“But you have seen him?”
“Sire, I went straight to the Duc de Blacas.”
“But you will see him, then?”
“I think not, sire.”
“Ah, I forgot,” said Louis, smiling in a manner which proved that all these questions were not made without a motive; “I forgot you and M. Noirtier are not on the best terms possible, and that is another sacrifice made to the royal cause, and for which you should be recompensed.”
“Sire, the kindness your majesty deigns to evince towards me is a recompense which so far surpasses my utmost ambition that I have nothing more to ask for.”
“Never mind, sir, we will not forget you; make your mind easy. In the meanwhile” (the king here detached the cross of the Legion of Honor which he usually wore over his blue coat, near the cross of St. Louis, above the order of Notre-Dame-du-Mont-Carmel and St. Lazare, and gave it to Villefort)—“in the meanwhile take this cross.”
“Sire,” said Villefort, “your majesty mistakes; this is an officer’s cross.”
“Ma foi!” said Louis XVIII , “take it, such as it is, for I have not the time to procure you another. Blacas, let it be your care to see that the brevet is made out and sent to M. de Villefort.”
Villefort’s eyes were filled with tears of joy and pride; he took the cross and kissed it.
“And now,” he said, “may I inquire what are the orders with which your majesty deigns to honor me?”