ore of hiding-places where it might be, he could not remember
where it certainly lay. Could he have thrown away by his childish
folly a thing which would give him, if he cared to claim it, high
honour and great place?--and if he cared not to claim that boon, but
only sold the jewel, which was undoubtedly his own, he might be a
great lord, among the wealthiest in the land.

Robert sate long in thought in the silent solar, with a candle burning
beside him; once or twice his old nurse came in upon him, and longed
to kiss him and clasp her child close; but he looked coldly upon her
and seemed hardly to remember her.

At last the day began to brighten in the east; and Robert cast
himself for awhile upon his father's bed to sleep, and slept a broken
sleep. In the morning he first went to the cupboard and found the
crown and dagger as he had left them; but though he searched high and
low for the jewel, he could not find it in any of the secret places
where he used to lay it; and at last he took the crown and dagger in
despair, turned adrift the men-at-arms, and left none but the old
nurse in the house. The priest asked for some gift or pension that
would not leave him destitute, but Robert said, "Go to, you have lived
in gluttony and sloth all the years at the expense of my estate; and
now that you have nearly beggared me, you ask for more--you are near
your end; live cleanly and wisely for a few years, ere you depart to
your own place."

"Nay," said the priest whimpering, and with a miserable smile, "but I
am old, and it is hard to change."

"So said the carp," quoth Robert with a hard smile, "when they dangled
him up with a line out of the moat. Change and adventure are meet for
all men. And I look that I do a good deed, when I restore a recreant
shepherd to the fold." The priest went off, crying unworthy tears and
cursing the new lord, to try and find a priest's office if he could;
and Robert rode grimly away, back to his uncle, and told him all the
tale.

His uncle sate long in thought, and then said that his resolve to sell
the castle of Tremontes and the estate was, he believed, a wise one;
and it should be his care to find a purchaser. "I myself," he said,
"have none nearer than yourself to whom to leave my lands;" and then
he advised Robert, if he would try his fortune, to take the crown and
dagger, and to seek out the Duke or his heir, and to tell him the
whole story, and how the precious jewel was lost.

So R