The downfall of Marie Antoinette
is resolved upon by her enemies, and the time has come when her
friends must be active for her. The time has come for me to pay the
vow which I made to my dying father and to myself. God has blessed
my efforts and crowned my industry and activity with success. I have
reached an independent position. The confidence of my fellow-
citizens has made me a councillor. I have accepted the position, not
out of vanity or ambition, but because it will give me opportunity
to serve the queen. I wear a mask before my face. I belong to the
democrats and agitators. I appear to the world as an enemy of the
queen, in order to be able to do her some secret service as a
friend; for I say to you, and repeat it before God, to the queen
belong my whole life, my whole being, and thought. I love you,
Margaret! Every thing which can make my life happy will come from
you, and yet I shall be ready every hour to leave you--to see my
happiness go to ruin without a complaint, without a sigh, if I can
be of service to the queen. You my heart loves; her my soul adores.
Wherever I shall be, Margaret, if the call of the queen comes to me,
I shall follow it, even if I know that death lurks at the door
behind which the queen awaits me. We stand before a dark and
tempestuous time, and our country is to be torn with fearful strife.
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