On the 18th November, the day after her interview with Villars, the bride arrived at Quintanapalla, within a few miles of Burgos, where she was to pass the night; the ostensible intention of the Spaniards being that the marriage should take place at Burgos the next day. Everything was done to lead the official Frenchmen to believe this; but Villars and Harcourt were suspicious; and early on the morning of the 19th, they arrived from Burgos at the miserable poverty-stricken village where Marie Louise had passed the night. Assembled there they found members of the King’s household, and taxed the Duchess of Terranova with the intention of carrying through the royal marriage there. She replied haughtily that the King had so commanded, and had given orders that no one was to attend the wedding, but the few Spanish officers and witnesses strictly necessary. The two noble Frenchmen indignantly announced their intention of attending the ceremony, in obedience to the orders of their own King Louis, whether the Spaniards liked it or not. The imperious old lady thereupon flew into a towering rage; ‘_et dit beaucoup de choses hors de propos_,’ and the ambassadors, declining to quarrel with an angry woman, sent a courier galloping to Burgos to demand leave for the official representatives of France to witness the marriage of a French princess.[293] At eleven o’clock in the morning, the King himself arrived at the poor hamlet of ten houses, and at the door of the apartment where she had lodged his beautiful bride met him. She looked radiant, ‘in a beautiful French costume covered with a surprising quantity of gems,’[294] though Charles told her the next day that he infinitely preferred her with the Spanish garb and coiffure, which she usually assumed thenceforward. On the threshold of the squalid labourer’s cottage, Marie Louise made as if to kneel and kiss the King’s hand; but he stepped forward and raised her. Unfortunately, thanks to his mumbling speech and her agitation, and small familiarity with spoken Spanish, they soon found that conversation was impossible without an interpreter, and Villars stepped into the breach and said the mutual words of greeting between the husband and wife.[295] But whilst he was doing this courtly service, his keen eyes saw that the humble living chamber of the cottage, where the ceremony of marriage was to take place, was being filled by Spanish grandees, who had ranged themselves in the place of honour on the right hand. Louis had broken down the old Spanish claim to precedence before other nations, and Villars at once demanded for Harcourt and himself the pre-eminent place. Under protest, and with evil grace, the grandees were obliged to make way for the Frenchmen; and there, in the squalid room, at midday, with grey skies looming overhead, and the drizzling rain dimming the tiny windows, Charles King of Spain was married to Marie Louise of Orleans.[296]