h to a
king who would like to believe himself immortal as a god."

"Ay," retorted Messalinda, "and to hint it now when they say that the
plague creeps abroad."

Robert now addressed the obsequious prelate: "My lord archbishop, escort
this coffer into the chapel and give your ceremonial rein. Attend him,
lords and ladies," he continued, turning to his retinue; "for ourselves
we will linger awhile in this sunlight, having some thoughts of weight
to change with the Lord Hildebrand. We will bless you with our presence
by-and-by."

Obedient to the King's somewhat contemptuous dismissal, all those that
had accompanied Robert to the summit of the mountain now made haste to
leave him alone with his favorite. Priests and courtiers, ladies and
soldiers, a glittering line, ascended the stone steps that led to the
chapel and disappeared within its doors. The rear of the procession was
brought up by the King's Varangian body-guard, under the captain, Sigurd
Olafson, a young Norseman, whose yellow hair and bright blue eyes made
him a conspicuous figure in the thick of so many Southern forms and
faces.

When the church doors had closed upon the last of the company, Robert
turned a smiling face upon his friend.

"Do you think, Hildebrand," he questioned, "that I came here for this
mummery in my father's monument?"

"I never question your Majesty's thoughts or deeds," Hildebrand
answered, deferentially. "They are oracles and miracles to your slave."

The King's face yielded a ready brightness to a flattery that never
staled.

"I will tell you my true purpose instantly," he said. "But first I have
a task for you."

He took Hildebrand by the arm and drew him through the first fringe of
the pine wood to the space where Theron's home stood, the mosque with
its circle of pillars.

"What do you see?" he asked.

Hildebrand eyed the two beautiful ruins with frank indifference.

"Some pagan pillars," he answered, "and the praying-place of the
followers of Mahomet."

"It is to my mind a lovelier shrine than the gaudy box we have just been
gaping at," Robert said; and then went on, answering the surprise in his
companion's face: "You shall learn why by-and-by. In the mean time know
that it is the dwelling of Theron the executioner."

"Theron the executioner?" said Hildebrand. "I thought your honest
father had no use for such shedders of blood."

"In the very madness of truth, he had not," Robert answered. "So this
rogue has ru