"Sire, the thing is done: I beg your Majesty's permission to say nothing."
"No, no, speak: you know how I resisted since Ghent."
"Sire, I only obey your orders; pardon my loyalty: I think the Monarchy is finished."
The King kept silence; I was beginning to tremble at my boldness, when His Majesty resumed:
"Well, Monsieur de Chateaubriand, I am of your opinion."
This conversation concludes my story of the Hundred Days.
[308] Darius III., the last King of Persia (d. 331 B.C.), defeated by Alexander at Arbela and assassinated by Bessus Satrap of Bactriana in his flight.—T.
[309] Jean Charles Léonard Simonde de Sismondi (1773-1842), the Swiss Calvinist historian and economist, author of, among many other voluminous works, the Histoire des Français, in 29 volumes, an erudite but prejudiced compilation.—T.
[310] Lucien Bonaparte.—T.