Mamma told me that I
must be kind to all those who are good to us and love us, and just
as you were coming in with this gentleman, mamma told me that
General Lafayette does not belong to our enemies, but means well to
us. Let me, therefore, greet you kindly and give you my hand." And
while saying so and smiling kindly at the general, he raised his
great blue eyes to the face of his mother an instant with a
supplicatory expression.
Lafayette took the extended hand of the prince, and a flush of deep
emotion passed over his face that was just before kindling with
anger. As if touched with reverence and astonishment, he bent his
knee before this child, whose countenance beamed with innocence,
love, and goodness, and pressed to his lips the little hand that
rested in his own.
"My prince," said be, deeply moved, "you have just spoken to me with
the tongue of an angel, and I swear to you, and to your exalted
royal mother, that I will never forget this moment; that I will
remember it so long as I live. The kiss which I have impressed upon
the hand of my future king is at once the seal of the solemn vow,
and the oath of unchangeable fidelity and devotion which I
consecrate to my king and to the whole royal family, and in which
nothing shall make me waver; nothing, not even the anger and the
want of favor of my exalted queen.
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