no doubt that although we shall be much less important personages at Paris
than as travellers under the royal protection, we shall yet be made
comfortable enough, and shall have naught to grieve over save the
separation from our lord."

"I cannot doubt that it will be so, lady," Guy replied; "and that at any
rate there will be no trouble, unless the Armagnacs lay siege to Paris or
there are riots in the city. I heard last night at the inn from some
travellers who had just left it, that although the majority of the people
there are in favour of Burgundy, yet that much discontent exists on
account of the harsh measures of the officers he has appointed, and
especially of the conduct of the guild of butchers, who, as it seems, are
high in favour with the duke, and rule the city as if it belonged to
them."

"It matters little to us, Guy, though it seems strange that the nobles of
France and the respectable citizens of Paris should allow themselves to be
ruled over by such a scum as that; but it was the same in Flanders, where
Von Artevelde, our ally, a great man and the chief among them, was
murdered by the butchers who at the time held sway in Ghent, and who were
conspicuous for many years in all the tumults in the great towns there."

"I hear, madam, that the king is ill, and can see no one."

"Yes, I have heard the same from the herald. It will be John of Burgundy
who will, for the time, be our master."

"I could desire a better," Guy said bluntly; "but we shall at any rate
know that his fair words are not to be trusted. For my part, however, I
wonder that after the of the Duke of Orleans, with whom he had sworn a