With quick step he hurried to the window
and raised it. The people did not see him at once, but the king saw.
He saw the immense square in front of the palace, which had been
devoted to the rich equipages of the nobility, occupied by the
humbler classes--the troops of his staff marching up in their gala
uniforms--he saw it filled with a dense mass of men whom Lafayette
had called "the people," whom the queen had termed a "riotous
rabble," surging up and down, head pressed to head, here and there
faces distorted with rage, eyes blazing, fists clinched, arms bare,
and pikes glistening in the morning light, while a great roar, like
that which comes from the sea in a tempest, filled the air.
"You are right, Lafayette," said the king, who looked calmly at this
black sea of human life--"you are right, this is the people; there
are here probably twenty thousand men, and Heaven defend me from
regarding all as criminals and rabble! I believe--"
A tremendous shout now filled the air. The king had been seen, some
one had noticed him at the open window, and now all heads and all
looks were directed to this window, and twenty thousand voices
cried, "Long live the king! Long live the king!"
Louis turned with a proud, happy look to the gentlemen and ministers
who stood near him, Marie Antoinette having withdrawn to the
farthest corner of the room, where, throwing her arms around both of
the children, and drawing them to her bosom, she had sunk into a
chair.
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