Next pages and squires, knights of the lady, and lastly ladies in
black velvet, who sat at their work, with a chaplain reading to them.
One of these, the Countess of Poitiers, whom Grisell had known at the
Grey Sisters' convent, rose, graciously received her obeisance, and
conducted her into the great State bedroom, likewise very sombre,
with black hangings worked and edged, however, with white, and the
window was permitted to let in the light of day. The bed was raised
on steps in an alcove, and was splendidly draped and covered with
black embroidered with white, but the Duchess did not occupy it. A
curtain was lifted, and she came forward in her deepest robes of
widowhood, leading her little granddaughter Mary, a child of eight or
nine years old. Grisell knelt to kiss the hands of each, and the
Duchess said -
"Good Griselda, it is long since I have seen you. Have you finished
the border?"
"Yes, your Highness; and I have begun the edging of the corporal."
The Duchess looked at the work with admiration, and bade the little
Mary, the damsel of Burgundy, look on and see how the dainty web was
woven, while she signed the maker to seat herself on a step of the
alcove.
When the child's questions and interest were exhausted, and she began
to be somewhat perilously curious about the carved weights of the
bobbins, her grandmother sent her to play with the ladies in the
ante-room, desiring Grisell to continue the work.
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