"I know not," replied the good captain with a naïve and embarrassed mien, "I know not whether I ever spoke to you of my friend Eustace." "Yes, and more than once," replied Tetrik. "But what has your friend Eustace to do with your new functions?" "What!" cried Captain Marion, "you ask me what my friend Eustace has to do with me--you might as well ask what has the sheath of the sword to do with the blade, the hammer with the handle, the bellows with the forge." "You are, in short, bound together by an old and close friendship; we know it," said Victoria. "Would you desire, captain, to accord some favor to your friend?" "I shall never consent to be separated from him. True enough, he is not of a gay disposition; he is habitually sullen, often peevish. Still, he loves me as I do him, and we can not do without each other. Now, then, it may be considered surprising that the Chief of Gaul should have a common soldier, a former blacksmith, for his intimate friend and chum. But as I said to you, Victoria, if I must be separated from my friend Eustace, the plan falls through--I decline. Only his friendship can render the burden supportable to me." "Is not Schanvoch, my foster-brother, who remained a simple horseman in the army, a close friend of mine?" observed Victoria. "No one is astonished at a friendship that does honor to us both. It will be so, Captain Marion, with you and your old blacksmith friend." "And your elevation, Captain Marion, will redouble your mutual affection," put in Tetrik. "In his tender affection your friend will rejoice over your elevation perhaps more than yourself." "I doubt whether my friend Eustace will greatly rejoice over my elevation," replied Marion. "Eustace is not ambitious after glory. Far from it. He loves me, his old companion at the anvil, and not the captain. But, Victoria, always keep this in mind: The same as to-day you say to me: 'Marion, you are needed,' never be backward in saying: 'Marion, be gone; you are of no further use; someone else will fill the place better than you.' I shall understand the slightest hint, and shall gladly return arm in arm with my friend Eustace to our pot of beer and our armor. So long, however, as you will say to me: 'Marion, you are needed,' I shall remain Chief of Gaul"--and smothering a last sigh, "seeing that you insist that I fill the place." "And chief you will long remain to the glory of Gaul," put in Tetrik. "Believe me, captain, you do not know yourself; your modesty blinds you. But a few hours hence, when Victoria will propose you to the soldiers as their general, the acclamation of the whole army will inform you of the high opinion that is entertained for your merits."