none but this--leisure and books in the Convent of Bec."

"Sit down--nay, sit, man," said William, greatly interested, but still
suspicious. "One riddle only I ask thee to solve, before I give thee
all my trust, and place my very heart in thy hands. Why, if thou
desirest not rewards, shouldst thou thus care to serve me--thou, a
foreigner?" A light, brilliant and calm, shone in the eyes of the
scholar, and a blush spread over his pale cheeks.

"My Lord Prince, I will answer in plain words. But first permit me to
be the questioner."

The priest turned towards Fitzosborne, who had seated himself on a
stool at William's feet, and, leaning his chin on his hand, listened
to the ecclesiastic, not more with devotion to his calling, than
wonder at the influence one so obscure was irresistibly gaining over
his own martial spirit, and William's iron craft.

"Lovest thou not, William Lord of Breteuil, lovest thou not fame for
the sake of fame?"

"Sur mon ame--yes!" said the Baron.

"And thou, Taillefer the minstrel, lovest thou not song for the sake
of song?"

"For song alone," replied the mighty minstrel. "More gold in one
ringing rhyme than in all the coffers of Christendom."

"And marvellest thou, reader of men's hearts," said the scholar,