The nobility, to whose
side I belong, would find itself confirmed thereby in its fidelity;
the clergy would thank God for the manifestation of royal authority
which shall bring peace; and the Third Estate would have to confess
in its astonishment that safety comes only from the monarch's
hands."
The king smiled and nodded in friendly manner to the count.
"It seems to me," he said, "that the time is approaching for us to
go to the Assembly. Their royal highnesses Count de Provence and
Count d'Artois will accompany me. I commission the Duke de Liancourt
to go before us to the Salle des Menus, and to announce to the
Assembly, directly after the opening of the session, that we shall
appear there at once in person."
On this the king dismissed all who were present. The queen took
tender leave of him, in a manner indicating her excited feelings.
She had never seen her royal husband bearing himself in so decided
and confident a manner, and it almost awakened new confidence in her
troubled breast. But at the same moment all the doubts and cares
returned, and sadly, with drooping head, the queen withdrew.
In the mean time, close upon the opening of the National Assembly
that morning, stormy debates had begun about the new steps which
they were going to take with the monarch.
Count Mirabeau had just been breaking out into an anathema in
flaming words about the holiday which the king had given to the new
regiments, when the Duke de Liancourt, who that moment entered the
hall, advanced to the speaker's desk and announced that the king was
just on the point of coming to the Assembly.
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