"Ah, is it you, my little Louis Charles?" said the king, nodding to
him. "What do you want of me, my child?"
"Papa king," answered the boy, timidly, "I should like to ask you
something--something really serious!"
"Something really serious!" replied the king. "Well, what is it? Let
me hear!"
"Sire," replied the dauphin, with a weighty and thoughtful air,
"sire, Madame de Tourzel has always told me that I must love the
people of France very much, and treat every one very friendly,
because the people of France love my papa and my mamma so much, and
I ought to be very grateful for it. How comes it then, sire, that
the French people are now so bad to you, and that they do not love
mamma any longer? What have you both done to make the people so
angry, because I have been told that the people are subject to your
majesty, and that they owe you obedience and respect? But they were
not obedient yesterday, and not at all respectful, your subjects,
were they? How is this, papa?"
The king drew the little prince to his knee, and put his arm around
the slight form of the boy. "I will explain it to you, my son," he
said, "and listen carefully to what I say to you."
"I will, sire," answered the boy eagerly, "I at least am an obedient
subject of my king, for the Abbe Davout has told me that I am
nothing but a subject of your majesty, and that, as a son and a
subject, I must give a good example to the French people, how to
love and obey the king.
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