"
The prince looked troubled and perplexed, and dropped his eyes
before the piercing gaze of the boy. "Go on, if I may venture to ask
you," he said, softly. "What did General Charette do when you
repelled him?"
"First he implored, and wept, and conjured me to trust him, and to
lay aside my incognito before him, the truest and best of royalists.
But as I continued steadfast, and disclosed nothing, he became angry
at length, pushed me away from him, threatened me with his fist,
swore he would have his revenge on those who had deceived him, and
declared that I was no Bourbon, for the son of my fathers would not
be so weak and cowardly as to conceal his name and lineage."
"And you kept silent, in spite of this demand?"
"Yes, my lord, I kept silent; and, notwithstanding his pain and
grief, I left him in the belief that he had deceived himself, or
rather, that he had been deceived."
"Oh!" cried Conde, "it is plain that you have been steeled in the
school of suffering, and that the years of misfortune like yours
must each be reckoned double, for, in spite of your twelve years,
you have acted like a man!"
"My lord," replied the boy, proudly, "the Bourbons attain their
majority at fifteen, and at that age they may, according to the law
of France, become independent sovereigns.
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