d Margaret's mother was obliged to go away,
taking the children with her. The poor women were, however, seized and
burned at the stake, it being universally believed that it was they
who had caused the plague.

[Sidenote: Isabella goes into Italy.]

Isabella's arrangements were now so far matured that she went at once
into Italy with the children, and took up her abode there in the town
of Capua. Rene still remained in captivity, but Isabella caused him to
be proclaimed King of the Two Sicilies with great pomp and parade. At
the time of this ceremony, the two children, Margaret and her brother,
were seated beside their mother in a grand state carriage, which was
lined with velvet and embroidered with gold, and in this way they were
conveyed through the streets of the city.

[Sidenote: Rene is at last set free.]

After a time Rene was liberated from his confinement, and restored to
his family, but he did not long enjoy this apparent return of
prosperity. His claim to the kingdom of Naples was disputed, and,
after a conflict, he was expelled from the country. In the mean time,
the English had so far extended their conquests in France that both
his native province of Anjou, and his wife's inheritances in Lorraine,
had fallen into their hands, so that with all the aristocratic
distinction of their descent, and the grandeur of their royal titles,
the family were now, as it were, without house or home. They returned
to France, and Isabella, with the children, found refuge from time to
time with one and another of the great families to which she was
related, while Rene led a wandering life, being reduced often to a
state of great destitution.

[Sidenote: His temper and disposition.]

[Sidenote: King Rene's fireside.]

He, however, bore his misfortunes with a very placid temper, and
amused himself, wherever he was, with music, poetry, and painting. He
was so cheerful and good-natured withal that he made himself a very
agreeable companion, and was generally welcome, as a visitor, wherever
he went. He retained the name of King Rene as long as he lived, though
he was a king without a kingdom. At one time he was reduced, it is
said, to such straits that to warm himself he used to walk to and fro
in the streets of Marseilles, on the sunny side of the buildings,
which circumstance gave rise to a proverb long known and often quoted
in those parts, which designated the act of going out into the sun to
escape from the cold as w