The herald hastened away and in due time appeared before Charlemagne and acquitted him of his errand. Strange to say, the eccentric emperor was inflexible, while he knew he was acting, with a few exceptions, without the sympathy of his entire court, and even when all the peers, without exception, fell on their knees to him, and supplicated him to save Richard by granting peace to Maugis, Charlemagne was obdurate and stern in his refusal to interfere, and as the herald was about to withdraw, Roland stopped him. “Say to Duke Richard de Normandie,” cried he, “that though the emperor will blindly let him die, we, his courtiers, do protest and disapprove. Tell him that we will abandon Charlemagne and his service, that we none of us consent to devote ourselves to a prince who would be willing to see a man sacrificed like him, merely to support his wounded vanity.” It was an exciting moment. Then with one accord the peers acclaimed the words of Roland. The suspense was intense. In the midst of it all Charlemagne sat stern and unchanged. Then the Archbishop Turpin came forward and said: “Sire, I leave thee with regret, but thou art committing a grave wrong. I must therefore leave thee. I prefer to sustain my honor rather than abandon it in a cowardly way.” Charlemagne still sat with pallid face and stern brow, and said not a word. The peers, one after another, all then left his presence, each going to their own quarters, forthwith gathering their belongings, striking their tents and assembling their own soldiers, conducted them without the imperial camp. The remaining soldiers of the emperor gazed aghast, astonished and fearful to see the army of Charlemagne reduced more than one-half by the departure of the peers and their men. Two men only viewed this movement with satisfaction. They thought that now they had become indispensable to the emperor, and that they could secure his confidence to their own profit. It is needless to say these two were the traitorous Ganelon and the cowardly Pinabel. In the meantime the herald had returned to Dordogne, and repeated faithfully all that had occurred. The Duke de Normandie perceived that it was useless to count on the support of any one who would thus abandon him when he had shown the devotion of refusing to escape death at the price of dishonor. “It is well,” said he, turning to Maugis with a smile; “I am at thy service. I am ready to die.” “This is too much,” cried Maugis, hastening to Richard and embracing him. “Pardon me,” said he, “for the cruel hours I have caused you to pass. I was certain in advance that you would prefer death to being false to your oath, and I only employed the stratagem to obtain by force from the emperor what it seems impossible for me to obtain by my prayers. There was no reason why Charlemagne should be wanting in generosity to me in face of the support of such consequences. Thou shalt not die.”