"To the kitchen of the august Emperor."
"Where do those eggs come from?"
"From the Muhlsheim farm, seigneur."
"From the Muhlsheim farm?" the Emperor repeated thoughtfully, and almost immediately added: "There must be three hundred and twenty-five eggs in that basket. Are there not?"
"Yes, seigneur; that's the exact rent brought in every month from the farm."
"You can go—and be careful you do not break the eggs." The Emperor stopped for a moment, leaned heavily upon his cane, and turning to Amael, called out to him: "Halloa, seigneur Breton, come here, draw near me." Amael obeyed, and the Emperor resuming his walk proceeded to say: "Charles the Fighter, the conqueror, is at least a good husbander—does it not strike you that way? He knows to an egg how many are laid by the hens on his farms. If you ever return to Brittany, you must not fail to narrate the incident to the housekeepers of your country."
"If I ever again see my country, I shall tell the truth of what I have seen."
CHAPTER V.
THE PALATINE SCHOOL.
Thus chatting, the Emperor Charles the Great arrived before a door that opened on the gallery. He knocked with his cane, and a clerk dressed in black opened. Struck with surprise, the clerk bent the knee and cried: "The Emperor!" And as he seemed to be about to rush to the door of a contiguous hall, the Emperor ordered him to stop: