ore joining the Princess at the gate of the
Chamber the Duc de Nemours had, with his brother the Duc de Montpensier,
seen the King, their father, take his melancholy departure, to escape
the insurrection, against which he could not make up his mind to use
force.

The Duchesse d'Orleans already knew that depriving the King of the crown
was not giving it to her son. Her natural courage, however, and her
maternal affection induced her to make every effort to secure the throne
for the prince of nine years whom the nation had already intrusted to
her keeping. She had seen the Tuileries invaded before leaving that hall
where her husband's portrait by Ingres seemed to preside over her son's
destinies. "It is here one ought to die," she said, when Dupin and
Grammont came to conduct her to the Chamber. Odilon Barret had gone to
bring her, and succeeded in finding her in the Palais-Bourbon. The crowd
showed sympathy for her, and made room respectfully, though she and her
small retinue had difficulty in getting within the palace, every passage
being crowded. The Duchess stood near the tribune holding her two boys
close to her. After Dupin announced the King's abdication, Barrot, after
presenting the legal instrument, asked the Chamber to proclaim at once
the young King and the regency of Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans.

Shouts of protest were heard on several benches. "It is too late!"
exclaimed Lamartine, as he went to the tribune, eager to urge this
difficulty, reject the regency, and demand a provisional government so
that the bloodshed might be stopped. Some others were already mentioning
the word "Republic." The crowd were gradually pouring into the Chamber
from the corriders, and Sauzet, the President, requested strangers to
withdraw, and made a special appeal to the Duchess herself. "Sir, this
is a royal sitting!" she replied; and when her friends urged her, "If I
leave this Chamber, my son will no more return to it." A few minutes
before her arrival, Thiers had entered the Chamber in the greatest
agitation. "The tide is rising, rising, rising!" he said to those who
crowded round him, and then disappeared. Several voices were heard
together in confusion; among the speakers were La Rochejacquelein,
Ledru-Rollin, Marie, and Berryer.

The Duchess had been conducted to a gallery, on account of the threats
of the insurgent battalions, who burst open the doors after General
Gourgaud had in vain tried to stop them. Armand Marrast,