seems, had already made her choice. There was then at the French Court
a young King, without a kingdom, it is true, but endowed with numerous
personal qualities. This was Henry d'Albret, Count of Beam, and
legitimate sovereign of Navarre, then held by Charles V. in defiance of
treaty rights. Henry had been taken prisoner with Francis at Pavia and
confined in the fortress there, from which, however, he had managed to
escape in the following manner.

Having procured a rope ladder in view of descending from the castle, he
ordered Francis de Rochefort, his page, to get into his bed and feign
sleep. Then he descended by the rope, the Baron of Arros and a valet
following him. In the morning, when the captain on duty came to see
Henry, as was his usual custom, he was asked by a page to let the King
sleep on, as he had been very ill during the night. Thus the trick was
only discovered when the greater part of the day had gone by, and the
fugitives were already beyond pursuit. (2)

1 _Lettres de Marguerite, &c_, p. 31.

2 Olhagaray's _Histoire de Faix, Beam, Navarre, &c_,
Paris, 1609. p. 487.

As the young King of Navarre had spent a part of his youth at the French
Court, he was well known to Margaret, who apparently had a secret fancy
for him. He was in his twenty-fourth year, prepossessing, and extremely
brave. (1) There was certainly a great disproportion of age between
him and Margaret, but this must have served to increase rather than
attenuate her passion. She herself was already thirty-five, and
judging by a portrait executed about this period, (2) in which she
is represented in mourning for the Duke of Alençon, with a long