n several times. It is more than
probable that the king, once escaped from here, and in a place of safety,
will have, and will very soon find, a very strong party. The means of
escape depend on a flight the most immediate and the most secret. There
are only four persons who are acquainted with our secret; and those whom
we mean to take with us will not know it till the very moment. None of our
own people will attend us; and at a distance of only thirty or thirty-five
leagues we shall find some troops to protect our march, but not enough to
cause us to be recognized till we reach the place of our destination.

"....I can easily conceive the repugnance which, on political grounds, the
emperor would feel to allowing his troops to enter France.... But if their
movement is solicited by his brother-in-law, his ally, whose life,
existence, and honor are in danger, I conceive the case is very different;
and as to Brabant, that province will never be quiet till this country is
brought back to a different state. It is, then, for himself also that my
brother will be working in giving us this assistance, which is so much the
more valuable to us, that his troops will serve as an example to ours, and
will even be able to restrain them.

"And it is with this view that the person[11] of whom I spoke to you in my
letter in cipher demands their employment for a time ... We can not delay
longer than the end of this month. By that time I hope we shall have a
decisive answer from Spain. But till the very instant of our departure we
must do everything that is required of us, and even appear to go to meet
them. It is one way, perhaps the only one, to lull the mob to sleep and to
save our lives."

CHAPTER XXXI.

Plans for the Escape of the Royal Family.--Dangers of Discovery.--
Resolution of the Queen.--The Royal Family leave the Palace.--They are
recognized at Ste. Menehould.--Are arrested at Varennes.--Tumult in the
City, and in the Assembly.--The King and Queen are brought back to Paris.

Marie Antoinette, as we have seen, had been anxious that their departure
from Paris should not be delayed beyond the end of May, and De Bouille had
agreed with her; but enterprises of so complicated a character can rarely
be executed with the rapidity or punctuality that is desired, and it was
not till the 20th of June that this movement, on which so much depended,
was able to be put in execution. Often during the preceding weeks the
queen's he