the marks of a large foot along the stairways and corridors of the
house. Carefully avoiding those precious footprints, he followed them
to the door of the treasure-room, which he found locked without a sign
of fracture or defacement. Then he studied the direction of the steps;
but as they grew gradually fainter, they finally left not the
slightest trace, and it was impossible for him to discover where the
robber had fled.

"Ho, crony!" called out the king, "you have been finely robbed this
time."

At these words the old Fleming hurried out of his chamber, visibly
terrified. Louis XI. made him look at the foot-prints on the stairs
and corridors, and while examining them himself for the second time,
the king chanced to observe the miser's slippers and recognized the
type of sole that was printed in flour on the corridors. He said not a
word, and checked his laughter, remembering the innocent men who had
been hanged for the crime. The miser now hurried to his treasure. Once
in the room the king ordered him to make a new mark with his foot
beside those already existing, and easily convinced him that the
robber of his treasure was no other than himself.

"The pearl necklace is gone!" cried Cornelius. "There is sorcery in
this. I never left my room."

"We'll know all about it now," said the king; the evident truthfulness
of his silversmith making him still more thoughtful.

He immediately sent for the men he had stationed on the watch and
asked:--