He was certainly acting in a manner to astonish the world. He was
not yet of sufficient age or standing to succeed to his father's
chair as the President of one of the Chambers of the Parliament, but
his promotion as one of the gens du roi (crown lawyers) had been
secured by annual fees almost ever since he was born, and the robe of
the Consellor who was promoted to the Presidency in the elder
Darpent's room was awaiting him, when he declared his intention of
accepting nothing that had been bought for him, but of continuing a
simple advocate, and only obtaining what he could earn by his merits,
not what was purchased. To this no doubt the feelings imbibed from
my brother and sister had brought him. The younger men, and all the
party who were still secret frondeurs, applauded him loudly, and he
was quietly approved by the Chief President Mole who had still hopes
that the domineering of the Prince of Conde and the unpopularity of
Cardinal Mazarin would lead to changes in which ardent and self-
devoted souls, like Clement's, could come to front and bring about
improvements. The Coadjutor de Gondi, who was bent on making himself
the head of a party, likewise displayed much admiration for one so
disinterested, but I am afraid it was full of satire; and most people
spoke of young Darpent as a fool, or else as a dangerous character.
And it might very possibly be that if he fell under suspicion, his
solitude might not be that of Port Royal but of the Bastille.
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