France -- History -- 15th century -- Juvenile fiction
On the morning of their departure Marguerite heard a gay song in the
courtyard beneath her window; it was Cimburga, who was going to feed the
doves. The birds immediately flew to meet their friend, settling on her
shoulders, her head, and the basket in which she had brought their food,
the sunlight bringing out the rose tints in the gray of their plumage.
The girl scattered the grain with a lavish hand, and then held the end
of a crust of bread between her white teeth, turning her face toward her
shoulder, upon which two of the most impertinent of the doves had
settled, followed by a host of others, who quarreled over the morsel at
such a rate that Cimburga, laughing, threw it at them, saying, "Take it,
then, greedy ones, since you can not wait."
The Lady Marguerite called to the maid, and the latter glancing upward
beheld a picture which she never forgot as long as she lived, and which
always seemed to her like the recollection of a beautiful young saint
who had come to life in its niche. In the arched window of the gray old
castle stood the little princess, her bright uncovered hair like a halo
about her face, which beamed upon the maid with a gracious smile.
Marguerite was not an angel, as the jester had well said, but to the
girl who now gazed upon her, and who had received so great a boon at her
hands, she seemed more than human.
The daughter of the Hapsburgs ignored for the moment the gulf that
divided her from this child of the people, just as her father often did
in similar circumstances. "Are you happy now, Cimburga?" she asked
gently.
"Oh, so happy, your gracious Highness, and all thanks to you!" returned
the girl. "The mistress has given me a wedding dress of a beautiful
blue, the color that belongs to the Blessed Virgin, and we are to be
married next week. And Karl's father has found an inn for him farther
south, called The Flying Fawn. And I am to be the landlady of an inn!"
She paused and looked very serious for a moment at the thought of her
new dignity. Then she broke into a peal of laughter at nothing at all,
but just from pure happiness.
"I am glad because you are glad, Cimburga," said the princess gently.
"And indeed, your Highness, I shall pray every night to Saint Joseph to
send you as good a husband as I have myself," continued the girl
earnestly. Marguerite smiled at this, but after all there was many a
prince who would not be so kind to his royal wife as humble Karl would
be to the maiden of his choice.
At Metz they were greeted by Marguerite's brother, a handsome boy known
to history as Philip of Flanders. He was about to go to that country to
remain, and so we shall see very little of him in this story.
Everywhere in their own domain the emperor and his daughter had been
received with every demonstration of delight by their loyal people, and
at Metz they were royally entertained by the Duke of Lorraine, who
caused to be given on his wonderful stage a play for their amusement.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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