One was directed to Minister Necker, who, after his dismissal, had
withdrawn to Basle. Since the National Assembly, the clubs, the
whole population of Paris, desired Necker's return, and declared him
to be the only man who could restore the shattered finances of the
country; the queen had persuaded her husband to recall the minister,
although an opponent of hers, and appoint him again minister of
finance. The letter of the queen, which the Duchess Julia was
commissioned to give to Necker, contained his recall, announced to
him in flattering words.
The second letter was a parting word from the queen to her friend, a
last cry from her heart. "Farewell," it ran--" farewell, tenderly-
loved friend! How dreadful this parting word is! But it is needful.
Farewell! I embrace thee in spirit! Farewell!"
CHAPTER XII.
THE FIFTH OF OCTOBER, 1789.
The morning dawned--a windy October morning, surrounding the sun
with thick clouds; so the daylight came late to Paris, as if fearing
to see what had taken place on the streets and squares. The national
guard, summoned together by the alarm-signal of drum-beats and the
clangor of trumpets and horns, collected in the gray morning light,
for a fearful rumor had been spread through Paris the evening
before, and one has whispered to another that tomorrow had been
appointed by the clubs and by the agitators for a second act in the
revolution, and the people are too quiet, they must be roused to new
deeds.
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