DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.63221#0138
102
THE FRENCH RENAISSANCE
secret, pressed him to her heart, and promised she would
make Margaret write to him. A few letters reached him,
so cold that they eaused him to despair. There was nothing
for it but for him to go away, and he succeeded in getting
an appointment about the King’s person.
One day Louise had a sudden letter to announce his
coming and ask her to receive him late that night. Know-
ing his real wishes and bent on furthering them—without
for a moment imagining that Margaret could object—she
sent her to her room to prepare for his arrival. Her daugh-
ter pretended to obey; but instead of doing so, she went
to her private chapel, prostrated herself in prayer, and
taking up a large stone, belaboured her face with it till it
bled. Her mother, finding her in this condition, wasted no
time in comment, but carefully bandaged her wound and
sent her to her lover. In spite of her protests, in spite of
all her disfigurements, he pressed his suit fervently, till at
last she called for Louise—not, vre may hope, without a
touch of malicious pleasure. Louise, in her stage character
of mother, was obliged to appear, and embarrassed excuses
ensued. But when he had once gone, she scolded her child
severely for “ hating all that she loved.” She took the high
tone of the injured elder and refused to speak to her for
days : the only estrangement they had. 1
The whole of this strange story, and the sequel of Bonni-
vet’s brazen adventures (as told, hardly veiled, in the “ Hep-
tameron”) are so topsy-turvy that, at the end of them, we
1 The identification of the personages in this story—told in
the “ Heptameron”—is due to the researches of M. De Maulde
la Claviere as given in “Trente Ans de Jeunesse.”
THE FRENCH RENAISSANCE
secret, pressed him to her heart, and promised she would
make Margaret write to him. A few letters reached him,
so cold that they eaused him to despair. There was nothing
for it but for him to go away, and he succeeded in getting
an appointment about the King’s person.
One day Louise had a sudden letter to announce his
coming and ask her to receive him late that night. Know-
ing his real wishes and bent on furthering them—without
for a moment imagining that Margaret could object—she
sent her to her room to prepare for his arrival. Her daugh-
ter pretended to obey; but instead of doing so, she went
to her private chapel, prostrated herself in prayer, and
taking up a large stone, belaboured her face with it till it
bled. Her mother, finding her in this condition, wasted no
time in comment, but carefully bandaged her wound and
sent her to her lover. In spite of her protests, in spite of
all her disfigurements, he pressed his suit fervently, till at
last she called for Louise—not, vre may hope, without a
touch of malicious pleasure. Louise, in her stage character
of mother, was obliged to appear, and embarrassed excuses
ensued. But when he had once gone, she scolded her child
severely for “ hating all that she loved.” She took the high
tone of the injured elder and refused to speak to her for
days : the only estrangement they had. 1
The whole of this strange story, and the sequel of Bonni-
vet’s brazen adventures (as told, hardly veiled, in the “ Hep-
tameron”) are so topsy-turvy that, at the end of them, we
1 The identification of the personages in this story—told in
the “ Heptameron”—is due to the researches of M. De Maulde
la Claviere as given in “Trente Ans de Jeunesse.”