I have therefore named these hours to
General Lafayette."
The queen heaved a deep sigh. "Sire," she said, softly, "you
yourself are binding tighter and tighter the chains of our
imprisonment. To-day you limit our freedom to two poor hours, and
that will be a precedent for others to continue what you have begun.
We shall after this walk for two hours daily under the protection of
M. de Lafayette, but there will come a time when this protection
will not suffice, and no security will be great enough for us. For
the royal authority which shows itself weak and dependent, and which
does not draw power from itself--the royalty which suffers its crown
to be borne up for it by the hands of others, confesses thereby that
it is too weak to bear the burden itself. Oh, sire, I would rather
you had let me break away from the rage of the people, while I might
be walking unguarded, than be permitted to take my daily walks under
the protection of M. de Lafayette!"
"You see every thing in too dark and sad a light," cried the king.
"Every thing will come out right if we are only wise and carefully
conform to circumstances, and by well-timed concessions and
admissions propitiate this hate and bring this enmity to silence."
The queen did not reply; she stooped down to the dauphin, and,
pressing a kiss upon his locks, whispered: "Now yon may tell every
thing, Louis.
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