They did it out of hate,
out of revenge, and out of ambition. Queen Marie Antoinette had won
her husband over to the policy of Austria, and in this way had set
herself in opposition to the Count de Provence, and the whole royal
family. The count never forgave her for this, and he will never
forgive you for being the son of your mother. The Count de Provence,
as he now styles himself, is your sworn enemy, and will do all he
can to bring you to ruin; he is ambitious, and his goal is, to be
the King of France!"
"King of France? The Count de Provence, the brother of the king,
wants to be his successor, when I, the son of the king, am alive and
demand my inheritance ?"
"Your demand will not be acknowledged: they will declare that you
are an impostor and a deceiver. Ah, the Count de Provence is a
selfish and a hard character. He means to make his own way, and if
you put hinderances in it, he will put you out of his path, without
compassion and without remorse; trust me for knowing this, who for
three years have been in the immediate neighborhood of the prince. I
was afraid to impart the plan of your escape to the princes, and,
after you were released, I was silent, for a secret is only safe
when a very few are conscious of it. But after the news came last
year from Paris, that the boy who had been placed as your substitute
in the Temple had died, after a long sickness, I ventured to inform
the Count de Lille about the real facts.
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