General Kleber is
at heart a good and true royalist, and although he serves the
republic, he does so because he is first of all a soldier, a soldier
of his country, and because his country now has pressing need of
soldiers to defend the honor and glory of France. I have sent a
trustworthy man to General Kleber to impart this secret to him, and
to ask him for protection, and a place of refuge for you. General
Kleber is ready to grant both, and he has sent his adjutant to
Coblentz to escort his nephew to Mayence. You are that nephew, and
if you give your consent, you will set out at once and go to
Mayence."
"And if I do not give my consent?" asked Louis Charles, with a
proud, flashing look.
"I confess," said Conde, with a shrug--"I confess that I am not
prepared for that contingency, and cannot on the instant grasp all
the unfortunate results which would ensue on your refusal."
"Be calmed, Conde, I do not refuse. I have only this one thing to
care for, to cause no danger, and bring nothing disagreeable to you,
for I see that they are in store for you if I do not disappear again
from view. The son of the king vanished from sight, to appear as the
nephew of Conde; and now the nephew of Conde is to vanish, to emerge
as the nephew of General Kleber. Ah,--who knows but I may yet be the
nephew of Simon the cobbler, preparatory to my last appearance on
the guillotine?"
"I hope, on the contrary, that on the day when France shall rise
again, you will rise too, the acknowledged son of Louis XVI.
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