without emphasis, and in perfectly good taste, by the marquise.

At dinner d'Arthez was placed beside the princess, who, far from
imitating the eccentricities of diet which many affected women
display, ate her dinner with a very good appetite, making it a point
of honor to seem a natural woman, without strange ways or fancies.
Between two courses she took advantage of the conversation becoming
general to say to d'Arthez, in a sort of aside:--

"The secret of the pleasure I take in finding myself beside you, is
the desire I feel to learn something of an unfortunate friend of
yours, monsieur. He died for another cause greater than ours; but I
was under the greatest obligations to him, although unable to
acknowledge or thank him for them. I know that you were one of his
best friends. Your mutual friendship, pure and unalterable, is a claim
upon me. You will not, I am sure, think it extraordinary, that I have
wished to know all you could tell me of a man so dear to you. Though I
am attached to the exiled family, and bound, of course, to hold
monarchical opinions, I am not among those who think it is impossible
to be both republican and noble in heart. Monarchy and the republic
are two forms of government which do not stifle noble sentiments."

"Michel Chrestien was an angel, madame," replied Daniel, in a voice of
emotion. "I don't know among the heroes of antiquity a greater than
he. Be careful not to think him one of those narrow-minded republicans
who would like to restore the Convention and the amenities of the
Committee of Public Safety. No, Michel dreamed of the Swiss federation
applied to all Europe. Let us own, between ourselves, that _after_
the glorious government of one man only, which, as I think, is
particularly suited to our nation, Michel's system would lead to the