“I received nothing at the time,” Mr. Crowder replied; “and as I did not care to accompany the emperor into Italy, for probably I would be recognized as the man who had assisted Adelheid to escape from the prison at Ivrea, and as I was not at all sure that the emperor would remember that I needed protection, I thought it well to protect myself, and so I journeyed back into France as well as I could.

“This was not very well; for in purchasing the necessary fine clothes which I deemed it proper to wear in the presence of the royal lady whose interests I had in charge, in buying horses, and in many incidental expenses, I had spent my money.  I was too proud to ask Otto to reimburse me, for that would have been nothing but charity on his part; and of course I could not expect the fair Adelheid to think of my possible financial needs.  So, away I went, a poor wanderer on foot, and the imperial Otto rode forward to love, honor, and success.”

“A dreadful shame!” exclaimed Mrs. Crowder.  “It seems as if thee always carried a horn about with thee so that thee might creep out of the little end of it.”

“But my adventures with Adelheid did not end here,” he said.  “About fifty years after this she was queen regent in Italy, during the infancy of her grandchild Otto III.  Being in Rome, and very poor, I determined to go to her, not to seek for charity, but to recall myself to her notice, and to boldly ask to be reimbursed for my expenses when assisting her to escape from Ivrea, and in afterward going as her ambassador to Otto I. In other words, I wanted to present my bill for enabling her to take her seat upon the throne of the ‘Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.’

“As a proof that I was the man I assumed to be, I took with me a ring of no great value, but set with her royal seal, which she had given me when she sent me to Otto.

“Well, I will not spend much time on this part of the story.  By means of the ring I was accorded an interview with the regent.  She was then an old woman over seventy years of age.  When I introduced myself to her and told her my errand, she became very angry.  ‘I remember very well,’ she said, ’the person you speak of, and he is long since dead.  He was an old man when I took him into my service.  You may be his son or some one else who has heard how he was employed by me.  At any rate, you are an impostor.  How did you come into possession of this ring?  The man to whom I gave it had no right to keep it.  He should have returned it to me when he had performed his duties.’

“I tried to convince her that there was no reason to suppose that the man who had assisted her could not be living at this day.  He need only be about one hundred years old, and that age was not uncommon.  I affirmed most earnestly that the ring had never been out of my possession, and that I should not have come to her if I had not believed that she would remember my services, and be at least willing to make good the considerable sums I had expended in her behalf.