The Last Hope by Henry Seton Merriman
page 29 of 385 (07%)
page 29 of 385 (07%)
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across the hazy marshes, "mind, I am no enthusiast, as you yourself
have observed. I plead no cause. She was not my Queen, Marquis, and France is not my country. I endeavour to look at the matter with the eye of common-sense and wisdom. And I cannot forget that Marie Antoinette was at bay: all her senses, all her wit alert. She can only have thought of her children. Human nature would dictate such thoughts. One cannot forget that she had devoted friends, and that these friends possessed unlimited money. Do you think, Marquis, that any one man of that rabble was above the reach- -of money?" And Mr. Dormer Colville's reflective smile, as he gazed at the distant sea, would seem to indicate that, after a considerable experience of men and women, he had reluctantly arrived at a certain conclusion respecting them. "No man born of woman, Marquis, is proof against bribery or flattery--or both." "One can believe anything that is bad of such dregs of human-kind, my friend," said Monsieur de Gemosac, contemptuously. "I speak to one," continued Colville, "who has given the attention of a lifetime to the subject. If I am wrong, correct me. What I have been told is that a man was found who was ready, in return for a certain sum paid down, to substitute his own son for the little Dauphin--to allow his son to take the chance of coming alive out of that predicament. One can imagine that such a man could be found in France at that period." |
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