But if one opportunity failed them, love found them another and an easier one, for there came to the Court a lady to whom the Bastard was near akin.  This lady was lodged, together with her son, (9) in the King’s abode; and the young Prince’s room projected from the rest of the King’s apartments in such a way that from his window it was possible to see and to speak to Rolandine, for his window and hers were just at the angle made by the two wings of the house.

9 This lady would be Louise of Savoy.  She first came to the Court at Amboise in 1499, a circumstance which has led some commentators to place the incidents of this story at that date.  But she was at Blois on various occasions between 1507 and 1509, to negotiate and attend the marriage of her daughter Margaret with the Duke of Alencon.  Louis XII. having gone from Blois to Plessis in 1507, Louise of Savoy may well have followed him thither.  Her son was, of course, the young Duke de Valois, afterwards Francis I.—­Ed.

In this room of hers, which was over the King’s presence-chamber, all the noble damsels that were Rolandine’s companions were lodged with her.  She, having many times observed the young Prince at his window, made this known to the Bastard through her governess; and he, having made careful observation of the place, feigned to take great pleasure in reading a book about the Knights of the Round Table (10) which was in the Prince’s room.

10 Romances of chivalry were much sought after at this time.  Not merely were there MS. copies of these adorned with miniatures, but we find that L’Histoire du Saint Greai, La Vie et les Propheties de Merlin, and Les Merveilleux Faits et Gestes du Noble Chevalier Lancelot du Lac were printed in France in the early years of the sixteenth century.—­B.J.

And when every one was going to dinner, he would beg a valet to let him finish his reading, shut up in the room, over which he promised to keep good guard.  The servants knew him to be a kinsman of his master and one to be trusted, let him read as much as he would.  Rolandine, on her part, would then come to her window; and, so that she might be able to make a long stay at it, she pretended to have an infirmity in the leg, and accordingly dined and supped so early that she no longer frequented the ladies’ table.  She likewise set herself to work a coverlet of crimson silk, (11) and fastened it at the window, where she desired to be alone; and, when she saw that none was by, she would converse with her husband, who contrived to speak in such a voice as could not be overheard; and whenever any one was coming, she would cough and make a sign, so that the Bastard might withdraw in good time.

11 In the French, “Ung lut de reseul:”  reticella—­i.e., a kind of open work embroidery very fashionable in those days, and the most famous designers of which were Frederic Vinciolo, Dominic de Sara, and John Cousin the painter.  Various sixteenth and seventeenth century books on needlework, still extant, give some curious information concerning this form of embroidery.—­M.

Those who kept watch upon them felt sure that their love was past, for she never stirred from the room in which, as they thought, he could assuredly never see her, since it was forbidden him to enter it.