Page:Margaret of Angoulême, Queen of Navarre (Robinson 1886).djvu/82

Rh death should not make me wish for my own repose." So Margaret had written to her brother on her journey to Madrid; and now she found herself obliged perforce to agree to cruel terms. "I assure you, my lord," she writes to Francis, "that the office of solicitor in so unreasonable a company is a far more difficult service than it was to be your physician when you were sick."

Not until the end of the month was any result obtained from the frequent conferences between Margaret and the Emperor; then the following conditions were drawn up and sent to the King, "things which the bitterness of death should not make me wish for my own repose."

The King of France was to resign Burgundy, Auxonne, Macon, Auxerre, La Brie, Bar-sur-Seine, to the banks of the Somme. To this extravagant demand Margaret would not agree.

He was to resign Tourney, Flanders, and Artois; he was to resign all right to Milan and Naples; he was to resign all pretensions to Aragon. Agreed.

He was to abandon Henry d’Albret, King of Navarre, Robert de la Marche, and others, to the Emperor's justice. Not agreed to by Margaret.

He was to marry Leonor, Queen of Portugal, and settle Burgundy on their joint heirs. Refused by Charles.

M. de Bourbon, his allies and friends, to be reinstated in their former positions. Agreed.

Such miserable terms were the best to be obtained. With a sore heart must Margaret have watched the couriers set out from Toledo, carrying the news to her brother in prison. If he refused this peace, perpetual imprisonment lay before the gayest and most