ed the fate of the most miserable slave. They at least
were entitled to the respect that undeserved misfortune inspires. Vainly
did I look for death in battle. I was condemned to live. Only in the
intoxication of battle, in perilous undertakings did I find temporary
relief from the remorse that haunted me. Oh, how often did I not think
with sorrow of our valley of Charolles, where my family lived! When I
afterward learned of the ravages of the region by the Arabs, of the
desperate resistance that its inhabitants had offered ... my relatives,
my friends; when I thought that my sword might have defended you, or at
least avenged you, mother, from that time forward remorse embittered my
life. I never since had one instant of happiness."

"Your father fought up to his last breath for freedom and for the
freedom of his kin. I saw him fall at my feet riddled with wounds! Where
were you when your father was defending his hearth, his freedom and his
family?... Near the Frankish chief, fawning for his favor! Perchance
even fighting your own brothers!"

Amael covered his face with his hands and answered only with a smothered
sob.

"Oh, for pity's sake, do not overwhelm him!" said Septimine to
Rosen-Aer. "See how wretched he feels ... how contrite he is!"

"Rosen-Aer," added the old man, "remember that yesterday your son was
still the favorite of the sovereign chief of Gaul, and that to-day he
renounces the favors that intoxicated him. He is no less wretched than
we, and has no other wish than to live a poor and hard but free life in
the old Armorica that is the cradle of our family."

"By Hesus!" cried Rosen-Aer. "Did my son voluntarily renounce those
goods, those lands, those favors, the accursed gifts of Charles? Did you
not extract him from a prison, where, without you, he would have
perished? Oh! The gods are just. My son owed his fortune to an impious
ambition ... and the fortune came near being fatal to him. Glorified and
enriched by the Franks, he has been shamefully punished and stripped of
all by a woman of their race."

"Oh!" cried Septimine, breaking down in tears, "do you believe that
Amael, even if in full possession, would not have renounced all to
follow you, his mother?"

"The man who falls away from his duty to his country and his race can
also fall away from his duty to his mother! I am justified to question
the goodness of my son's heart!"

"Master Bonaik," suddenly cried one of the apprentices in an ac