nt, I ventured on expressing my concurrence with the opinion
that a mere mob, unprepared, unarmed, and undisciplined, could never
have held for an hour against the troops had there not been foul play.

"Where do you suspect this treachery to have existed?" asked my
companion.

The tone of the question, even more than its substance, confused me, for
I felt myself driven to a vague reply in explanation of a direct charge.
I answered, however, that the magnitude of the danger could scarcely
have been unknown to many men highly placed in the service of
Charles X.; and yet it was clear the King never rightly understood that
any real peril impended. The whole outbreak was treated as an
"echauffouree".

"I can assure you of your error, so far," replied my companion. "The
greatest difficulty we encountered----" There was a slight pause here,
as if by use of the word "we" an unwitting betrayal had escaped him. He
speedily, however, resumed:--"The greatest difficulty was to persuade
his Majesty that the entire affair was any thing but a street brawl. He
treated the accounts with an indifference bordering on contempt; and at
every fresh narrative of the repulse of the troops, he seemed to
feel that the lesson to be inflicted subsequently would be the most
efficacious check to popular excess in future. To give an instance,--a
very slight one, but not without its moral, of the state of feeling of
the court,--at four o'clock of the afternoon of the third day, when the
troops had fallen back from the Place du Carrousel, and with great loss
been compelled to retreat towards the Champs Elysees, Captain Langlet,
of the 4th Lancers, volunteered to carry a verbal message to Versailles,
in doing which he should traverse a great part of Paris in the
occupation of the insurgents. The attempt was a bold and daring one,
but it succeeded. After innumerable hairbreadth dangers and escapes, he
reached Versailles at half-past seven. His horse had twice fallen,
and his uniform was torn by balls; and he entered the courtyard of the
Palace just as his Majesty learned that his dinner was served. Lang-let
hastened up the great staircase, and, by the most pressing entreaties to
the officer in waiting, obtained permission to wait there till the king
should pass. He stood there for nearly a quarter of an hour; it seemed
an age to him, for though faint, wounded, and weary, his thoughts were
fixed on the scene of struggle he had quitted, and the diminishin