"
"We may as well mount at once, if it is your pleasure, Dame Margaret,"
Count d'Estournel said, "for the other men-at-arms are waiting for us
outside the gates."
The packages were at once fastened on the two pack-horses that were to
accompany them; all then mounted. The three knights with Dame Margaret
rode first, then Guy rode with Agnes by his side, and the four men-at-arms
came next, Charlie riding before Jules Varoy, who was the lightest of the
men-at-arms, while two of the count's servants brought up the rear,
leading the sumpter horses.
CHAPTER XVII
A LONG PAUSE
A quarter of a mile beyond the gate the party was joined by eighteen men-
at-arms, all fully armed and ready for any encounter; eight of them fell
in behind Dame Margaret's retainers, the other ten took post in rear of
the sumpter horses. With such a train as this there was little fear of any
trouble with bands of marauders, and as the road lay through a country
devoted to Burgundy there was small chance of their encountering an
Orleanist force. They travelled by almost the same route by which Dame
Margaret had been escorted to Paris. At all the towns through which they
passed the Burgundian knights and their following were well entertained,
none doubting that they were riding on the business of their duke. One or
other of the knights generally rode beside Guy, and except that the heat
in the middle of the day was somewhat excessive, the journey was
altogether a very pleasant one.
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