Page:Margaret of Angoulême, Queen of Navarre (Robinson 1886).djvu/180

his desire to arrange a marriage with the good will of her friends; and these, being assembled for that purpose, found the match in every way fitting, if the girl herself should be of their mind. But she, either hoping to find a better, or wishing to hide the love she had for the youth, discovered an obstacle; so the company was broken up, not without regretting that she could not give the affair a better ending, seeing that on both sides the match was good. But, above all assembled, the poor gentleman was wroth, who could have borne his misfortune patiently had he believed the fault to lie with her friends and not with her; but, knowing the truth (to believe which was more bitter than death), he returned home, without a word to his lady-love or to any other there; and, having put some order in his affairs, he went away into a desolate place, where he sought with pains and trouble to forget this affection, and to turn it wholly to the love of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, to which affection he was, without comparison, the more obliged. And during this time he never heard either from his lady or from her friends; therefore he resolved, having failed in the happiest life he could have hoped, to take and choose the most austere and disagreeable; and, full of this sad thought, which one might call despair, he went to become a monk at a Franciscan monastery, close to which lived several of his friends. These, having heard of his despair, made every effort to hinder his resolve; but so firmly was it rooted in his heart, they could not turn him from it. Nevertheless, knowing his ailment, they thought to find the medicine, and went to her who was the cause of his sudden devotion, finding her much bewildered and astonished at their news, for she had meant her refusal, which was but for a time, to