‘No; but I mean to ask, were the sentiments your own, without any external influence, or any persuasions from others?’
‘Quite my own.’
‘And the narrative is true?’
‘Strictly so, I believe.’
‘Even to your meeting with the Due d’Enghien. It was purely accidental?’
‘That is, I never knew him to be the duke till the moment of his arrest.’
‘Just so; you thought he was merely a Royalist noble. Then, why did you not address a memoir to that effect to the Minister?’
‘I thought it would be useless; when they made so little of a Condé, what right had I to suppose they would think much about me?’
‘If he could have proved his innocence——’ He stopped, and then in an altered voice said—‘But as to this memoir; you assume considerable airs of military knowledge in it, and many of the opinions smack of heads older than yours.’
‘They are, I repeat, my own altogether; as to their presumption, I have already told you they were intended solely for my own eye.’