y, and loved its brilliance and romance; he
was an honourable man, and the weak point about him was that he never
understood that knighthood should respect men of meaner birth. He was
greatly flattered by the idea of having the eldest son of the great Earl
of Angus riding as an unknown man-at-arms in his troop, and on the way
likewise to the most chivalrous of kings. His scheme would have been to
equip the youth fully with horse and arms, and at some brilliant tourney
see him carry all before him, like Du Gueselin in his boyhood, and that
the eclat of the affair should reflect itself upon his sponsor. But
there were two difficulties in the way--the first that the proud young
Scot showed no intention of being beholden to any Englishman, and
secondly, that the tall, ungainly youth did not look as if he had
attained to the full strength or management of his own limbs; and though
in five or ten years' time he might be a giant in actual warfare, he did
not appear at all likely to be a match for the highly-trained champions
of the tilt-yard. Moreover, he was not a knight as yet, and on sounding
Sir Patrick it was elicited that he was likely to deem it high treason
to be dubbed by any hand save that of his King or his father.

So the Marquis could only feel sagacious, and utter a hint or two
before the ladies which fell the more short, since he was persuaded,
by Eleanor's having been the foremost in the defence, that she was the
object of the quest; and he now and then treated her to hints which
she was slow to understand, but which exasperated while they amused her
sister.

The journey was so slow that it was not until the fourth week in Lent
that they were fairly in Lorraine. It had of course been announced by
couriers, and at Thionville a very splendid herald reached them, covered
all over with the blazonry of Jerusalem and the Two Sicilies, to say
nothing of Provence and Anjou. He brought letters from King Rene,
explaining that he and his daughters were en route from Provence, and
he therefore designated a nunnery where he requested that the Scottish
princesses and their ladies would deign to be entertained, and a
monastery where my Lord Marquis of Suffolk and his suite would be
welcomed, and where they were requested to remain till Easter week, by
which time the King of France, the Dauphin, and Dauphiness would be near
at hand, and there could be a grand entrance into Nanci. Of course there
was nothing to be done but to