Taking the Bastile (55 page)

The guards profited by this moment of confusion among the crowd. They rushed towards the door. Charny entered last. The gate closes upon him, and the two large bolts shoot into their places. A thousand blows are struck at once on the door. It would hold good, however, for ten minutes. Ten minutes ! during these ten minutes some assistance might arrive.

Let us see what the queen is doing. The second group

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has darted towards the small apartments; but the staircase is narrow scarce two people can pass at once. George do Charny watches there I At the third ‘Who goes there ? ‘ no answer he fires. At the sound of the report the queen’s door opens. Andre comes out, pale but calm. ‘What is it?’ asked she.

‘Madame,’ cried George, ‘save her majesty I it is her life they want I I am opposed to a thousand, but I will hold out as long as possible I Quick I quick 1’ Then, as the assailants precipitated themselves on him, he shut the door, crying, ‘ Draw the bolt 1 draw the bolt I I shall li ve long enough to allow the queen to fly I’ And, turning, he pierced the two first he met in the corridor with his bayonet.

The queen had heard everything. Two of her women were dressing her. Then, half dressed, the two women conducted her through a corridor to the king, while, calm and indifferent to her danger, Andre drew bolt after bolt, as she followed the steps of Marie Antoinette.

*

BETWIXT the two apartments a man waited for the queen. This man was Charny.

‘The king I’ cried Marie Antoinette, on seeing the blood on the dress of the young man. ‘The king I monsieur, you promised to save the king I*

‘The king (a saved, madame,’ replied Charny.

And, looking towards the doors which the queen had left open, in order to reach the (Eil de Boeuf, where at this time were assembled the queen, Madame Royale, the dauphin, and a few guards, Charny was about to ask what had become of Andre, when his eyes met those of the queen. This look stopped the question which was about to issue from hi* lips. But Mane Antoinette had divined his thought.

‘Sh is coming,’ said the queen, ‘you need not be uneasy.’

And she ran to the dauphin and clasped him in her arms. Andre immediately after this closed the last door, and in her turn entered the room called the CEil de Boeuf. Andre and Charny did not exchange a word. The smile of the one replied to the smile of the other, and that was

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all. Daring this time the queen looked around her, and as if she felt delight in finding Charny in fault, ‘The king she inquired, ‘where is the king?’

“The king is seeking for you, madame,’ tranquilly replied Charny; ‘he went to your apartment by one corridor, while you were coming here by another.’

At the same instant loud cries were heard in the adjoining room. They were the assassins, who were vociferating, ‘Down with the Austrian woman 1 Down with the Messaline ! Down with the Veto I She must be strangled 1 She must be hanged I’

At the same time two pistol-shots were heard, and two balls pierced through the door at different heights. One of these balls passed only a quarter of an inch above the head of the dauphin, and then buried itself in the opposite wainscoting.

‘Oh I my God I my God 1’ cried the queen, falling upon her knees. T ‘. >

The five or six guards, upon a sign made to them by Charny, then placed themselves before the queen and the two royal children, thus forming a rampart for them with their bodies. At that moment the king appeared, his eyes full of tears, his face pale as death; he was calling for the queen, as the queen had called for him. He perceived her, and threw himself into her arms.

‘Saved 1 saved 1’ exclaimed the queen.

‘By him, madame,’ cried the king, pointing to Charny, ‘and you are saved by him also, are you not?’

‘By bis brother,’ replied the queen.

‘Sir,’ said Louis XVI. to the count, ‘we owe so much to your family, so much that we shall never be able to repay the debt.’

The queen’s eyes met those of Andre, and she turned away her head, Slushing deeply. The blows of the assailants were heard endeavouring to destroy the door.

‘Come, gentlemen,’ said Charny, ‘we must defend our position here for another hour. There are seven of us, and it will take them full an hour to kill us if we defend ourselves resolutely. Before an hour elapses it will be impossible that a reinforcement should not arrive to the assistance of their majesties.’

Saying these words, Charny seized a large press which was standing in one of the corners of the royal room. His example was instantly followed, and a heap of furniture

3 4 TAKING THE BASTILLE

was piled up against the door, between which the guards took care to leave loopholes, through which they could fire on the assailants. The queen took her two children in her arms, and raising her hands above their heads, she prayed. The king went into another cabinet in order to burn some valuable papers which he did not wish to fall into the hands of the assassins. The latter were attacking the door more desperately than ever. At every instant splinters were seen flying before the blows given by a sharp hatchet, or wrenched out by large pincers. By the opening which had been thus made, pikes with reddened points, bayonets reeking with blood, were forced through, attempting to hurl death on those within. At the same time, the balls pierced the framework above the barricades, and left strong traces on the gilded plaster of the ceiling. At length a bench rolls from the top of the press; the press itself was partly damaged. One whole panel of the door, which formed the front of the press, gave way, and they could see in the place of the bayonets and pikes, arms covered with blood pass through it and grasp the sides of the opening, which every moment became wider. The guards had discharged their last cartridge, and this they had not done uselessly, for through this increasing opening could be seen the floor of the gallery covered with the wounded and dead bodies. On hearing the shrieks of the women, who believed that through this opening death was advancing upon them, the king returned.

‘Sire,’ said Charny, ‘shut yourself up with the queen in the farthest room from this; close every door after you; place two of us behind the doors. I demand to be the last, and to guard the last door. I will answer for it that we hold out two hours; they have been more than forty minutes in breaking through this one.’

The king hesitated; it appeared to him to be humiliating to entrench himself thus behind every cupboard. If the queen had not been there, he would not have retreated a single step. If the queen had not her children with her, she would have remained as firmly as the king. But alas I poor human beings, kings or subjects, we have always in our hearts some secret opening by which courage escapes and terror enters. The king was about to give the order to fly to the remotest room, when, suddenly, the arms were withdrawn, the pikes and bayonets disappeared, the shouts

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and threats at once ceased. They then heard the measured steps of regular troops advancing.

‘They arc the National Guards !’ cried Charny.

‘Monsieur de Charny 1’ cried a voice, and at the same time the well-known face of Billot appeared at the opening.

‘ Billot 1’ cried Charny, ‘is it you, my friend?’

‘Yes, yes, ‘tis I,’ replied the honest farmer; ‘and the king ana queen, where are they?’

‘They are here, safe and sound.’

‘May God be praised I This way, Monsieur Gilbert, this way I’ cried he, in his stentorian voice.

At the name of Gilbert, the hearts of two women bounded with very different feelings. Charny turned round instinctively. He saw both Andre and the queen turn pale at this name.

‘Open the door, gentlemen,’ said the king. The guards hastened to obey his orders, throwing aside the remains of the barricade.

During this time the voice of Lafayette was heard crying : ‘Gentlemen of the National Guard of Paris. I last night pledged my word to the king that no injury should be done to any one belonging to his majesty. If you allow his guards to be massacred, you will make me forfeit my word of honour, and I shall no longer be worthy to be your chief.’

When the door was opened, the two persons first perceived were General Lafayette and Gilbert; a little to their left stood Billot, perfectly delighted at the share he had taken in the king s deliverance. It was Billot who had gone to awaken Lafayette. Behind Lafayette, Gilbert, and Billot, was Captain Goudran, commanding the company of the centre St Philippe de Roule.

‘Long live the king ! long live the queen 1’ cried Billot.

The king turned towards him.

‘That is a voice I know,’ said he, smiling.

‘You are very kind, sire,’ replied the worthy farmer. ‘Yes, yes; you heard that voice on the journey to Paris. Ah 1 had you but remained in Paris instead of returning here.’

The queen knit her brows. ‘Yes,’ she said, ‘since you Parisians are so very amiable

‘Well, sir,’ said the king to M. de Lafayette, as if he had been asking him, ‘in your opinion, what ought now to be done?’

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‘Sire,’ respectfully replied M. de Lafayette, ‘I think it would be well that your majesty should show yourself on the balcony.’

The king asked Gilbert for his opinion, but merely by a look. Louis XVI. then went straight to the window, and without hesitation opened it himself and appeared upon the balcony. A tremendous shout, a unanimous shout, burst from the people, of ‘Long live the king I’

Then a second cry followed the first : ‘The king to Paris I’

Between these two cries, and sometimes overwhelming them, some formidable voices shouted, ‘The queen 1 the queen I*

At this cry everybody shuddered; the king’ turned pale, Charny turned pale, even Gilbert himself turned pale. The queen raised her head. She was also pale, but with compressed lips and frowning brow, she was standing near the window. Madame Royale was leaning against her. Before her was the dauphin, and on the fair head of the child reclined her convulsively clenched hand, white as the purest marble.

‘The queen I the queen I’ reiterated the voices, becoming more and more formidable.

‘The people desire to see you, madame,’ said Lafayette.

‘Oh ! do not go, my mother I’ said Madame Royale, in great agony, and throwing her arms round the queen’s neck.

The queen looked at Lafayette.

‘Fear nothing, madame,’ said he to her.

‘What I’ she exclaimed, ‘and quite alone?’

Lafayette smiled, and respectfully, and with the delightful manner which he retained even to his latest days, he took the two children from their mother and made them first ascend the balcony. Then offering his hand to the queen, ‘ If your majesty will deign to confide in me,’ said he, ‘I will be responsible for all.

It was a terrible spectacle. For the marble courtyard was transformed into a human sea, full of roaring waves. At the sight of the queen, an immense cry was uttered by the whole of this crowd, and no one could have been positive whether it was a cry of menace or of j oy . Lafayette, kissed the queen’s hand; then loud applause burst forth.

The queen breathed more freely. Then, suddenly shuddering, ‘And my guards, air said she, ‘my guards,

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who have saved my life? can yon do nothing for them?’

‘Let me have one of them, madame,’ said Lafayette.

‘Monsieur de Charny 1 Monsieur de Charny 1’ cried the queen.

But Charny withdrew a step or two; he had understood what was required of him. He did not wish to make an apology for the evening of the ist of October. Not having been guilty, he required no amnesty. Andre, on her side, was impressed with the same feeling. She had stretched out her hand to Charny for the purpose of preventing him. Her hand met the hand of the count, and these two hands were pressed within each other. The queen had observed this, notwithstanding she had so much to observe at that moment. Her eyes flashed fire, and with a palpitating heart and broken accents, ‘Sir,’ said she to another guard, ‘sir, come here, I command you.’

The guard obeyed. He had not, moreover, the same motives for hesitating as Charny had. M. de Lafayette drew the guard on to the balcony, and taking his own tricoloured cockade from his hat, placed it in that of the guard, after which he embraced him.

‘Long live Lafayette 1 long live the bodyguard !’ shouted fifty thousand voices.

Some few wished to utter some hollow growlings. the last threat of the disappearing tempest. But they were overwhelmed by the universal acclamation.

‘Come,’ said Lafayette, ‘all is ended, and fine weather has returned.’ Then, stepping into the room, ‘But that it should not again be overcast, sire, there still remains a aacrifice for you to make.’

‘Yes,’ said the king pensively, ‘to leave Versailles, is it not?’

‘And come to Paris yes, sire.’

‘Sir,’ said the king, ‘you may announce to the people that at one o’clock, I, the queen, and my children, will set out for Paris.’

Then, turning to the queen, ‘Madame,’ said he, ‘yon had better retire to your own apartment, and prepare yourself.’

This order of the king appeared to remind Charny erf an event of importance which he had iorgotteu. He rushed from the room, preceding the queen.

‘Why are yon going to my apartment, sir?’ said

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the queen harshly to him; ‘you have no need to go there

‘I earnestly trust it may be so, madame,’ replied Charny; ‘but be not uneasy: if really I am not needed there, I shall not remain long enough to cause my presence to be displeasing to your majesty.’

The queen followed him; traces of blood stained the floor, and the queen saw them. She closed her eyes, and seeking an arm to guide her, she took that of Charny, and walked some steps in this way as a blind person. Suddenly she felt that every nerve in Charny’s body shuddered.

‘What is the matter, sir?’ she said, opening her eyes. Then suddenly ‘A dead body 1 a dead body 1’ she exclaimed.

‘Your majesty will excuse my withdrawing my arm said he. ‘ I have found that which I came to seek in your apartment the dead body of my brotoer George.’