France -- History -- 15th century -- Juvenile fiction
After meeting "little Mademoiselle of Austria," as Marguerite was called
in the court of Brittany, both Le Glorieux and Antoine felt that they
would like to be in her service, and that it was to her, the daughter of
their own Mary of Burgundy, to whom they owed their loyalty.
The morning after her arrival the princess sent for Le Glorieux and
Antoine to come to her. The Duchess Anne had seen to it that her guest
should be clad in a costume befitting her rank, and the coarse gown of
the peasant child had been discarded for ever.
Marguerite asked the two comrades a great many questions about the
province of Burgundy, and the jester told her many incidents of her
mother's girlhood. She listened to Antoine's Burgundian songs with great
delight, and she expressed a wish that both jester and musician might
accompany her to Amboise, though she said she would not be so selfish as
to deprive the Duchess of Brittany of two such merrymakers.
Cunegunda, however, was not happy at the court of Brittany. "I wish that
we had been permitted to continue our journey as we began it," she
said. "I am convinced that it would have been far better for both of
us."
"I am not afraid," replied her mistress calmly. "The Lady Anne has
promised that we shall return in safety, and she will not break her
word." But Cunegunda's round rosy face remained thoughtful and sad.
"Something tells me that things are not right," said she. "I seem to
feel it in the air. Everything is going too well for us. Here is your
little Highness treated like a very queen with everything done to amuse
you, and both of us so comfortable in this beautiful palace that I feel
that it is all too good to be true."
The next afternoon Le Glorieux, who, as has been said, being a jester
was privileged to go where he liked, rushed into the apartments of the
princess with the remark, "Our Duchess of Brittany soon to be married is
listening to a strange man by the oriel window in the grand corridor."
"A jest upon such a subject does not amuse me in the least," replied the
Lady Marguerite reprovingly.
"By the mass! nor does it amuse me, for from the few words I caught I am
sure it means something quite serious for you, little Cousin."
"Please explain your meaning."
The jester replied, "I was looking at those suits of armor, in the
corridor, worn by the ancient Dukes of Brittany. I was counting the
dents made in the helmets and corselets by mace and battle-ax, and
wondering if it paid to fight so fiercely, since, after all, the time
would come when the bravest would be as dead as anybody else, when I
heard the tinkle of ladies' voices, and who should come into the
corridor but Cousin Anne and Clotilde."
[Illustration: "I slipped behind the armor of a giant duke"]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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