atchword or direction. "What is
going to become of all those who have stayed up stairs?" said
he.--"Sire," replied Roederer, "it seemed to me that they were all in
colored coats. Those who have swords need only lay them off, follow
you, and go out through the garden."--"That is true," returned Louis
XVI. In the vestibule, a little further on, as he was about to quit
the fatal palace which fate had condemned him never to re-enter, he had
a last moment of scruple and hesitation. He said again: "But after
all, there are not many people on the Carrousel."

"True, Sire," replied Roederer; "but the faubourgs will soon arrive,
and all the sections are armed, and have assembled at the municipality;
besides, there are neither men enough here, nor are they determined
enough to resist the actual gathering on the Carrousel, which has
twelve pieces of artillery."

The die is cast; Louis XVI. abandons the Tuileries. Respect alone
restrains the grief and indignation that move the Swiss soldiers and
the noblemen whose weapons and whose blood have been refused. They
looked down from the windows at the cortege, or better, the funeral
procession of royalty. It was about seven o'clock in the morning. The
escort was drawn up in two lines. The members of the department formed
a circle around the royal family. Roederer walked first. Then came
the King, with {295} Bigot de Sainte-Croix, Minister of Foreign
Affairs, at his side; the Queen followed, giving her left arm to M. du
Bouchage, Minister of Marine, and her right hand to the Dauphin, who
held Madame de Tourzel with the other; then Madame Royale and Madame
Elisabeth, with De Joly, Minister of Justice; the Minister of War,
D'Abancourt, leading the Princess de Lamballe. The Ministers of the
Interior and of Taxes, Champion de Villeneuve and Le Roux de la Ville,
closed the procession. The air was pure and the morning radiant. The
sun lighted up the garden, the marble sculpture, and the sheets of
water. Birds sang under the trees, and nature smiled on this day of
mourning as if it were a festival.

Looking at the populace, Madame Elisabeth said: "All those people have
gone astray; I should like them to be converted; I should not like them
to be punished." Tears stood in the eyes of the little Madame Royale.
The Princess de Lamballe said mournfully: "We shall never return to the
Tuileries!" The Prince de Poix, the Duke de Choiseul, Counts
d'Haussonville, de Viomenil, de Herv