After this had been done with the utmost
rapidity, the king ordered that the Duke de Liancourt should be
summoned to the adjacent apartment, when he would receive him.
As the king went out in the greatest excitement, he saw the duke,
whose devotion to the person of the king was well known, standing
before him with pale, distorted countenance and trembling limbs.
"What has happened, my friend?" asked the king, in breathless haste.
"Sire," answered the Duke de Liancourt, with suppressed voice, "in
the discharge of my office, which permits the closest approach to
your majesty, I have undertaken to bring you tidings which are now
so confirmed, and which are so important and dreadful, that it would
be a folly to try to keep what has happened longer from your
knowledge."
"You speak of the occurrences in the capital?" asked the king,
slightly drawing back.
"I have been told that your majesty has not yet been informed,"
continued the duke, "and yet in the course of yesterday the most
dreadful events occurred in Paris. The head of the army had not
ventured to send your majesty and the cabinet any report. It was
known yesterday in Versailles at nightfall that the people, with,
arms in their hands, had stormed and destroyed the Bastile. I have
just received a courier from Paris, and these tidings are confirmed
with the most horrible particularity.
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