude, daughter of
Louis, in no way militated. He was a very distant relative of Louis,
going away back to St. Louis for his heirship to the French crown. The
king had daughters in plenty, but as you know, the gallant Frenchmen
say, according to their Law Salic: "The realm of France is so great
and glorious a heritage that it may not be taken by a woman." Too
great and glorious to be taken by woman, forsooth! France would have
been vastly better off had she been governed by a woman now and then,
for a country always prospers under a queen.

Francis had for many years lived at court as the recognized heir, and
as the custom was, called his distant cousin Louis, "Uncle." "Uncle"
Louis in turn called Francis "_Ce Gros Garcon_," and Queen Mary
called him "_Monsieur, mon beau fils_," in a mock-motherly manner that
was very laughable. A mother of eighteen