chevalier, "and I shall soon be nine years old."

"That is also the age of my Rodolph," pursued the chevalier. "Alas!
they will think me dead! Those villains! those cowards! Did they not see
that I had no lance, and that my sword was broken?"

"Go, my child," said Gottfried. "Let the table and the books be
prepared, I will soon come and pray to God with you. Call all the
servants."

"Will you also pray for me?" asked the chevalier, "If you will, pray
also for my dear Hildegarde and our five children. O, when shall my eyes
see them again?"

"Is it long since you left them?" asked Gottfried.

"It is a week," replied the chevalier, with firmness. "I learned that
the intrepid Arnold----"

"What Arnold?" asked Gottfried, with anxiety.

"Arnold the Lion, as he is called," said the warrior, "and one of the
chiefs of these rebels." (_Gottfried turned pale and raised his eyes to
heaven_.) "I learned that this audacious Arnold had joined his camp, and
I felt that my duty called me immediately to the field. I therefore left
my family and my house, and have shown the rebels that my arm and my
heart are as strong as ever,"

"Have you encountered this Arnold?" asked Gottfried, hardly daring to
ask this question.