CHAPTER III.

FATHER CLEMENT'S REFECTORY.

"Seigneur," said Father Clement to Charles, as he precipitately broke
into the room, "I have just discovered a plot! The young prince
obstinately refused to accompany me hither--"

"A plot! Ho, ho! The folks of your abbey indulge in conspiracies!"

"Thanks be to heaven, seigneur, myself and brothers are utter strangers
to the unworthy treason. The guilty ones are the miserable slaves who
will be punished as they deserve!"

"Explain yourself! And stop circumlocutions!"

"I must first of all inform you, sir, that when the young prince first
arrived at this convent, Count Hugh who brought him, recommended to me
to place near the child some young female slave, a pretty girl, if
possible, above all one that would provoke love ... and who would be
willing to submit to the consequences--"

"In order, I suppose, that he be educated after the fashion that old
Queen Brunhild followed towards her own grandchildren.... Count Hugh
exceeded my orders; and you, holy man, did you not blush at the role of
coupler in the infamous scheme?"

"Oh, seigneur! What an abomination! The two children remained pure as
angels.... To make it short, I placed a young female slave near the
prince. The girl, an innocent creature, together with her father and
mother took pity on the fate of Childeric. They listened to detestable
propositions, and this very night and by means of a rope, the child was
to slip from his room with the connivance of the porter slave, and join
some faithful adherents of the deceased King Thierry who are lying in
hiding near the convent. That was the plot."

"Ha! Ha! The old royal party is stirring! They thought I would be long
kept busy with the Arabs! They planned to restore the royalty in my
absence!"

"A minute ago, as I entered the room of the young prince, my suspicions
were awakened. The confusion he was in and the redness in his face told
of his guilt. He would not take his eyes from his bed. A sudden idea
occurred to me. I raised the mattress, and there I found a rope
carefully stowed away. I pressed the child with questions, and amidst
tears he confessed to me the full project of escape."

"Treason!" cried the chief of the Franks, affecting more rage than he
really felt. "How came I to confide this child to the care of monks who
are either traitors or incapable of defending their prisoner!"

"Oh, seigneur!... We traitors!"

"How many men did this abbey