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purchase some of the carpets they use here. I think that carpets would do a lot for French floors and French feet.”
    “No, Eleanor; we leave tomorrow. Without carpets.”

 
    “Only a few days more, Louis. Manuel just brought you news that Emperor Conrad and his Germans have just had a great victory over the Turks.”
    “I am not sure of that. I do not believe that truth is a habit with Manuel.”
    Eleanor laughed. “You are right, dear Louis. I notice that his lips speak to his dowdy wife, Bertha—really, she ought to learn to do something with makeup—while his eyes smile at his niece, Theodora. But, Louis, if you are sure a man is lying, you know all you need to know of him. To know another man’s weakness gives you strength. Deal with him on his terms, or let me do it. The Aquitaine breeds this kind of man as readily as cow dung breeds flies! Let us stay. Let me do each thing just one more time. One more time falconing in Manuel’s forest. One more time feasting….”
    “We’re leaving tomorrow. We could leave this afternoon, and we would, if you women knew how to travel light.”
    Eleanor laughed. “Louis, my dear, I refuse to arrive in Antioch to greet my Uncle Raymond looking like Manuel’s frumpy Bertha. And I can tell you, my husband king, that if it had taken five sumpter trains to carry my wardrobe into Constantinople, it would have been worth it. I am as uncomfortable plain as you are fancy. I don’t know whether you bring up the rear of the caravan because you are dressed for the part or whether you are dressed for the part because you bring up the rear.”
    “I will hear no more, Eleanor. We leave in the morning.”
    “Do you think Manuel will mind if I take a few of his carpets as souvenirs? We can roll them up and tuck them here and there in my sumpter trains.”
    “Eleanor! Thou shalt not steal.”
    “But whatever harm I do my soul by stealing, I shall make up for by the help and comfort I shall do my feet. Feet have soles, too.”
    “You will hardly enter Heaven on feet that have walked on stolen carpets.”
    “And you will hardly learn to take a joke.”
    With that, Eleanor turned her back to Louis and left the room.

8
     
    GREAT WAS THE DISTANCE that separated the beginning of the caravan from its end, but greater still was the distance that separated the attitude of the forward queen from the attitude of the backward king. Both distances were to cause trouble outside of Constantinople.
    The Crusaders had not traveled far before they met some remnants of Emperor Conrad’s army. Manuel had indeed lied. There had been no victory at all for the German army; they had been led into an ambush by the guides that Manuel had recommended. Their supplies of food and water had been too short for a desert trip; the Turks knew it, and they swept down on the thirsty army. The Turks were swift and vicious. When Louis met the scattered, tattered remnants of the German army, they were returning to Constantinople, ready to go home. Only by bribery and promises did Louis convince Conrad not to give up the Crusade altogether.
    Louis wrote to me asking for more money. He had done so several times before. Each loaf of bread that the Crusaders had to buy was purchased at an inflated price, and now in addition, Louis had to pay off the Germans to keep them from abandoning the Crusade.
    It was an ordeal to travel through the mountains that covered their route. Their caravan was long, longer than most, because of the amount of luggage required by Eleanor and her Amazons. It was difficult for the rear of the caravan to know what the front was doing. The mountain peaks made it difficult to travel in a straight line. The women often had to be carried because they could not handle their horses on the steep slopes.
    Eleanor rode up front as usual. There was little about this part of the trip that appealed to her, especially after the magic of Constantinople. It was not her way to sulk, however. A bad mood was