"Oh," he cried, "poor, dear mamma! I don't see how anyone can leave you, and not come back? I will never leave you, never, never!"
"God grant it!" sighed the queen, pressing him tenderly to her. "May He grant it—oh, my precious child!" and then with his face close to hers, and a little hand held tight in the big one of his father, whose arm was around them both, Louis continued:
"If it is mine now, please tell me what it means—that name, the Dauphin."
The king answered:
"My son, this is what it means. You are now the eldest son of the King of France, and some day you will be the king, and to you belong now the titles and honours that were your brother's. Do you understand?"
Instead of showing appreciation, Louis' blue eyes looked entreatingly at the Queen, and his lips quivered.
"Mamma," he whispered, "I like being Duke of Normandy best. Will you love me any better if I am called the Dauphin?"
"No, dear child," answered the Queen tenderly, "I shall not love you better, but you are no longer the Duke of Normandy. You are the Dauphin now, the future King of France!" A sob choked the words as Marie Antoinette turned hastily away to hide her grief, and in doing so, she put her foot on the flowers which little Louis had brought her. His face clouded as he saw this, then with a bright smile he looked into the Queen's face, saying quickly:
"Mamma, I wish you always walked on flowers I picked for you."
Without a word Marie Antoinette turned, and clasping him in her arms, was comforted. Then, reminded of state duties to be done, she was about to release him when he whispered: