Comte de Vegin, Abbe of Saint Germain des Pres.—­Revenues Required, but Not the Cowl.—­Discussion between the King and the Marquise.—­Madame Scarron Chosen as Arbiter.—­An Unanswerable Argument.

The wealthy abbey of Saint Germain des Pres—­[Yielding a revenue of five hundred thousand livres.]—­was vacant; the King appointed thereto his son, the Comte de Vegin, and as the Benedictine monks secretly complained that they should have given to them as chief a child almost still in its cradle, the King instructed the grand almoner to remind them that they had had as abbes in preceding reigns princes who were married and of warlike tastes.  “Such abuses,” said the prelate, “were more than reprehensible; his Majesty is incapable of wishing to renew them.  As to the Prince’s extreme youth, that is in no way prejudicial to you, my brethren, as monseigneur will be suitably represented by his vicar-general until such time as he is able to assume the governorship himself.”

“Is it your intention to condemn my son to be an ecclesiastic?” I asked the King, in amazement.

“Madame, these are my views,” he answered:  “If the Comte de Vegin as he grows up should continue to show pluck and a taste for things military, as by birth he is bound to do, we will relieve him of the abbey on the eve of his marriage, while he will have profited thereby up to that time.  If, on the contrary, my son should show but inferior mental capacity, and a pusillanimous character, there will be no harm in his remaining among the Church folk; he will be far better off there than elsewhere.  The essential thing for a parent is to study carefully and in good time the proper vocation for his children; the essential thing for the ruler of an Empire is to employ the right people to do the work in hand.”

“Will my son, on receiving this abbey, have to wear the dress of his office?” I asked.  “Imagine the Comte de Vegin an abbe!”

“Do not feel the slightest repugnance on that score,” added the King.  “The Electors of the German Empire are nearly all of them ecclesiastics; our own history of France will show you that the sons of kings were bishops or mere abbes; the grandson of the Duc de Savoie is a cardinal and an archbishop, and King Charles X., my grandfather’s paternal uncle, nearly became King of France and cardinal at one and the same time.”

At this moment Madame Scarron came in.  “Madame, we will make you our judge in the argument that we are now having,” said his Majesty.  “Do you think there is any objection to our giving to little Vegin the dress of an abbe?”

“On the contrary, Sire,” replied the governess, smiling, “such a dress will inspire him betimes with reserve and modesty, strengthening his principles, and making far more profitable to him the excellent education which he is now receiving.”

“I am obliged to you for your opinion,” said the King, “and I flatter myself, madame, that you see things in the same light that I do.”