[Illustration:  A PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF MORAT]

After the second defeat it was to her that the duke turned again.  In the very early morning after the battle of Morat, Charles paused at Morges on the Lake of Geneva, having ridden hard through the night.  There he heard mass, breakfasted, rested awhile, and then rode on, reaching the castle of Gex at six o’clock in the evening, where Yolande of Savoy was awaiting his coming in full knowledge of the second disaster he had suffered.

At the foot of the staircase, attended by her ladies, Yolande was waiting to greet her disappointed friend.  Charles dismounted and kissed each member of the family in order of precedence, the little duke, his brother, then the duchess, her daughter, and the ladies in waiting.  Yolande had had time to move out of her own suite of apartments and have them prepared for her guest’s use, and there the two talked together confidentially, while their attendants waited patiently just out of earshot.

Then Charles formally escorted his hostess to her son’s room, returning to his own, showing signs of extreme fatigue.  Panigarola was absent, but another Milanese was among her suite, and he pressed forward as the duke re-entered the apartment, offering to carry any message to the Duke of Milan, to be cut short with, “It is well.  That is enough.”  Shortly afterwards, Olivier de la Marche and the Sire de Givry, commander of the Burgundians dedicated to Yolande’s service, were summoned and had a long conference with Charles.

Yolande was, apparently, more communicative to the Milanese Appiano than to Charles, but he saw that she was not frank with him.  “She must throw herself on the protection of France or of Milan,” he wrote to his master.[20] She was, however, clear in her own mind that she would not accept Sforza’s protection any more than that of Charles.  She absolutely refused to identify her fortunes with the latter.  She was determined to go to Geneva, but no farther.  The duke remained at Gex until the 27th, and renewed his arguments to persuade her to cross the Jura with him.  She was firm in adhering to her own plan.  The two parties set out from the castle together, their roads lying in opposite directions, but Charles escorted his hostess about half-way to Geneva, riding beside her carriage, and continuing his persuasions in a low voice.  At last he drew up his rein, gave her a farewell kiss, and rode off.  He was much displeased at her determination, and he speedily resolved upon other methods of making sure of her fidelity to him.  La Marche thus relates the story:[21]