Plessis, when the count and his wife, both mounted, she on her white
mule, he on his horse, and followed by two pages, joined the archers,
in order to enter Plessis-lez-Tours in company. All were moving
slowly. Georges was on foot, between two guards on horseback, one of
whom held him still by the leathern thong. Tristan, the count, and his
wife were naturally in advance; the criminal followed them. Mingling
with the archers, the young page questioned them, speaking sometimes
to the prisoner, so that he adroitly managed to say to him in a low
voice:--

"I jumped the garden wall and took a letter to Plessis from madame to
the king. She came near dying when she heard of the accusation against
you. Take courage. She is going now to speak to the king about you."

Love had already given strength and wiliness to the countess. Her
laughter was part of the heroism which women display in the great
crises of life.

In spite of the singular fancy which possessed the author of "Quentin
Durward" to place the royal castle of Plessis-lez-Tours upon a height,
we must content ourselves by leaving it where it really was, namely on
low land, protected on either side by the Cher and the Loire; also by
the canal Sainte-Anne, so named by Louis XI. in honor of his beloved
daughter, Madame de Beaujeu. By uniting the two rivers between the
city of Tours and Plessis this canal not only served as a formidable
protection to the castle, but it offered a most precious road to
commerce. On the side towards Brehemont, a vast and fertile plain, the
park was defended by a moat, the remains of which still show its
enormous breadth and depth. At a period when the power of artillery
was still in embryo, the position of Plessis, long since chosen by