No one would take the responsibility of
the matter upon himself, and yet every one felt that the danger
increased every minute. But what to do? That was the question which
no one was able to answer, and before which the king was mute. Not
so the queen, however.
"Sire!" cried she, with glowing cheeks, "sire, you have to save the
realm, and to defend it from revolution. The contest is here, and we
cannot withdraw from it. Call your guards, put yourself at their
head, and allow me to remain at your side. We ought not to yield to
revolution, and if we cannot control it, we should suffer it to
enter the palace of the kings of France only over our dead bodies.
Sire, we must either live as kings, or know how to die as kings!"
But Louis replied to this burst of noble valor in a brave woman's
soul, only with holding back and timidity. Plans were made and cast
aside. They went on deliberating till the wild yells of the people
were heard even within the palace.
The queen, pale and yet calm, had withdrawn to the adjoining
apartment. There she leaned against the door and listened to the
words of the ministers, and to the new reports which were all the
time coming in from the streets.
The crowd had reached Versailles, and was streaming through the
streets of the city in the direction of the palace.
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