It was found, during the whole long period of her residence where she
now was, that everybody who talked with the queen liked her;--her
bitterest enemies were heard to shout as these women did, when once they
had heard her speak; and soldiers, who had spoken insultingly of her
before they knew her, were ready to lay down their lives for her when
they became her guards. The reason of this was, not merely that she was
beautiful, and that she spoke in a winning manner, when she knew how
much depended upon her graciousness;--it was chiefly because the
ignorant and angry people had fancied her a sort of monster, determined
upon her own indulgence at all cost, and even seeking their destruction,
and delighting in their miseries. When, instead of this monster, they
found a dignified woman, with sorrow in her beautiful face, and
gentleness in her voice, they forgot for the time the faults she really
had, and the blameable things she had really done. When again reminded
of these, in her absence, the old hatred revived with new force; they
were vexed that she had won upon them, and ended by being as cruel as we
shall see they were.
She found, this morning, how frightened her little boy had been, the day
before. There was some noise in the court-yard of the palace. Louis
came running, and threw himself trembling into her arms, crying, "O,
mamma, is to-day going to be yesterday again?" When they were settled,
and everything was done to make him as happy as a child should be, he
did not forget what he had seen and heard. He not only walked with his
mother, or with Madame de Tourzel, in the garden of the Tuileries, but
he had a little garden of his own, railed in, and a little tool-house
for his spade and rake. There the rosy, curly-headed boy was seen
digging in the winter, and sowing seeds in the spring; and, sometimes,
feeding the ducks on the garden ponds with crumbs of bread. Still he
did not forget what he had seen and heard. One day, his father saw the
boy looking at him very gravely and earnestly. The king asked him what
he was thinking about. Louis said he wanted to ask a very serious
question, if he might; and the king gave him leave.
"I want to know," said Louis, "why all the people who used to love you
so much are now so angry with you. I want to know what you have done to
put them in such a passion."
The king took him upon his knee, and said,--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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