reat need of 'clerks' of your kidney. You shall stay with us and share
with us our fatigues, seeing you can mount a horse so nimbly. I shall
bestow your bishopric upon someone who is less sprightly. You shall take
your place among my men-at-arms."

The young bishop lowered his head in confusion. He looked at the Emperor
with a suppliant eye. But the latter's attention was speedily drawn from
the discomfited prelate by the distant barking of a large pack of
hounds, and the reveille of hunting trumps.

"It is my hunting-train," exclaimed the Emperor. "We shall depart for
the hunt, seigneur Breton. This evening we shall continue our chat.
Return with your grandson to your apartment. You will be served the noon
meal. After that you will both join me. I am curious to see whether this
youngster is as good a horseman as report makes him. Moreover, although
the exercise of the chase is a frivolous pastime, you may, perhaps, find
that Charles the Fighter makes good use even of frivolities. Be off now
to dinner--and then, to horse!"

CHAPTER VII.

TO THE HUNT.

Octave had come to take Amael and his grandson to the noon meal. While
they walked towards one of the courtyards of the palace, in order to
join the hunting suite of the Emperor, the young Roman, profiting by a
moment when the aged Breton could not overhear him, said in a low voice
to Vortigern:

"Lucky boy. I am convinced that two pairs of eyes, one black as ebony,
the other of azure blue, have been peering through the crowd of
courtiers--" but interrupting the flow of his words at the sight of the
deep crimson that suffused the lad's visage, he proceeded to say: "Wait
till I have finished before you grow purple. Well, as I was saying, two
beautiful blue eyes and two equally beautiful black ones have, more than
once, sought to detect in the crowd of courtiers--Whom?--the venerable
figure of your grandfather, because there is nothing so attractive as a
long white beard. So much is that so that this forenoon, at mass, the
blonde Thetralde and the brunette Hildrude quite forgot the thread of
the divine service in order to contemplate incessantly--your
grandfather, who was seated next to you. Come, now, you are blushing
again. Are you, perchance, afraid lest the fascinating daughters of the
Emperor fall in love with the centenarian?"

"Your jokes are becoming insupportable."

"Oh, how contagious is the court air. Hardly is this Breton away from
his native fo