My little son was whimpering: “I’m so hungry, Maman. Chou d’Amour has had no breakfast, no dinner….”
I comforted him as best I could.
And at last we came to Paris. Bailly the Mayor welcomed us by the light of torches.
“What a splendid day,” said the Mayor, ‘when Parisians are at last able to have His Majesty and his family in their city. “
“I hope,” replied Louis with dignity, ‘that my stay in Paris will bring peace, harmony and obedience to the laws. “
Tired out as we were we must drive to the Hotel de Ville.
There we sat on the throne where the Kings and Queens of France had sat before us. The King told Bailly that he should tell the people that it was always with pleasure and confidence that he found himself among the inhabitants of his good city of Paris.
Bailly when repeating this left out the word ‘confidence’ and I noticed this at once and reminded Bailly of his omission.
‘you hear, gentlemen,” said Bailly.
“This is even better than if my memory had not betrayed me.”
They were mocking us. They were pretending to treat us as King and Queen when we were merely their prisoners.
And then we were offered a brief respite. We were allowed to drive from the Hotel de Ville to the Tuileries— that gloomy, deserted palace which they had chosen for us.
Tuileries and Saint-Cloud
When one undertakes to direct a revolution, the difficulty is not to spur it on but to restrain it.
Oh excellent but weak King. Oh, most unfortunate of Queens! Your vacillation has swept you into a terrible abyss. If you renounce my advice, or if I should fail, a funeral pall will cover this realm.
No one would believe all that has happened in the last twenty-four hours, and yet whatever one imagined, would be less than what we have had to endure.
He (Fersen) has established himself at the village of Auteuil . and so goes to Saint-Cloud under cover of darkness. A discharged soldier of the guard met him leaving the castle at three in the morning. I thought it my duty to speak of this to the Queen.
“Do you not think I said to her, ‘that the presence of the Comte de Person and his visits to the chateau may be a source of danger?” She looked at me with that disdainful air which you know.
“Tell him so yourself, if you think it right to do so….”
I thank you indeed for all that you say concerning my Friend (Marie Antoinette). Believe me, my dear Sophie, she deserves all the feeling you can have for her. She is the most perfect being I have ever known or could know.
With what a horrible feeling of doom I entered the Tuileries. It was long since the place had been inhabited; it was damp and cold. The passages were so dark that even by day they had to be lighted by oil lamps which smoked. We were so exhausted that all we wanted to do was sleep. The Dauphin had given up declaring that he was hungry; his eyelids were drooping, but he said: “This is an ugly place, Maman. Let us go home now.”
“Why, mon Chou d’Amour, Louis Quatorze lived here and liked it. So you must like it, too
Why did he like it? “
“Perhaps you will find out He was loo sleepy for more questions, and I was glad of that.
I tried to sleep on the hastily-improvised bed; but I kept waking, startled and fancying I could feel the movement of the coach, hear the shouts of the people and see those bloody heads held aloft on pikes.
What will become of us now, I wondered.
The King slept heavily.
In the morning my spirits were lifted a little. The sun showed up the decrepit appearance of the palace but at least the daylight was comforting; and I felt that to have lived safely through the night was somehow a triumph.
The King was full of optimism.
“We will have furniture brought here from Versailles,” he said.
“I am sure my people will wish to see us properly housed.”
It seemed incredible that he could still believe in the love of his people.
Our faithful servants found some food for us and we were able to explore the palace. The only part that seemed in order was that which looked on the gardens. On the first floor were several rooms which could be lived in and these became the King’s bedroom, Elisabeth’s bedroom, one bed room each for the Dauphin and his sister, a drawing room and a few reception rooms; on the ground floor was my bedroom with four more rooms; a flight of stairs connected the apartments so that in any emergency we could very quickly all be together.
But it seemed we were to have link peace, for with the coming of the morning the people were assembling again. My son heard them and came running to me.
“Afon Dieu, Maman,” he cried, ‘is it yesterday again? “
I tried to comfort him, but the women were already shrieking for me to appear on the balcony. I stepped out, believing as I had yesterday that I could well be stepping out to death; but this was a different crowd, I saw at once, a more sober crowd. These were the citizens of Paris; they stood firmly behind the revolution but they were not the criminals and prostitutes who had marched on Versailles. I sensed at once the difference and I believed that I could speak to them.
There was a silence as I stood there. I knew that they respected my courage in showing no fear in facing them.
I said: “My friends, you should know that I love my good city of Paris.”
“Oh yes,” cried a voice, ‘so much so that on the fourteenth of July you wanted to besiege it and on the fifth of October you were about to flee to the frontier. “
There were cheers and laughter; but how different it was from yesterday.
“We must stop hating each other,” I said; and there was again that silence. Then someone said: “She has courage, this Austrian Woman.”
Another silence and then: “Vice la Reins’ When I stepped into the room, I felt greatly comforted, but I knew nothing would ever be as it had in the past. There would be great changes. Yes, that was necessary; there would be no more extravagant balls, no more gowns from Rose Berlin, no more additions to the Trianon. I did not want them. I could be satisfied with my children, my lover, my kind and tender husband.
I sat down and wrote to Mercy, whom I had told to keep away from the Court for a while because I feared that the Austrian Ambassador would be considered an enemy and would doubtless be in danger:
“If we forget where we are and how we came here, we should be pleased with the people’s mood, particularly this morning. I hope that if there is no lack of bread a great many things will settle down. No one would believe all that has happened in the last twenty-four hours, and yet whatever one imagined, would be less than
