accustomed to persecution. I am prepared to expect anything from that
man. He is master; we must be resigned."

"He master!" exclaimed the Queen. "And from whom does he derive his
powers, if not from the King? And after the King, what hand will sustain
him? Can you tell me? Who will prevent him from again returning to
nothing? Will it be you or I?"

"It will be himself," interrupted M. de Bouillon, "for he seeks to be
named regent; and I know that at this moment he contemplates taking your
children from you, and requiring the King to confide them to his care."

"Take them from me!" cried the mother, involuntarily seizing the
Dauphin, and taking him in her arms.

The child, standing between the Queen's knees, looked at the men who
surrounded him with a gravity very singular for his age, and, seeing his
mother in tears, placed his hand upon the little sword he wore.

"Ah, Monseigneur," said the Duc de Bouillon, bending half down to address
to him what he intended for the Princess, "it is not against us that you
must draw your sword, but against him who is undermining your throne.
He prepares an empire for you, no doubt. You will have an absolute
sceptre; but he has scattered the fasces which indicated it. Those
fasces were your ancient nobility, whom he has decimated. When you are
king, you will be a great king. I foresee it; but you will have subjects
only, and no friends, for friendship exists only in independence and a
kind of equality which takes its rise in force. Your ancestors had their
peers; you will not have yours. May God aid you then, Monseigneur, for
man may not do it without institutions! Be great; but above all, around