The King came and chatted to me. He complimented me again on the note on the majority: it pleased him because it left the abdications on one side as an accomplished thing, required no signature except Henry's and revived no sores. According to Charles X., the declaration would be sent from Vienna to M. de Pastoret before my return to France; I bowed with an incredulous smile. His Majesty, after striking me on the shoulder according to his custom, asked:
"Chateaubriand, where are you going now?"
"Quite foolishly to Paris, Sire."
"No, no, not foolishly," replied the King, seeking, with a sort of uneasiness, to discover what was at the back of my thought
The newspapers were brought in; the Dauphin took possession of the English journals; suddenly, amid profound silence, he translated aloud the following passage from the Times:
"The Baron de—- is here; he is four feet high, seventy—five years old and as brisk as though he were fifty."
And Monseigneur said nothing more.
The King retired; M. de Blacas said to me:
"You ought to come to Leoben with us."