"I despair because all France thinks like Paris, and your army if victorious in the capital, will be engulfed by the other towns. Have courage enough, my lady, to sheathe the sword."
"Is this why I have gathered brave men around me? why I breathed courage into them?" wailed the Queen.
"If you are not of my opinion, madam, order, and we march at once to Paris! Speak."
So much devotion was in this offer that the hearer was appalled. She threw herself disconsolate on a sofa, where she struggled for a long time with her pride.
"Count," she said at length, "I shall remain inactive as you desire. I am not cross, though I have one thing to scold you for. I only learn by chance that you have a brother in the military service."
"Valence is in Bercheny's Hussars, yes, madam."
"Why have you never spoken of the young man? he deserves a higher grade in the regiment."
"He is young and inexperienced; he is not fit to command. If your Majesty deigned to lower your view upon me, a Charny, that is no reason for me to elevate my family at the expense of brave gentlemen worthier than brothers of mine."
"You have other brothers?"
"Isidore is another; two ready to die for your Majesty."