The postscript is an echo of Suffolk's letter of the same date, where he says, in case Henry does not give consent at Francis' request, that he will "be at his liberty and again at his former suits, the which your sister, the Queen, had rather be out of the world, to abide, and as for me your Grace ... I had rather be out of the world to see her in this case."[ [386] Suffolk had found that the King's mother, Louise de Savoie, was also on his side, and she promised him to forward his matter, and also told him he could put all confidence in her son's promises, which the Duke evidently did. Louise charmed Suffolk, "She is the best spoken princess I have ever seen and has great influence"; "it is she that rules all, and so may she well, for I never saw woman like her."[ [387] All things seemed going smoothly, and it must have been at this date, or just before these letters, that the first marriage took place, the most secret one, which was hidden from Francis as his attentions were probably its cause. About a week after these letters, that is, about February 21st or 22nd, Suffolk received an answer from Wolsey to the letter he had sent on the way from Senlis to Paris telling of his first private interview with Francis, which raised his spirits even higher, for a near open marriage seemed in prospect.

"My lord," wrote the Archbishop, "in my most hearty manner I recommend me unto your good lordship and have received your letter, written with your own hands, dated at Paris the 3rd day of this month, and as joyous I am as any creature living to hear as well of your honourable entertainment with the French King and of his loving mind towards you for your marriage with the French Queen, our master's sister, as also of his kind offer made to you, that both he and the said French Queen shall effectually write unto the King's Grace, for the obtaining of his good will and favour unto the same. The contents of which your letter I have at good leisure declared unto the King's Highness and his Grace marvellously rejoiced to hear of your good speed in the same, and how substantially and discreetly ye ordered and handled yourself in your words and communication with the French King when he first secretly brake with you of the said marriage. And therefore, my lord, the King and I think it good that you procure and solicit the speedy sending unto his Grace of the letters from the French King touching this matter, assuring you that the King continueth firmly in his good mind and purpose towards you for the accomplishment of the said marriage, albeit that there be daily on every side practices made to let the same which I have withstanded hitherto, and doubt not to do so till you have achieved your intended purpose, and ye shall say by that time that ye know all that ye have had of me a fast friend.

"The King's Grace sends unto you at this time not only his especial letters of thanks unto the French King for the loving and kind entertainment of you and the other ambassadors with you, and for his favourable audience given unto you and them, but also other letters of thanks to the Queen his wife, and to other personages specified in your letter, jointly sent with the other ambassadors to the King's Grace. And his highness is of no less mind and affection than the French King is for the continuance of good peace and amity betwixt them....

"The lady of Suffolk is departed out of this present life and over this, my lord, the King's Grace hath given unto you all such lands as be come into his hand by the decease of the said lady of Suffolk, and also by my pursuit hath given unto you the lordship of Claxton, which his highness had of my Lord Admiral for 1000 marks which he did owe his Grace.

"Finally, my lord, whereas ye desired at your departing to have an harness made for you, the King's Grace hath willed me to write unto you, that he saith it is impossible to make a perfect head-piece for you, unless that the manner of your making your sight were assuredly known....

"And whereas ye write that the French King is of no less good will towards me than his predecessor was, I pray you to thank his Grace for the same and to offer him my poor service, which next my master shall have mine heart for the good will and mind which he beareth to you, beseeching you to have my affairs recommended that I may have some end in the same one way or other...."[ [388]

The letter contained both good and bad news, at least Mary seems to have thought so, for while Suffolk no doubt was confident that Wolsey would over-ride all the practices of the Howard family to hinder the marriage, and took the grant of the lands of the Lady Margaret de la Pole, Countess of Suffolk, as earnest of the continued favour of his master and his desire for his advancement, Mary's brain only took in the phrase "there be daily on every side practices made to the let of the same," and connected this with the silence of her husband's friends at Court. She had already insisted on marriage within four days or not at all, and Suffolk had yielded to her reasoning—my brother is content, more than content, and the King of France desires our marriage, why should we wait and run the risk of some chance which might separate us—reluctantly, however, because of his promise to Henry. From the secret nature of the marriage it is impossible to fix the date save by inference. There are two dates given in two different documents, one the 3rd of March, given in a French chronicle in the Fontanieu Portefeuille, and quoted by Mrs Green, the other the 31st of the same month, given by Louise de Savoie in her diary. It is possible, too, that 3rd is a mistake for 31st, but that is as may be, and the point to emphasize is this, that these dates do not refer to the secret marriage confessed to by Suffolk on March 5, but to some other and semi-public affair which took place at a later date before the Court of France in Lent. No one was privy to this first marriage save servants, and it must have taken place about the second week of February, for, writing on March 5 to Wolsey, Suffolk says he fears Mary is with child, and he urges the necessity for an open marriage before the French Court, adding that the season need be no bar, for marriages take place in Lent with consent of a bishop.[ [389] This open marriage was to be later the sum of their desires, for the secret one was illegal and could easily be quashed, and the child of it, the heir to the English crown, would be born out of wedlock, but in the early days of February Mary was ready to mettre le tout par le tout, to do anything to gain her end of marriage with Suffolk. The place of the February marriage would probably be the chapel of the Clugny Hotel, but that and who actually married them is unknown. A later document says a simple priest of no authority, which is not unlikely, though that document, to be quoted in full later, does not pretend to strict accuracy, for its facts were arranged by Suffolk and Wolsey to produce a certain impression. So Wolsey's letter found Mary married to her lover, in ill-health, nervous and suspicious (her head was never still and she was constantly turning it from side to side), sucking terror out of every phrase, and sensible that delay in the return home, or, failing that, in a near open marriage, might publicly pierce the secret of her union with Brandon. Her husband's mind was tranquil as yet, and to him the Archbishop's letters "came as graciously as rosewater and vinegar to him that is fallen in a sowne or a litargie."

CHAPTER IX
CONFESSION AND PENANCE

THE commission of the Duke of Suffolk, Sir Richard Wingfield, and Dr West was for the renewing of the peace with France which had been concluded with Louis XII. for the lives of the two Kings and one year after, and for the settling of the Dowager-Queen's affairs and the conveying of her out of the realm. "They were to demand restitution as well of such jewels, precious stones, plate, apparel and other things that her Grace brought with her, as also of the charge of her traduction, which the French King received for the value of 200,000 crowns." They would also have to take possession of the lands of the Queen's dowry. Francis would have made the renewing of the amity depend on the giving up of Tournay if he had dared, and, as it was, he was very friendly with the ambassadors of Flanders, the Lord Nassau and the Count de St Py, who were come to Paris to ask for the long-desired marriage with a daughter of France. Margaret de Savoie with the English alliance had gone by the wall, and she said, almost weeping, to Spinelly, "that God knoweth the faithful mind she had borne to England and what had ensued unto her thereof, and how the Emperor without her knowledge had handled the putting out of tutela of the Prince to the great prejudice of her honor."[ [390] She was compelled to let Chièvres have his way, and that way was the French marriage; though Maximilian was eager now to have Mary for his grandson, and sent Henry grave warning of the difficulty of getting princesses returned out of France, and said that it might come to retrieving her at the sword's point.[ [391] But Flanders wanted no English princess, and put all their hope in alliance with France, and if a piece of wood had come out of France it would have been received for an ambassador.[ [392] There was still an English party at Brussels, and Margaret, speaking of Mary's possible marriages, said "that she knew no prince in Christendom that would gladly have her except one, which, were it not for his Council, peradventure would condescend thereto," which, adds Spinelly, "I suppose would be the Prince."[ [393] Francis, though he sent the Prince of Castile a cool letter on his accession, saw in the Flemish alliance a way towards realizing his desire to drive the English back to Calais, for between two allied hostile countries their position on the Flemish border would be easily made untenable. M. de la Guiche had been sent to England to announce his accession, and until his return nothing definite could be concluded, but Francis' great point in his negotiations with Suffolk was the recovery of Tournay. The Duke declined at first to meddle with this, for it was not in his commission, but by the advice of Wingfield and West he told the King of the matter privately. Louise de Savoie, who did everything and looked younger than she had done for years,[ [394] also spoke to Suffolk of the "great desire the King her son had to recover the city of Tournay." Suffolk was not well pleased at this complication in his amicable proceedings at the French Court, and would gladly have had nothing to do with it. But Spinelly at Brussels had got hold of a French letter to Chièvres containing details of a definite Franco-Flemish alliance, and this Wolsey sent on to Suffolk in Paris, asking him to demand an explanation, and, unwilling as the Duke was to court unpleasant relations at this moment, speak of it he must. So he dissembled and showed it to Francis as having been sent direct to him out of Flanders.[ [395] The King had just tilted successfully and was in great good humour when given the letter. He denied the treaty, but said that he could hardly refuse to receive the Flemish ambassadors, though he would conclude nothing with them till he had concluded with Henry. They had merely made fair promises for the future and excuses for the past, and he had given them very little comfort.[ [396] And, besides, matters between Henry and himself were in such an amicable way that a couple of days would easily dispatch them. So he talked to Suffolk, who seems to have been lulled by flattery, for Francis also said that in all matters between him and Henry he would make Suffolk judge. The position was tangled enough: on the one hand was the Duke, bound by a promise which he had already secretly broken, and commissioned to get the uttermost farthing out of the French King, on whose help he was supposed to be relying; on the other was Francis, who, while ostensibly helping Suffolk in his ambitions (already secretly consummated without his help) out of mere good nature, was really going to use him as a tool he had bargained for and bought. He was in ignorance that his offer of help had been made known to Henry, and also, whatever he may have suspected, he was not sure of how much royal backing there was behind the Duke. He was sure, however, that his help was worth something to Suffolk, and, like the young Queen, he meant to have the price when and how he desired it. But Suffolk felt himself a match for any Frenchman, the subtlety of the nation having long been the despair of English diplomatists notwithstanding.