"A miracle in favor of us, Vagres? Are we, perchance, on such good terms with heaven?" "We are on all the better terms with heaven for living like wolves, like true wolves. Therefore, _logice_, the Lord will deliver us from our enemies by miracles. And that I shall now proceed to prove to you." "To the proof, learned Symphorien--to the proof! We are waiting for your arguments." CHAPTER VIII. THE MIRACLE OF ST. MARTIN. The rhetorician straightened himself up and proceeded to the proof. "I'm at it," he said. "But first of all, brothers, answer me this question: Under whose royal claws did this beautiful land of Auvergne fall?" "Under the claws of Clotaire, the last and worthy son of King Clovis. Having married the widow of his second nephew Theobald, Clotaire now owns Auvergne by double right. He is now in this year 558 the sole king of all conquered Gaul. Glory to the Saints in heaven! Now, then, that Clotaire is the wedder of the whole human race. The bishops have married him as many times as it has pleased him to celebrate fresh weddings; they remarried him even during the lives of most of his wives. They married him to Gundiogue, the wife of his own brother; they married him to Radegonde, to Ingonde and, a fortnight later to the latter's sister, called Aregonde; they married him to Chemesne, to several others, and finally to Waltrade, the widow of his second nephew Theobald. But all these are only peccadillos--" "Learned, very learned Symphorien, you promised to prove to us _logice_ that heaven would rain miracles in our favor; but your rhetoric tends to prove just one thing--that Clotaire is an eternal wedder--" "My rhetoric first establishes the premises, you will presently see what conclusions flow from them--_ergo_, I shall establish one more prefigurement, which I shall also need for my argument. It is this: Among other crimes, this Clotaire committed one before which even Clovis might have recoiled. The affair happened in Paris in the year 533, in the old Roman palace inhabited by the Frankish kings. Now listen--" "We are listening, learned Symphorien. It is pleasant to the ear to hear the praises of kings."