vertaken,
and expected it, therefore, to increase with every hour of the journey. De
Bouille's fears, however, were found to be the best justified by the
event. In more than one town, even in the few hours that had elapsed since
the arrival of the soldiers, there had been quarrels between them and the
towns-people; in others, which was still worse, the populace had made
friends with them and seduced them from their loyalty, so that the
officers in command had found it necessary to withdraw them altogether;
and anxiety at their unexpected absence caused Louis more than once to
show himself at the carriage window. More than once he was recognized by
people who knew him and kept his counsel; but Drouet, the postmaster at
Ste. Menehould, a town about one hundred and seventy miles from Paris, was
of a less loyal disposition. He had lately been in the capital, where he
had become infected with the Jacobin doctrines. He too saw the king's
face, and on comparing his somewhat striking features with the stamp on
some public documents which he chanced to have in his pocket, became
convinced of his identity. He at once reported to the magistrates what he
had seen, and with their sanction rode forward to the next town, Clermont,
hoping to be able to collect a force sufficient to stop the royal carriage
on its arrival there. But the king traveled so fast that he had quit
Clermont before Drouet reached it, and he even arrived at Varennes before
his pursuer. Had he quit that place also he would have been in safety, for
just beyond it De Bouille had posted a strong division which would have
been able to defy all resistance. But Varennes, a town on the Oise, was so
small as to have no post-house, and by some mismanagement the royal party
had not been informed at which end of the town they were to find the
relay. The carriage halted while M. Valory was making the necessary
inquiries; and, while it was standing still, Drouet rode up and forbade
the postilions to proceed. He himself hastened on through the town,
collected a few of the towns-people, and with their aid upset a cart or
two on the bridge to block up the way; and, having thus made the road
impassable, he roused the municipal authorities, for it was nearly
midnight, and then, returning to the royal carriage, he compelled the
royal family to dismount and follow him to the house of the mayor, a petty
grocer, whose name was Strausse. The magistrates sounded the tocsin: the
National Gu