air, in which she had hidden it. The sight of
it redoubled the assassins' fury. They stuck her head on a pike, and
carried it in triumph to the Palais Royal to display it to D'Orleans, who
was feasting with some of the companions of his daily orgies, and then
proceeded to the Temple to brandish it before the eyes of the queen.

It was about three o'clock.[4] Dinner had just been removed, and the king
and queen were sitting down to play backgammon, when horrid shouts were
heard in the street. One of the soldiers on guard in the room, who had not
yet laid aside every feeling of humanity, closed the window and even drew
the curtain. Another of different temper insisted that Louis should come
to the window and show himself. As the uproar increased, the queen rose
from her seat, and the king asked what was the matter. "Well," said the
man, "since you wish to know, they want to show you the head of Madame de
Lamballe." No event that had yet occurred had struck the queen with such
anguish. The uproar increased. Those who bore the head had wished even to
force the doors, and bring their trophy, still bleeding, into the very
room where the royal family were, and were only prevented by a compromise
which permitted them to parade it round their tower in triumph. As the
shouts died away, Petion's secretary arrived with a small sum of money
which had been issued for the king's use. He noticed that the queen stood
all the time that he was in the room, and fancied she assumed that
attitude out of respect to the mayor. She had never stirred since she had
heard of the princess's death, but had stood rooted, as it were, to the
ground, stupefied and speechless with horror and anguish. It was long
before she could be restored; and all through the night the rest of the
princesses, if at least they could have slept, was broken by her sobs,
which never ceased.

As time passed on, the prospects of the unhappy prisoners became still
more gloomy. On the 21st of September the Convention met, and its first
act was to abolish royalty and declare the government a republic, and an
officer was instantly sent to make proclamation of the event under the
Temple walls; and, as if the establishment of a republic authorized an
increase of insolence on the part of the guards of the prisoners, the
insults to which they were subjected grew more frequent and more gross.
Sentences both menacing and indecent were written on the walls where they
must catch their e