Will your majesty deign to excuse me ?" "Speak, sir, speak boldly," replied Louis.

"You alone forewarned us of the evil; now try and aid us with the remedy." "Sire," said Villefort, "the usurper is detested in the south; and it seems to me that if he ventured into the south, it would be easy to raise Languedoc and Provence against him." "Yes, assuredly," replied the minister; "but he is advancing by Gap and Sisteron." "Advancing--he is advancing!" said Louis XVIII.

"Is he then advancing on Paris ?" The minister of police maintained a silence which was equivalent to a complete avowal.
"And Dauphine, sir ?" inquired the king, of Villefort.

"Do you think it possible to rouse that as well as Provence ?" "Sire, I am sorry to tell your majesty a cruel fact; but the feeling in Dauphine is quite the reverse of that in Provence or Languedoc.

The mountaineers are Bonapartists, sire." "Then," murmured Louis, "he was well informed.