The King has allowed himself to be too much led to attempt to recover his power through any sort of mediation.  Still, the very idea of owing our liberty to any foreign army distracts me for the consequences.’

“My reinstatement in my apartments at the Pavilion of Flora seemed not only to give universal satisfaction to every individual of the Royal Family, but it was hailed with much enthusiasm by many deputies of the constituent Assembly.  I was honoured with the respective visits of all who were in any degree well disposed to the royal cause.

“One day, when Barnave and others were present with the Queen, ‘Now,’ exclaimed one of the deputies, ’now that this good Princess is returned to her adopted country, the active zeal of Her Highness, coupled with Your Majesty’s powerful influence over the mind of the King for the welfare of his subjects, will give fresh vigour to the full execution of the Constitution.’

“My visitors were earnest in their invitations for me to go to the Assembly to hear an interesting discussion, which was to be brought forward upon the King’s spontaneous acceptance of the Constitution.

“I went; and amidst the plaudits for the good King’s condescension, how was my heart lacerated to hear Robespierre denounce three of the most distinguished of the members, who had requested my attendance, as traitors to their country!

“This was the first and only Assembly discussion I ever attended; and how dearly did I pay for my curiosity!  I was accompanied by my ’cara Inglesina’, who, always on the alert, exclaimed, ’Let me entreat Your Highness not to remain any longer in this place.  You are too deeply moved to dissemble.’

“I took her judicious advice, and the moment I could leave the Assembly unperceived, I hastened back to the Queen to beg her, for God’s sake, to be upon her guard; for, from what I had just heard at the Assembly, I feared the Jacobins had discovered her plans with Barnave, De Lameth, Duport, and others of the royal party.  Her countenance, for some minutes, seemed to be the only sensitive part of her.  It was perpetually shifting from a high florid colour to the paleness of death.  When her first emotions gave way to nature, she threw herself into my arms, and, for some time, her feelings were so overcome by the dangers which threatened these worthy men, that she could only in the bitterness of her anguish exclaim, ‘Oh! this is all on my account!’ And I think she was almost as much alarmed for the safety of these faithful men, as she had been for that of the King on the 17th of July, when the Jacobins in the Champ de Mars called out to have the King brought to trial—­a day of which the horrors were never effaced from her memory!

“The King and Princesse Elizabeth fortunately came in at the moment; but even our united efforts were unavailable.  The grief of Her Majesty at feeling herself the cause of the misfortunes of these faithful adherents, now devoted victims of their earnestness in foiling the machinations against the liberty and life of the King and herself, made her nearly frantic.  She too well knew that to be accused was to incur instant death.  That she retained her senses under the convulsion of her feelings can only be ascribed to that wonderful strength of mind, which triumphed over every bodily weakness, and still sustains her under every emergency.