But the Count d'Artois was in safety in another country, his children were secure from my pretended murders, they were nearer the throne than myself.

What a series of follies, absurdities, or useless crimes! The French nation, amidst the Revolution, have neither changed their character nor their sentiments.

I fully believe that the Count d'Artois, whom I have myself loved, will prove this.

I believe that by drawing nearer to a monarch whom he loves, and by whom he is loved, and to a people to whose love his brilliant qualities give him so great a right, he will, when these troubles have ceased, enjoy this portion of his inheritance, the love which the most sensible and affectionate of nations has vowed to the descendants of HENRI IV." XI.
These excuses, mingled doubtless with expressions of repentance and tears, and heightened by those attitudes and gestures, more eloquent than words, that add so much pathos to solemn explanations, convinced the heart if not the mind of the king; and he forgave--he excused, and he trusted.

"I am of your opinion," said he to his minister, yet a prey to the emotion of this scene, "that the Duc d'Orleans really regrets his past errors, and that he will do all in his power to repair the evil he has done, and in which perhaps he has not had so great a share as we believed." The prince left the king's apartments reconciled with himself, and more than ever resolved to withdraw himself from the factious party.