As week followed week—for the road between Spain and Flanders was a long one—it is plain to see that Mary became somewhat restive at the delay. Renard saw her privately at Richmond early in September, and, in order to start the conversation on the subject, mentioned the common talk in London of her intended marriage with Courtenay. Mary coldly replied that she had never spoken to the man except when she pardoned him. She knew nobody in England whom she would care to marry. Had the Emperor, she asked, made up his mind about recommending any suitor to her? Renard had much to say about the difficulty of selecting a fitting person, though he was sure that the Emperor would do his best. Renard dared not go too far, for no reply had yet been received from Philip; and rumours were current in London that his marriage with his Portuguese cousin was now irrevocably settled. But Renard began by mentioning the various unmarried Catholic Princes—the Archduke of Austria, the Prince of Savoy, the Princes of Ferrara and Florence, and even the Dauphin; to all of which Mary listened crossly, for she knew this was only fencing. “Of course, your Majesty,” continued Renard, “if you think twenty-seven or twenty-eight too young for a husband, I do not know any other Princes who are not too old.” Mary took the hint, for she knew that the age of Philip was twenty-seven, and she replied: “But your Prince is already married, I hear, to the Princess of Portugal.” Renard said that he did not think that the marriage was concluded yet, though he knew that it had been mentioned before the war;[16] whereupon Mary, apparently losing patience at so much beating about the bush, determined to speak more plainly. She was sorry, she said, that Philip should marry his Portuguese cousin, as they were such near relatives. All the Princes that Renard had mentioned to her were very young—she might be the mother of any of them. She was even twelve years older than Prince Philip; besides which, the Prince would want to remain in Spain and his other dominions, and she knew how much English people objected to any reigning foreign Prince marrying an English Princess.[17] When her father was alive, she continued, several proposed matches for her had fallen through for this reason alone; and when the late Duke of Orleans was proposed to her, the affair was prevented by the antagonism which always existed between England and France. She hoped the Emperor would bear this point in mind, and not recommend her to marry a man she had not seen and spoken to in England. Renard then began praising Philip’s good sense, judgment, and seriousness. He had already a son six or seven years old, he said, and was wise and experienced beyond his years. Mary, apparently thinking she had gone far enough, broke into Renard’s panegyrics and declared most emphatically that she had never felt the smart of what was called love, nor had she ever had a voluptuous thought. She had never had an idea of