day his father went to the King's palace to pay his court: so it was,
that something had vexed the King that day, and he did not receive the
Marquis so cordially as he had been used to do. This affronted the
Marquis so much (for he was a very proud man) that from that time he
gave himself up altogether to abusing the King, and contriving how to
do him mischief; and he invited to his house all the people of
consequence in Paris who were discontented with the King: so that his
house was filled with bad people, who were always contriving mischief
against the King. These people used to meet almost every evening to sup
at the Marquis's; and you would be shocked if I were to repeat to you
the language which they used, and how they used to rail against their
King. On these occasions they drank abundance of wine; after which they
used to play at cards for large sums of money; and the Marquis and
Marchioness not being so clever in play as some others of the party,
lost a great deal of money; so that what with their extravagance, and
what with the money they lost at cards, they had almost wasted all they
possessed, and were in debt to everybody who supplied them with
anything.

"Poor Henri, although so young, understood very well the wicked way in
which his father and mother went on; and though he did not dare to
speak to his father about the manner of life he led, yet he spoke
several times to his mother. Sometimes the Marchioness would laugh at
Henri when he talked to her in this way; and sometimes she would be
quite angry, and tell him that he was meddling with things he could not
understand.

"Abusing the King, and forming schemes against the Government, are
called treason. It was not long before the treasonable practices of the
Marquis, and the bad company he kept, were made known to the King, who,
one night, without giving notice to anyone, sent certain persons with a
guard to seize the Marquis, and convey him to a strong castle in a very
distant part of France, where he was to be confined for life; at the
same time the King gave orders to seize all the Marquis's property for
his own use. It was one night in the spring, just after the Marquis's
wicked companions had taken their leave, that the persons sent by the
King rushed into the Marquis's house, and making him a prisoner in the
name of the King, forced him into a carriage, with his wife and son,
scarcely giving them time to gather together a little linen, and a few