, you would be writing your own death-warrant. The balls
which I trust will spare the nephew of General Kleber would
certainly pierce the heart of the nephew of Count de Lille. Continue
to deny it as you denied it to General Charette. Swear to me that
you will faithfully keep the secret of your lineage till I release
you from the oath by which I now close your lips, and tell you that
the hour of action and of disclosures is come; swear it to me, in
view of the fidelity which I have shown to you, and which I shall
always be ready to show."
"You have saved my life," said Louis Charles, solemnly. "My life,
therefore, belongs to you, and I give it into your hands in
swearing, by the memory of my dear parents, and especially my noble
and proud-spirited mother, Queen Marie Antoinette, that I will
faithfully and truly keep the secret of my parentage, and not feel
myself justified in revealing it to the world, till you, the Prince
de Conde, shall have given me permission, and empowered me to do
so."
"I thank you," said Conde, "for I am now unconcerned about your
immediate future. General Kleber and the French republic will
protect you, for the present, from the dangerous pretender, Count
Lille, and, in God's providence, I trust there will come a day when
France will be prepared to raise the son of its kings to the throne
which belongs to him.
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