"As you are now a king, Henry, which of your predecessors do you propose to imitate?"
"I will be good like you, grandpapa, firm like Henry IV., and mighty like Louis XIV.," replied Henry, after some consideration.
"And whom would you name as your prime-minister?" asked the king again.
"The one who flattered me least."
"And for your private adviser?"
"The one who always tells me the truth—the Baron von Damas."
"Very good, Henry," interposed his mother, "but what would you ask of God in order that you might be able to reign well?"
"Mamma, for firmness and justice."
Providence has not willed that the Duke de Chambord should realize the ideas of the Bean king; but for the whole of his life he remained true to the promise of his youth.