"What do you say now, gentlemen?" asked the king.
"Did they not want to make me believe that my good people hate their
king, and wish him ill? But when I show myself to them, hear how
they shout to greet me!"
"To Paris!" was now the roar of the mob below. "We want the king
should go to Paris!"
"What do they say? What do they want?" asked Louis, turning to
Lafayette, who now stood close beside him.
"Sire, they are shouting their wishes to you, that you and the royal
family should go to Paris."
"And you, general, what do you say?" asked the king.
"Sire, I have taken the liberty already to say that words and
promises are of no more avail to quiet this raving, maddened people,
and to make them believe that you have no hostile designs against
Paris."
"But if I go to Paris and reside there for a time, it is your
opinion, as I understand it, that the people would be convinced that
I have no evil intentions against the city--that I should not
undertake to destroy the city in which I might live. That is your
meaning, is it not?"
"Yes, sire, that is what I wanted to say."
"To Paris, to Paris!" thundered up from below. "The king shall go to
Paris!"
Louis withdrew from the window and joined the circle of his
ministers, who, with their pale faces, surrounded him.
"Gentlemen," said the king, "you are my counsellors.
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