A chin that was already thrust forward.

As it has been thrusting, more or less, through generations of Hapsburgs. The Empress Maria Theresa passed it on to her daughter Marie

THE BLACK TOWER 147.

Antoinette, who married a king of France and gave birth to a boy, and this boy met the world in the same way as his ancestors: the upper jaw retiring, the lower jaw crawling out like a cantilever-producing a drooping lip that looks either pugnacious or dim or shy, depending on the context, and resembles no other lip in the world.

Th e cottage is glazed and serene when we reach it. Woodsmoke crawls from the chimney. In the near distance, a cow and a horse woo each other. . . .

We find him at the rear of the house, kneeling in the damp spring soil, sweating freely through his blouse.

He doesn't know we're there. Vidocq has to insert his massive frame between the sun and the earth-drown the fellow in shadow, like Alexander towering over Diogenes. Only then does the young man pause in his labor and look up.

"Good day," he says.

The hair is dirty blond, unkempt, straggling halfway down the neck. The eyes are blue. The skin is freckled and creased by long exposure to the sun.

The hands . . . scratched, calloused, caked in dirt. The hands of a laborer.

And what have they wrought! My eyes can't even take it in. The austere boxwood patterns of Le Notre-wheels and spirals and paisleys-but crawling with life. Pansies and tulips, crocuses and lungworts, the beginnings of roses and tuberoses and jasmine and pinks. All of it somehow crammed into a twelve-by-fifteen plot.

"What's your name?" I ask him.

The sketch of a smile emerges from that prominent lower jaw . . . then withdraws. He extends one of his loam-coated hands and, like a child reading from a primer, says:

"My name is Charles."

PAR T II.

Saint-Denis 7 Pluv iose Year III Weather last night exceedingly stormy. Wind swept down thru chimneys, f illing Charles' room w/ smoke. Leblanc asked permission to put out f ire in child's room, lest child suffocate. Commissioner Leroux so agreeable to request that Leblanc asked if boy cd eat w/ them in council-room. Leroux, being warm w/ wine, had no objection.

Thus, for 1st time since being shut away, Charles ate in room other than his cell. Behaved, says Leblanc, w/ great poise & civility. This occasioned much baff lement in Commissioner Leroux, who said: Dr C informed me this boy was v. ill. He dont look like hes dying to me.

Leblanc: Hes most certainly not well, Citizen. Knees & wrists v. swollen. Still underweight & in consid pain from walking.

Leroux: Hes well enough. Kindly inform Dr C to stop exaggerating.

Look at him sulking, said Leroux. We shd have left him to suffocate.

Charles' depression returned forthwith. Refused to eat cake. Nibbled on crust of bread.

5 Ventose

Charles has managed to make his chrysanthemums last thru winter. Remarkable achievement, given lack of air & sunlight in his cell. Today I asked him his secret. He said he learned long ago-in Tuileries gardens-one must talk to one's f lowers.

You dont think me mad? he said.

On the contrary, I said, I consider you ingenious. But do f lowers like to play piquet?

With that, I presented him pack of cards. (Had been saving it for this moment.) His eyes grew quite large & he began to rub at them w/ f ists. At 1st I supposed him to be angry, but I recalled that's how he looks when he is trying not to cry. I have yet to see a tear from him.

You know how to play? I asked. He nodded. But for sevrl mins, he was unable even to touch cards. As w/ f lowers, he seemed to doubt evidence of senses.

If you dont mind, he said, Id like just to hold them a bit.

7 Ventose

Yesterday afternoon, Leblanc & Charles were stopped in act of playing piquet by Commissioner Leroux, who informed them they were engaged in unlawful acts.

Unlawful? said Leblanc. Just a little game, Citizen.

Little game! cried Leroux, snatching up cards. Queen of hearts! King of clubs! Hast thou not heard, Citizen? France has rid herself of hereditary monarchy.

Leblanc reiterated it was "all in good fun." Commissioner refused to relent. Said boy cd only play cards if he referred to "queen" as "citizeness" and to "king" as "tyrant." At which Charles pushed away his cards, wanting nothing more to do w/ them. Cards have now been conf iscated by state. Conf iscated by state.

Upon hearing this, I told Leblanc that tomorrow I shall bring Charles 2 new packs of cards. If Citizen Leroux wishes to conf iscate these, he will 1st have to conf iscate me, which he cannot do w/o express consent of Genl Barras.

8 Ventose On way to Charles' cell this a.m., I was pulled aside by Commissioner Leroux, who asked if I was guilty of restoring card-playing privileges to Prisoner. I confessed I was. Leroux told me he does not like my "presumptions," which he hastened to call "aristocratic." I told him I do not like his manners, which are not greatly improved by his drinking. I believe he was ready to strike me. I am glad he did not, for I wd not have been answerable for my own conduct.

12 Ventose to find them still f lourishing. In course of "conversing" w/ plants, he asked if I had not incurred a great deal of wrath on his account?

Charles asked if he could go to top of tower again. He was quite concerned re condition of his ornamental cabbages & was relieved

I assured him it was not on his account but on mine. I have never cared for bullies, regardless of what off ice they hold.

For some time, he persisted in tending to plants, occasionally humming to them. He then asked if I might point out my house to him.

From here? I said. Oh, you cannot see it. Notre-Dame gets in the way. We live on other side of Ile de la Cite. In the Latin Quarter.

We, he said, rather shyly. You have a wife?

Yes.

A child, too, perhaps?

A boy named Hector.