reserve your strength for better days. I still have a
considerable fortune, and also have relations and friends whose wealth is
at my disposal: let us try to make our way to the queen, and at once
decide what we can do. I myself shall always defend you and obey you as
my lord and master."

The prince received these generous offers with the utmost gratitude, and
told his counsellor that he placed his person in his hands and all that
remained of his future. Acciajuoli, not content with serving his master
as a devoted servant, persuaded his brother Angelo, Archbishop of
Florence, who was in great favour at Clement VI's court, to join with
them in persuading the pope to interest himself in the cause of Louis of
Tarentum. So, without further delay, the prince, his counsellor, and the
good prelate made their way to the port of Marseilles, but learning that
the queen was a prisoner at Aix, they embarked at Acque-Morte, and went
straight to Avignon. It soon appeared that the pope had a real affection
and esteem for the character of the Archbishop of Florence, for Louis was
received with paternal kindness at the court of Avignon; which was far
more than he had expected: when he kneeled before the sovereign pontiff,
His Holiness bent affectionately towards him and helped him to rise,
saluting him by the title of king.

Two days later, another prelate, the Archbishop of Aix, came into the
queen's presence,--

"Most gracious and dearly beloved sovereign, permit the most humble and
devoted of your servants to ask pardon, in the name of your subjects, for
the painful but necessary measure they have thought fit to take
concerning your Majesty. When you arrived on our coast, your loyal town
of Aix had learned from a trustworthy source that the King of France was
proposing to give our country to one of his own sons, making good this
loss to you by the cession of another domain, also that the Duke of
Normandy had come to Avignon to request this exchange in person. We were
quite decided, madam, and had made a vow to God that we would give up
everything rather than suffer the hateful tyranny of the French. But
before spilling blood we thought it best to secure your august person as
a sacred hostage, a sacred ark which no man dared touch but was smitten
to the ground, which indeed must keep away from our walls the scourge of
war. We have now read the formal annulment of this hateful plan, in a
brief sent by the sovereign pontiff