So poor Marguerite adopted a new device, the last and saddest of three comments upon her destiny.[205] You may read it to-day, a hundred times, on the walls, the tombs, the windows of the church of Brou. FORTUNE. INFORTUNE. FORT UNE.[206] It was in the spring of 1505 that Margaret laid with her own hand the first stone of the building she had dreamed of ever since her husband's death, a church which would, at the same time worthily perpetuate the memory of their loves, and accomplish the unfulfilled vow of her mother, Marguerite de Bourbon, who had sworn many years before to erect a church to the glory of God, should her husband recover from an illness that then threatened his life. The princess chose for her architect Loys van Boghen, a Flamand of great ability, under whose direction the whole fabric of the church was constructed. The statues and sculptures were in the hands of "Maistre Conrard, le consommé tailleur d'ymages," between whom and the difficult, quarrelsome Loys considerable friction seems to have arisen. This we gather from the archives of Ain.[207] "Insomuch as Maistre Loys is somewhat light of word and threat towards one and another, both ecclesiastic and secular, whence much scandal may arise, as indeed has already chanced, and our Lady's work thereby retarded, the said Maistre Loys is thereby expressly forbidden and prohibited henceforth from using such threats and words; and should he notwithstanding attempt to do so, he will be held accountable therefore to our Lady in his person and goods. The same shall be said to Maistre Conrard and to all other whom it may concern."[208] At length, stone by stone, in spite of Maistre Loys' temper and the awful famine and pestilence, which, in those years, were ravaging the town of Bourg, Marguerite's darling project approached completion. Many a day would she ride over from the Castle of Pont d'Ain, where she was passing the early years of her widowhood, to watch her beloved building growing beneath her eyes. On her palfrey white the Duchess Sate and watched her working train-- Flemish carvers, Lombard gilders, German masons, smiths from Spain. Clad in black, on her white palfrey, Her old architect beside-- There they found her in the mountains, Morn and noon and eventide. There she sate and watched the builders, Till the Church was roofed and done. Last of all the builders reared her In the nave a tomb of stone.[209] The closing years of Marguerite's life were passed in administering, wisely and justly, the affairs of the Pays Bas, of which country she had long been appointed governor. Her wealth, her great abilities, and her exalted rank all combined to render her one of the most prominent figures in the political life of the time. [Illustration: SAINTE MADELEINE: TOMB OF MARGUERITE D'AUTRICHE: BROU.]