“Sire,” said Dumouriez to him, with the chivalric sympathy which compassion adds to respect, and with that aspect in which the heart says more than language; “you have overcome your prejudices against myself; you have commanded me by M. de Laporte to accept the post he had refused.”  “Yes,” replied the king.  “Well, I come now to devote myself wholly to your service, to your protection.  But the part of a minister is no longer what it was in former days:  without ceasing to be the servant of the king, I am the man of the nation.  I will speak to you always in the language of liberty and the constitution.  Allow me then, in order to serve you better, that in public and in the council I appear in my character as a constitutionalist, and that I avoid every thing that may at all reveal my personal attachment towards you.  In this respect I must break through all etiquette, and avoid attending the court.  In the council, I shall oppose your views, and shall propose as our representatives in foreign courts men devoted to the nation.  When your repugnance to my choice shall be invincible and on good grounds, I shall comply; if this repugnance shall tend to compromise the safety of the country and yourself, I shall beg you to allow me to resign, and nominate my successor.  Think of the terrible dangers which beset your throne—­it must be consolidated by the confidence of the nation in your sincere attachment to the Revolution.  It is a conquest which it depends on you to make.  I have prepared four despatches to ambassadors in this sense.  In these I have used language to which they are unused from courts, the language of an offended and resolute nation.  I shall read them this morning before the council:  if you approve my labour, I shall continue to speak thus, and act in accordance with my language; if not, my carriage is ready, and, unable to serve you in the council, I shall depart whither my tastes and studies for thirty years call me, to serve my country in the field.”

The king, astonished and much moved, said to him, “I like your frankness; I know you are attached to me, and I anticipate all from your services.  They had created many prejudices against you, but this moment effaces them all.  Go and do as your heart directs you, and according to the best interests of the nation, which are also mine.”  Dumouriez retired; but he knew that the queen, adored by her husband, clung to the policy of her husband with all the passion and excitement of her soul.  He desired and feared at the same time an interview with this princess:  one word from her would accomplish or destroy the bold enterprise he had dared to meditate, of reconciling the king with the people.

XIII.

The queen sent for the general into her most private apartments.  Dumouriez found her alone, her cheeks flushed by the emotion of an internal struggle, and walking rapidly up and down the room, like a person whose agitated thoughts require corresponding activity of body.  Dumouriez placed himself in silence near the fireplace, in the attitude of respect and sorrow, inspired by the presence of so august, so beautiful, and so miserable a princess.  She advanced towards him with a mingled air of majesty and anger.