rivate. But this was to be of no
avail, for I heard loud voices in my own tongue.

"What fair lady is this who travels so secretly?" and, with this, one
drew the curtains, and there was the face of Randal Rutherford, with
others behind him. Then he uttered a great cry--

"Faith, it is our lady of the linen-basket, and no other"; and leaning
within, he gave me a rough embrace and a kiss of his bearded lips. "Why
so early astir, our sick man?" he cried. "Get yourself healed anon, and
be with us when we take Paris town, Norman, for there is booty enough to
furnish all Scotland. Shalt thou be with us yet?"

"If my strength backs my will, Randal; and truly your face is a sight for
sair eyne, and does me more good than all the powers of the apothecary."

"Then here is to our next merry meeting," he cried, "under Paris walls!"

With that the Scots gave a shout, and, some of them crowding round to
press my hand, they bade me be of good cheer, and all went onward,
singing in the tune of "Hey, tuttie tattie," which the pipers played when
we broke the English at Bannockburn.

So I was borne back to the house of Jacques Boucher, and, in the sunny
courtyard, there stood Charlotte, looking gay and fair, yet warlike, as I
deemed. She was clad in a long garment of red over a white robe, and had
sleeves of green, so that she wore the spring's own colours, and she was
singing a French ditty concerning a lady who has a lover, and vows that
she will never be a nun.

Seray-je nonnette, oui ou non,
Serray-je nonnette, je croy que non!

Seeing me, she stinted in her singing, and in feeding a falcon that was
perched on her wrist.

"You are early astir for a sick man," she said. "Have you been on
pilgrimage, or whither have you been faring?"

"The Maid sent for me right early, for to-day she rides to Jargeau, and
to you she sends a message of her love,"--as indeed she had done, "but,
for the great press of affairs she might not visit you."

"And Mistress Elliot Hume, has she forgiven her lover yet? nay, I see by
your face that you are forgiven! And you go south, this very day, is it
not so?"

"Indeed," I said, "if it is your will that we part, part we must, though
I sorrow for it; but none has given me the word to march, save you, my
fair nurse and hostess."

"Nay, it is not I who shall speed you; nevertheless the Maid is not the
only prophetess in this realm of France, and something tells me that we
part this day.