ary man!
and yet, according to his book, the first step necessary to be taken,
was to take off this necessary man's head! Yes, I was necessary to
repair all that your grandfather had destroyed! It is he who overthrew
the monarchy, and brought Louis XVI. to the scaffold!"

"Sire!" exclaimed the young man, deeply agitated, "you are then not
aware that my grandfather's estates were confiscated because he defended
the king!"

"A fine defence, indeed! If I give a man poison, and then, when he lies
in the death-struggle, give him an antidote, can you then maintain that
I wished to save this man? It was in this manner that M. Necker defended
Louis XVI. The confiscations of which you speak prove nothing.
Robespierre's property was also confiscated. Not even Robespierre,
Marat, and Danton, have brought such misery upon France as Necker; he it
is who made the revolution. You did not see it, but I was present in
those days of horror and public distress; but I give you my word that
they shall return no more while I live! Your schemers write out their
utopias, the simple-minded read these dreams, they are printed and
believed in; the common welfare is in everybody's mouth, and soon there
is no more bread for the people; it revolts, and that is the usual
result of all these fine theories! Your grandfather is to blame for the
orgies that brought France to desperation."

Then lowering his voice, from the excited, almost angry tone in which he
had been speaking, to a milder one, the emperor approached the young
man, who stood before him, pale, and visibly agitated. With that
charming air of friendly intimacy that no one knew so well how to assume
as Napoleon, he gently pinched the tip of the young man's ear, the
emperor's usual way of making peace with any one to whom he wished well,
after a little difficulty.

"You are still young," said he; "if you possessed my age and experience,
you would judge of these matters differently. Your candor has not
offended, but pleased me; I like to see a son defend his mother's cause!
Your mother has entrusted you with a very difficult commission, and you
have executed it with much spirit. It gives me pleasure to have
conversed with you, for I love the young when they are straightforward
and not too 'argumentative.' But I can nevertheless give you no false
hopes! You will accomplish nothing! If your mother were in prison, I
should not hesitate to grant you her release. But she is in exile, and
not