Am I to be treated worse than my humblest subject, who is allowed to follow his own bent in his private affairs ?" "This is not your own private affair, sire; all that you do reflects upon your family.

The great deeds of your reign have given a new glory to the name of Bourbon.

Oh, do not mar it now, sire! I implore it of you upon my bended knees!" "You talk like a fool!" cried his father roughly.

"I propose to marry a virtuous and charming lady of one of the oldest noble families of France, and you talk as if I were doing something degrading and unheard of.

What is your objection to this lady ?" "That she is the daughter of a man whose vices were well known, that her brother is of the worst repute, that she has led the life of an adventuress, is the widow of a deformed scribbler, and that she occupies a menial position in the palace." The king had stamped with his foot upon the carpet more than once during this frank address, but his anger blazed into a fury at its conclusion.
"Do you dare," he cried, with flashing eyes, "to call the charge of my children a menial position?
I say that there is no higher in the kingdom.