ed to him. The child grew calmer. "Mamma," said he, "has
promised to let me sleep in her room because I was very good before all
those wicked men." Four cells, all opening by similar small doors upon
the same corridor, comprised the quarters of the royal family. What a
night! The souvenirs of the previous day came back like dismal dreams.
Their ears were still deafened with furious cries. They seemed to see
the blood of the Swiss flowing like a torrent, the pyramids of corpses
in red uniforms, the flames of the terrible conflagration sweeping the
approaches to the Tuileries. Marie Antoinette seems under an {330}
hallucination; her emotions break her down. Is this woman, confided to
the care of an unknown servant, in this deserted old convent, really
she? Is this the Queen of France and Navarre? This the daughter of
the great Empress Maria Theresa? What uncertainty rests over the fate
of her most faithful servitors! What news will she yet learn? Who has
fallen? Who has survived the carnage? The hours of the night wear on;
Marie Antoinette has not been able to sleep a moment.

The Marquis de Tourzel and M. d'Aubier remained near the King's
bedside. Before sleeping, he talked to them with the utmost calmness
of all that had taken place. "People regret," said he, "that I did not
have the rebels attacked before they could have forced the Assembly;
but besides the fact that in accordance with the terms of the
Constitution, the National Guards might have refused to be the
aggressors, what would have been the result of this attack? The
measures of the insurrection were too well taken for my party to have
been victorious, even if I had not left the Tuileries. Do they forget
that when the seditious Commune massacred M. Mandat, it rendered his
projected defence of no avail?" While Louis XVI. was saying this, the
men placed under the windows were shouting loudly for the Queen's head.
"What has she done to them?" cried the unfortunate sovereign.

The next morning, August 11, several persons were authorized to enter
the cells of the convent. {331} Among them was one of the officers of
the King's bedchamber, Francois Hue, who had incurred the greatest
dangers on the previous day. Cards of admission were distributed by
the inspector of the Assembly hall. A large guard was stationed at all
the issues of the corridor. No one could pass without being stopped
and questioned. After surmounting all obstacles, M. Hue