‘I suppose,’ said Margaret with a certain wisdom, ‘it is all right because it is the King.’
‘Yes, I think that might explain it,’ answered Agnès.
‘Agnès, shall you always stay at Court?’
‘I hope to.’
‘The King loves you very much, does he not?’
‘Who told you that?’
‘I saw it in his eyes when he looked at you.’
Agnès was pleased. ‘Yes,’ she said, ‘the King loves me and I love the King and that makes everything right.’
‘I was very little when you went away. But I do remember you. I suppose it is because you are so beautiful. I feel I can talk to you...as I can’t talk to anyone else. One cannot talk to Theophanie about some things and no one could ever talk to my grandmother. I could to my father but he is not here.’
‘Of what things, Margaret?’
‘Oh...I am a little frightened sometimes. You see my sister Yolande went away to the Vaudémonts when she was a very little girl and now my brother John is going to marry Marie de Bourbon. One day they will find someone for me to marry and I shall be sent away.’
‘And that frightens you?’
‘It makes me wonder what will become of me.’
‘Dear Margaret, we none of us know what will become of us. That is in God’s hands.’
‘Yes, but we can wriggle out of them if we don’t like what He plans for us...sometimes.’
‘Whatever gave you that notion?’
‘Well, they say that the King who was weak and dissolute has now become kingly and rules his country well. If God meant him to be a great King why did He make him a foolish one for so long? I heard my aunt Marie tell my grandmother that you and the Maid had led him out of his despondency and awakened the desire in him to be a King.’
‘Well, perhaps that was God’s will.’
‘It seems to me,’ said Margaret, ‘that anything can be said to be His will. But it was the Maid and you who actually did it, wasn’t it? I think you make up your mind what you wish to do and do it, and if it turns out to be wrong say, "That was God’s will", and if it is right you did it yourself."
Agnès laughed. ‘You have a clever way of reasoning, Margaret. It is unusual in one so young. Where did you learn that?’
‘From my grandmother. I intend to be exactly like her when I grow up for if I am it will not matter to whom they marry me. I shall be the one to say what has to be done.’
The royal visit was over and in due course Margaret and her grandmother went back to Saumur. After all the revelry the castle at Angers needed a thorough sweetening.
Margaret noticed how the journey—although it was less than thirty miles -tired her grandmother. When they arrived at Saumur she stayed in her bed for two days which was something she had never done before.
When she arose she was as energetic as ever and life settled down to the normal routine.
Two years passed. There was no good news from Naples. In fact there was rarely any news at all. Yolande had come to believe that René would never succeed. There were no longer the scares that the English might come and attempt to take the castle. The English were being turned out of France and a peace party under Cardinal Beaufort was formed in England.
‘What they will try to do is to marry the young King to one of Charles’s daughters.’
‘That would be a good way to finish the war,’ said Margaret.
‘I doubt not that is what it will come to. A French Princess for Henry. Yes, these alliances are always a good way of settling differences. I hear that he is a good young man, religious, eager to do what is best. Of course, his kind always seem to lack strength. What he needs is a strong wife, a woman to lead him and the country.’
Margaret smiled. Yolande had always believed firmly in the power of women. She had taught Margaret to believe the same.
‘We shall have to find a suitable match for you, Margaret,’ said Yolande. ‘But for your father’s exploits in Naples it would have been done long ago.’
‘I am content to wait awhile.’
‘It cannot be much longer. You are thirteen, are you not?’
‘Yes, my lady.’
‘Then it is time.’
A little while before such talk would have made Margaret uneasy. Now she was not so sure. She knew what influence Agnès Sorel had with the King; he was in some measure guided by the women about him. She knew what a power her grandmother was and so was her mother. If success came in Naples it would be due to her rather than to René.
Margaret sometimes dreamed of marriage and of being the wife of some man whom she would be able to lead to greatness.
That this matter occupied the thoughts of her grandmother was obvious because in spite of the fact that she was becoming increasingly tired Yolande decided that she would go to Court and take Margaret with her. It was only right, she said, that Margaret should visit her aunt and there would always be a welcome for them, she knew.
The preparations for such a visit were lengthy. Margaret must be adequately dressed, and Yolande was constantly reminding her of Court etiquette which Margaret absorbed with ease.
Her grandmother was delighted to see what a success the girl was. It was due to her upbringing and Yolande took the credit for that. Margaret was a handsome girl. A pity she was not a little taller, but she was well made and had an air of daintiness which was appealing and somehow in contrast to her sparkling intelligence which was obvious when she conversed.
Agnès was delighted to see Margaret and her aunt Queen Marie expressed her pleasure too.
‘Now that you are growing up,’ she said, ‘you must be with us more often.’
There was a great deal going on in Court circles at that time. For one thing the English Cardinal Beaufort was there.
‘He has come,’ Yolande told her, ‘to try to arrange peace. He is a wise man, this Cardinal. He knows that to continue the war can ruin his country.’
‘I am sure the King will agree with him,’ said Margaret. ‘In that case this must mean we shall soon have peace.’
‘The Cardinal unfortunately does not represent the whole of English opinion. You have heard of the Duke of Gloucester, brother to King Henry the Fifth and the Duke of Bedford. He is for continuing the war.’
‘Then he must be exceedingly foolish.’
‘I believe he is. He has done great harm to the English cause. He nearly brought about a quarrel between Burgundy and the English.’
‘That would have been a good thing.’
‘For France yes...for England disastrous. However, it is indeed good to see the Cardinal here. He is an extremely cultured man and one, I believe, who serves his country well.’
Margaret was presented to the Cardinal. He appeared to be very interested in her. She talked a little about the affairs of her country and he listened to her with the respect he would have shown to one of the King’s ministers.
He remarked afterwards that the daughter of the King of Naples was a most interesting young lady. Moreover a very good-looking one.
‘I see,’ said her aunt Marie, ‘you have captured the attention of my lord Cardinal. What did you say to him that impressed him so much?’
‘Oh, we talked a little of the war and its effects.’
‘That must have amused him...coming from one who could know very little about it.’
‘Oh, I do know something, Aunt. I have kept my ears open. In any case the Bishop seemed interested in my views.’
The Queen laughed. ‘Well, my dear Margaret, it seems that you are being a success at Court. Your parents would be proud of you, I am sure. I am going to ask your grandmother to allow you to come again soon. You are getting too old to be shut away in the country all your life.’