"
And smiling, he caught the little dog by the fore-paws, and made him
stand up on his hind legs, and threatened Moufflet with his hand
till he made him stand erect and let his fore feet hang down very
respectfully.
The queen looked down with a smile at the couple, and laughed aloud
when the dauphin, still waving his hand threateningly to compel the
dog to stand as he was, jumped up, ran to the table, caught up a
paper cap, which he had made and painted with red stripes, and put
it on Moufflet's head, calling out to him: "Mr. Jacobin, behave
respectfully! Make your salutations to her majesty the queen!"
After that day, the dauphin did not go into his garden again, and
the park of the Tuileries was now the exclusive property of the
populace, that took possession of it with furious eagerness.
The songs of the revolution, the wild curses of the haters of
royalty, the coarse laughter and shouting of the rabble--these were
the storm birds which were beating at the windows of the royal
apartments.
Marie Antoinette had still one source of enjoyment left to her in
her sufferings, her correspondence with her absent friends, and the
Duchess de Polignac before all others. Once in a while there was a
favorable opportunity to send a letter by the hands of some faithful
friend around her, and the queen had then the sad satisfaction at
least of being able to express to some sympathizing heart what she
was undergoing, without fearing that these complaints would be read
by her enemies, as was the case with all letters which were sent by
post.
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