f that abused word.
He affected rude and rough familiarity with the royal family, lounged
contemptuously upon the cushions, ate apples and melons, and threw the
rind out of the window, careless whether or not he hit the king in the
face. In all his remarks, he seemed to take a ferocious pleasure in
wounding the feelings of his victims.

As the cavalcade drew near to Paris, the crowds surrounding the
carriages became still more dense, and the fury of the populace more
unmeasured. The leaders of the National Assembly were very desirous of
protecting the royal family from the rage of the mob, and to shield the
nation from the disgrace of murdering the king, the queen, and their
children in the streets. It was feared that, when the prisoners should
enter the thronged city, where the mob had so long held undisputed sway,
it would be impossible to restrain the passions of the multitude, and
that the pavements would be defaced with the blood of the victims.
Placards were pasted upon the walls in every part of the city, "Whoever
applauds the king shall be beaten; whoever insults him shall be hung."
As the carriages approached the suburbs of the metropolis, the
multitudes which thronged them became still more numerous and
tumultuous, and the exhibitions of violence more appalling. All the dens
of infamy in the city vomited their denizens to meet and deride, and, if
possible, to destroy the captured monarch. It was a day of intense and
suffocating heat. Ten persons were crowded into the royal carriage. Not
a breath of air fanned the fevered cheeks of the sufferers. The heat,
reflected from the pavements and the bayonets, was almost insupportable.
Clouds of dust enveloped them, and the sufferings of the children were
so great that the queen was actually apprehensive that they would die.
The queen dropped the window of the carriage, and, in a voice of agony,
implored some one to give her a cup of water for her fainting child.
"See, gentlemen," she exclaimed, "in what a condition my poor children
are! one of them is choking." "We will yet choke them and you," was the
brutal reply, "in another fashion." Several times the mob broke through
the line which guarded the carriages, pushed aside the horses, and,
mounting the steps, stretched their clenched fists in at the windows.
The procession moved perseveringly along in the midst of the clashing of
sabers, the clamor of the blood-thirsty multitude, and the cries of men
trampled under th