afternoon by an agent
of the Comte de Paris to know if it were probable that Boulanger
would join the Monarchists to defeat the chances of Jules Ferry. The
party of the Comte de Paris had recently gathered strength both by
the death of the Comte de Chambord and that of the Prince Imperial.
But it was also divided. There were those who called themselves
of the old school, who held to the high-minded traditions which
had caused M. Thiers to say to one of them in 1871, "You are of
all parties the most honest,--I do not say the most intelligent,
but the most honest;" and the men of the new school,--men of the
close of the century, as they called themselves,--who thought all
means good that led to a good end, and were for energetic action.
To this party belonged the Comtesse de Paris, daughter of the Duc
de Montpensier and of the Infanta Luisa of Spain. She had been
known to say emphatically: "I don't like people who are always
going to do something to-morrow,--like the Comte de Chambord; such
princes die in exile."

The Duc d'Aumale, on the contrary, despised crooked ways; and the
hope of an intrigue or alliance with General Boulanger was not
named to him by his nephew, especially as there was good reason
to think he would never have consented to make a useful instrument
of the man who had so ill-treated him when Minister of War.

The idea, however, had suddenly presented itself to the agents
of the Comte de Paris (if it had not been previously suggested
to him) that General Boulanger might be won over to play the part
of General Monk, or failing this, that he might not be unwilling
to ally himself with the Monarchists to defeat the election of
M. Ferry.

It was to hold an interview with the gentleman who represented
the cause of the Comte de Paris that Boulanger was summoned from
the conference going on at M. Laguerre's.

The Royalist agent proposed that M. Grevy should be retained as
president, and promised that his party in the Chamber would support
any ministry which should include General Boulanger, and of which he
should be virtually the head. In return, Boulanger was to give his
support to an appeal to the people, to see what form of government
France would prefer. It was added that if Boulanger were Minister
of War, he could do what he pleased with the army; and thus France,
well managed, might change from a republic to a monarchy by the
will of the people and without civil war.

The general listened quietly