And
no doubt it must have been very gratifying for a young
gentleman of fifteen, to play the chief part in a pageant so
gaily put upon the stage. Only, the bridegroom might have
been a little older; and, as ill-luck would have it, the
bride herself was of this way of thinking, and would not be
consoled for the loss of her title as queen, or the
contemptible age of her new husband. PLEUROIT FORT LADITE
ISABEAU; the said Isabella wept copiously. (1) It is fairly
debatable whether Charles was much to be pitied when, three
years later (September 1409), this odd marriage was dissolved
by death. Short as it was, however, this connection left a
lasting stamp upon his mind; and we find that, in the last
decade of his life, and after he had remarried for perhaps
the second time, he had not yet forgotten or forgiven the
violent death of Richard II. "Ce mauvais cas" - that ugly
business, he writes, has yet to be avenged.
(1) Des Ursins.
The marriage festivity was on the threshold of evil days.
The great rivalry between Louis of Orleans and John the
Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, had been forsworn with the most
reverend solemnities. But the feud was only in abeyance, and
John of Burgundy still conspired in secret. On November 23,
1407 - in that black winter when the frost lasted six-and-
sixty days on end - a summons from the king reached Louis of
Orleans at the Hotel Barbette, where he had been supping with
Queen Isabel.
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