Twelve years later Henri received a mortal wound in the lists when tilting with Montgomery, Captain of the Scottish Guards, and his embittered widow, Catherine de Medici, at once forced Diane de Poitiers to exchange Chenonceaux for Chaumont. In 1559 Catherine received the boy-King, François II., with his Queen, Mary Stuart, at the château in the river. Mary came there from Amboise with the bloody scenes of the castle courtyard fresh in her memory. While she had Chenonceaux, Catherine built upon the bridge erected by her rival Diane the gallery with a long banqueting-hall above, which makes so attractive a feature from the water-side. She died in 1601, and left the castle to her niece, the beautiful Françoise de Lorraine, Duchesse de Mercœur. Having been a possession of the Bourbons, Chenonceaux was sold, in 1733, to Fermier Général Dupin, whose widow, Madame Dupin, entertained there most sumptuously for many years, and even survived the Revolution, dying in 1799, at the age of ninety-three. The Revolutionaries did no damage to the buildings, but required Madame Dupin to bring out all her securities, and the priceless pictures and portraits which had been accumulating in the château for three centuries, and all were burnt in a great bonfire. The castle is now owned by M. Terry, a Cuban gentleman, who has spent large sums of money on its restoration. Much of the beautiful furniture has always been in the castle, and the decorations bear the monogram of Henri II. and Diane de Poitiers. The blue-and-orange enamelled tiles on the floors of some of the rooms add to the feast of colour and detail. BLÉRÉ, to which one returns after seeing the castle, is an old but disappointing little town, for the bridge built by Henry II. of England in 1160, and in use until quite lately, has been replaced by a modern stone structure of no interest. The Church of St. Croix has a Romanesque apse with grotesque corbels. There are three parallel naves; the central one is fifteenth-century work, those north and south of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. From Bléré to Tours the road keeps near the Cher, and the scenery is pretty. ALTERNATIVE ROUTE DIRECT TO THE RHONE AND THE RIVIERA--ORLEANS TO BRIARE, 43½ MILES (70 KILOMETRES) DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE (Along the north bank of the Loire) Kil. Miles. =Orleans= to Chécy =9= 5½ =Chécy= to Châteauneuf-sur-Loire =15= 9½ =Châteauneuf= to Ouzouer-sur-Loire =22= 13½ =Ouzouer= to Gien =15= 9½ =Gien= to Briare =9= 5½ For the route from Briare to Cannes, see Sections XXIII., XXII., XXI., XX., XIX., and XVII. CHARTRES TO TOURS DIRECT, 87½ MILES (141 KILOMETRES)