d them a story of a miracle more
marvellous than any that he had previously done.

The Devil came to him, he said, as he was at work at his forge, and
tempted him to lead a life of pleasure. He quickly drew his pincers
from the fire, and seized his tormentor by the nose, which put him
in such pain that he bellowed so lustily as to shake the hills. The
people said that it was the bellowing of the Evil One that they had
heard.

This wonderful story ended to Dunstan's liking, for the artful do
flourish briefly sometimes.

The boy king Edred was in ill-health, and suffered from a lingering
illness for years. He felt the need of the counsel of a good man. He
said to himself,--

"There is Dunstan, a man who has given up all selfish feelings and
aspirations, a man whom even the Devil cannot corrupt. I will bring
him to court, and will make him my adviser."

Then pure-hearted Edred brought the foxy prelate to his court, and
made him--of all things in the world!--the royal treasurer.

Edred died in the year 955, having for nine years aimed to do justly
and to govern well. His decease, like his brother's before him, was
sincerely lamented.

He left a well-ordered government, except in the department of the
treasury. Some remarkable "irregularities"--as stealing is sometimes
called nowadays--had taken place there, some of the public money
having become mixed up with Dunstan's.

The next of the six boy kings of England was Edwy the Fair,--fifteen
years of age when he ascended the throne.

He was the son of Edmund,--a handsome boy, and as good at heart as
he was handsome. Though so young, he had married a beautiful
princess, named Elgiva. So we have here a boy king and a girl queen.

As if one bad prelate were not enough, there was, besides Dunstan,
another great mischief-maker, Odo, the Dane, Archbishop of
Canterbury.

The coronation of Edwy was the occasion of great rejoicing. They had
a sumptuous feast in the evening, attended by all the prelates and
thanes. Edwy liked the society of the girl queen better than that of
these rude people, and in the midst of the festivities he retired to
the queen's apartment to see her and the queen mother.

Odo, the archbishop, noticed that the boy king had left his place at
the tables. He rightly guessed the reason, and deemed such conduct
disrespectful to himself and to the guests. So he went and made