was of
all things the most despised.

Under the books, in one corner of the chest, was a leather bag
containing four golden sovereigns, such as were used by the ancients,
and eighteen pieces of modern silver money, the debased shillings of the
day, not much more than half of which was silver and the rest alloy. The
gold coins had been found while digging holes for the posts of a new
stockade, and by the law should have been delivered to the prince's
treasury. All the gold discovered, whether in the form of coin or
jewellery, was the property of the Prince, who was supposed to pay for
its value in currency.

As the actual value of the currency was only half of its nominal value
(and sometimes less), the transaction was greatly in favour of the
treasury. Such was the scarcity of gold that the law was strictly
enforced, and had there been the least suspicion of the fact, the house
would have been ransacked from the cellars to the roof. Imprisonment and
fine would have been the inevitable fate of Felix, and the family would
very probably have suffered for the fault of one of its members. But
independent and determined to the last degree, Felix ran any risk rather
than surrender that which he had found, and which he deemed his own.
This unbending independence and pride of spirit, together with scarce
concealed contempt for others, had resulted in almost isolating him from
the youth of his own age, and had caused him to be regarded with dislike
by the elders. He was rarely, if ever, asked to join the chase, and
still more rarely invited to the festivities and amusements provided in
adjacent houses, or to the grander entertainments of the higher nobles.
Too quick to take offence where none was really intended, he fancied
that many bore him ill-will who had scarcely given him a passing
thought. He could not forgive the coarse jokes uttered upon his personal
appearance by men of heavier build, who despised so slender a stripling.

He would rather be alone than join their company, and would not compete
with them in any of their sports, so that, when his absence from the
arena was noticed, it was attributed to weakness or cowardice. These
imputations stung him deeply, driving him to brood within himself. He
was never seen in the courtyards or ante-rooms at the palace, nor
following in the train of the Prince, as was the custom with the
youthful nobles. The servility of the court angered and disgusted him;
the eagerness of stro