July 9, near Melun, had promised to meet again; a fresh interview
appeared necessary in order to give efficacy to their reconciliation.
Duke John was very pressing for the _dauphin_ to go to Troyes, where the
king and queen happened to be. The _dauphin_ on his side was earnestly
solicited by the most considerable burgesses of Paris to get this
interview over in order to insure the execution of the treaty of peace
which had been sworn to with the Duke of Burgundy. The _dauphin_ showed
a disposition to listen to these entreaties. He advanced as far as
Montereau in order to be ready to meet Duke John as soon as a place of
meeting should be fixed.

Duke John hesitated, from irresolution even more than from distrust. It
was a serious matter for him to commit himself more and more, by his own
proper motion, against the King of England and his old allies amongst the
populace of Paris. Why should he be required to go in person to seek the
_dauphin_? It was far simpler, he said, for Charles to come to the king
his father. Tanneguy Duchatel went to Troyes to tell the duke that the
_dauphin_ had come to meet him as far as Montereau, and, with the help of
the lady of Giae, persuaded on his side, to Bray-sur-Seine, two leagues
from Montereau. When the two princes had drawn thus near, their agents
proposed that the interview should take place on the very bridge of
Montereau, with the precautions and according to the forms decided on.
In the duke's household many of his most devoted servants were opposed
to this interview; the place, they said, had been chosen by and would be
under the ordering of the _dauphin_'s people, of the old servants of the
Duke of Orleans and the Count of Armagnac. At the same time four
successive messages came from Paris urging the duke to make the plunge;
and at last he took his resolution. "It is my duty," said he, "to risk
my person in order to get at so great a blessing as peace. Whatever
happens, my wish is peace. If they kill me, I shall die a martyr. Peace