"
With a loud cry of pain, that escaped her against her will, the
queen pressed her son to her heart and covered his head with her
kisses.
"Love me, my son, love me," she whispered, choking, "and may thy
brother in heaven pray for me that I may soon be released from the
pains which I suffer!"
But as she heard now the voice of the king without, taking leave of
his retinue with friendly words, Marie Antoinette hastily dried her
tears, and putting down the dauphin, whispered to him, "Do not tell
papa that I have been crying," and in her wonted lofty bearing, with
a smile upon her trembling lips, she went to meet her husband.
As it grew late and dark in the evening, several baggage-wagons
heavily laden and tightly closed moved noiselessly and hastily from
the inner courts of the palace, and took the direction toward the
country. In these carriages were the Count d'Artois, the Duke
d'Angouleme, and the Duke de Berry, the Prince de Conde, the Duke de
Bourbon, and the Duke d'Enghein, who were leaving the kingdom in
secret flight.
Louis XVI. had tried to quiet the anxieties of his brother, the
Count d'Artois, by advising him to leave France for some time, and
to remain in a foreign land, until the times should be more quiet
and peaceful. The other princes, although not so sorely threatened
with popular rage as the Count d'Artois, whose head had already been
demanded at Paris, had, with the exception of the king's other
brother, been so overcome with their anxieties as to resolve upon
flight.
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