h my
brother to be without a weapon, I rode hither and pulled this blade out
of the stone. Was there aught strange in that? It came out easily
enough."

"Were there no knights about it?"

"None, sir."

"Then the truth is plain. God's will has been revealed. You are the
destined king of England."

"I?" cried Arthur, in surprise. "Wherefore I?"

"God has willed it so," repeated the baron. "But I must first learn for
myself if you have truly drawn the sword. Can you put it back again?"

"I can try," said Arthur, and with an easy thrust he sunk the blade
deeply into the stone.

Then Sir Hector and Kay pulled at the hilt with all their strength, but
failed to move the weapon.

"Now you shall try," they said to Arthur.

Thereupon the youth seized the hilt, and with a light effort the magic
sword came out naked in his hand.

"You are our king!" cried Sir Hector, kneeling on the earth, and Kay
beside him.

"My dear father and brother," cried Arthur in surprise and distress,
"why kneel you to me? Rise, I pray; it pains me deeply to see you thus."

[Illustration: STATUE OF KING ARTHUR AT INNSBRUCK.]

"I am not your father nor of your kindred," rejoined the baron. "I must
now reveal the secret I long have kept. You were brought to me in
infancy, and I and my wife have fostered you as our own. But you are no
son of mine. Who you truly are I cannot say; that only Merlin the
magician knows. But well I feel assured you are of nobler blood than I
can boast."

These words filled Arthur with heartfelt pain. He had long revered the
worthy knight as his father, and it grieved him deeply to learn that
those whom he had so warmly loved were not of kin to him.

"Sir," said Hector, "will you be my good and gracious lord when you are
king?"

"You, my father, and your good lady, my mother,--to whom else in all the
world am I so beholden?" rejoined Arthur, warmly. "God forbid that I
should fail you in whatever you may desire, if by His will and grace I
shall be made king."

"This only I ask of you," said the baron: "that you make Kay, my son and
your foster-brother, the seneschal of all your lands."

"By the faith of my body, I promise," said Arthur. "No man but he shall
have that office while he and I live."

These words said, Sir Hector went to the archbishop and told him, much
to his surprise, of the marvel that had been performed. By the advice of
the prelate it was kept secret until Twelfth Day, when the barons came