At last the difficult task was done; at last she had reached her
carriage, and could rest upon its cushions, and, unobserved by
spying looks, could give way to her grief and her tears. But alas!
this consolation continued only for a short time. The carriage soon
stopped; the Tuileries, that sad, silent prison of the royal family,
was soon reached, and Marie Antoinette quickly dried her tears, and
compelled herself to appear calm.
"Do not weep more, Bugois," she whispered. "We will not give our
enemies the triumph of seeing that they have forced tears from us.
Try to be cheerful, and tell no one of the insults of this evening."
The carriage door was opened, the queen dismounted, and, surrounded
by National Guards and officers, returned to her apartments.
No one bade her welcome, no one received her as becomes a queen. A
few of the servants only stood in the outer room, but Marie
Antoinette had no looks for them. She had been compelled as a
constitutional queen ought, to dismiss her own tried and faithful
servants; her household had been reorganized, and she knew very well
that these new menials were her enemies, and served as spies for the
National Assembly. The queen therefore passed them without greeting,
and entered her sitting-room.
But even here she was not alone; the door of the ante-room was open,
and there sat the officer of the National Guard, whose duty of the
day it was to watch her.
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