And when Jeanne was tiresome she could be very tiresome indeed. She not
only had a quick tongue, but a quick temper, and would despise and even
ill-treat anyone who was not so determined as herself. When she was ten
years old her aunt, the Vicomtesse de Rohan, came to live at Plessis
with some of her children, for her husband had lost so much money that
they had almost nothing to live on. The eldest girl, Françoise, had
already gone to live at Pau with Queen Marguérite, which made Jeanne
bitterly jealous, so that when she heard from Madame de Silly that her
cousin was to be left at Plessis while the Queen of Navarre went to
Court, she was thoroughly prepared to dislike her and everything she
did. If only Mademoiselle de Rohan had behaved to Jeanne as Jeanne
behaved to _her_ they would soon have made friends; but, unluckily, she
was easily frightened, and would give up anything sooner than quarrel
about it. She was lazy, too, and preferred sitting over her embroidery
to joining in the rough games in which Jeanne delighted. Of course she
was not allowed to have her way, and was forced, little as she liked it,
to go with the rest; but Jeanne, who played as earnestly as she did
everything else, was speedily provoked by the listless Françoise, and
even went so far as to give her a hard slap as a punishment for her
indolence. Mademoiselle de Rohan did not slap her back, but she had
weapons of her own which stung as well. When Marguérite returned to
fetch her on her road to Pau, a poem of 'Farewell to Plessis' was left
behind, each lady in the queen's suite writing one verse. The stanza
composed by Françoise, whose poetical gifts were greater than her
cousin's, ran as follows:
Farewell, dear hand, farewell, I say,
That used to slap me every day;
And yet I love the slapper so,
It breaks my heart that I must go!
No doubt Queen Marguérite heard all the story from Madame de Silly, and
scolded her daughter, and no doubt also that when Jeanne recovered her
temper she felt very much ashamed of her rudeness. All her life she was
absolutely truthful, whatever it might cost her, and when she had done
wrong, and knew it, she never made excuses for herself, but accepted
manfully the punishment that was given her. But though Jeanne was
pleased enough to say good-bye to Françoise, she was extremely sorry to
part from Mademoiselle de Grammont, who was three years older than
herself, and a very clever and decided young lady, who at thirteen
thought herself a woman, and wrote some pretty lines to Jeanne on her
departure from Plessis, assuring the princess that she would never cease
to love her all her life, and that when they were both married, which
would probably be soon, they would crave their husbands' permission to
meet often.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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