360 THE LION KILLER. 



work I had begun. There are some gifts where the manner 

 of tendering them, doubles their value. I would be ungrate- 

 ful did I not here mention with what touching grace these 

 arms were offered to me. 



On the day of my presentation at the Tuileries, the 

 Duchess of Orleans, whose triple title of princess, woman, 

 and widow, excited my more than ordinary regard, gave me 

 a private audience in her apartments. Her greeting, so full 

 of a woman's tenderness and royal grace, moved me to 

 tears. 



After having for a little time turned the conversation upon 

 African topics, and hunting adventures, at the recital of 

 which she more than once trembled for the conqueror, as she 

 graciously remarked ; she led me to her two boys, the Duke 

 de Chartres and the Count de Paris, and prayed *me to give 

 them the history, in its minutest particulars, of the death of 

 the lion whose skin I had presented to her, which was the 

 great red lion of the Mahounah. I obeyed the duchess, and 

 told my tale to listening ears. 



When I had finished the story, which seemed to make a 

 great impression upon my young auditors, judging from the 

 many emotions which by turn lit up their countenances, 

 particularly when I told how the lion in his death struggles, 

 after my shots were all spent, broke my poniard in his side, 

 the Count de Paris abruptly left the room. 



In a moment after, he came back to me with a case in his 

 hand, saying : 



" Monsieur Gerard, you run great dangers, and those 

 wicked beasts will some day play you a bad trick. So 

 good a hunter must be a good soldier, and we will want to 

 keep you in the army. You have a sword and gun, you still 

 need pistols, therefore take these of mine, and may they be 

 of use to you in your hour of need." 



I forgot the prince, and only recognized the kind heart 

 that dictated the action as I pressed the hand he extended 



