For the first time I believe I have caught Dickens failing to use the best word.
"They were a goodly company, and the Innkeepers all but worshipped
them. Wherever they went, their importance preceded them in the
person of the courier riding before, to see that the rooms of state
were ready. He was the herald of the family procession."

The word should have been "harbinger", which was the designation of a servant sent ahead of travelling nobles to
ensure their being properly received where they wished to stop.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

harbinger

SYLLABICATION: har·bin·ger
PRONUNCIATION: härbn-jr
NOUN: One that indicates or foreshadows what is to come; a forerunner.
TRANSITIVE VERB: Inflected forms: har·bin·gered, har·bin·ger·ing, har·bin·gers
To signal the approach of; presage.
ETYMOLOGY: Middle English herbengar, person sent ahead to arrange lodgings, from Old French herbergeor, from herbergier, to provide lodging for, from herberge, lodging, of Germanic origin. See koro- in Appendix I.