him for some time with the attention of a father, and subsequently
sent, or accompanied him, to America. There the young king, without
a sceptre, had room to indulge his wandering disposition; he was
half famished in the forests; became at length a soldier, and
resided some time, in good credit, at the court of the Brazils.
There, too, he was pursued and persecuted, till compelled to make
his escape. He returned to Europe towards the close of Napoleon's
career, was kept a close prisoner at Naples by Murat; and, at last,
when he was liberated, and in full preparation to reclaim the throne
of France, he was seized with that unlucky illness at Bologna,
during which Louis XVIII. was permitted to assume his nephew's
crown.



CHAPTER XX.



All this he related with an air of remarkable frankness and truth.
Although not justified in believing him, I nevertheless was
astonished at his knowledge of the most minute facts connected with
the revolution. He spoke with much natural fluency, and his
conversation abounded with a variety of curious anecdotes. There
was something also of the soldier in his expression, without showing
any want of that sort of elegance resulting from an intercourse with
the best society.

"Will it be permitted me," I inquired, "to converse with you on
equal terms, without making use of any titles?"