'You can understand by yourself as much as most people I know. Let us see what you have got here. May I look?' He lifted a small piece of metal out of its nest, in a shallow tray which was made by transverse slips of wood to be full of such nests, or little square compartments. The trays were beautifully arranged, one fitting close upon another till they filled the box to its utmost capacity. 'What have we here? This piece has seen service. Here is a tree, Queen Esther,--a flourishing, spreading tree,--and below it the letters, R. E. P. F., if I read aright, and then the word "Reich." What is that, now? "R. E. P. F. Reich." And here is a motto above, I am sorry to say, so far worn that my reading it is a matter of question. "Er,"--that is plain,--then a worn word, then, "das Land." Do you understand German?' 'No; I don't know anything.' 'Too sweeping, Queen Esther. But I wish I could read that word! Let us try the other side. Ha! here we have it. "Lud. xvi."--two letters I can't make out--then "Fr. and Nav. Rex." Louis the Sixteenth, king of France and Navarre.' 'I know him, I believe,' said Esther. 'He was beheaded, wasn't he, in the great French revolution?' 'Just that. He was not a wise man, you know.' 'If he had been a wise man, could he have kept his life?' 'Well, I don't know, Queen Esther, whether any wisdom would have been wise enough for that. You see, the people of France were mad; and when a people get mad, they don't listen to reason, naturally. Here's another, now; what's this? "Zeelandia, 1792," not so very old. On the other side--here's a shield, peculiar too; with the motto plain enough,--"Luctor et emergo." A good motto that.' 'What does it mean?' 'It means, something like--"Struggle and come out," or "come through,"--literally, "emerge." Our English word comes from it. Colonel Gainsborough does not teach you Latin, then?' 'No,' said Esther, sighing. 'He doesn't teach me much lately, of anything.' Dallas cast a quick look at the girl, and saw again the expression of quiet hopelessness that had moved him. He went on turning over the coins. 'Do you want to learn Latin?' 'Yes.' 'Why?' 'Why do _you_ want to learn it, Pitt?' 'Well, you see, it is different. I must, you know. But queens are not expected to know the dead languages--not Queen Esther, at any rate.' 'Do you learn them because it is expected of you?' The young man laughed a little. 'Well, there _are_ other reasons. Now here's a device. Two lions rampant--shield surmounted by a crown; motto, "Sp. nos in Deo." _Let us hope in God_.' 'Whose motto was that?'