tried to seduce him, ready to offer herself to him in order to make him her ally. He had failed to respond for fear of the consequences. But he was always embarrassed in Marguerite's presence and felt a grudge against her for the part she had made him play. Today he was thinking, "Well, there it is! I could have been the Queen of France's lover." And he wondered whether his scrupulously soldierly conduct would turn out well or ill for his prospects of promotion.
"It has been no pleasure to me, Madam, to have had to inflict such treatment upon women, particularly of such high rank as yours," he said.
"I can well believe it, Messire, I can well believe it," replied Marguerite, "because one can clearly see how knightly you are by nature and that you have felt great repugnance for your orders."
As his father was a blacksmith and his mother the daughter of a sacristan, the Captain of the Fortress heard the word "knightly" with considerable pleasure.
"Only, Messire Bersumee," went on the prisoner, "I am tired of chewing wood to keep my teeth white and of anointing my hands with the grease from my soup to prevent my skin chapping with the cold.
"I can well understand it, Madam, I can well understand it." "I should be grateful to you if from now on you would see to
it that I am protected from cold, vermin and hunger. Bersumee lowered his head.
"I have, no orders, Madam," he replied.
"I am only here because of the hatred of King Philip, and his death will change everything, went on Marguerite' with such assurance that she very nearly convinced herself. "Do you intend to wait till you receive orders to open the prison doors before you show some consideration for the Queen of France? Don't you think you would be acting somewhat stupidly against your own interests?"
Soldiers are often indecisive by nature, which predisposes them towards obedience and causes' them to lose many a battle. Bersumee was as slow in initiative as he was prompt in obedience. He was loud-mouthed and ready with his fists towards his subordinates, but he had very little ability to make up his mind when faced with an unexpected situation.
Between the resentment of a woman who, so she said, would be all-powerful tomorrow, and the anger' of Monseigneur de Marigny who was all-powerful today, which risk was he to take?
"I also desire that Madame Blanche and myself," continued Marguerite, "may be allowed to go outside the fortifications for an hour or two a day, under your guardianship if you think proper, so that we may have a change of scene fr om battlements and your archers pikes."
She was going too fast and too far. Bersumee saw the trap. His prisoners were trying to slip through his fingers. They were therefore not so certain after all of their return to Court.
"Since you are Queen, Madam, you will understand that I owe loyalty to the service of the kingdom," he said, "and tha t I cannot infringe the orders I have received."
Having said this, he went out so as to avoid further argument. "He's a dog," cried Marguerite when he had left, "a guard - dog who is good for nothing but to bark and bite.
She had made a false move and was beside herself to find some means of communicating with the outside world, receive news, and send letters which would be unread by Marigny. She did not know that a messenger, selected from among the first lords of the kingdom, was already on his way to lay a strange proposal before her.
2. Robert of Artois
"You've got to be ready for anything when, you're a Queen's gaoler," said Bersumee to himself as he left the tower. He was seriously perturbed, filled with misgiving. So important an event as the King's death could not but result in a visitor to Chateau Gaillard from Paris. So Bersumee, sh outing at the top of his voice, made haste to make his garrison ready for ins pection. On that count at least he intended to be blameless.
All day there was such commotion in the fortre ss as
had not been seen since Richard
Ann Voss Peterson, J.A. Konrath