to hear them. Not until Karouer had tapped the
Chief of the Chiefs upon the shoulder in order to draw the latter's
attention to him, did Morvan turn to look. Recognizing Karouer, the
Chief of the Chiefs stopped a moment and said:

"Oh! Is that you, Karouer? What tidings do you bring from our man?"

"I bring him to you in person," answered Karouer, pointing to his
traveling companion. "He stands before you in flesh and bone."

"Are you the Abbot Witchaire?" asked Morvan, slightly out of breath with
the heavy work that he had been performing; and crossing his robust arms
over the handle of his flail, he added: "As I expected your visit, I
have had supper prepared for you. Come to table."

"I prefer first to speak to you."

"Noblede," said Morvan, wiping the perspiration that inundated his
forehead with the back of his hand, "a torch, my dear wife!" And turning
to the abbot: "Follow me."

Taking up one of the torches that were stuck at the edge of the well,
Noblede preceded her husband and Abbot Witchaire to the chamber that was
reserved for guests. Two large beds stood ready, as also a big table
furnished with cold meats, milk, bread and fruit. After placing the
torch into one of the iron clamps fastened in the wall, Noblede was
about to withdraw when Morvan said to her in a significant tone:

"Dear wife, come and kiss me good night when the threshing is done."

A look from Noblede informed her husband that he was understood, and she
stepped out of the guest's chamber where Morvan remained alone with
Abbot Witchaire. The abbot immediately addressed the Chief of the
Chiefs:

"Morvan, I greet you. I am the bearer to you of a message from the King
of the Franks, Louis the Pious, son of Charles the Great."

"And what is that message?"

"It is couched in but few words:--The Bretons occupy a province of the
Empire of the King of the Franks, and refuse to pay him tribute in
homage to his sovereignty. Besides, the Breton clergy, generally
infected with a leaven of old druidic idolatry, denies the supremacy of
the Archbishop of Tours. Such are the consequences of that regrettable
heresy, of which Lambert, Count of Nantes, wrote to King Louis the Pious
as follows: 'The Breton nation is proud and indomitable; all that there
is Christian about them is the name; as to the Christian faith, its cult
and works, they would be searched for in vain in Brittany.' Wishing to
put an end to a rebellion so outrageous both to the Cath