nce,
as she set out on her journey from Nancy. Of course, many of the
courtiers went too. These together with the great number of English
nobles and gentry that were attached to the service of the bride, made
so large a company, and the dresses, caparisons, and trappings which
were exhibited on the occasion were so splendid and fine, that the
cavalcade, as it set out from the city of Nancy on the morning when
the journey was to commence, formed one of the gayest and grandest
bridal processions that the world has ever seen.

[Sidenote: Parting with the King and Queen of France.]

After proceeding for five or six miles the procession came to a halt,
in order that the King and Queen of France might take their leave. The
parting filled the hearts of their majesties with grief. The king
clasped Margaret again and again in his arms when he bade her
farewell, and told her that in placing her, as he had done, upon one
of the greatest thrones in Europe, it seemed to him, after all, that
he had really done nothing for her, "for even such a throne is
scarcely worthy of you, my darling child," said he. In saying this his
eyes filled with tears. The queen was so overwhelmed with emotion that
she could not speak; but, kissing Margaret again and again amid her
sobbings and tears, she finally turned from her and was borne away.

[Sidenote: Margaret's parents.]

Margaret's father and mother did not take their leave of her at this
place, but went on with her two days' journey, as far as to the town
of Bar le Duc, which was near the frontiers of Lorraine. Here they,
too, at last took their leave, though their hearts were so full, when
the moment of final parting came, that they could not speak, but bade
their child farewell with tears and caresses, unaccompanied with any
words whatever of farewell.

[Sidenote: The bride's new friends.]

Still Margaret was not left entirely alone among strangers when her
father and mother left her. One of her brothers, and some other
friends, were to accompany her to England. She had, moreover, by this
time become well acquainted with the Marquis and Marchioness of
Suffolk, under whose charge and protection she was now traveling, and
she had become strongly attached to them. They were both considerably
advanced in life, and were grave and quiet in their demeanor, but they
were very kind and attentive to Margaret in every respect, and they
made every effort in their power to console the grief that sh