monks.

"In any case, my lord Bishop, do not breathe it to a living soul that you
have told me of such strange resolutions as these; for my own part, I
will safely keep your secret, and pray God to have you in his holy
keeping."

The Bishop of Laon was not a man to be rebuffed by pleasantry such as
this. He declared the King of Portugal to be impotent, after what the
Queen had expressly stated. The Pope annulled the marriage, and the
Queen courageously wedded her husband's brother, who had no congenital
weakness of any sort, and who was, as every one knew, of dark complexion.

At the request of the Queen, the Bishop of Laon was afterwards presented
with the hat, and is, today, my lord Cardinal d'Estrees.




CHAPTER XXIV.

Mademoiselle de Valois.--Mademoiselle d'Orleans.--Mademoiselle
d'Alencon.--M. de Savoie.--His Love-letters.--His Marriage with
Mademoiselle de Valois.--M. de Guise and Mademoiselle d'Alencon.--Their
Marriage Ceremony.--Madame de Montespan's Dog.--Mademoiselle
d'Orleans.--Her Marriage with the Duke of Tuscany.--The Bishop de Bonzy.


By his second wife, Marguerite de Lorraine, Gaston de France had three
daughters, and being devoid of energy, ability, or greatness of