152 SPORTING IN BOTH HEMISPHERES. 



" Your Christian name 1" 



" Charles." 



The document being completed, the pen was passed from 

 one hand to another, that each might sign his name. It 

 came to the king's turn. At this moment a man, who had 

 hitherto appeared absorbed in his own reflections, advanced 

 towards the father of the child, and whispered in his ear. 



"It is the king !" " Vive le Roi!" exclaimed all the party. 



"The king!" gasped the old cure, letting his hands fall 

 upon the table, and throwing his head backwards " Sire, 

 pardon, excuse me ; what an honour for my church, for 

 myself, for all these poor people ! Ah ! if we had only 

 known beforehand, we would have received you at the porch 

 with the dais and the cross, as they do at Notre Dame when 

 your Majesty attends a religious ceremony." 



" The king !" cried all the assembly, in unison ; and then 

 arose a concert of ejaculations, questions, and mutual inter- 

 rogations. " What ! the king consent to be godfather to Jean 

 Paul's wife ?" " Where did she go to find him T " What 

 courage !" "What luck for her and her child !" "He would 

 be a fortunate infant, at all events." "When one has a king of 

 France for godfather, something good must come of it." "But 

 who would have thought that the gentleman in the old grey 

 casquette was the king T " It is odd how very like a king is to 

 another man." " I had some idea of it before," said an old 

 peasant ; " I have often seen him in the same costume before, 

 on the road to Yilleneuve 1'Etang, when he goes to visit 

 Madame la Dauphine." 



The mother of the new-born baby was almost wild with 

 joy. The father was on his knees before Charles X., and 

 could not articulate a word, owing to the overwhelming idea 

 of the king being godfather to his child. 



The rumour of the king's presence was soon spread over the 

 village. A crowd approached the church Irom all directions, 



