y sixteen, had washed the feet of pilgrims,
ministered to the poor, and, after the manner of her day, had proved
herself a zealous church-worker in that low-roofed convent near the
old church of St. Peter, high on that same hill in Geneva where to-day,
hemmed in by narrow streets and tall houses, the cathedral of St. Peter,
twice rebuilded since Clotilda's time, overlooks the quaint city, the
beautiful lake of Geneva, and the rushing Rhone, and sees across the
valley of the Arve the gray and barren rocks of the Petit Seleve and the
distant snows of Mont Blanc.

One bright summer day, as the young princess passed into the hospitium,
or guest-room for poor pilgrims, attached to the convent, she saw there
a stranger, dressed in rags. He had the wallet and staff of a mendicant,
or begging pilgrim, and, coming toward her, he asked for "charity in the
name of the blessed St. Peter, whose church thou servest."

The young girl brought the pilgrim food, and then, according to the
custom of the day, kneeling on the earthen floor, she began to bathe
his feet. But as she did so, the pilgrim, bending forward, said in a low
voice:

"Lady, I have great matters to announce to thee, if thou deign to permit
me to reveal them."

Pilgrims in those days were frequently made the bearers of special
messages between distant friends; but this poor young orphan
princess could think of no one from whom a message to her might come,
Nevertheless, she simply said: "Say on." In the same low tone the beggar
continued, "Clovis, King of the Franks, sends thee greeting."

The girl looked up now, thoroughly surprised. This beggar must be
a madman, she thought. But the eyes of the pilgrim looked at her
reassuringly, and he said: "In token whereof, he sendeth thee this ring
by me, his confidant and comitatus,(1) Aurelian of Soissons."

(1) One of the king's special body-guard, from which comes the title
comp, count.

The Princess Clotilda took, as if in a dream, the ring of transparent
jacinth set in solid gold, and asked quietly:

"What would the king of the Franks with me?"

"The king, my master, hath heard from the holy Bishop Remi and the
good priest Ugo of thy beauty and discreetness," replied Aurelian; "and
likewise of the sad condition of one who is the daughter of a royal
line. He bade me use all my wit to come nigh to thee, and to say that,
if it be the will of the gods, he would fain raise thee to his rank by
marriage."

Those were