intrigues with Edward to transfer the coronet of Flanders from Count
Lewis to the young Prince of Wales. The scheme fails, and Artevelde
perishes in an affray with the citizens In his negotiations he had
employed his daughter, and dispatched her on one occasion, in a private
yacht, to the Thames, to confer with the King. In her passage she is
observed and recognised by the follower of a Flemish noble, who has a
direct interest in defeating Artevelde's scheme for the marriage and
settlement of his daughter, who, before she reaches the King, is seized
by this noble and his agents, but is rescued by a brave young citizen.
Here the love begins. This young citizen is the nephew of a wealthy
old goldsmith, but he abominates the traffic and filthy lucre of his
uncle's profession--for, it should be added, the goldsmiths were the
money-jobbers of those days--and aspires to become a soldier of fortune.
London was a fitting place for such ambition, for those were chivalrous
times. Artevelde's daughter entrusts the youth with the commission, and
dispatches him to the King: he acquits himself with courtly discretion,
and, having displayed some prowess in a passage of arms, soon obtains
an appointment in the royal service. Edward's interview with the lady
determines him to start instantly for Flanders, and the young citizen
(Borgia) accompanies him. They fall into the hands of the same Flemish
noble who had attacked the heroine; but they are rescued, and land at
the Flemish coast.--The scheme fails, as we have said: after Artevelde's
death, his daughter becomes the King's ward. The interests of the
parties now become too complicated for us to follow: we may, however,
state that "the King's Secret" is the parentage of Borgia; it was
asserted that he was "the very child reported to have been born during
the period of Queen Isabella's romantic love passages with Roger
Mortimer, at the court of Hainault."--"Be content, therefore, with
that you and til here already are possessed of, since what remains is,
and must continue, '_The King's Secret_.'"