"I cannot help writing to inform you, Madame, of the utter desolation and misery to which my poor sister is reduced owing to the great rudeness and cruelty with which she was treated by the King of France on Good Friday. He came here under pretence of good faith and true friendship, as he had lately given us to understand. On his arrival he was received with all possible honour and entertained in the most hospitable manner. On Good Friday he told Madame that, in order to satisfy the conditions of his league with the Germans, he must secure all the fortified posts in Lorraine, as well as the Duke's person, and with this end must take him to Bar. In order to prevent this, Madame, Monsieur de Vaudemont and I, with all the members of the Council, drew up a remonstrance couched in the most humble terms, to which he only replied by sending us a written copy of his resolutions. Upon this my sister went to find him in the Grande Galerie, and begged him humbly, even going as far as to fall on her knees to implore him, for the love of God, not to take her son away from her. He made no reply, and, to make an end of the story, Madame, on Easter Eve they took the boy, escorted by a band of armed men, in charge of the Sieur de Bourdillon and the Maréchal de St. André, who did not leave his side until he had seen him well out of the town. It was indeed a piteous thing to see his poor mother, Monsieur de Vaudemont, and all the nobles and this poor people, in tears and lamentation at his departure. Madame, Your Majesty can imagine the terrible grief of my poor sister at this outrage, and will understand that her sorrow at losing her son is still so great that I have been obliged to abandon my intention of returning home, and feel that I cannot leave her. The King allows her to keep the charge of her daughters and the administration of her children's estates, excepting in the case of the fortified towns, which remain in the hands of Monsieur de Vaudemont.... And since, Madame, I am still as ever very anxious to do Your Majesty service, I beg you to lay your commands upon me, and they will be obeyed by one who is the most affectionate servant that Your Majesty will ever have. "ANNE DE LORRAINE. "From Nancy, the day after Easter, April 18."[461] In a postscript Anne further informed Mary that her sister had just received a letter from the King, telling her that, hearing an attempt would be made to carry off the young Duke, he had ordered Bourdillon to take him to join the Queen at Joinville. Henry's letter was written from Pont-à-Mousson, where he spent Easter Day, after sleeping at the Duke's country-house at Condé on Saturday: "MY SISTER,