"
"The only son, but not the only heir. Your inheritance will be
contested; and even if France should transform herself from a
republic to a monarchy, every attempt possible will be made to drive
you, the son of Louis XVI., from the throne, and put the crown on
the head of another."
"Sir, if monarchy is uppermost again, the crown belongs to me. Who,
in that case, would venture to contend with me for it?"
"Your enemies! Not those whom you have just named, but the other
half of your enemies, of whose existence you have no suspicion, it
seems-your enemies, the royalists."
"How so?" cried Louis Charles, in amazement. "Do you call the
royalists my enemies?"
"Yes, and they are so, your powerful, defiant, and untiring enemies.
Do you not see that even here in this room I do not dare to give you
the title that is your due, for fear that the walls may have ears
and increase the danger which threatens you? I will now name to you
the greatest of your enemies--the Count de Provence."
"How! my uncle, the brother of my father, he my enemy?"
"He is your enemy, as he was the enemy of your mother. Believe me,
young man, it is not the people who have made the revolution in
France; it is the princes who have done it. The Count de Provence,
the Count d'Artois, and the Duke d'Orleans--they are the chief
revolutionists; they it is who have put fire to the throne; they it
is who have sown the libels and lampoons broadcast over France, and
made the name of Marie Antoinette odious.
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