"Mamma," cried the dauphin, interrupting her in her painful and
proud thought--" mamma, there comes the king, there comes my papa!
Oh, he will be glad to hear that I was so courageous!"
The queen quickly stooped down and kissed him. "Yes, truly, my
little Bayard, yon have done honor to your great exemplar, and you
have really been a little chevalier sans peur et sans reproche. But,
my child, true bravery does not glory in its great deeds, and does
not desire others to admire them, but keeps silent and leaves it to
others to talk about them!"
"Mamma, I will be silent, too," cried the boy, with glowing eyes.
"Oh, you shall see that I can be silent, and not talk at all about
myself."
The king meanwhile, followed by some gentlemen and servants, was
coming forward with unaccustomed haste, and, in his eagerness to
reach his wife, he had not noticed the beds, but was treading under
foot the last fading flowers of autumn.
"You are here at last, Marie," said he, when he was near enough to
speak. "I wanted to go to meet you, to conduct you hither out of the
park. You were gone very long, and I worried about you."
"Why worried, sire?" asked the queen. "What danger could threaten me
in our garden?"
"Do not seek to hide any thing from me, Marie," said Louis, with a
sigh. "I know every thing! The hate of the people denies us any
longer the enjoyment of the open air! Lafayette and Bailly were with
me after they were dismissed by you.
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