Believe me, I see into the
future, and I discern the deluge which will drown us all!"
BOOK IV.
CHAPTER XIX.
JUNE 20 AND AUGUST 10, 1792.
Marie Antoinette was right. The revolution was sending its storm-
birds to the Tuileries. They beat with their strong pinions against
the windows of the palace; they pulled up and broke with their claws
the flowers and plants of the garden, so that the royal family no
longer ventured to enter it. But they had not yet entered the palace
itself; and within its apartments, watched by the National Guard,
the queen was at least safe from the insults of the populace.
No, not even there longer, for the storm-birds of the revolution
beat against the windows, and these windows had once in a while to
be opened to let in a little sunshine, and some fresh air. Marie
Antoinette had long given up her walks in the garden of the
Tuileries, for the rabble which stood behind the fence had insulted
her so often with cries and acts, that she preferred to give up her
exercise rather than to undergo such contemptuous treatment.
The king, too, in order to escape the scornful treatment of the
populace, had relinquished his walks, and before long things came to
such a pass that the dauphin was not allowed to visit his little
garden. Marat, Santerre, Danton, and Robespierre, the great leaders
of the people, had, by their threats against the royalists and their
insurrectionary movements among the people, gained such power, that
no one ventured to approach the garden of the prince to salute him,
and show deference to the son of the king.
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