"
Those were days of swift and sudden surprises, when kings made up
their minds in royal haste, and princesses were not expected to
be surprised at whatever they might hear. And so we must not feel
surprised to learn that all the dreams of her younger days came
into the girl's mind, and that, as the record states, "she
accepted the ring with great joy."
"Return promptly to thy lord," she said to the messenger, "and
bid him, if he would fain unite me to him in marriage, to send
messengers without delay to demand me of my uncle, King
Gundebald, and let those same messengers take me away in haste,
so soon as they shall have obtained permission."
For this wise young princess knew that her uncle's word was not
to be long depended upon, and she feared, too, that certain
advisers at her uncle's court might counsel him to do her harm
before the messengers of King Clovis could have conducted her
beyond the borders of Burgundy.
Aurelian, still in his pilgrim's disguise, for he feared
discovery in a hostile country, hastened back to King Clovis,
who, the record says, was "pleased with his success and with
Clotilda's notion, and at once sent a deputation to Gundebald to
demand his niece in marriage.
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