INDEX

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE v

PROLOGUE.

CHAPTER.

I. NARBONNE 3

II. ABD-EL-KADER AND ROSEN-AER 6

PART I--THE CONVENT OF ST. SATURNINE.

I. THE LAST OF THE MEROVINGIANS 15

II. CHARLES MARTEL 23

III. FATHER CLEMENT'S REFECTORY 33

IV. MORDECAI THE SLAVE-DEALER 40

PART II--THE ABBEY OF MERIADEK.

I. ELOI THE GOLDSMITH 47

II. THE INTENDANT RICARIK 57

III. THE ABBESS MEROFLEDE 62

IV. IN SIGHT OF THE ABBEY 69

V. ASYLUM 78

VI. WARRIOR AND ABBESS 83

VII. THE MOUSE-TRAP 89

VIII. THE MIRACLE OF ST. LOUP'S TEETH 94

IX. BRENN--KARNAK 102

X. MISTRESS AND MAN 117

XI. THE FLIGHT 122

XII. MOTHER AND SON 129

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE

The turbulent epoch that rocked the cradle of the Carlovingian dynasty,
the dynasty from which issued the colossal historic figure of
Charlemagne, is the epoch of this touching story--the eighth of the
series of Eugene Sue's historic novels known collectively under the
title "_The Mysteries of the People; or, History of a Proletarian Family
Across the Ages_." From the seething caldron of the valleys of the
western Rhine, inundated by the Arabs from the south, the Frisians from
the north, the Saxons from the west, and in which the chants of Moslems,
of Christians and of barbarians mixed into the one common cry of
desolating war, the feudal social system, previously introduced by
Clovis, and now threatened to be engulfed, emerged from the chaos as a
social institution. Many a characteristic of feudalism would be missed
if this, a crucial period of its existence, is not properly apprehended.
As in all the others of this series of Eugene Sue's stories, the
information is imparted without the reader's knowledge. What may be
termed the plot seizes and keeps the interest from start to finish,
steadily enriching the mind with knowledge historically inestimable,
besides connecting with the era described in the previous story--_The
Branding Needle; or, The Monastery of Charolles_--and preparing the
ground for the thrilling events th