The queen was almost in despair.  She told Madame de Campan that all was lost; that the king had shown no energy; that such a review as that had done harm rather than good.  All that could now be done was for her to show herself not wanting to the occasion, nor to him.  Her courage rose with the imminence of the danger.  Those who beheld her, as with dilating eyes and heightened color she listened to the unceasing tumult, and, repressing every appearance of alarm, strove with unabated energy to rouse her husband, and to fortify the good disposition of the loyal friends around her, have described in terms of enthusiastic admiration the majestic dignity of her demeanor at this trying moment.  She had need of all her presence of mind; for even among those who were most faithful to her dissensions were springing up.  At the first alarm Marshal de Mailly and his company of gallant nobles and gentlemen had hastened to her side; but the National Guards were jealous of them.  It seemed as if they expected to be allowed to remain nearest to the royal person; and the soldiers disdained to yield the post of honor to men who were not in uniform, and whom, as they were mostly in court dress, they even disliked as aristocrats.  They besought the queen to dismiss them.  “Never!” she replied; and, trusting rather that the example of their self-sacrificing devotion might stimulate those who thus complained, and full of that royal magnanimity which feels that it confers honor on those whom it trusts, and that it has a right to look for the loyalty of its servants even to the death, she added, “They will serve with you, and share your dangers.  They will fight with you in the van, in the rear, where you will.  They will show you how men can die for their king.”

But meanwhile the insurgents were rapidly approaching the palace, and already the tramp of the leading column might be heard.  The tocsin had continued its ominous sound throughout the night, and at six in the morning the main body of the insurgents, twenty thousand strong, and well armed—­for the new council had opened to them the stores of the arsenal—­ began their march under the command of Santerre.  As they advanced they were joined by the Marseillese, who had been quartered in a barrack near the Hall of the Cordeliers, and their numbers were further swelled by thousands of the populace.  Soon after eight they reached the Carrousel, forced the gates, and pressed on to the royal court, the National Guard and Swiss falling back before them to the entrance to the royal apartments, where the more confined space seemed to afford a better prospect of making an effectual resistance.