of Berthoald. You were sold,
poor child; you know the disgraceful examination that these dealers in
Gallic flesh submit the slaves to."

"Yes, yes; I had to undergo the shame before the monks of the abbey of
St. Saturnine when they sold me to the Jew," answered Septimine, hiding
her face, purple with shame.

Rosen-Aer proceeded:

"Women and young girls, despite their prayers and resistance, were
stripped of their clothes, profaned and spoiled by the looks of the men
who wanted either to sell or to buy us. My age could not spare me this
general disgrace--" and breaking out into tears and wringing her arms in
despair, the mother of Amael added amidst moans: "Such are the Franks
whose companion of war my son is!"

"It is horrible!"

"The baseness confounds my senses and makes my heart to sicken. At the
age of fifteen my son disappeared from the valley of Charolles, where he
lived free and happy ... before the Saracen invasion. What happened
since? I do not know."

Hearing the name of the valley of Charolles, Bonaik, who had remained
steeped in thought, trembled and listened to the conversation between
Septimine and the mother of Amael, who proceeded to say: "Perhaps the
Jew holds the secret of my son's life."

"That Jew?... How?"

"When, despite the pain it gave me, the Jew came to inspect me, I had to
undergo the fate of the rest. I was stripped of my clothes.... Oh, may
my son never know of my shame! The thought alone would haunt him as a
perpetual remorse through life, if he should live," Rosen-Aer
interjected in a low voice. "While I underwent the fate of my companions
in slavery ... the Jew observed with a start on my left arm these two
words traced in indelible letters: '_Brenn_,' '_Karnak_.'"

"'_Brenn_,' '_Karnak_'!" cried the old goldsmith.

"The custom of doing so was adopted in my family several generations
back, because, alack, in those troubled days of continuous war, families
were exposed to being rent apart and dispersed far and wide. 'Twas an
indelible sign which might help them to recognize one another."

Rosen-Aer had hardly pronounced these words when, drawing near her in
deep emotion, Bonaik cried: "Are you of the family of Joel, the brenn of
the tribe of Karnak?"

"Yes, father!"

"Did you live in Burgundy in the valley of Charolles, once ceded to
Loysik, the brother of Ronan, by King Clotaire I?"

"But, good father, how do you know all that?"

For only answer, the old man rolled up