nothing. I am no more king of France than you are king of England. I
am a name, a cipher dressed in _fleur-de-lised_ velvet, - that is all. I
am upon a visible throne; that is my only advantage over your majesty. I
have nothing - I can do nothing."

"Can it be so?" exclaimed Charles II.

"My brother," said Louis, sinking his voice, "I have undergone miseries
with which my poorest gentlemen are unacquainted. If my poor Laporte
were here, he would tell you that I have slept in ragged sheets, through
the holes of which my legs have passed; he would tell you that
afterwards, when I asked for carriages, they brought me conveyances half-
destroyed by the rats of the coach-houses; he would tell you that when I
asked for my dinner, the servants went to the cardinal's kitchen to
inquire if there were any dinner for the king. And look! to-day, this
very day even, when I am twenty-two years of age, - to-day, when I have
attained the grade of the majority of kings, - to-day, when I ought to
have the key of the treasury, the direction of the policy, the supremacy
in peace and war, - cast your eyes around me, see how I am left! Look at
this abandonment - this disdain - this silence! - Whilst yonder - look
yonder! View the bustle, the lights, the homage! There! - there you see
the real king of France, my brother!"

"In the cardinal's apartments?"

"Yes, in the cardinal's apartments."

"Then I am condemned, sire?"

Louis XIV. made no reply.