re king, all-powerful master and king, for chance sometimes defeats
the work of time and God. I am here alone with you, my lord: if divided
success alarms you, if my complicity annoys you, you are armed, my lord,
and here is a grave ready dug; if, on the contrary, the enthusiasm of
your cause carries you away, if you are what you appear to be, if your
hand in what it undertakes obeys your mind, and your mind your heart,
here are the means of ruining forever the cause of your enemy, Charles
Stuart. Kill, then, the man you have before you, for that man will never
return to him who has sent him without bearing with him the deposit
which Charles I., his father, confided to him, and keep the gold which
may assist in carrying on the civil war. Alas! my lord, it is the
fate of this unfortunate prince. He must either corrupt or kill, for
everything resists him, everything repulses him, everything is hostile
to him; and yet he is marked with the divine seal, and he must, not to
belie his blood, reascend the throne, or die upon the sacred soil of his
country.'

"My lord, you have heard me. To any other but the illustrious man who
listens to me, I would have said: 'My lord, you are poor; my lord, the
king offers you this million as an earnest of an immense bargain; take
it, and serve Charles II. as I served Charles I., and I feel assured
that God, who listens to us, who sees us, who alone reads in your
heart, shut from all human eyes,--I am assured God will give you a
happy eternal life after a happy death.' But to General Monk, to the
illustrious man of whose standard I believe I have taken measure, I
say: 'My lord, there is for you in the history of peoples and kings a
brilliant place, an immortal, imperishable glory, if alone, without
any other interest but the good of your country and the interests of
justice, you become the supporter of your king. Many others have been
conquerors and glorious usurpers; you, my lord, you will be content with
being the most virtuous, the most honest, and the most incorruptible of
men: you will have held a crown in your hand, and instead of placing it
upon your own brow, you will have deposited it upon the head of him for
whom it was made. Oh, my lord, act thus, and you will leave to posterity
the most enviable of names, in which no human creature can rival you.'"

Athos stopped. During the whole time that the noble gentleman was
speaking, Monk had not given one sign of either approbation or
di