he Abbey could furnish, and all were full of joy and
congratulation, the sense of oneness for once inspiring all.

Moreover, after mass, Sir Patrick and an Englishman rode over with
tidings that King Rene had sent a messenger, who was on the Tuesday to
guide them all to a glade where the King hoped to welcome the ladies
as befitted their rank and beauty, and likewise to meet the royal
travellers from Bourges, so that all might make their entry into Nanci
together.

The King himself, it was reported, did nothing but ride backwards and
forwards between Nanci and the convent where he had halted, arranging
the details of the procession, and of the open-air feast at the
rendezvous upon the way.

'I hope,' said Lady Suffolk, 'that King Rene's confections will not be
as full of rancid oil as those of the good sisters. I know not which
was more distasteful--their Lenten Fast or their Easter Feast. We have,
certes, done our penance this Lent!'

To which the rest of the ladies could not but agree, though Lady
Drummond felt it somewhat treasonable to the good nuns, their
entertainers; and both she and Eleanor recollected how differently
Esclairmonde would have felt the matter, and how little these matters of
daily fare would have concerned her.

'To-day we shall see her!' exclaimed Eleanor, springing to the floor,
as, early on a fine spring morning, the ladies in the guest-chamber of
the nunnery began to bestir themselves at the sound of one of the many
convent bells. 'They are at Toul, and we shall meet this afternoon. I
have not slept all night for thinking of it.'

'No, and hardly let me sleep,' said Jean, slowly sitting up in bed.
'Thou hast waked me so often that I shall be pale and heavy-eyed for the
pageant.'

'Little fear of that, my bonnie bell,' said old Christie, laughing.

'Besides,' said Eleanor, 'nobody will fash themselves to look at us in
the midst of the pageant. There will be the King to see, and the bride.
Oh, I wish we were not to ride in it, and could see it instead at our
ease.'

'Thou wast never meant for a princess,' said Jean; 'Christie, Annis, for
pity's sake, see till her. She is busking up her hair just as was gude
enough for the old nuns, but no for kings and queens.'

'I hate the horned cap, in which I feel like a cow, and methought Meg
wad feel the snood a sight for sair een,' said Eleanor.

'Meg indeed! Thou must frame thy tongue to Madame la Dauphine.'

'Before the lave of them, but