"Your brother is ailing; the physicians have advised letting him undertake a long trip for the good of his health."

"Will he be back soon?"

"To-morrow, perhaps--perhaps even to-day."

"Oh, so much the better, grandmother! So much the better! His place will not then be empty in our room--we miss him--"

"Be not too glad on that score, my little kinglets. Henceforth, Sigebert will inhabit his own royal mansion, he will have his own servants and his separate room. Oh, he will be like a little man!"

"But he is only one year older than I!"

"Oh, oh! In a year you also will be a little man, my little Childebert,"

replied Brunhild exchanging a diabolical glance with Chrotechilde; "you will then also have your royal establishment and your separate room--your chamberlains, your equerries, your slaves, all of them submissive to your every whim, like dogs to the switch."

"Oh, how I would like to be a year older, so as to have all those things that you promise me!"

"And so would I like to see you older--and Corbe also--and also Merovee, I would like to see you all of the age of Sigebert."

"Patience, madam," said Chrotechilde again exchanging infernal glances with Brunhild; "patience; it will all come about--but what noise is that in the large hall? I hear numerous steps approaching--it must be seigneur Warnachaire!"

CHAPTER IV.

QUEEN AND MAYOR OF THE PALACE.

Chrotechilde was not mistaken. The mayor of the palace of Burgundy had arrived, and now stepped, accompanied by Sigebert, into the chamber where Brunhild and her confidante were conversing with the kinglets, and antic.i.p.ating the future with diabolical foresight.

Sigebert, a boy of barely eleven, was like his brothers, frail, sickly and pale. Nevertheless, what with the excitement of the journey and the joy at seeing his brothers, a slight flush suffused his sweet, wan face, which not all the execrable precepts of his grandmother had succeeded in depriving of its angelic appearance. He ran to embrace the aged Queen and then joyfully reciprocated the caresses and answered the volley of questions of his little brothers, who crowded around him. To each he handed some slight presents, which he brought from his journey and were locked in a small coffer that he took from the hands of one of his suite, and impulsively opened in order to give his brothers a token of remembrance. Chrotechilde availed herself of a favorable moment, and approaching the Queen said in a low voice:

"Madam, if you will take my advice, keep the two slaves until evening--between now and then we shall have time to make up our minds."

"Yes, that will be the best thing to do," answered Brunhild; and addressing the child: "You should now retire for rest, and you can talk with your brothers about your journey. I have matters of importance to consider with Duke Warnachaire."

Chrotechilde led away the children, and the Queen remained alone with the mayor of the palace of Burgundy, a man of tall stature, and face cold, impenetrable, resolute. He wore a rich steel armor trimmed with gold after the Roman fashion. His long sword hung from his side, his long dagger was in his belt. After attaching a long and scrutinizing look upon Warnachaire who, however, remained impa.s.sible, Brunhild motioned him to a seat near the table, and let herself down into one opposite, saying:

"What tidings do you bring?"

"Good--and bad, madam--"

"First the bad."

"The treason of Dukes Arnolfe and Pepin, as well as the defection of several great seigneurs of Austrasia, is no longer a matter of doubt.

They have deserted our colors and pa.s.sed over to the camp of Clotaire II with all their men; they are now preparing to march against your army."

"I have long expected their treason. Oh, seigneurs, enriched and made powerful by the bounty of the Kings, you are yet able to carry ingrat.i.tude to such lengths! Very well! I prefer open war to subterraneous manoeuvres. The domains, Salic lands and benefices of the traitors will all return to my fisc. Proceed."

"Clotaire II raised his camp at Andernach, and has penetrated to the heart of Austrasia. Being summoned to respect the kingdoms of his nephews, whose guardian you are, he answered that he would submit only to the judgment of the grandees of Austrasia and of Burgundy themselves."

"Fredegonde's son expects to raise the people and seigneurs of my kingdoms in rebellion against me. He deceives himself. Prompt and terrible examples will terrify all would-be traitors."

"Well said, madam!"

"All the traitors--whatever their rank may be, whatever their power, whatever the mask that they a.s.sume! Do you hear, Warnachaire, mayor of the palace of Burgundy?"

"I hear even what you do not say to me--but I bow before my Queen."

"Do you read my thoughts?"

"You take me for a traitor. You consider me your enemy, especially since your recent return from Worms."

"I am on my guard against everybody."

"Your suspicions, madam, have become cert.i.tude. You told Aimoin, one of our men, to stab me to death."

"I order only my enemies to be despatched."

"Accordingly, I am an enemy to you, madam, at least you look upon me as such. Here are the fragments of the letter, written in your own hand, and ordering Aimoin to kill me."

And the duke deposited several fragments of parchment upon the table; the Queen looked defiantly at the mayor of the palace.

"Did Aimoin give you that letter?"

"No, madam; accident placed these fragments into my hands."

"And yet you return to the palace?"

"In order to prove to you the injustice of your suspicions; that is the reason I have returned to the place where you are sovereign."

"Or perhaps you come to betray me."

"Madam, if I had wished to betray you, I would have repaired, as so many other seigneurs of Burgundy have done, not hither, but to the camp of Clotaire II. I would have placed your grandson as a hostage in his hands, and I would have remained in your enemy's camp, together with the tribes that I brought with me from Germany."

"Those tribes are devoted to my interests; they would have refused to follow you; they have come for the purpose of reinforcing my army."

"Those tribes, madam, have come for the purpose of pillage, and little do they care whether they be indulged as auxiliaries of Brunhild or of Clotaire II, whether it be against the country of Soissons, of Burgundy or of Austrasia. These Franks have no predilections, provided only that, after they shall have fought bravely and helped in winning the victory, they will be free to ravage the vanquished country, gather a large booty, and lead numerous slaves back with them to the other side of the Rhine--such are the Franks whom I have brought."

"And I tell you that the sight of my grandson, the infant King, asking through your mouth the a.s.sistance of the Germans, interested the barbarians in his cause, and secured the success of your mission."

"Had you not expressly promised the Franks the pillage of the vanquished territories, they would have remained unaffected by the youth of Sigebert; they are as savage as were our fathers, the first companions of Clovis. It was with no little trouble that I succeeded in preventing them from ravaging all the districts that we traversed on our route; in their impatience of savages they imagined themselves already in vanquished territory. Every day their chiefs called upon me at the top of their voices to deliver battle, in order that they might begin the plundering and return laden with booty to Germany, before the winter season sets in."

"Where are the Franks now?"

"I left them near Montsarran."

"Why so far from Chalon?"