He instanced himself as a devotee to simplicity. And
Leblanc he instanced as a crowning instance of the splendour of this
quality. Upon that they all agreed.
When at last the company about the tables broke up, the king found
himself brimming over with a peculiar affection and admiration for
Leblanc, he made his way to him and drew him aside and broached what he
declared was a small matter. There was, he said, a certain order in his
gift that, unlike all other orders and decorations in the world,
had never been corrupted. It was reserved for elderly men of supreme
distinction, the acuteness of whose gifts was already touched to
mellowness, and it had included the greatest names of every age so
far as the advisers of his family had been able to ascertain them.
At present, the king admitted, these matters of stars and badges were
rather obscured by more urgent affairs, for his own part he had never
set any value upon them at all, but a time might come when they would
be at least interesting, and in short he wished to confer the Order
of Merit upon Leblanc. His sole motive in doing so, he added, was his
strong desire to signalise his personal esteem. He laid his hand
upon the Frenchman's shoulder as he said these things, with an almost
brotherly affection.
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