But upon the prosperous, happy lives of the Gravilles sorrow began to fall. Louis and Joachim died, and their loss so affected their mother that she also died in March, 1503, desiring to be buried near Joachim in the monastery of Marcoussy. Louise and Jeanne had made brilliant marriages, and Anne was left alone with her father, whose favourite she was, and who dreaded parting with her. However, between marriage and the cloister there was no alternative, and the Admiral wrote to her saying he had received offers from three young nobles, of whom he thought the first frivolous, the second rash and hasty, but the third, though less rich, was sensible and irreproachable in character.[334]
But meanwhile, Anne fell in love with her cousin Pierre, Baron d’Entragues, illegitimate son of Robert de Balzac, a young soldier of four and twenty who, fearing the Admiral might not allow the marriage, carried her off; some said with, others without her consent. At any rate she forgave him, and their marriage was celebrated without waiting for the permission of the Admiral, who was very angry, threatened to disinherit his daughter and forbade any one to help them. The Baron d’Entragues had no money and when he applied for help to his relations they refused; the young people had nothing to live upon and did not know what to do. So they bethought themselves of the good monks of the Céléstin convent of Marcoussy and took refuge with them. The Prior and brotherhood received them with kindness, sympathy, and promises of help, and they stayed in the monastery waiting till Good Friday, which was now approaching, when the Admiral was sure to come there to church.
Accordingly, when he presented himself at the office of the veneration of the Cross, the Prior stopped him, saying, “Dare you approach with your lips the sacred wood on which the Son of God shed His precious blood to reconcile men with His Father; if you have not resolved from your heart to forgive your two children who are here at your knees with profound repentance imploring pardon for their fault?” As he spoke Pierre and Anne threw themselves on their knees before him. The solemn words of the Prior and the sight of the child who had always been so dear to him were too much for the Admiral, he held out his arms to them both, and took them back with him to the castle.[335] The marriage proved a very happy one. Anne had a long prosperous life, and one of her children inherited Marcoussy.