Now the flowers were torn away, the festive sounds had ceased, and
Marie Antoinette saw the abyss between the crown and the people; she
heard the curses, the raging cries of these exasperated men, who had
been changed from weak, obedient subjects into threatening,
domineering rebels. She looked with steady eye down into the abyss,
and saw the monster rise from the depths to destroy herself and her
whole house; but she would not draw back, she would not yield. She
would rather be dragged down and destroyed than meekly and miserably
to make her way to the camp of her enemies, to take refuge with
them.
Better to die with the crown on her head than to live robbed of her
crown in lowliness and in a, subject condition. Thus thought Marie
Antoinette, as at the close of that dreadful day she went to rest;
this was her prayer as she sank upon her couch:
"Give me power, O God, to die as a queen, if I can no longer live as
a queen! And strengthen my husband, that he may not only be a good
man, but a king too!"
With this prayer on her trembling lips, she had fallen asleep. But
when Campan stole on tiptoe to the queen's bed to watch her mistress
while she slept, Marie Antoinette opened her eyes again, and spoke
in her friendly way to her devoted servant.
"Go to bed, Campan," said she, "and the second maid must lie down
too.
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