"Is that all? there was scarcely need to take the trouble of telling me anything so unimportant."
"It was the abbot who announced it to me; and I was to communicate it to you," replied Goswin.
"The abbot!--What abbot?" asked the Emperor.
"The one who came to your camp before Milan, last summer."
"The Abbot Conrad, you mean?"
"Perhaps that is his name; he awaits you in the palace."
"What motive can bring him?" inquired Frederic, greatly surprised.
"I can tell you, Sire: the abbot comes in the name of the Archbishop of Salzburg, who is now near Pavia with some other prelates."
"What is this you say?" cried Barbarossa; "the Archbishop of Salzburg in Italy, near us! How stupid in you, Goswin, to announce in this frivolous manner a matter of such great importance!"
"I supposed that Count Erwin had, at least, as much importance in your eyes, as the Bishop of Salzburg," answered the knight.