" Becket," whispered the king, " let thy ready wit serve us in this time of need, and thou shalt not find thy lord un-grateful." The wily chancellor, who never lost the oppor-tunity of laying the monarch under obligation to himself, instantly rejoined in Saxon to the nun, " Open to us, good mother. The Duke of Maine is a zeal-ous patron of the church, and perchance thine own convent will be none the poorer for granting hiin entertainment." The mollified portress immediately admitted them, mut-tering apologetically, "The wayfarer and benighted are ever received with Christian charity, by the sisters of the blessed St. Bernard." The infant Richard was a child of great promise, and his ambitious mother began, at once, to plan for his future ad-vancement. She besought her husband to bestow upon the prince the dukedom of Aquitaine, and to permit her to convey him thither, to receive the homage of the barons, and to arrange a betrothment between him and Philippa, the infant daughter of her sister Petronilla and Raymond of Arragoii. To her great joy and surprise Henry acceded at once to the proposal, and co-operated in her scheme for remaining some time as regent in her southern dominions. Louis VII., King of France, had given his two daughters by Eleanor, in marriage to the Counts of Blois and Cham-pagne ; and after the death of his second wife Constantia, conferred the crown matrimonial upon their father's sister, Adelais of Champagne, widow of the famous Rudolph of Vermandois. He also bestowed upon the Count of Cham-pagne the office of seneschal of his kingdom, which of right belonged to Henry, as Duke of Anjou, who, enraged at this measure, made war upon his liege lord. The affair was finally compromised by the affiancing of Henry's eldest son with Louis's third daughter Marguerite. Henry and Eleanor repaired to Normandy to celebrate the nuptials, and Becket was sent to Paris to bring the young bride to Rouen. On this important occasion the chancellor trav-elled in the greatest state. "When he entered a town two ELEANOR. 159