But there was
something bitter in both. The lamentations of Isabella will
not have been forgotten. As for Mary, she took up with one
Jaquet de la Lain, a sort of muscular Methody of the period,
with a huge appetite for tournaments, and a habit of
confessing himself the last thing before he went to bed. (2)
With such a hero, the young duchess's amours were most likely
innocent; and in all other ways she was a suitable partner
for the duke, and well fitted to enter into his pleasures.
(1) Monstrelet.
(2) Vallet's CHARLES VII., iii. chap. i. But see the
chronicle that bears Jaquet's name: a lean and dreary book.
When the festivities at Saint Omer had come to an end,
Charles and his wife set forth by Ghent and Tourney. The
towns gave him offerings of money as he passed through, to
help in the payment of his ransom. From all sides, ladies
and gentlemen thronged to offer him their services; some gave
him their sons for pages, some archers for a bodyguard; and
by the time he reached Tournay, he had a following of 300
horse. Everywhere he was received as though he had been the
King of France. (1) If he did not come to imagine himself
something of the sort, he certainly forgot the existence of
any one with a better claim to the title. He conducted
himself on the hypothesis that Charles VII. was another
Charles VI.
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