man has never
been imprisoned for debt. You do not seem to me to be strong in history.
History is of two kinds--there is the official history taught in
schools, a lying compilation _ad usum delphini_; and there is the
secret history which deals with the real causes of events--a scandalous
chronicle. Let me tell you briefly a little story which you have not
heard. There was, once upon a time, a man, young and ambitious, and a
priest to boot. He wanted to enter upon a political career, so he fawned
on the Queen's favorite; the favorite took an interest in him, gave
him the rank of minister, and a seat at the council board. One evening
somebody wrote to the young aspirant, thinking to do him a service
(never do a service, by the by, unless you are asked), and told him
that his benefactor's life was in danger. The King's wrath was kindled
against his rival; to-morrow, if the favorite went to the palace, he
would certainly be stabbed; so said the letter. Well, now, young man,
what would you have done?"

"I should have gone at once to warn my benefactor," Lucien exclaimed
quickly.

"You are indeed the child which your story reveals!" said the priest.
"Our man said to himself, 'If the King is resolved to go to such
lengths, it is all over with my benefactor; I must receive this letter
too late;' so he slept on till the favorite was stabbed----"

"He was a monster!" said Lucien, suspecting that the priest meant to
sound him.

"So are all great men; this one was the Cardinal de Richelieu, and his
benefactor was the Marechal d'Ancre. You really do not know your history
of France, you see. Was I not right when I told you that history as
taught in schools is simply a collection of facts and dates, more than
doubtful in the first place, and with no bearing whatever on the gist of
the matter. You are told that such a person as Jeanne Darc once existed;
where is the use of that? Have you never drawn your own conclusions from
that fact? never seen that if France had accepted the Angevin dynasty
of the Plantagenets, the two peoples thus reunited would be ruling the
world to-day, and the islands that now brew political storms for the
continent would be French provinces? . . . Why, have you so much as
studied the means by which simple merchants like the Medicis became
Grand Dukes of Tuscany?"

"A poet in France is not bound to be 'as learned as a Benedictine,'"
said Lucien.

"Well, they became Grand-Dukes as Richelieu became a min