“He arrived at Paris just in time to see His Majesty take the national cockade from M. Bailly and place it in his hat.  He, felt the Hotel de Ville shake with the long-continued cries of ‘Vive le roi!’ in consequence, which so affected the King that, for some moments, he was unable to express himself.  ‘I myself,’ added the Count, ’was so moved at the effect on His Majesty, in being thus warmly received by his Parisian subjects, which portrayed the paternal emotions of his long-lacerated heart, that every other feeling was paralysed for a moment, in exultation at the apparent unanimity between the Sovereign and his people.  But it did not,’ continued the Ambassador, ’paralyse the artful tongue of Bailly, the Mayor of Paris.  I could have kicked the fellow for his malignant impudence; for, even in the cunning compliment he framed, he studied to humble the afflicted Monarch by telling the people it was to them he owed the sovereign authority.

“‘But,’ pursued the Count, ’considering the situation of Louis XVI. and that of his family, agonised as they must have been during his absence, from the Queen’s impression that the Parisians would never again allow him to see Versailles, how great was our rapture when we saw him safely replaced in his carriage, and returning to those who were still lamenting him as lost!

“’When I left Her Majesty in the morning, she was nearly in a state of mental aberration.  When I saw her again in the evening, the King by her side, surrounded by her family, the Princesse Eizabeth, and yourself, madame’ said the kind Count, ’she appeared to me like a person risen from the dead and restored to life.  Her excess of joy at the first moment was beyond description!’

“Count Fersen might well say the first moment, for the pleasure of the Queen was of short duration.  Her heart was doomed to bleed afresh, when the thrill of delight, at what she considered the escape of her husband, was past, for she had already seen her chosen friend, the Duchesse de Polignac, for the last time.

“Her Majesty was but just recovered from the effects of the morning’s agitation, when the Duchess, the Duke, his sister, and all his family set off.  It was impossible for her to take leave of her friend.  The hour was late—­about midnight.  At the same time departed the Comte d’Artois and his family, the Prince de Conde and his, the Prince of Hesse d’Armstadt, and all those who were likely to be suspected by the people.

“Her Majesty desired the Count Fersen to see the Duchess in her name.  When the King heard the request, he exclaimed: 

“’What a cruel state for Sovereigns, my dear Count!  To be compelled to separate ourselves from our most faithful attendants, and not be allowed, for fear of compromising others or our own lives, to take a last farewell!’

“‘Ah!’ said the Queen, ’I fear so too.  I fear it is a last farewell to all our friends!’

“The Count saw the Duchess a few moments before she left Versailles.  Pisani, the Venetian Ambassador, and Count Fersen, helped her on the coachbox, where she rode disguised.