My mother never knew anything of the story of my duel; she would have died of grief had she had the faintest suspicion of it. As we did not return to the office until nearly one o'clock, we had to tell Oudard everything; and he appeared quite content, after hearing Betz and Tallancourt's account, with the way his employé had conducted himself. Besides, the Palais-Royal had been in a constant state of fête since the accession of His Majesty Charles X. to the throne. The duc d'Orléans had just been granted the title of Royal Highness from the new king--a favour he had begged in vain from Louis XVIII. As we have already mentioned, Louis XVIII. persistently refused everybody who asked him to grant M. le Duc d'Orléans this privilege. "He will always be sufficiently close to the throne," he would reply. And in other ways, Charles X. made himself most popular. As a pendant to his phrase, "Nothing is changed in France, there is simply one more Frenchman in it," he added another dictum, simpler still, and quite as much appreciated-- "My friends, let there be wider criticism!" And in the midst of the general merrymaking the preparations for his coronation went on in sumptuous style. The last few coronations had brought ill-fortune in their train. It will be remembered that, at Reims, Louis XVI. had quickly removed the crown from his head. "What is the matter, sire?" asked the archbishop. "That crown hurts me," replied Louis XVI. And, twenty years later, he died upon the scaffold. Napoleon wished to be crowned by a higher official than an archbishop; he wished to have a pope, and had sent for Pius VII. to come from the Vatican at Rome to Notre-Dame at Paris. "Il fallut presqu'un Dieu pour consacrer cet homme! Le prêtre, monarque de Rome, Vint sacrer son front menaçant, Car sans doute, en secret effrayé de lui-même, Il voulut recevoir son sanglant diadème Des mains d'où le pardon descend!" Fifteen years later, Napoleon died at St. Helena! And now it was the turn of Charles X. Every sovereign in Christendom had been informed of the solemn celebration, and sent their ambassadors extraordinary. Austria was represented by Prince Esterhazy; Spain by the Duke of Villa-Hermosa; Great Britain by the Duke of Northumberland; Prussia by General de Zastrow; and Russia by Prince Volkonski.