adness of despair I broke down his guard
and ran him through the body. As he fell back, his face came in the full
light of the moon, which streamed through the open door of the passage,
and to my utter horror and bewilderment I saw that I had slain my
father.

"What happened after that night I know not. I believe that I made my
escape from the castle and rushed round to the body of her whose life I
had destroyed, and that there finding her dead, I ran wildly across the
country. When I came to my senses months had passed, and I was the
inmate of an asylum for men bereaved of their senses, kept by noble
monks. Here for two years I remained, the world believing that I was
dead. None knew that the troubadour whose love had cost the lady her
life, who had slain the guest of her father, and had then disappeared,
was the unhappy son of that guest. My friends in Paris when they heard
of the tragedy of course associated it with me, but they all kept
silent. The monks, to whom I confessed the whole story, were shocked
indeed, but consoled me in my grief and despair by the assurance that
however greatly I had sinned, the death of the lady had been accidental,
and that if I were a parricide it was at least unintentionally.

"My repentance was deep and sincere; and after awhile, under another
name, I joined the army of the Crusaders, to expiate my sin by warring
for the holy sepulcher. I fought as men fight who have no wish to live;
but while all around me fell by sword and disease, death kept aloof from
me. When the Crusade had failed I determined to turn forever from the
world, and to devote my life to prayer and penance; and so casting aside
my armor I made my way here, and took up my abode in a cave in this
valley, where at that time were many thousands of other hermits--for the
Saracens, while they gained much money from fines and exactions from
pilgrims who came to Jerusalem, and fought stoutly against those who
sought to capture that city, were in the main tolerant, and offered no
hindrance to the community of men whom they looked upon as mad.

"Here, my son, for more than sixty years have I prayed, with much
fasting and penance. I trust now that the end is nearly at hand, and
that my long life of mortification may be deemed to have obliterated the
evil deeds which I did in my youth. Let my fate be a warning to you.
Walk steadily in the right way; indulge not in feasting and evil
companionship; and above all, do not enter u