Truly I think so," answered the other. "I see; believe; but may not
understand."

At that moment the duke's gaze in passing chanced to rest upon the
pinched and over-curious face of the scamp-student; a gleam of
recollection shone in his glance. "_Gladius gemmatus!_" cried the
scholar, and a smile on the noble's countenance told him he had heard.
Turning the problem in his mind, the vagrant-philosopher forgot about
pilfering and the procession itself, when a soldier touched him roughly
on the shoulder.

"Are you the scamp-student?" said the trooper.

"Now they'll hang me with these spoils in my pockets," thought the
scholar. But as bravely as might be, he replied: "The former I am; the
latter I would be."

"Then the Duke of Friedwald sent me to give you this purse," remarked
the man, suiting the action to the word. "He bade me say 'tis to take
the place of a bit of silver you once did not earn." And the trooper
vanished.

"Well-a-day!" commented the burly citizen, regarding the gold pieces
and the philosopher in wonderment of his own. "You may be a fool, but
you must be an honest knave."

At the chateau the meeting between the two monarchs was unreservedly
cordial on both sides. They spoke with satisfaction of the peace now
existing between them and of other matters social and political. The
emperor deplored deeply the untimely demise of Francis' son, Charles,
who had caught the infection of plague while sleeping at Abbeville.
Later the misalliance of the princess was cautiously touched upon.
That lady, said Francis gravely, to whom the gaieties of the court at
the present time could not fail to be distasteful, had left the chateau
immediately upon her return. Ever of a devout mind, she had repaired
to a convent and announced her intention of devoting herself, and her
not inconsiderable fortune, to a higher and more spiritual life.
Charles, who at that period of his lofty estates himself hesitated
between the monastery and the court, applauded her resolution, to which
the king perfunctorily and but half-heartedly responded.

Shortly after, the emperor, fatigued by his journey, begged leave to
retire to his apartments, whither he went, accompanied by his "brother
of France" and followed by his attendants. At the door Francis, with
many expressions of good will, took leave of his royal guest for the
time being, and, turning, encountered the Duke of Friedwald.

Francis, himself once accustomed to assume