placard had been stuck up
through one region of the city, in the morning, declaring that whoever
insulted the king should be caned: whoever applauded him should be
hanged. The people were quiet, gaped and stared, and seemed neither
very much pleased nor very angry. The king now began to speak once
more. As one body of official personages after another met him, he
said, over and over again, with an embarrassed sort of smile, "Well,
here I am!" Again we cannot help thinking what a pity it was that he
was not a locksmith, happy in his workshop in one of the meaner streets
of Paris. As for his little son, how happy would Louis now have been to
be the son of the poor herb-man in the wood of Bondy, gathering his dewy
herbs in the fresh, free morning air and sunshine, and going to sleep at
sundown, far from crowds and quarrels and fears! Never more was this
unfortunate child in the open country. He had this day seen the last of
green fields, breezy hills, and waving woods.

The couriers were the first objects of the people's wrath. Some at
length left off staring at the king and queen, and seizing the three men
in yellow liveries, would have massacred them, if the Assembly had not
sent a force to rescue them.

Glad was the poor queen to get out of sight of the hundreds of thousands
of gazers, and to be within the courts of the Tuileries: but she found
little comfort there. Three women only were appointed to wait on her;
and those three were Madame R---the spy, her sister, and niece. It was
only after the king had remonstrated with General Lafayette, that the
queen could obtain the attendance of her former servants. She much
needed the presence of some to whom she could speak without restraint;
and yet this was an indulgence she found it prudent to wait for.
Immediately on her arrival she caused these few lines, unsigned, to be
forwarded by a faithful hand to Madame Campan:--"I dictate this from my
bath, by which my bodily strength at least may be recruited. I can say
nothing of the state of my mind. We exist: that is all. Do not return
till summoned by me. This is very important." It was not till seven or
eight weeks after that Madame Campan saw her royal mistress. The queen
was then rising from bed. She took off her cap, and showed her hair,
white as any aged person's, saying that it had become bleached in one
night.

VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER NINE.

PLAYING FALSE.

From this time forward, the National