him the story of Amabel's journey, and also of the force that was encamped across the river ready to come to their relief, and it was agreed that in the morning Hugh should go with one or two trusty followers, and with Edgar to consult with the Earl of Huntingdon upon the raising of the siege. "So long as you are in command," Edgar concluded, "I shall have no fear of the Count. You seem to keep in your magic cupboard a trick for every need."
The Friar smiled sadly, as he answered, "Those same tricks have already cost me dear in my life, and I shall have yet more reason to regret them before I die. To know more than the rest of the world is in some eyes an unforgivable sin. Well!—so much the greater reason to rejoice when I can put my jugglery to some use that my conscience approves. I ask of the world only to let me increase its store of knowledge, and so far I have earned as a reward only poverty, prisoning, distrust, and enmity. And yet men great in the eyes of the world have been glad to share in the knowledge won by the work of the barefooted Franciscan Friar. Edgar, I have spent a fortune for knowledge and for the good of mankind, and my only satisfaction is in thinking that in some future time men will recall with gratitude the name and works of Roger Bacon."
