Elementary Lessons in the French Language

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General Books, 2013 - Literary Collections - 88 pages
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1869 edition. Excerpt: ...for such a long time, with an astonishment mingled with admiration. "Now, will you tell me who you are?" Dantes asked.--" Yes, indeed! if that may still interest you, now that I can no longer be of any use to you."--"You may be of use to me, in comforting and in supporting me, for you seem to me strong among the strong." The abbe sadly smiled. "I am abbe Faria," he said, "a prisoner since 1811, as you know, in If Castle; but I had been already for three years confined in the fortress of Fenestrelles. In 1811, they transferred me from Piedmont to France. It was then I heard that destiny, which at that time seemed submitted to him, had given a son to Napoleon; and that that son, in his cradle, had been named king of Rome. I was far from suspecting then what you told me just now: it is that, four years later, this Colossus would be upset. Who is then reigning in France? Is it Napoleon II. r--"No, it is Louis XVIII."--" Louis XVIII., the brother of Louis XVI.! The decrees of heaven are strange and mysterious! What has then been the intention of la Providence en abaissant l'homme qu'elle avait eleve et en elevant celui qu'elle avait abaisse?" Dantes suivait des yeux cet homme qui oubliait un instant sa propre destinee pour se preoccuper ainsi des destinees du monde. "Oui, oui, continua-t-il, c'est comme en Angleterre: apres Charles Ier, Cromwell; apres Cromwell, Charles II, et peut-etre apres Jacques II, un prince d'Orange, un stathouder qui se fera roi; et alors de nouvelles concessions au peuple, alors une constitution, alors la liberte! Vous verrez cela, jeune homme, dit-il en se retournant vers Dantes et en le regardant avec des yeux brillants et profonds...

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