choir!" While
thus chattering, Charles followed a gallery that ran along the
courtyard. The men who accompanied him marched a few steps behind.
Presently the Emperor noticed a slave crossing the courtyard with a
large hamper on his shoulders. "Halloa! You, there, with the basket!"
the Emperor called out in his piercing voice. "You, there, with the
basket! Come here! What have you in that basket?"

"Eggs, seigneur."

"Where are you taking them to?"

"To the kitchen of the august Emperor."

"Where do those eggs come from?"

"From the Muhlsheim farm, seigneur."

"From the Muhlsheim farm?" the Emperor repeated thoughtfully, and almost
immediately added: "There must be three hundred and twenty-five eggs in
that basket. Are there not?"

"Yes, seigneur; that's the exact rent brought in every month from the
farm."

"You can go--and be careful you do not break the eggs." The Emperor
stopped for a moment, leaned heavily upon his cane, and turning to
Amael, called out to him: "Halloa, seigneur Breton, come here, draw
near me." Amael obeyed, and the Emperor resuming his walk proceeded to
say: "Charles the Fighter, the conqueror, is at least a good
husbander--does it not strike you that way? He knows to an egg how many
are laid by the hens on his farms. If you ever return to Brittany, you
must not fail to narrate the incident to the housekeepers of your
country."

"If I ever again see my country, I shall tell the truth of what I have
seen."

CHAPTER V.

THE PALATINE SCHOOL.

Thus chatting, the Emperor Charles the Great arrived before a door that
opened on the gallery. He knocked with his cane, and a clerk dressed in
black opened. Struck with surprise, the clerk bent the knee and cried:
"The Emperor!" And as he seemed to be about to rush to the door of a
contiguous hall, the Emperor ordered him to stop:

"Do not budge! Master Clement is giving his lessons, is he?"

"Yes, my august Prince!"

"Remain where you are," and addressing Amael: "Seigneur Breton, you
shall now visit a school that I have founded. It is under the direction
of Master Clement, a famous teacher, whom I have summoned from Scotland.
The sons of the principal seigneurs of my court come here, in obedience
to my orders, to study at this school, together with the poorest of my
attendants."

"This is well done, Charles--I congratulate you on that!"

"And yet it is Charles the Fighter that has done this good thing--let us
go in;" and turnin