Charles' grim humour and that he might speak to him as man to man. But
Charles was not softened.

So the Bishop gathered up his courage. His hand was still on the cross
on the donkey's back.

"You are young, my son, and have been grievously disappointed. I, who am
old, have seen many things, and this I have learned. Two things there
are that, next to the love of God, must be greatest in a man's life--not
war nor slothful peace, nor pride, nor yet a will that would bend all
things to its end."

The overlord scowled. He had found the girl Joan in the Market Square,
and his eyes were on her.

"One," said the Bishop, "is the love of a woman. The other is--a child."

The donkey stood meekly, with hanging head.

"A woman," repeated the Bishop. "You grow rough up here on your
hillside. Only a few months since the lady your wife went away, and
already order has forsaken you. The child, your daughter, runs like a
wild thing, without control. Our Holy Church deplores these things."

"Will Holy Church grant me another wife?"

"Holy Church," replied the Bishop gravely, "would have you take back, my
lord, the wife whom your hardness drove away."

The _seigneur's_ gaze turned to the east, where lay the Castle of