Meanwhile Christina and her husband found some consolation for their wounded feelings in the friendly reception which they met with at Joinville, on their return from France. The Duke and Duchess of Guise came to meet them at Annonville, and were eager to do honour to their nephew's bride and show her the beauties of their stately home. They had lately decorated the halls and chapel with paintings and statues, and Antoinette had laid out terraced gardens along the wooded slopes on the River Marne, adorned with pavilions and fountains. Nothing escaped the eye of this excellent lady, who watched over the education of her children and the welfare of her servants, and managed her kitchen, stables, and kennels, with the same indefatigable care. Her household was a model of economy and prudence, and her works of mercy extended far beyond the limits of Joinville. The active correspondence which she kept up with her eldest daughter, the Queen of Scotland, abounds in details regarding every member of her family, and above all her little grandson, the Duke of Longueville. The Duchess's letters are naturally full of this precious boy, who was the pet and plaything of the whole household, and on whose perfections she is never tired of dwelling. For his mother's benefit, she sends minute records of his height and appearance, of the progress which he is making at lessons, the walks which he takes with his nurse. [Sidenote: NOV., 1541] AT JOINVILLE] "We have here now," she wrote to Mary of Guise, on the 18th of November, "not only your uncle, but the Duke and Duchess of Bar, on their way back from Court. They are all making good cheer with us, and your father is so busy entertaining them that you will hardly have a letter from him this time. Your eldest brother [Aumale] is here too, but goes to join the King at Fontainebleau next week. I shall go to my mother [the old Countess of Vendôme], who is quite well, and so also is the good old Queen, your grandmother. I have kept as a _bonne bouche_ for you a word about our grandson, who will soon be a man, and is the finest child that you ever saw. I am trying to find a painter who can show you how tall, healthy, and handsome, he is." Sad news had lately come from Scotland, where the Queen's two children, a boy of a year old and a new-born babe, had died in the same week. Antoinette's motherly heart yearned over her absent daughter in this sudden bereavement.