The mayor of the palace withdrew. Through the door, left open by him, and without stepping out of the apartment, the page called out to several of his companions who stood in waiting in the contiguous hall.

Loysik, on his part, seeing that, without taking any more notice of him than of an insane man, the Queen was returning to her bedchamber, ran towards Brunhild, and holding before her a parchment scroll that he drew from his robe, said to her in a firm and collected voice:

"I am not crazy. This charter signed by the late King Clotaire will prove to you that I am the superior of the monastery of Charolles, where your chamberlain and his soldiers are, at this hour, retained prisoners by my orders."

"Loysik!" exclaimed one of the young pages who entered the apartment in response to the call of their companion. "Brother Loysik here?"

"What! This monk!" cried Brunhild stupefied. "Is he Loysik, the abbot of the monastery of Charolles?"

"Yes, glorious Queen. He is the venerable abbot."

"How come you to know him?"

"He was pointed out to me at the last slave market. The worthy abbot was buying slaves to set them free. I saw him again this morning crossing one of the courtyards of the palace in the company of Samuel and two young girls."

For a moment Brunhild remained thoughtful, and then ordering the other pages out of the chamber with a wafture of her hand she addressed the one who had first come in.

"Go to Pog and tell him to get himself and his a.s.sistants ready in the cave. Let him light his fires and wait for further orders."

The page grew pale and bowed, but before leaving the chamber he cast a look of pity upon the old man. Left alone with Loysik, the Queen paced the room for a minute in silence and with agitated steps, and then turning abruptly upon the hermit laborer said to him in a short, sharp voice:

"So you are Loysik?"

"I am Loysik, the abbot and superior of the monastery of Charolles."

"How did you penetrate into this room?"

"This morning I met near the castle a slave merchant named Samuel; I had recently bought several slaves from him; he informed me that he was coming here; knowing that it was difficult to obtain access to the palace, I asked Samuel to allow me to accompany him; at first he hesitated; two gold pieces put an end to his hesitation."

"And as the gateman had received orders to admit Samuel and his slaves, you pa.s.sed along with his merchandise! And did you remain in the room below while the Jew was showing me the two slave girls?"

Loysik nodded his head in the affirmative.

"And after Samuel left the palace?"

"The Jew having informed me that this room was reached from below by the spiral staircase, I came up a short time ago and concealed myself behind the curtain; I was a witness of your conversation with one of your women. I heard everything."

Brunhild looked at the monk with a questioning and threatening mien:

"And so you overheard everything that was said between us?"

"Yes; I listened and heard everything."

"Old man--do you know who Pog and his a.s.sistants are?"

"The executioner and his men."

"How old are you?"

"The age of a man about to die."

"You expect death?"

Loysik shrugged his shoulders without answering.

"You are right," proceeded Brunhild with a satanic smile. "To bring such tidings as you did was to run into the jaws of death."

"I came here of my own free will; your chamberlain and his men remain prisoners at the monastery. No harm will be done them."

"You are mistaken. A terrible punishment awaits them! Infamy, cowardice, shame and treachery! An officer, Brunhild's men-at-arms made prisoners by a handful of monks! Pog and his men will have work to do."

"Your men-at-arms were not cowardly; even had they been more numerous, they could not have resisted the men of the monastery and the colonists of the Valley of Charolles."

"Why, they must be redoubtable men!"

"Not that. But they are people who are determined to die free, to bury themselves under the ruins of their homes if you ignore the rights guaranteed to them by the charter of the late King Clotaire."

"How dare you invoke such a charter in my presence! A charter of him who was Fredegonde's father-in-law! A charter of the grandfather of Clotaire II, the son of Fredegonde and no less a mortal enemy of mine than his mother herself! You dare mention to me a charter signed by the grandfather of a man whom I shall pursue into his grave! Insensate old man! I would burn down the tree that lent its shade to Fredegonde's son!

I would have the spring poisoned that quenched that man's thirst! In your instance, the question is not about inanimate objects, but of men, women and children who owe their freedom to the grandfather of Fredegonde's son. It is in my power to make their souls and bodies, their whole generation, writhe with pain! Oh, no later than to-morrow all the inhabitants of that accursed valley will be sent as slaves to the savage tribes that have come from Germany. It will be but an advance payment on the pillage that was promised them."

"Very well. You will send troops to the Valley. They will force their way in, arms in hand; they will crush our inhabitants despite any resistance that they may offer, and however heroic. Men, women and children will know how to die. After a stubborn fight, your soldiers will find upon their entrance into the Valley only corpses and ashes.

But you seem to forget that war has been declared between you and Fredegonde's son, that the moment is critical, and that you require all your available forces in order to resist your enemies. Execrated by the people, execrated by the seigneurs, the leading ones of whom have already joined the standard of Clotaire II, you are hardly certain of the loyalty of your own army, seeing that you have been obliged to call savage tribes to your aid and to allure them with the prospect of pillage. You seem to forget that, guided by an unerring instinct, and seeing the power of the mayors of the palaces on the ascendant, the people look upon these as the natural enemies of the Frankish Kings and are ready to revolt in support of the former. Despite the heroic resistance that they will offer, our people of the Valley will be crushed. I admit it. But do you imagine that the surrounding populations, however timid and cowed they may be, will remain impa.s.sive when they will see people of their own race slaughtered to the last man in the defense of their freedom? The horror of conquest, the hatred for slavery, the unbearable hardships of poverty have more than once driven people steeped in deeper degradation than our own to serious and stubborn revolt. To-morrow, who knows! some frightful insurrection may break out against you, called into being by the voice of the grandees who abhor you."

"And are the seigneurs, perchance, not the enemies of your race as much as the kings?"

"Yes; after their purpose is attained, after your ruin is accomplished, the seigneurs will crush the people just as you are doing now. After the first explosion of its rage is over, the unhappy people will resume its old yoke with docility--because the time has not yet arrived for their liberation! But what does that matter! Such a revolt at this time, in the very heart of your kingdom, when your most implacable enemy threatens your frontiers, at an hour when treason surrounds you at every turn--such a revolt would to-day mean your utter annihilation--it would deliver you and your kingdoms to your ferocious enemy, Fredegonde's son!"

At the sound of that name Brunhild trembled with rage. With her head inclined and her eyes fixed upon the ground, the Queen seemed to listen with increased attention to the words of Loysik, who continued with bitter disdain:

"Behold, then, that Queen, the audacity of whose policy has rendered her so famous! In order to cement her empire she has perpetrated crimes that will one day cause the veracity of history to be doubted. And she is about to endanger her kingdom, aye, her very life, out of hatred for a handful of inoffensive people! Did these people at all injure her? No; they were unknown to her until now; her attention was drawn to them by the cupidity of a bishop who coveted their goods. Are the people whom she wishes to drive to the heroism of despair, perchance, dangerous enemies to her? No; they only ask to be allowed to continue to live in freedom, peace and industry; if they can ever become dangerous it could only be by the example of their resistance--not unlikely, their martyrdom will provoke uprisings of which she herself will be the first and leading victim. And yet this woman would rouse them to acts of despair! She meditates punishing them on the ground that their freedom is guaranteed by a king who has lain nearly half a century in his grave!

Oh, vertigo of crime! With what joy would I not see this woman throw herself headlong into the abyss of her own digging were it not that her feet must slide over the blood of my brothers!"

"Monk--it is an annoying circ.u.mstance that your age is that of a man who is about to die. I would have made you the councillor to whose words I would have given greatest weight. I shall follow your advice. Your valley shall be spared--for the present. You speak truly. At this hour when war threatens, when my grandees but await the opportune moment to rebel against me--at such a time to drive the inhabitants of your valley to despair, to martyrdom, would be an act of folly on my part."

Loysik promptly replied:

"My mission is accomplished; I demand of you no promises regarding the monastery and the inhabitants of the Valley of Charolles; your own interests are my best guarantee. I would now request of you a sheet of parchment for me to write to my brother--and to my monks--just a few lines. You are free to read them--it is my farewell words to my family; I also wish to request my monks to set your chamberlain, the archdeacon, and their men-at-arms free. One of your own messengers may carry the letter."

"There is writing material on this table--you may sit down."

Loysik took a seat at the table and proceeded to write serenely.

Nevertheless such was his joy at having carried the difficult matter to so successful an issue that his hand betrayed a slight tremor. Brunhild followed him attentive and somber:

"You tremble--you must be afraid, old man!"

"The gratification of having warded off so many evils from the heads of my brothers affects me and causes my hand to tremble. Here is the letter--read it."

Brunhild read, and said as she rolled up the parchment:

"These words of farewell are simple, they are dignified and touching. I understand better and better the powerful influence that you exercise over those people--they are the arms, you the head. Within shortly they will be a headless and, therefore, lifeless body. After the war is over I shall find it easier to reduce them to obedience. Have you anything to ask of me?"