ngly excited in that locality at
that time that his efforts as a moderator gained him but one thing,
isolation. He drew down upon himself the hatred of those whom he wished
to calm; he did not even win the friendship of those whom he desired to
protect, and who, unless their peril was extreme, boldly declared that
they were able to protect themselves. His popularity, cleverly
undermined by his enemies, soon became impaired, and, weary of the
dissensions in which he was embroiled in spite of all his efforts, he
shut himself up in his chateau, resolving to keep a philosophical watch
over events, but to take no part in them.

A few days later, the Etats Generaux assembled at Versailles; but their
time was spent in bickerings and in sterile discussions while oppressed
and panting France vainly awaited the salutary reforms they were
expected to effect. From May, the date of their meeting, to the immortal
night of the Fourth of August, when the nation entered upon an era that
was to atone for so many disasters, one event succeeded another with
bewildering rapidity. The victorious resistance of the Third Estate to
the pretensions of the nobility and clergy; the proclamation of the
king; the movement of the French Guards; their imprisonment; their
deliverance by the people; the intrigues of the Orleans party; the
taking of the Bastile; the death of Foulon and of Berthier came one
after another to accelerate the progress of the revolutionary movement
which was already advancing rapidly.

In 1790, famine was at the gates of Paris and threatened to spread over
all France. Armed brigands, taking advantage of the general disorder,
began to lay waste the provinces. In many parts of the country, the
peasants joined them; in others, they resisted them. These brigands
attacked the chateaux, they burned several and pillaged others. Finally,
dread of a foreign foe was added to all these fears, and the people
accused the nobility of calling a foreign nation to their assistance.

These are some of the many events that served to distract Philip de
Chamondrin's mind from his disappointment and delay his marriage to
Antoinette de Mirandol. Anxious as the Marquis was to hasten this
union, he shared the general apprehension too strongly to urge his son
to marry at such a time. The inmates of the chateau were troubled and
depressed. Gloomy news from the outer world reached them daily. The
king's life was believed to be in danger. A dozen times