alive by the Chambre François I. François held possession till his
death, when his son made it over to the "admired of two generations,"
Diane de Poitiers.

Diane's memory will never leave Chenonceaux. To-day it is perpetuated
in the Chambre de Diane de Poitiers; but the portrait by Leonardo da
Vinci, which was supposed to best show her charms, has now disappeared
from the Long Gallery at the château. This portrait was painted at the
command of François, before Diane transferred her affections to his
son.

No one knows when or how Diane de Poitiers first came to fascinate
François, or how or why her power waned. At any rate at the time
François pardoned her father, the witless Comte de St. Vallier, for
the treacherous part he played in the Bourbon conspiracy, he really
believed her to to be the "brightest ornament of a beauty-loving
court."

Certainly, Diane was a powerful factor in the politics of her time,
tho François himself soon tired of her. Undaunted by this, she
forthwith set her cap for his son Henri, the Duc d'Orléans, and won
him, too. Of her beauty the present generation is able to judge for
itself by reason of the three well-known and excellent portraits of
contemporary times.

Diane's influence over the young Henri was absolute. At his death
her power was, of course, at an end and Chenonceaux, and all else
possible, was taken from her by the orders of Catherine, the
long-suffering wife, who had been put aside for the fascinations of
the charming huntress.