so
wholly unaccountable. The exhibition of a powerful force might and
would, I am persuaded, have precluded the collision that has occurred
between the populace and the military. Blood has been shed on both
sides, and this has rendered the breach between people and sovereign
too wide to be repaired except by something almost miraculous, and
alas! the time of miracles is past.

I cannot help wondering at the calmness I feel on this occasion. I
experience no personal alarm; but I am apprehensive for my friends,
some of whom are deeply interested in this struggle. How may their
destinies, lately so brilliant, be overclouded by the change that
menaces to take place!

Well may Monsieur Salvandy have observed at the ball so recently given
by the Duc of Orleans to the royal families of France and Naples, "This
may be termed a Neapolitan _fete_, for they are dancing over a
volcano."

CHAPTER XXIII.

All now seems quiet, so I will go to bed. Heaven only knows if
to-morrow night we may be allowed to seek our pillows in safety.

_28th_.--My _femme-de-chambre_ undrew my curtains this morning, "with
such a face--so faint, so spiritless, so dull, so dead in look, so
woe-begone"--proclaiming that barricades had been erected during the
night, and that the bodies of those killed in the encounter yesterday
have been paraded through the streets in order to excite still more the
angry feelings of the people. This last measure reminds one of the
appalling exhibitions in the fearful and memorable Revolution of former
days; and the reminiscences it awakens are not calculated to
tranquillize the mind.

She states that the shops are all closed, and that no provisions can be
obtained; the cook complains that his stockpots want replenishing; and
the _femme de charge_ hints that the larder is not so well supplied as
it would have been had she known what was to occur. Each and all of
these functionaries seem wholly occupied by the dread of not being able
to furnish us with as copious repasts as usual, unmindful that a mighty
throne is tottering to its foundation, and that a struggle is going on
in which many lives may be sacrificed.

The Duc de Raguse has incurred great blame for his intercourse with the
supposed leaders of the Revolution. This conduct has had the effect of
destroying the confidence of the troops in their chief, and of
weakening their attachment to the cause they were to support. The
Marechal was the Commandant a