In the meanwhile the “rough hewing” of the treaty had been steadily going on, and on the 19th of April the draft protocol was signed at Blois. Aid was to be given unofficially by both nations to the revolted Hollanders; the fleets of Protestant privateers in the Channel were to be sheltered and encouraged, and, above all, the Huguenot Henry of Navarre was to marry Margaret of Valois, the King’s sister. Catharine wrote a letter to Elizabeth on the 22nd of April, through Smith, expressing her joy at the prospect of peace and harmony in France, which the treaty and her daughter’s marriage held out, and Marshal de Montmorenci and de Foix were sent as a special embassy to England for the ratification of the formal alliance, whilst Lord Admiral Clinton, the Earl of Lincoln, was to proceed to France for a similar purpose. The Protestant party in France were thus for the moment victorious all along the line, and the connection between England and France closer than it had been for many years. Catharine, naturally desirous of securing a double hold upon England whilst these relations lasted, by settling her youngest son as Elizabeth’s consort, instructed Montmorenci to make a formal offer of his hand to the Queen. As usual, Cavalcanti was sent over as a harbinger, and took with him a flattering portrait of the Prince, which was given to the Queen through Leicester. Alençon was deeply pitted with the small-pox from which he had recently suffered, and otherwise was far inferior in appearance to his brother Anjou, so that to a person of Elizabeth’s temperament he was less likely to be acceptable. She had, moreover, obtained by the treaty of Blois the close alliance with France and the predominance of the Huguenots which she desired, and could therefore afford to hold off somewhat in the marriage negotiations in which she personally had never been sincere. She accordingly instructed Lord Lincoln[72] that if any mention were made to him of the marriage, he might say that he believed she considered she had not been well treated in the Anjou business; and moreover the disparity of years between herself and Alençon was so great as in her opinion to be a complete “stay” to the match.