d bowmen and horsemen in
martial array; and the central figure of all this parade and pomp was a
very small boy of but three years old.

Strangest of all was this small boy's dress. He was but little more than
a baby, and yet he rode upon a stately war-horse housed in purple and
gold. He was clad in complete armor of polished steel; on his head he
wore a casque of steel and gold, surmounted with a tiny golden crown; in
his small hand he bore a truncheon, and about his neck was slung a
cross-handled sword of steel and gold.

A stalwart knight rode at the little boy's bridle-rein, his protecting
arm holding the small rider firmly in the saddle; the royal banner
fluttered ahead, and at the boy's right hand rode his governor and
guardian, Count William, called the snub-nosed--well, because it was.

[Illustration: "HEAVEN BLESS HIS LITTLE GRACE."]

From castle and cottage, from town and hamlet, came thronging men and
women, boys and girls, with smile and cheer and shout of hearty welcome:
"Heaven bless his little Grace! God guard our little King! Long live
King Louis!"

For this very small boy of three was indeed a King entering his
dominion. He had been crowned by the Pope at Rome King of Aquitaine.
Then, from his father's splendid palace in Aachen, or what is now the
German city of Aix-la-Chapelle, he had started with his glittering
escort to take possession of his kingdom in southwestern France. Over
the first part of the route he was carried in his cradle; but when he
left the city of Orleans, and, crossing the Loire, set foot within his
own dominions, this cradle-travelling, so the old chronicle tells us,
"beseemed him no longer." He was a King, and this was his kingdom;
therefore like a King he must make his royal progress. So upon this
little three-year-old was put a suit of shining armor, made expressly
for him, with sword and truncheon "equally proportioned"; they set him
on horseback, and thus royally attended he entered Aquitaine, and
marched on to his own royal palace at Toulouse. He must have looked
"awfully cunning"--this three-year-old in armor--but just think how
tired the poor little fellow must have been.

Aquitaine was that large section of southwestern France that stretched
from the river Loire to the Pyrenees, and from the Bay of Biscay
eastward to the banks of the Rhone. It had been brought under subjection
by the conquering monarch whose short-lived empire embraced all of
Europe from Rome to Cop