The Royal Life Guard; or, the flight of the royal family.

by Alexandre Dumas

  CHAPTER XV.

  POOR CATHERINE.

  The scene was slightly changed in aspect.

  The little princess could not resist the weariness and she was put abedbeside her brother, where both slumbered.

  Lady Elizabeth stood by, leaning her head against the wall.

  Shivering with anger the Queen stood near the fireplace, lookingalternatively at the King, seated on a bale of goods, and on the fourofficers deliberating near the door.

  An old woman knelt by the children and prayed; it was the attorney'sgrandmother who was struck by the beauty of the children and the Queen'simposing air.

  Sausse and his colleagues had gone out, promising that the horses shouldbe harnessed to the carriage.

  But the Queen's bearing showed that she attached little faith to thepledge, which caused Choiseul to say to his party:

  "Gentlemen, do not trust to the feigned tranquility of our masters;the position is not hopeless and we must look it in the face. Theprobability is that at present, Marquis Bouille has been informed, andwill be arriving here about six, as he ought to be at hand with some ofthe royal Germans. His vanguard may be only half an hour before him; forin such a scrape all that is possible ought to be performed. But we mustnot deceive ourselves about the four or five thousand men surroundingus, and that the moment they see the troops, there will be dreadfulexcitement and imminent danger.

  "They will try to drag the King back from Varennes, put him on ahorse and carry him to Clermont, threaten and have a try at his lifeperhaps--but this will only be a temporary danger," added Choiseul, "andas soon as the barricades are stormed and our cavalry inside the town,the route will be complete. Therefore we ten men must hold out as manyminutes; as the land lays we may hope to lose but a man a minute, sothat we have time enough."

  The audience nodded; this devotion to the death's point, thus plainlyset down, was accepted with the same simplicity.

  "This is what we must do," continued the count, "at the first shot wehear and shout without, we rush into the outer room, where we killeverybody in it, and take possession of the outlets: three windows,where three of us defend. The seven others stand on the stairs whichthe winding will facilitate our defending as one may face a score. Thebodies of the slain will serve as rampart; it is a hundred to one thatthe troops will be masters of the town, before we are killed to the lastman, and though that happens, we will fill a glorious page in history,as recompense for our sacrifice."

  The chosen ones shook hands on this pledge like Spartans, and selectedtheir stations during the action: the two Lifeguards, and Isidore, whoseplace was kept though he was absent, at the three casements on thestreet; Choiseul at the staircase foot; next him, Damas, and the rest ofthe soldiers.

  As they settled their arrangements, bustle was heard in the street.

  In came a second deputation headed by Sausse, the National Guardscommander Hannonet, and three or four town officers. Thinking theycame to say the horses were put to the coach, the King ordered theiradmittance.

  The officers who were trying to read every token, believed that Saussebetrayed hesitation but that Hannonet had a settled will which was ofevil omen.

  At the same time, Isidore ran up and whispered a few words to the Queenbefore he went out again. She went to the children, pale, and leaned onthe bed.

  As the deputation bowed without speaking, the King pretended to inferwhat they came upon, and said:

  "Gentlemen, the French have merely gone astray, and their attachmentto their monarch is genuine. Weary of the excesses daily felt in mycapital, I have decided to go down into the country where the sacredflame of devotion ever burns; I am assured of finding the ancientdevotion of the people here, I am ready to give my loyal subjects theproof of my trust. So, I will form an escort, part troops of the lineand part National Guards, to accompany me to Montmedy where I havedetermined to retire. Consequently, commander, I ask you to select themen to escort me from your own force, and to have my carriage ready."

  During the silence, Sausse and Hannonet looked at each other for one tospeak. At last the latter bowed and said,

  "Sire, I should feel great pleasure in obeying your Majesty, but anarticle of the Constitution forbids the King leaving the kingdom andgood Frenchmen from aiding a flight."

  This made the hearer start.

  "Consequently," proceeded the volunteer soldier, lifting his hand tohush the King, "the Varennes Council decide that a courier must take theword to Paris and return with the advice of the Assembly before allowingthe departure."

  The King felt the perspiration damp his brow, while the Queen bit herpale lips fretfully, and Lady Elizabeth raised her eyes and hands toheaven.

  "Soho, gentlemen," exclaimed the sovereign with the dignity returningto him when driven to the wall. "Am I no longer the master to go my ownway? In that case I am more of a slave than the meanest of my subjects."

  "Sire," replied the National Guardsman, "you are always the ruler;but all men, King or citizens, are bound by their oath; you swore toobey the law, and ought to set the example--it is also a noble duty tofulfill."

  Meanwhile Choiseul had consulted with the Queen by glances and on hermute assent he had gone downstairs.

  The King was aware that he was lost if he yielded without resistance tothis rebellion of the villages, for it was rebellion from his point ofview.

  "Gentlemen," he said, "this is violence; but I am not so lonely as youimagine. At the door are forty determined men and ten thousand soldiersare around Varennes. I order you to have my horses harnessed to thecoach--do you hear, I order!"

  "Well said, Sire," whispered the Queen, stepping up; "let us risk lifebut not injure our honor and dignity."

  "What will result if we refuse your Majesty?" asked the National Guardsofficer.

  "I shall appeal to force, and you will be responsible for the bloodspilt, which will be shed by you."

  "Have it so then," replied Hannonet, "call in your hussars--I will letmy men loose on them!"

  He left the room.

  The King and the Queen looked at one another, daunted; they wouldperhaps have given way had it not been for an incident.

  Pushing aside her grandmother, who continued to pray by the bedside,Madam Sausse walked up to the Queen and said with the bluntness andplain speech of the common people:

  "So, so, you are the Queen, it appears?"

  Marie Antoinette turned, stung at being accosted thus.

  "At least I thought so an hour ago," she replied.

  "Well, if you are the Queen, and get twenty odd millions to keep yourplace, why do you not hold to it, being so well paid?"

  The Queen uttered an outcry of pain and said to the King:

  "Oh, anything, everything but such insults!"

  She took up the sleeping prince off the couch in her arms, and runningto open the window, she cried:

  "My lord, let us show ourselves to the people, and learn whether theyare entirely corrupted. In that case, appeal to the soldiers, andencourage them with voice and gesture. It is little enough for those whoare going to die for us!"

  The King mechanically followed her and appeared on the balcony. Thewhole square on which fell their gaze presented a scene of livelyagitation.

  Half Choiseul's hussars were on horseback; the others, separated fromtheir chargers, were carried away by the mob, having been won over; themounted men seemed submissive yet to Choiseul, who was talking to themin German but they seemed to point to their lost comrades.

  Isidore Charny, with his knife in hand, seemed to be waylaying for someprey like a hunter.

  "The King!" was the shout from five hundred voices.

  Had the Sixteenth Louis been regally arrayed, or even militarily,with sword or sceptre in his hand, and spoken in the strong, imposingvoice seeming still to the masses that of God, he might have swayed theconcourse.

  But in the grey dawn, that wan light which spoils beauty itself, he wasnot the personage his friends--or even his enemies, expected to behold.He was clad
like a waiting-gentleman, in plain attire, with a powderlesscurly wig; he was pale and flabby and his beard had bristled out; histhick lip and dull eye expressed no idea of tyranny or the family man;he stammered over and over again: "Gentlemen, my children!"

  However, the Count of Choiseul cried "Long live the King!" IsidoreCharny imitated him, and such was the magic of royalty that spite of hisnot looking to be head of the great realm, a few voices uttered a feeble"God save the King!"

  But one cheer responded, set up by the National Guards commander, andmost generally repeated, with a mighty echo--it was:

  "The Nation forever!" It was rebellion at such a time, and the King andthe Queen could see that part of their German hussars had joined in withit.

  She uttered a scream of rage, and hugging her son to her, ignorantof the grandeur of passing events, she hung over the rail, mutteringbetween her teeth and finally hurling at the multitude these words:

  "You beasts!"

  Some heard this and replied by similar language, the whole place beingin immense uproar.

  Choiseul, in despair, was only wishful to get killed.

  "Hussars," he shouted, "in the name of honor, save the King!"

  But at the head of twenty men, well armed, a fresh actor came on thestage. It was Drouet, come from the council which he had constrained tostay the King from going.

  "Ha," he cried, stepping up to the count, "you want to take away theKing, do ye? I tell you it will not be unless dead."

  Choiseul started towards him with his sword up.

  "Stand, or I will have you shot," interrupted the National Guardscommander.

  Just then a man leaped out of the crowd, who could not stop him. It wasIsidore Charny who was watching for Drouet.

  "Back, back," he yelled to the bystanders, crushing them away frombefore the breast of his horse, "this wretch belongs to me."

  But as he was striking at Drouet with his short sword, two shots wentoff together: a pistol and a gun--the bullet of the first flattened onhis collarbone, the other went through his chest. They were fired soclose to him that the unfortunate young noble was literally wrapt inflame and smoke.

  Through the fiery cloud he was seen to throw up his arms as he gasped:

  "Poor Catherine!"

  Letting his weapon drop, he bent back in the saddle, and slipped fromthe crupper to the ground.

  The Queen uttered a terrible shriek. She nearly let the prince fall, andin her own falling back she did not see a horseman riding at the top ofhis pace from Dun, and plunging into the wake Isidore had furrowed inthe crowd.

  The King closed the window behind the Queen.

  It was no longer almost but all voices that roared "The Nation forever!"The twenty hussars who had been the last reliance of royalty indistress, added their voices to the cheer.

  The Queen sank upon an armchair, hiding her face in her hands, for shestill saw Isidore falling in her defense as his brother had been slainat her door at Versailles.

  Suddenly there was loud disturbance at the door which forced her to lifther eyes. We renounce describing what passed in an instant in her heartof Queen and loving woman--it was George Charny, pale and bloody fromthe last embrace of his brother, who stood on the threshold!

  The King seemed confounded.