.

"Good Aurelian," she said at length to the king's ambassador, who rode
by her side: "if that thou wouldst take me into the presence of thy
lord, the king of the Franks, let me descend from this carriage, mount
me on horseback, and let us speed hence as fast as we may, for never in
this carriage shall I reach the presence of my lord, the king."

And none too soon was her advice acted, upon for, the counsellors of
King Gundebald, noticing Clotilda's anxiety to be gone, concluded that,
after all, they had made a mistake in betrothing her to King Clovis.

"Thou shouldst have remembered, my lord," they said, "that thou didst
slay Clotilda's father, her mother, and the young princes, her brothers.
If Clotilda become powerful, be sure she will avenge the wrong thou hast
wrought her."

And forthwith the king sent off an armed band, with orders to bring back
both the princess and the treasure he had sent with her as her marriage
portion. But already the princess and her escort were safely across the
Seine, where, in the Campania, or plain-country,--later known as the
province of Champagne--she met the king of the Franks.

I am sorry to be obliged to confess that the first recorded desire of
this beautiful, brave, and devout young maiden, when she found herself
safely among the fierce followers of King Clovis, was a request for
vengeance. But we must remember, girls and boys, that this is a story of
half-savage days when, as I have already said, the desire for revenge on
one's enemies was common to all.

From the midst of his skin-clad and green-robed guards and nobles, young
Clovis--in a dress of "crimson and gold, and milk-white silk," and
with his yellow hair coiled in a great top-knot on his uncovered
head--advanced to meet his bride.

"My lord king," said Clotilda, "the bands of the king of Burgundy
follow hard upon us to bear me off. Command, I pray thee, that these,
my escort, scatter themselves right and left for twoscore miles, and
plunder and burn the lands of the king of Burgundy."

Probably in no other way could this wise young girl of seventeen have so
thoroughly pleased the fierce and warlike young king. He gladly ordered
her wishes to be carried out, and the plunderers forthwith departed to
carry out the royal command.

So her troubles were ended, and this prince and princess,--Hlodo-wig,
or Clovis (meaning the "warrior youth"), and Hlodo-hilde, or Clotilda
(meaning the "brilliant and noble maid"),--in