Louis XIV.
gave them wars. Louis XV. gave them the gallantries and scandals of
his Court. Louis XVI. gave them nothing, so they cut off his head. It
was you who helped to bring him to the scaffold, Talleyrand.'
'No, Sire, I was always a moderate.'
'At least, you did not regret his death.'
'The less so, since it has made room for you,
Sire.'
'Nothing could have held me down, Talleyrand. I was born to reach
the highest. It has always been the same with me. I remember when
we were arranging the Treaty of Campo Formio--I a young general under
thirty--there was a high vacant throne with the Imperial arms in the
Commissioner's tent. I instantly sprang up the steps, and threw myself
down upon it. I could not endure to think that there was anything above
myself. And all the time I knew in my heart all that was going to
happen to me. Even in the days when my brother Lucien and I lived in
a little room upon a few francs a week, I knew perfectly well that the
day would come when I should stand where I am now. And yet I had no
prospects and no reason for any great hopes.
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