with his mother.

The king was soon after taken to the Convention, before whom he was to
be tried. Never till this day had the queen asked any question of her
guards: and to-day she obtained no information, though she made every
inquiry she could devise. The king returned at six o'clock; but he was
immediately locked up, without seeing any one. No bed had yet been
provided for Louis in his mother's room: and this night, she gave up
hers to him, and sat up. The princesses were most unwilling to leave
her in the state of agitation she was in; but she insisted upon their
going to rest. The next day, she implored that if the king might see
his wife and sister, his children should not be separated from him. The
reply was what might have been expected;--that the children must not be
made messengers between their parents; but that they might be with their
father, if they did not see the queen, till the trial was over.
Occupied as the king was with his defence, this could not be: nor would
he deprive their mother of the solace of their society: so Louis's bed
was removed to his mother's room, and no one knew when he would see his
father again.

Louis saw his father but once more. It was in the evening of Sunday,
the 20th of January. The crier, who came into the street at seven
o'clock, proclaimed the sentence that Louis Capet was to be executed the
next day.

The family were at last permitted to see the king; and at half-past
eight were told that he was ready. The queen took Louis by the hand,
and led him downstairs, the princesses following. It appears that the
guards had some idea that the king would attempt suicide; for they would
not allow him to have a knife at his dinner; and they now would not lose
sight of him, even while meeting his family. They would not have
allowed the door to be shut, but that it was a glass door, through which
they could look, on any alarm. So far from the king having thought of
suicide, it is now believed by most people that he allowed himself to be
persuaded by his counsel and friends that there was not really much
danger of his execution taking place, and that he would be permitted, at
the last moment, to appeal to the Primary Assemblies, where an appeal
would be successful. This seems confirmed by his conduct on the
scaffold. He was, as he had been through life, deceived and mistaken;
and the moment of his being undeceived was one of dreadful agony of
mind. It deprived him of