oice.
"I persist," continued the conventionary G---- "You have mentioned Louis XVII.
to me.
Let us come to an understanding.
Shall we weep for all the innocent, all martyrs, all children, the lowly as well as the exalted?
I agree to that.
But in that case, as I have told you, we must go back further than ''93, and our tears must begin before Louis XVII.
I will weep with you over the children of kings, provided that you will weep with me over the children of the people."
"I weep for all," said the Bishop.
"Equally!" exclaimed conventionary G----; "and if the balance must incline, let it be on the side of the people.
They have been suffering longer."
Another silence ensued.
The conventionary was the first to break it. He raised himself on one elbow, took a bit of his cheek between his thumb and his forefinger, as one does mechanically when one interrogates and judges, and appealed to the Bishop with a gaze full of all the forces of the death agony.
It was almost an explosion.
"Yes, sir, the people have been suffering a long while.
And hold! that is not all, either; why have you just questioned me and talked to me about Louis XVII.? I know you not.
Ever since I have been in these parts I have dwelt in this enclosure alone, never setting foot outside, and seeing no one but that child who helps me. Your name has reached me in a confused manner, it is true, and very badly pronounced, I must admit; but that signifies nothing: