an honour! Did you know this? I
see by your expression that you did not! Well, how did she die? Answer!"

"Oh! do stop--you are too absurd!"

"This is how she died. After all this honour and glory, after having
been almost a Queen, she was guillotined by that butcher, Samson. She
was quite innocent, but it had to be done, for the satisfaction of the
fishwives of Paris. She was so terrified, that she did not understand
what was happening. But when Samson seized her head, and pushed her
under the knife with his foot, she cried out: 'Wait a moment! wait a
moment, monsieur!' Well, because of that moment of bitter suffering,
perhaps the Saviour will pardon her other faults, for one cannot imagine
a greater agony. As I read the story my heart bled for her. And what
does it matter to you, little worm, if I implored the Divine mercy for
her, great sinner as she was, as I said my evening prayer? I might have
done it because I doubted if anyone had ever crossed himself for her
sake before. It may be that in the other world she will rejoice to think
that a sinner like herself has cried to heaven for the salvation of her
soul. Why are you laughing? You believe nothing, atheist! And your story
was not even correct! If you had listened to what I was saying, you
would have heard that I did not only pray for the Comtesse du Barry. I
said, 'Oh Lord! give rest to the soul of that great sinner, the Comtesse
du Barry, and to all unhappy ones like her.' You see that is quite a
different thing, for how many sinners there are, how many women, who
have passed through the trials of this life, are now suffering and
groaning in purgatory! I prayed for you, too, in spite of your insolence
and impudence, also for your fellows, as it seems that you claim to know
how I pray..."

"Oh! that's enough in all conscience! Pray for whom you choose, and the
devil take them and you! We have a scholar here; you did not know that,
prince?" he continued, with a sneer. "He reads all sorts of books and
memoirs now."

"At any rate, your uncle has a kind heart," remarked the prince, who
really had to force himself to speak to the nephew, so much did he
dislike him.

"Oh, now you are going to praise him! He will be set up! He puts his
hand on his heart, and he is delighted! I never said he was a man
without heart, but he is a rascal--that's the pity of it. And then, he
is addicted to drink, and his mind is unhinged, like that of most
people who have taken more