"Oh! who would dream of annoying an ambassador of his Most Christian Majesty? You calumniate your subjects, my son." "I asked," said the king, flattered by the tranquillity that reigned in his kingdom, "because you had no official character, and might have run some risk." "I tell you, Henriquet, that you have the most charming kingdom in the world. Travelers are nourished gratis; they are sheltered for the love of God; they walk on flowers; and as for the wheel ruts, they are carpeted with velvet and fringed with gold. It is incredible, but true." "Then you are content?" "Enchanted." "Yes, yes; my police is well organized." "Marvelously; I must do them justice." "And the road is safe?" "As that of Paradise." "Chicot, we are returning to Virgil." "To what part?" "To the Bucolics. 'O fortunatos nimium!'" "Ah! very well; but why this exception in favor of plowmen?" "Alas! because it is not the same in towns." "The fact is, Henri, that the towns are the centers of corruption." "Judge of it. You go 500 leagues without accident, while I go only to Vincennes, three-fourths of a league, and narrowly escape assassination by the way." "Oh! bah!" "I will tell you about it, my friend; I am having it written. Without my Forty-five guardsmen I should have been a dead man." "Truly! where did it take place?" "You mean, where was it to have taken place?" "Yes." "At Bel-Esbat." "Near the convent of our friend Gorenflot?" "Just so." "And how did he behave under the circumstances?" "Wonderfully, as usual. Chicot, I do not know if he had heard any rumor; but instead of snoring in bed, he was up in his balcony, while all his convent kept the road." "And he did nothing else?" "Who?" "Dom Modeste." "He blessed me with a majesty peculiar to himself, Chicot." "And his monks?" "They cried 'Vive le Roi!' tremendously." "And were they not armed?" "They were completely armed, which was a wonderful piece of thoughtfulness on the part of the worthy prior; and yet this man has said nothing, and asked for nothing. He did not come the next day, like D'Epernon, to search my pockets, crying, 'Sire, something for having saved the king.'" "Oh! as for that, he is incapable of it; besides, his hands would not go into your pockets." "Chicot, no jests about Dom Modeste; he is one of the greatest men of my reign; and I declare that on the first opportunity I will give him a bishopric." "And you will do well, my king." "Remark one thing, Chicot, that a great man from the ranks of the people is complete; we gentlemen, you see, inherit in our blood certain vices and virtues. Thus, the Valois are cunning and subtle, brave, but idle; the Lorraines are ambitious, greedy, and intriguing; the Bourbons are sensual, without ideas, force, or will. Look at Henri: when Nature, on the contrary, draws a great man from among the people, like Gorenflot, he is complete." "You think so?"