"
"Ah!" cried the queen, raising her head proudly, "I do not fear this
enemy. She shall not dare to attack me. She shall crouch and shrink
before my gaze as the lion does when confronted by the eye of a
virgin. I am pure and blameless. I pledged my troth to my husband
before he loved me, and how shall I now break it, when he does love
me, and is the father of my dear children? And now, enough of these
disagreeable things that want to cast their vileness upon us! And
the sun is shining so splendidly, and they are waiting for me in
Trianon! Come, Campan, come; the queen will take the form of a happy
wife."
Marie Antoinette hastened before her lady-in-waiting, hurried into
her toilet-chamber in advance of her lady-in-waiting, who followed,
sighing and shaking her head, and endeavored with her own hands to
loosen the stiff corset of her robe, and to free herself from the
immense crinoline which imprisoned her noble form.
"Off with these garments of state and royal robes," said Marie
Antoinette, gliding out of the stiff apparel, and standing in a
light, white undergarment, with bare shoulders and arms. "Give me a
white percale dress and a gauze mantle with it."
"Will your majesty appear again in this simple costume?" asked
Madame de Campan, sighing.
"Certainly, I will," cried she; "I am going to Trianon, to my much-
loved country-house.
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