This scene lasted the whole day; the whole day the queen sat in the
glowing heat, her son asleep in her lap, motionless, and like a
marble statue. She appeared to be alive only when once in a while a
sigh or a faint moan escaped her. A glass of water mixed with
currant-juice was the only nourishment she took through the day.
At about five in the afternoon, while the Assembly was still
deliberating about the disposal of the king, Louis turned composedly
around to the valet who was standing back of him.
"I am hungry," he said; "bring me something to eat!" Hue hastened to
bring, from a restaurant near by, a piece of roast chicken, some
fruit and stewed plums; a small table was procured, and carried into
the reporters' box of the "Logograph."
The countenance of the king lightened up a little, as he sat down at
the table and ate his dinner with a good appetite. He did not hear
the suppressed sobs that issued from a dark corner of the box. To
this corner the unhappy woman had withdrawn, who yesterday was Queen
of France, and whose pale cheeks reddened with shame at this hour to
see the king eating with his old relish!
The tears started afresh from her eyes, and, in order to dry them,
she asked for a handkerchief, for her own was already wet with her
tears, and with the sweat which she had wiped from the forehead of
her sleeping boy.
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