1Scarcely five minutes had passed, when I began to distinguish a black phantom; and soon after I saw the sparks flying from under the horses’ hoofs.

2As the mass approached, I saw that it was composed of two carriages.

3The first was an ordinary cabriolet; the second, an immense travelling carriage.

4On seeing the road blocked by one man, on foot, holding a horse by the bridle, the postilion cracked his whip, and shouted to the horses to go on.

5But the unknown, in an imperative voice, cried out “Stop!” lifting his hand at the same time. “I wish to speak to the travellers in the second carriage!”

6“Oh, Valory!” cried a voice from the first; “is anything wrong?”

7“No, madame; only a slight mistake.”

8Then approaching the second carriage, “Pardon,” said he; “we have arrived at Varennes, and there is no relay.”

9“How!—no relay? What is the reason of it?” replied a female voice.

10“I know not; but I am very nervous about it.”

11“Wake up, monsieur,” said the same voice, with an impatient gesture. “Do you not hear what M. Valory says?”

12“What does he say?” replied a masculine voice.

13“He says that we are at Varennes, and that there are no relays.”

14“Has he asked?”

15“For a quarter of an hour I knocked; for another quarter, I talked, I asked, and commanded fruitlessly.”

16“Let us get out,” said the masculine voice, “and take a look about for ourselves.”

17The door opened.

18“No,” said the female voice; “let me get down; I will manage it,”—and she leaped nimbly to the earth.

19“Madame—madame!” said the voice of a child; “let me get out with you.”

20“No, Louis,” said the lady; “stay in the carriage with your papa; I shall come back in a moment. Give me your arm, M. de Valory.”

21The courier approached, respectfully, his hat in his hand, and offered his arm to the lady who asked it.

22“Here,” said she; “just here is a door opening.”

23But as she spoke the words, though in the slightest degree open, it was shut again.

24M. de Valory jumped forward, and, at the risk of cutting his hand, seized the door on his side, and pulled it violently backward.

25The door yielded to the force used, and showed a man of fifty or fifty-five years, holding a candle in his hand. He was attired in a dressing-gown, and had his naked feet thrust into slippers.

26This was the same M. Préfontaine whom I have already spoken of, and with whom M. Dampierre stayed when he came to Varennes.

27“What do you want, Monsieur?” asked the astonished old Chevalier; “and why do you break open my door?”

28“Monsieur,” replied the courier, “we do not know Varennes; we are en route for Stenay. Will you be kind enough to point out the road we ought to follow?”

29“If I render you this service, perhaps I shall be compromised!”

30“You, I am sure, will never refuse to render a service to a lady who is in danger.”

31“Monsieur,” said the old gentleman, “the lady who is behind you is not simply a woman.” Then lowering his voice, he said, “It is the Queen!”

32M. de Valory tried to deny it; but the Queen, taking him by the arm, “Lose no time in discussion,” she said; “tell the King alone that we are discovered.”

33At this moment, two other young gentlemen, dressed as couriers, jumped down from the box of the chaise.

34“Sire,” said M. Valory, “the Queen desires me to tell you that she is recognised.”

35“By whom?” asked the King.

36“By an old man, of courteous manners, who, though a little timid, has the air of a gentleman.”

37“Ask him to come and speak to me,” said the King.

38M. Valory transmitted the invitation to the gentleman.

39He went to the carriage, showing signs of great apprehension.

40The Queen followed him; her face, made visible by the light of the candle which he held, expressed supreme disdain.

41“Your name, sir?” asked the King.

42“De Préfontaine,” replied the interrogated, hesitatingly.

43“Who are you?”

44“Major of cavalry, sire, and Chevalier of the Military Order of St. Louis.”

45“In your double capacity as major of cavalry, and Chevalier of the Order of St. Louis, you have twice sworn fealty to your King. It is, therefore, your duty to aid me in the difficulty in which I find myself.”

46The Major murmured some words; the Queen stamped her foot with impatience.

47“Ah, sire!” said she; “see you not that the Major is afraid.”

48The King looked as if he had not heard her remark.

49“Monsieur,” continued he, “have you heard that a detachment of hussars, and relays of horses, await a treasure which must pass through Varennes?”

50“Yes, sire,” replied M. de Préfontaine.

51“Where are the hussars? Where are the horses?”

52“In the Low Town, sire.”

53“And the officers?”

54“At the ‘Hotel du Grand Monarque.’”

55“Monsieur, I thank you,” said the King. “You can return to your house; no one has seen you—no one has heard you; therefore, no harm can happen to you.”

56The Major took the hint, and retired, after having made a profound obeisance.

57“Messieurs,” said the King, addressing the two young gentlemen who had dismounted from the box-seat, “take your places. You, M. de Valory, jump on your horse, and gallop on to the ‘Grand Monarque.’ You hear that our escort is there.”

58The two young gentlemen took their places, and M. de Valory vaulted into his saddle.

59The King and Queen re-entered the carriage, the door of which was shut by one of the postilions.

60“Postilions!” cried all three gentlemen, with one voice, “to the ‘Hotel du Grand Monarque.’”

61The men whipped up their horses; but at the same instant, a man, covered with dust, on a horse flecked with foam, seemed to spring from the ground, and rushing diagonally across the road, cried out, in a voice of thunder, “Stop, postilions! You drive the King!”

62I uttered a cry of astonishment, for I recognized the voice of M. Drouet.

63The postilions who had hitherto been lashing their horses, stopped, as if stricken by a cannon-shot.

64The Queen felt, without doubt, that it was a moment for decisive action.

65“Order them! Command them!” she cried, to the King.

66The King put his head out of the carriage window.

67“Who are you, sir,” said he, “that you dare to give orders here?”

68“A simple citizen, sire,” replied M. Drouet; “but,” continued he, raising himself in his stirrups, and stretching out his arm, “I speak in the name of the nation and of the law. Postilions! not a step farther, on your lives!”

69“Postilions!” cried the King, “to the ‘Grand Monarque!’ It is I who command you!”

70“To the ‘Grand Monarque!’” cried the three gentlemen.

71“Postilions!” cried M. Drouet, “you know me well, and are accustomed to obey me. I am Jean Baptiste Drouet, postmaster at St. Menehould.”

72M. de Valory saw the indecision of the postilions—ten men stopped by one. He saw that it was necessary to slay that one, and, drawing his couteau de chasse, he went at him.

73In a moment, I jumped out of my hiding-place, and seized the bridle of his horse.

74The horse, being frightened, reared, and threw its rider.

75M. Drouet recognised me.

76“Ah! is it you Réné?” he exclaimed. “Follow me!”

77Sticking his spurs into his horse, he seemed to sink into the ground, so quickly did he disappear down the declivity of the Rue des Réligieuses.

78“Here I am! Here I am, M. Drouet!” cried I, following quickly behind him.

79M. Drouet dashed down the Rue des Réligieuses, crossed, like a flash of lightning the Place Latry, plunged under the arch, and reappeared in a moment on the other side, in front of the “Hotel Bras d’Or,” running up against another cavalier as he did so.

80“Is it thou, Drouet?” said the cavalier.

81“Is it thou, Guillaume?” cried Drouet.

82“Yes!” “Yes!” each replied simultaneously.

83Both dismounted, that they might pass under the entrance of the inn.

84In the meantime, the billiard-players, hearing a noise, rushed to the window, to see what it meant.

85“Be on your guard!” cried M. Drouet. “The King, with his family, are trying to escape! They are travelling in two carriages. Wake up M. Sauce!—cry ‘Fire! fire!’ Guillaume and I will guard the bridge.”

86At this moment, I arrived, and dashed against the door of the Procureur de la Commune, crying as loud as I could, “Fire! fire!” as M. Drouet had recommended.

87In the meantime, he and Guillaume had disappeared down the Rue Neuve.

88At the end of the bridge, they encountered a cart filled with furniture.

89“Whose cart is that?” cried M. Drouet.

90“Mine,” replied the driver.

91“Ah, is it yours, Regnier?” said Guillaume. “You, I know, are a good patriot. Turn your cart across the bridge; it will stop the passage of the king.”

92“The King?”

93“Yes; the King. He wishes to get to the Place of the ‘Grand Monarque,’ where the hussars await him.”

94“I have seen them,” said Guillaume.

95“And I also,” said Regnier.

96“Now to work,” said the two young men.

97“Yes; to work!” replied the proprietor of the furniture.

98And all three with their united efforts, managed to upset the cart across the bridge.

99When the operation was finished, they listened.

100They heard the rumble of the carriages, which descended the Rue des Réligieuses at full speed, at the same time the cry of “Fire! fire!” burst upon their ears.

101I will now tell you what occurred on the high road, after M. Drouet and I left the two carriages, as well as I can from the description given me afterwards by M. de Préfontaine, who, though he had closed his door, took good care to open his window, and, therefore, saw and heard all that passed.

102M. de Valory, when he fell, did not abandon his hold on the bridle of his horse, and as he tumbled on soft ground, he escaped with a few bruises.

103He was, therefore, soon again mounted, and, threatening the postilions with his raised whip, he cried, “Well, wretches, have you understood?”

104“Certainly; and have you?”

105“What?”

106“That which M. Drouet said. He told us not to go any farther.”

107“You dare to quote M. Drouet, when the King commands!”

108“Get rid of the three scoundrels!” said one of the young gentlemen on the box, “and let us drive the carriage ourselves.”

109“Gentlemen!” cried the Queen, who saw that there was going to be bloodshed.

110Then to the postilions—“Gentlemen,” she said, in her softest voice, “I do not order, I entreat. Fifty louis to each one of you, if you drive us safely to the ‘Grand Monarque.’”

111Frightened of the swords of the gentlemen, and melted by the entreaty of the Queen, the postilions set off at a gallop.

112But they had lost ten minutes, and these ten minutes M. Drouet had turned to profit.

113They dashed on, but were obliged to avoid the arch, for fear of breaking their heads, so they turned round the church, and began to descend the Rue Basse Cour.

114But before they could execute that manœuvre, their course was suddenly arrested.

115The cabriolet, as we have said, preceded the chaise; but scarcely had it turned out of the Place, when the bridles of the horses were seized by two men. These were the elder Leblanc, and M. Thevenin, of Islettes.

116That first carriage contained but two maids of honor to the Queen—Mesdames Brunier and De Neuville.

117“Messieurs! messieurs!” cried they; “what is your will?”

118At this moment, a man advanced towards the cabriolet. He was the Procureur de la Commune, M. Sauce, who, awakened from his sleep had sallied out, determined to do his duty.

119“Excuse me, ladies,” said he, “but, without doubt, you have passports?”

120“They are with the people in the other carriage,” replied Madame de Neuville.

121The cabriolet having stopped, the chaise was forced to do likewise; thus it was completely blockaded. MM. Drouet, Guillaume, and Regnier, having finished barricading the bridge, rushed to the spot. There were four persons, armed with guns—namely, our four billiard-players, Coquillard, Justin, Soucin, and Delion; a fifth had arrived—namely, Billaud, who had heard the noise; and a sixth, M. Bellay, opened his door, and seemed not less ardent than the others.

122All at once, I felt my arm grasped by a trembling hand, and the voice of Sophie whispered in my ear “For the love of me, Réné, do not meddle in this matter!”

123If M. Drouet had required my assistance, I am afraid that he would have triumphed over Sophie; but he did not, as he was incurring no present danger; so I stood silent, motionless at the corner of the street, with Sophie on my arm.

124M. Gerbaut’s window opened, and we heard him ask what was the matter.

125All the windows and doors in the street opened one after the other, the cries of “Fire! fire!” having alarmed all, and made them anxious to see what was the matter.

126During this time, M. Sauce had been approaching the chaise; and as if he knew not who the travellers were—“Who are you?”

127“I am the Baroness de Korff,” replied Madame de Tourzel, governess of the Dauphin.

128“Where are you going?”

129“To Frankfort, with my two children, my two sisters, my steward, and my two female attendants. The latter are in the first carriage.”

130“Madame,” said Sauce, “you are going the wrong way to Frankfort—but that is not the question. Have you a passport?”

131Madame de Tourzel drew the passport from her pocket, and presented it to the Procureur de la Commune.

132The passport was correct. It was, in fact, that of Madame de Korff, which M. de Fersen had given to the Queen.

133M. Sauce took the passport, which the false Baroness handed him; and, by the light of a lantern which an officious bystander offered him, began to reconnoitre the King.

134The king, no doubt, wounded by the mark of disrespect, tried to make some resistance.

135“Who are you, sir?” asked he of the magistrate. “What is your rank? Are you only a National Guard?”

136“I am Procureur de la Commune,” replied M. Sauce.

137The King, whether dumbfounded by the force of these words, or conceiving that the response was sufficient, made no further objections.

138The procureur threw his eyes over the passport, and addressing, not the King, but the false Baroness de Korff,—“Madame,” said he, “it is too late to viser a passport to-night; and, on the other hand, it is my duty to detain you!”

139The Queen interposed.

140“Why so, sir?” she demanded in an imperative manner.

141“Because, did I permit you to continue your route, I should be running a risk, on account of the reports that are flying about.”

142“Pray, sir, to what reports do you allude?”

143“The report of the flight of the King and his family,” replied Sauce, fixedly regarding the King.

144The travellers were aghast. The Queen drew back into the shadow of the carriage.

145All this time, the passport was being examined, in a public room in the “Grand Monarque,” by the light of two candles. A member of the council remarked that the passport was correct, since it had been signed by the King and the Minister for Foreign Affairs.

146“Yes,” remarked Drouet, who had arrived with Guillaume and Regnier during the discussion, “but it is not signed by the President of the National Assembly!”

147“How?” said a voice. “Why should it be signed by him?”

148“Certainly, it should be,” said Drouet, “considering that France is a nation—considering that it has appointed deputies to maintain its rights. The true King of France is he who sat on a seat as lofty as the King’s at the Champ de Mars—not only the veritable, but the more than King!”

149All were silent. No one could oppose such logic as that. That great social question, which had disturbed France for seven hundred years,—“Is there in France an authority superior to the King’s?” was settled in the public room of an inn in a little town on the borders of the Forest of Argonne.

150Drouet walked straight to the carriage. In all popular movements he took the lead, and, therefore, the responsibility.

151“Madame,” said he, addressing the Queen, and not Madame Tourzel, “if you are really Madame de Korff—that is to say, a Swiss, and consequently a stranger—how is it that you have sufficient influence to command a military escort consisting of a detachment of dragoons at St. Menehould, and another at Clermont; also a first detachment of hussars at Pont-de-Somme-Vesles, and a second at Varennes?”

152To end a fatiguing discussion, and one in which M. Drouet feared that the Procureur, an honest man enough, but not equal to any great situation, would eventually yield, he put his hand into the carriage as a support for the Queen, and said, “Will you be so kind, madame, as to descend?”

153To tell the truth, the Procureur was most dreadfully embarrassed.

154Encouraged by M. Drouet’s invitation to the Queen, and hearing the tocsin begin to ring, he, however, approached the door—from which he had been turned to make place for M. Drouet—with great humility, his hat in his hand.

155“The Municipal Council is deliberating,” said he, “whether it would be advisable to allow you to continue your route; but a report, wrong or otherwise, has been spread about that it is the King and his august family whom we have the honor of receiving in our walls. I beg you, therefore, to accept the shelter of my house, in all amity, until such time as the council shall have finished their deliberation. Against our will the tocsin has been sounded. The concourse of the inhabitants of the city is increased by the entry of the country people; and, perhaps, the King—if, in truth, I have the honor of addressing a King—may be exposed to insults which we should be unable to prevent, and which would fill us with unmitigated grief!”

156It was no use his resisting. The Low Town was evidently ignorant of what was passing in the High Town. No succor arrived, or, indeed, appeared likely to arrive. The three young gentlemen dressed as couriers had no other arms than their couteaux de chasse, and could not undertake to fight with thirty men armed with guns. The tocsin still vibrated in the air, and found an echo in every heart.

157The King set the example, and alighted.

158I then had a good view of him, and my astonishment at seeing a king in such a costume was great.

159He wore a drab gray coat, a satin waistcoat, and a pair of gray trousers, gray stockings, shoes with buckles, and a three-cornered hat.

160In descending, he knocked his head against the top of the door, and his hat fell off. His hair was in tresses on the top of his head, and was fixed there with an ivory comb.

161In a word, his costume corresponded with the title of a steward, which he bore in the passport of Madame Korff.

162I picked up the hat, and handed it to him.

163The Queen descended next, and after her, Madame Royale and the Dauphin, who was disguised as a little girl; then came Madame Elizabeth, and, last, Madame de Tourzel.

164Sauce had opened wide the door of his shop, and passed all sorts of compliments on the King whom he persisted in calling “your Majesty,” though the King equally persisted that his name was M. Durand.

165The Queen had not the courage to support this humiliating assumption.

166“Well, then,” said she, “if monsieur is your King, and I your Queen, treat us with the respect that our rank demands.”

167At these words, the King was ashamed, and said, “Very well, I am your King; there is your Queen, and there are our children.”

168Though vulgar enough in his royal dress, the King lost altogether what little dignity he had under the costume of a steward.

169Besides, always unfortunate, a grocer’s shop, with its surroundings, was not the most romantic spot in which to utter those royal words:—

170“Placed in the capital, in the midst of swords and bayonets, I came to seek in the country, in the midst of my faithful subjects, the liberty and peace that were denied me in Paris.”

171Then, opening his arms, he pressed poor M. Sauce, paralyzed with the honor, to his breast.

172At the moment that the King embraced M. Sauce, a thunder of horses’ hoofs was heard coming in an unexpected direction—that is to say, from the Place Latry.

173The King believed that it was assistance, but the patriots smelt danger; and M. Drouet cried out, “Take the King up to the first floor!”

174Sauce asked the King to follow him, and he did so, without making any difficulty.

175Scarcely was the door of the chamber on the ground floor shut, when they heard a tumult at the head of the Rue de la Basse Cour, by the side of the Place Latry.

176Many voices cried out “The King! the King!”

177One voice alone replied, “If it is the King you want, you will have him dead!”

178Recognizing Drouet’s voice, and thinking perhaps he might want me, I crept to his side.

179At the moment that I opened a passage to him they were parleying; but M. Drouet and his friends parleyed with muskets in their hands, and the officers of hussars with their sabres on their wrists.

180Between the two officers of hussars I recognised M. de Malmy on horseback, and covered with dust, like them.

181It appeared as if he had guided them.