last orders, M. de Bouille despatched the
Duke de Choiseul to Paris, with orders to await the king's instructions,
and to precede his departure by twelve hours. M. de Choiseul was to
desire his servants to be at Varennes on the 18th with his own horses,
which would draw the king's carriage; the spot where the horses were
placed was to be clearly explained to the king, in order that they might
be changed without any loss of time. On his return M. de Choiseul had
instructions to take the command of the hussars posted at Pont
Sommeville, to await the king, to escort him with his hussars as far as
Sainte-Menehould, and to station his troopers there, with positive
orders to allow no one to pass on the road from Paris to Verdun, and
from Paris to Varennes, for four and twenty hours after the king's
arrival. M. de Choiseul received from M. de Bouille orders signed by the
king himself, enjoining him, as well as all the other commanding
officers of the detachments, to employ force, should it be necessary, to
rescue his majesty if the populace attempted to lay violent hands on
him. In case the carriage was stopped at Lyons, M. de Choiseul was to
give instant information to the general to assemble all the detachments,
and march to the king's rescue. He received six hundred louis in gold,
to distribute amongst the soldiers, and thus insure their fidelity, when
the king arrived and made himself known to them.

M. de Guoguelas left at the same for Paris, to reconnoitre the roads a
second time, passing by Stenay, Dun, Varennes, and Sainte Menehould, and
to explain clearly to the king the topography of the country; he was
also to bring back the latest orders for M. de Bouille, and to return to
Montmedy by another route. The Marquis de Bouille left Metz himself,
under pretence of visiting the fortresses under his command, and drew
near Montmedy. The 15th he was at Longwy, where he received a message
from the king, informing him that they had put off their journey for
four and twenty hours, in consequence of the necessity of concealing
the preparations for their departure from a femme de chambre of the
queen, a fanatical democrat, who was fully capable of betraying them,
and whose duties only terminated on the 19th. His majesty added that the
Marquis d'Agoult would not accompany him, because Madame de Tourzel, the
governess of the royal children, had claimed the privileges of her post,
and wished to accompany them.

This delay rendered