"Condemned is the word; for I will never solicit him who left my mother
and sister to die with cold and hunger - the daughter and grand-daughter
of Henry IV. - as surely they would have if M. de Retz and the parliament
had not sent them wood and bread."

"To die?" murmured Louis XIV.

"Well!" continued the king of England, "poor Charles II., grandson of
Henry IV., as you are, sire having neither parliament nor Cardinal de
Retz to apply to, will die of hunger, as his mother and sister had nearly
done."

Louis knitted his brow, and twisted violently the lace of his ruffles.

This prostration, this immobility, serving as a mark to an emotion so
visible, struck Charles II., and he took the young man's hand.

"Thanks!" said he, "my brother. You pity me, and that is all I can
require of you in your present situation."

"Sire," said Louis XIV., with a sudden impulse, and raising his head, "it
is a million you require, or two hundred gentlemen, I think you say?"

"Sire, a million would be quite sufficient."

"That is very little."

"Offered to a single man it is a great deal. Convictions have been
purchased at a much lower price; and I should have nothing to do but with