illy, and de Pont-l'Abbe, the
Marquis de Briges, Chevalier de Fleurieu, Viscount de Saint-Priest, the
Marquis de Nantouillet, MM. de Fresnes and de Salaignac, the King's
equerries, and Saint-Pardoux, the equerry of Madame Elisabeth, followed
the sad procession. They passed through the grand alley unobstructed
as far as the parterres, then turned to the right, {296} toward the
alley of the chestnut trees. There a halt of some minutes occurred, in
order to give time for warning the Assembly. Louis XVI. looked down at
a heap of dead leaves which had been swept up by the gardeners after a
storm the night before. "There are a good many leaves," said the King;
"they are falling early this year." It was only a few days before that
Manuel had written in a journal that the King would not last until the
falling of the leaves. Perhaps Louis XVI. remembered the prophecy of
the revolutionist; the Dauphin, with the carelessness belonging to his
age, amused himself by kicking about the dead leaves, the leaves that
had fallen as his father's crown was falling at this moment.

Before the royal family could enter the Assembly chamber, it was
necessary that the step the King had taken should be announced to the
deputies. The president of the department undertook this commission.
A deputation of twenty-four members was at once sent to meet Louis XVI.
They found him in the large alley at the foot of the terrace of the
Feuillants, a few steps from the staircase leading up to it, and which
goes as far as the lobby through which one enters the hall occupied by
the National Assembly. "Sire," said the leader of the deputation, "the
Assembly, eager to contribute to your safety, offers to you and your
family an asylum in its midst."

During this time, the terrace and the staircase had become thronged by
a furious crowd. A man {297} carrying a long pole cried out in rage:
"No, no; they shall not enter the Assembly. They are the cause of all
our troubles. This must be ended. Down with them!" Roederer,
standing on the fourth step of the staircase, cried: "Citizens, I
demand silence in the name of the law. You seem disposed to prevent
the King and his family from entering the National Assembly; you are
not justified in opposing it. The King has a place there in virtue of
the Constitution; and though his family has none legally, they have
just been authorized by a decree to go there. Here are the deputies
sent to meet the King; they wi