The young Duke and his sisters accompanied the guests to Lunéville, where they spent Whitsuntide together and took their leave, the little ladies shedding many tears at parting from their aunt. Even then Christina could not tear herself from her sister, and the next day, as the Palatine and his wife were dining at one of the Duke's country-houses on their route, the Duchess suddenly appeared, riding up the hill. Hubert and his comrades ran out to welcome her, waving green boughs in their hands, and greeted her with ringing cheers, and they all sat down to a merry meal. Dorothea begged her sister to accompany her to Alsace; but the Duchess could not leave home, and the travellers pushed on that night to Strasburg, and on the 1st of June reached Heidelberg, where they were greeted by a gay peal of bells from the new-built tower. It was the last visit that either Frederic or his wife ever paid to Lorraine. When the sisters met again, Christina was an exile and a fugitive, and had lost son and home, together with all that she loved best on earth.
FOOTNOTES:
[375] Calmet, ii. 1276, iii. 47; Granvelle, "Papiers d'État," iii. 152.
[376] Granvelle, iii. 159-163.
[377] Calendar of Spanish State Papers, viii. 195; Granvelle, iii. 226.
[378] Lanz, ii. 478-484.
[379] State Papers, Record Office, Henry VIII., x. 490.
[380] Granvelle, iii. 206-225.
[381] Granvelle, iii. 235, 236.
[382] Bouillé, i. 155; Pimodan, 88.