hop of Bergues paid for that prodigious rat? _Ten
thousand silver sous!_ The Jew reported to me the amount--which will be
distributed among the poor!" Charles stopped for a moment, and presently
resumed with heightened severity: "Ye bishops, have a care! It should be
your duty to be the fathers, the purveyors of the poor, and not to show
yourselves greedy of vain frivolities. Yet here you are, doing exactly
the opposite. More than all other mortals are you given to avarice and
idle cupidity! By the King of the Heavens, take a care! The Emperor's
hand raised you, it may also pull you down. Keep that in mind."

As Charles was uttering these last words, the courtiers were seen to
part and make way for Mathalgarde, one of the Emperor's concubines. The
woman, a dame of surpassing beauty, approached Charles with a confident
air and said to him gracefully:

"My kind Seigneur, the bishopric of Limburg is vacant. I have promised
it to a clerk who is under my protection, not doubting your kind
approval."

"Dear Mathalgarde, I have bestowed the bishopric upon a young man--a
very learned and deserving young man; I could not think of taking it
back from him."

Mathalgarde was not disconcerted. Assuming the most insinuating voice at
her command, she seized one of the Emperor's hands and proceeded
tenderly: "August Prince, my gracious master, why bestow the bishopric
so ill by giving it to a young man, perhaps a child. I conjure you,
grant the bishopric to my clerk."

Suddenly a plaintive voice that proceeded from behind the curtain fell
upon the startled ears of the attendants: "Seigneur Emperor, be
firm--allow not that a mortal tear from your hands the power that God
has placed in them. Be firm, Seigneur." It was the voice of poor
Bernard, who, fearing Charles was about to allow himself to be seduced
by the caressing words of Mathalgarde, wished to remind him of his
promise. The Emperor immediately rolled back the curtain, behind which
the clerk stood, took him by the hand, drew him forward, and presenting
him to the audience, said: "This is the new Bishop of Limburg!" Before
the audience could recover from their stupor Charles said to Bernard in
a voice loud and piercing enough to be heard by all present: "Do not
forget to distribute abundant alms--it will some day be your viaticum on
that long journey from which man never returns."

The beautiful Mathalgarde, whose hopes had thus been rudely dashed,
reddened with anger and