lace so constructed that, from a kind of terrace,
contiguous to his own room and which dominates the rest of the
buildings, he is able to discover as from an observatory, all who enter,
go out, or cross the open space. Now, then, the Emperor, who frequently
rises at night, saw, thanks to the brilliant moonlight, his daughter
crossing the yard with the amorous fardel."

"Charles' anger must have been terrible!"

"Yes, terrible for an instant. Soon, however, no doubt greatly elated at
having procreated a maid who was able to carry an archchaplain on her
back, the august Emperor pardoned the guilty couple. After that they
lived lovingly in peace and joy."

"And yet that archchaplain was a priest? What of the sanctity of the
clergy!"

"Ho, ho! my young friend. The Emperor's daughters are far from failing
in esteem for priests. Bertha, another of his daughters, desperately
esteems Enghilbert, the handsome Abbot of St. Riquier. Fairness,
nevertheless, compels me to admit that one of Bertha's sisters, named
Adeltrude, esteemed with no less vehemence Count Lambert, one of the
most intrepid officers of the imperial army. As to little Rothailde,
another of the Emperor's daughters, she did not withhold her lively
esteem from Romuald, who made his name glorious in our wars against
Bohemia. I shall not speak of the other princesses. It is fully six
months that I have been away from court. I would be afraid to do them
injustice. Nevertheless, I am free to say that the Crosier and the Sword
have generally contended with each other for the amorous tenderness of
the daughters of Charles. Yet I must except Thetralde, the youngest of
the set. She is still too much of a novice to esteem any one. She is
barely fifteen. She is a flower, or rather, the bud of a flower that is
about to blossom. I never have seen anything more charming. When I last
departed from the court Thetralde gave promise of eclipsing all her
sisters and nieces with the sweetness and freshness of her beauty,
because, and I had forgotten this detail, my dear friend, the daughters
of Charles' sons are brought up with his own daughters; and are no less
charming than their aunts. You will see them all. Your admiration will
have but to choose between Adelaid, Atula, Gonarade, Bertha or
Theodora."

"What! Do all these young girls inhabit the Emperor's palace?"

"Certainly, without counting their servants, their governesses, their
chambermaids, their readers, their singer