As he approached Aix-la-Chapelle the Emperor saw a long, long line of weeping women, all attired in black, coming out to meet him. It was the fair Aude, supported by her widowed sister Mita, and followed by a suite of three hundred ladies. Charlemagne, deeply affected by the sight of such affliction, dismounted, and pressed the fair Aude to his heart. “My poor child!” said he, “you are a widow or ever you were a bride.” The fair Aude opened her lips to reply, but she had not the strength to speak. The Emperor felt her sink back in his arms, and, turning to the attendants, he asked-- “Is there a place for her in the coffin by the side of Roland?” [Illustration: 273] A few days later were celebrated with great pomp the obsequies of the betrothed of the Count of Mans. At the same hour, draged on a hurdle, between two of the executioner’s assistants, the disfigured corpse of the traitor Ganelon was carried to the charnel. “And Croquemitaine, won’t you tell us something about it?” you would ask me. Croquemitaine does not exist, my dears. [Illustration: 275] THE END. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Days of Chivalry, by Ernest Louis Victor Jules L’Epine