e of his bed, put on the other shoe
and said to his archchaplain: "Eginhard, you who compiled in your
chronicle the history and acts of my grandfather, you whose memory is
ever faithful, do you remember ever to have heard told what the old man
says?"

Eginhard remained thoughtful for a moment, and then answered slowly: "I
remember to have read in some parchment scrolls, inscribed by the hand
of the glorious Charles and now preserved in your august archives, that,
indeed, at the battle of Poitiers"--but interrupting himself and turning
to the centenarian he asked: "Your name? How are you called?"

"Amael is my name."

The archchaplain reflected for a moment, and shaking his head observed:
"While I can not now recall it, that was not the name of the warrior who
saved the life of Charles Martel at the battle of Poitiers--it was a
Frankish name, it is not the name which you mentioned."

"That name," rejoined the aged Amael, "was Berthoald."

"Yes!" put in Eginhard quickly. "That is the name--Berthoald. And in a
few lines written in his own hand, the glorious Charles Martel commended
the said Berthoald to his children; he wrote that he owed him his life
and recommended him to their gratitude if he ever should turn to them."

During the exchange of these words between the aged Breton and the
archchaplain, the Emperor had continued and finished his toilet with the
aid of his servitor of the chamber. His costume, the old Frankish
costume to which Charles remained faithful, consisted in the first place
of a pair of leggings made of thick linen material closely fastened to
the nether limbs by means of red wool bandelets that wound criss-cross
from below upwards; next of a tunic of Frisian cloth, sapphire-blue, and
held together by a silk belt. In the winter and the fall of the year the
Emperor also wore over his shoulders a heavy and large otter or
lamb-skin coat. Thus clad, Charles sat down in a large armchair placed
near a curtain that was meant to conceal one of the doors that opened
upon the balcony which served him for observatory. At a sign from
Charles the servitor stepped out of the chamber. Left alone with
Eginhard, Vortigern, Amael and Octave, Charles said to the elder Breton:
"Old man, if I understood my chaplain correctly, a Frank named Berthoald
saved my grandfather's life. How does it happen that the said Berthoald
and you are the same personage?"

"When fifteen years of age, driven by the spirit of adventure