heart free from care ; the door was thrown open, her daugh-ter with bounding footstep so like her own in former clays, flew to meet him as he entered. She saw the childish fin-gers unlace the helmet, unbind the gorget, unbelt the sword, and lay aside the armor. The form of the warrior was slightly bent, there were furrows upon the sunburnt cheek, deep lines upon the noble brow, and threads of silver among his dark locks. A heavy sigh was the first salutation of his little bride. He drew the fair girl to him and pressed his lip upon her cheek, but the anxious observer saw that the look and the smile were the expression^ rather, of pater-nal regard than of lover like fondness ; they were not such as had lighted up his countenance and kindled in his eyes when with gleesome alacrity she had rendered him the same gentle service. Her agitation subsided, and when the little Joanna took the hand of the Count la Marche, and led him forward to present him to her mother, she received his embarrassed greeting with the stately courtesy of a queen and the dignity of a woman. The marvellous beauty that won for Isabella the appellation of the " Helen of the middle ages" soon eclipsed the infant graces of the prin-cess, and reinstated her in the heart once all her own. We accordingly find in the records of the year 1220, that " Isa-bella, Queen Dowager of England, having before crossed the seas, took to her husband her former spouse, the Count of Marche, in France, without leave of the king, her son, or his council." Notwithstanding this romantic change in their relations, Joanna continued to reside at the castle of Valence, under the care of the gallant count, who remained her steady friend and protector. She was of infinite service to her parents and her country. The English were greatly in-censed at the marriage of Isabella,* and the council of the regency withheld her jointure as the widow of John, and neither the representations nor threats of her valiant hus-band could induce them to repair the wrong. A war soon after occurred between England and Scotland, and Alex-ander IL, the chivalric descendant of Maude, declared that 800 HEROINES OF THE CRUSADES.