e man of sentiment.

IV.

Barnave had found Duport and the Lameths, his friends, in the most
monarchical moods, but from other motives than his own. This triumvirate
was in terms of good understanding at the Tuileries. Lameths and Duport
saw the king. Barnave, who at first dared not venture to visit the
chateau, subsequently went there secretly. The utmost precaution and
concealment attended these interviews. The king and queen sometimes
awaited the youthful orator in a small apartment on the _entre sol_ of
the palace, with a key in their hand, so as to open the door the moment
his footsteps were heard. When these meetings were utterly impossible,
Barnave wrote to the queen. He reckoned greatly on the strength of his
party in the Assembly, because he measured the power of their opinions
by the talent with which they expressed them. The queen did not feel a
similar confidence. "Take courage, madame," wrote Barnave; "it is true
our banner is torn, but the word _Constitution_ is still legible
thereon. This word will recover all its pristine force and _prestige_,
if the king will rally to it sincerely. The friends of this
constitution, retrieving past errors, may still raise and maintain it
firmly. The Jacobins alarm public reason; the emigrants threaten our
nationality. Do not fear the Jacobins--put no trust in the emigrants.
Throw yourself into the national party which now exists. Did not Henry
IV. ascend the throne of a Catholic nation at the head of a Protestant
party?"

The queen with all sincerity adopted this tardy counsel, and arranged
with Barnave all her measures, and all her foreign correspondence. She
neither said nor did any thing which could thwart the plans he had
conceived for the restoration of royal authority. "A feeling of
legitimate pride," said the queen when speaking of him, "a feeling which
I am far from blaming in a young man of talent born in the obscure ranks
of the third estate, has made him desire a revolution which should
smooth the way to fame and influence. But his heart is loyal, and if
ever power is again in our hands, Barnave's pardon is already written on
our hearts." Madame Elizabeth partook of this regard of the king and
queen for Barnave. Defeated at all points, they had ended by believing
that the only persons capable of restoring the monarchy were those who
had destroyed it. This was a fatal superstition. They were induced to
adore that power of the Revolution which they could no