inaccessible peak, or PUY, which the Senator
pointed out to the Bishop, saying--

"I would fain secure such a refuge for my family in case the tyranny
of the barbarians should increase."

"Are there any within the city?" asked the Bishop. "I rejoice to
see that thou art free from the indignity of having any quartered
upon thee."

"For which I thank Heaven," responded the Senator. "The nearest are
on the farm of Deodatus, in the valley. There is a stout old
warrior named Meinhard who calls himself of the King's Trust; not a
bad old fellow in himself to deal with, but with endless sons,
followers, and guests, whom poor Deodatus and Julitta have to keep
supplied with whatever they choose to call for, being forced to
witness their riotous orgies night after night."

"Even so, we are far better off than our countrymen who have the
heathen Franks for their lords."

"That Heaven forbid!" said AEmilius. "These Goths are at least
Christians, though heretics, yet I shall be heartily glad when the
circuit of Deodatus's fields is over. The good man would not have
them left unblest, but the heretical barbarians make it a point of
honour not to hear the Blessed Name invoked without mockery, such as
our youths may hardly brook."

"They are unarmed," said the Bishop.

"True; but, as none knows better than thou dost, dear father and
friend, the Arvernian blood has not cooled since the days of Caius
Julius Caesar, and offences are frequent among the young men. So
often has our community had to pay 'wehrgeld,' as the barbarians
call the price they lay upon blood, that I swore at last that I
would never pay it again, were my own son the culprit."

"Such oaths are perilous," said Sidonius. "Hast thou never had
cause to regret this?"

"My father, thou wouldst have thought it time to take strong
measures to check the swaggering of our young men and the foolish
provocations that cost more than one life. One would stick a
peacock's feather in his cap and go strutting along with folded arms
and swelling breast, and when the Goths scowled at him and called
him by well-deserved names, a challenge would lead to a deadly
combat. Another such fight was caused by no greater offence than
the treading on a dog's tail; but in that it was the Roman, or more
truly the Gaul, who was slain, and I must say the 'wehrgeld' was
honourably paid. It is time, however, that such groundless
conflicts should cease; and, in truth, only a barbari