[Illustration: Charles the Rash----203]
When this letter arrived at Noyon, extreme surprise and alarm were
displayed about Louis; the interview appeared to be a mad idea; the
vicegerent (vidam) of Amiens came hurrying up with a countryman who
declared on his life that mylord of Burgundy wished for it only to make
an attempt upon the king's person; the king's greatest enemies, it was
said, were already, or soon would be, with the duke; and the captains
vehemently reiterated their objections. But Louis held to his purpose,
and started for Noyon on the 2d of October, taking with him the
constable, the cardinal, his confessor, and, for all his escort,
fourscore of his faithful Scots, and sixty men-at-arms. This knowing
gossip, as his contemporaries called him, had fits of rashness and
audacious vanity.
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