Page:Margaret of Angoulême, Queen of Navarre (Robinson 1886).djvu/79

64 brother's sake she could not counsel the surrender of Burgundy. And yet, unless she could satisfy Charles, there seemed nothing but perpetual imprisonment for Francis. No other king would come forward as a champion. Soliman as yet had made no sign, nor would he be likely to leave Turkey in the winter; and before another summer came her brother might be dead. Louisa, at home, had concluded a peace with Henry of England; but that wary king would only risk his moral support. And, to complicate her troubles, Montmorency had become jealous of her influence with her sick brother. She has to warn Francis not to listen to such tales of her as this old and long-loved friend may tell him. "I pray you, my lord," she writes, "keep me in your good graces, in spite of Montmorency, who is jealous."

Meanwhile the outer world kept assuring her that she was certain to conclude an advantageous peace. "À vous, Madame, l'honneur et la mérite," write the ministers from France in premature congratulation. "Ne fais doubte que Madame d'Alençon, vostre seur, conclura tost une bonne paix," writes Charles himself to the king, in the letter where he excuses himself from paying further visits to his captive. But Margaret must have suffered many a bitter doubt. She writes to her brother on the road to Toledo, from a village whither she has gone to conduct her business with the Emperor; and her letter (before the 18th) is full of trouble and of wounded pride:—

"October 1525. ",

"You will have heard from Monsieur d'Ambrun and Babou of the terms they persist in here; which