me that I be the
jailer of the last descendant of Clovis, an ill-starred boy, then a
prisoner in an abbey, and having barely one suit of clothes to cover
himself with. That boy, when grown to man's estate, was, upon orders of
Pepin, your father, tonsured and locked up in a monastery, where he died
obscure and forgotten. Thus do royalties end. Such is the expiation,
prompt or late, reserved for royal stocks that issue from conquest."

"Then the stock of Charles, whom the whole world calls the Great,"
rejoined the Emperor with an incredulous and proud smile, "is,
according to your theory, destined to run out obscurely in some
do-nothing king?"

"It is my firm conviction."

"I took you at first for a man of good judgment," replied the Emperor
shrugging his shoulders; "I must now admit that I was mistaken."

"This very morning, in your Palatine school, you observed that the
children of the poor studied with zeal, while the children of the rich
are lazy. The reason is plain. The former feel the need of work to
insure their well-being; the latter, being provided with and in
possession of ample fortunes, make no effort to acquire knowledge. It is
to them superfluous. Your ancestors, the stewards of the palace, have
done like the children of the poor. Your descendants, however, being no
longer in need of conquering a crown, will imitate the children of the
rich."

"Despite a certain appearance of logic, your argument is false. My
father usurped a crown, but he left to me at the most the Kingdom of
Gaul. To-day Gaul is but one of the provinces of the immense empire that
I have conquered. Obviously, I did not remain idle and torpid like the
rich boys in your comparison."

"The Frankish Kings, together with their leudes, who later became great
landed seigneurs, and the bishops, plundered Gaul, divided her territory
among them, and reduced her people to slavery. But after a period, be it
short or long, learn this, Oh, great Emperor, the people will rise in
their strength, glorious, terrible, and they will know how to reconquer
their patrimony and their independence!"

"Let us drop the future and the past. What think you of Charles?"

"I think that you are mistakenly proud of having almost reconstructed
the administrative edifice of the Roman emperors, and of causing, like
them, your will to weigh upon the whole domain, from one end to the
other. Of all that, nothing will be left after you are gone! All the
peoples that h