days of swift and sudden surprises, when kings made up their
minds in royal haste, and princesses were not expected to be surprised
at whatever they might hear. And so we must not feel surprised to learn
that all the dreams of her younger days came into the girl's mind, and
that, as the record states, "she accepted the ring with great joy."

"Return promptly to thy lord," she said to the messenger, "and bid him,
if he would fain unite me to him in marriage, to send messengers without
delay to demand me of my uncle, King Gundebald, and let those same
messengers take me away in haste, so soon as they shall have obtained
permission."

For this wise young princess knew that her uncle's word was not to be
long depended upon, and she feared, too, that certain advisers at her
uncle's court might counsel him to do her harm before the messengers of
King Clovis could have conducted her beyond the borders of Burgundy.

Aurelian, still in his pilgrim's disguise, for he feared discovery in a
hostile country, hastened back to King Clovis, who, the record says, was
"pleased with his success and with Clotilda's notion, and at once sent a
deputation to Gundebald to demand his niece in marriage."

As Clotilda foresaw, her uncle stood in too much dread of this fierce
young conqueror of the north to say him nay. And soon in the palace at
Lyons, so full of terrible memories to this orphan girl, the courteous
Aurelian, now no longer in beggar's rags, but gorgeous in white silk and
a flowing sagum, or mantle of vermilion, publicly engaged himself,
as the representative of King Clovis, to the Princess Clotilda; and,
according to the curious custom of the time, cemented the engagement by
giving to the young girl a sou and a denier.(1)

(1) Two pieces of old French coin, equalling about a cent and a mill in
American money.

"Now deliver the princess into our hand, O king," said the messenger,
"that we may take her to King Clovis, who waiteth for us even now at
Chalons to conclude these nuptials."

So, almost before he knew what he was doing, King Gundebald had bidden
his niece farewell; and the princess, with her escort of Frankish
spears, was rumbling away in a clumsy basterne, or covered ox-wagon,
toward the frontier of Burgundy.

But the slow-moving ox-wagon by no means suited the impatience of this
shrewd young princess. She knew her uncle, the king of Burgundy, too
well. When once he was roused to action, he was fierce and furious