For a moment Brunhild remained thoughtful, and then ordering the other pages out of the chamber with a wafture of her hand she addressed the one who had first come in. "Go to Pog and tell him to get himself and his assistants ready in the cave. Let him light his fires and wait for further orders." The page grew pale and bowed, but before leaving the chamber he cast a look of pity upon the old man. Left alone with Loysik, the Queen paced the room for a minute in silence and with agitated steps, and then turning abruptly upon the hermit laborer said to him in a short, sharp voice: "So you are Loysik?" "I am Loysik, the abbot and superior of the monastery of Charolles." "How did you penetrate into this room?" "This morning I met near the castle a slave merchant named Samuel; I had recently bought several slaves from him; he informed me that he was coming here; knowing that it was difficult to obtain access to the palace, I asked Samuel to allow me to accompany him; at first he hesitated; two gold pieces put an end to his hesitation." "And as the gateman had received orders to admit Samuel and his slaves, you passed along with his merchandise! And did you remain in the room below while the Jew was showing me the two slave girls?" Loysik nodded his head in the affirmative. "And after Samuel left the palace?" "The Jew having informed me that this room was reached from below by the spiral staircase, I came up a short time ago and concealed myself behind the curtain; I was a witness of your conversation with one of your women. I heard everything." Brunhild looked at the monk with a questioning and threatening mien: "And so you overheard everything that was said between us?" "Yes; I listened and heard everything." "Old man--do you know who Pog and his assistants are?" "The executioner and his men." "How old are you?" "The age of a man about to die." "You expect death?" Loysik shrugged his shoulders without answering. "You are right," proceeded Brunhild with a satanic smile. "To bring such tidings as you did was to run into the jaws of death." "I came here of my own free will; your chamberlain and his men remain prisoners at the monastery. No harm will be done them." "You are mistaken. A terrible punishment awaits them! Infamy, cowardice, shame and treachery! An officer, Brunhild's men-at-arms made prisoners by a handful of monks! Pog and his men will have work to do." "Your men-at-arms were not cowardly; even had they been more numerous, they could not have resisted the men of the monastery and the colonists of the Valley of Charolles." "Why, they must be redoubtable men!" "Not that. But they are people who are determined to die free, to bury themselves under the ruins of their homes if you ignore the rights guaranteed to them by the charter of the late King Clotaire."