faces the top
of the Marble Staircase. To the left a landing leads to the Hall of the
King's Guards and thence, to the apartment of the King; to the right
another to the Hall of the Queen's Guards and the chambers of Marie
Antoinette.

The Marble Staircase was approached by the Court of Marble, the smallest
and innermost courtyard of the vast chateau, looked out upon by the
royal apartments and paved with white marble. The exit from this was to
the Royal Court, whence through a grating to the Court of the Ministers,
and thence through the outer grating by the entrance gate to the Place
d'Armes.

Though the season was yet early in October, it was as gloomy and
forbidding a night as one in the worst of November. The darkness and
chill were aggravated by a wearisome drizzle. They were further
aggravated by the discomforts of an anxious situation. About fifty
Bodyguards, lying and sitting under arms in the Hall, were trying to
spend the night, or rather the early hours before dawn, entertaining
each other. They were mainly of the command of the Count de Guiche, then
in its turn of service, but a number among them wore cross-belts of
other companies, for the need had been pressing, and all within reach
had been hastily summoned. The reason for anxiety was a great invasion
of women from Paris on the afternoon of the previous day headed by "a
conqueror of the Bastille." A deputation of twelve of these women were
led to the King, who satisfied and pleased them by his kindness, but the
rest of the crowd, brandishing knives through the railing, accused these
of treachery and tried to hang them. Outside the Palace on the Place
d'Armes the numbers were increased by horde after horde of men marching
from the slums of Paris, armed with pikes, muskets, and hatchets, and
full of drink. After dark many had filled the streets, knocking at the
houses demanding food and money, and terrifying the town. The sentinels,
the Bodyguards, and the Flemish regiment had with difficulty rescued the
women of the deputation, kept the gates and held the mob at bay. They
were jeered at and even fired on, whereat one or two of the Bodyguards
had fired back. The filthy furies, drunken and degraded to an extent of
degradation almost unknown to-day, were especially foul-mouthed
regarding the poor Queen. As for Wife Gougeon, she had stood out on the
very floor of the Assembly, flourished her dagger and screamed "Where
can I find the Austrian?"

At length