ily, as soon as we be delivered, we shall
come straight to you, unless death take us by the way, which we
trust he will not till we see the king and you peaceably again in
your realm; the which we beseech God soon to see, and to send you
that your highness desireth. Written at Dieppe the 30th day of
August, 1461.

"Your true subjects and liegemen,

"HUNGERFORD and WHYTTINGHAM."

[Sidenote: Fidelity.]

[Sidenote: Suspense.]

[Sidenote: King Louis XI.]

Margaret remained through the winter in Scotland, anxiously
endeavoring to devise means to rebuild her fallen fortunes. But all
was in vain; no light or hope appeared. At length, when the spring
opened, she determined to go herself to France and see the king her
cousin, in hopes that, by her presence at the court, and her personal
influence over the king, something might be done.

The king her cousin had been her playmate in their childhood. He was
the son of Mary, her father Rene's sister. Mary and Rene had been very
strongly attached to each other, and the children had been brought up
much together. Margaret now hoped that, on seeing her again in her
present forlorn and helpless condition, his former friendship for her
would revive, and that he would do something to aid her.

[Sidenote: Want of funds.]

[Sidenote: Gratitude.]

[Sidenote: Voyage to France.]

She was, however, entirely destitute of money, and she would have
found it very difficult to contrive the means of getting to France,
had it not been for the kindness of a French merchant who resided in
Scotland, and whom she had known in former years in Nancy, in
Lorraine, where she had rendered him some service. The merchant had
since acquired a large fortune in commercial operations between
Scotland and Flanders which he conducted. In his prosperity he did not
forget the kindness he had received from the queen in former years,
and, now that she was in want and in distress, he came forward
promptly to relieve her. He furnished her with the funds necessary for
her voyage, and provided a vessel to convey her and her attendants to
the coast of France. She sailed from the port of Kirkcudbright, on the
western coast of Scotland, and so passed down through the Irish Sea
and St. George's Channel, thus avoiding altogether the Straits of
Dover, where she would have incurred danger of being intercepted by
the English men-of-war.

She took the yo