ien, flocked
together, and began to talk of marching towards the scene of action. The
Queen preserved the calmest demeanour; the commandants of the guard
surrounded and encouraged her; they conducted themselves promptly and
discreetly. No accident happened. The Queen was highly applauded as she
quitted the theatre; it was the last time she was ever in one!

While couriers were bearing confidential letters from the King to the
Princes, his brothers, and to the foreign sovereigns, the Assembly invited
him to write to the Princes in order to induce them to return to France.
The King desired the Abbe de Montesquiou to write the letter he was to
send; this letter, which was admirably composed in a simple and affecting
style, suited to the character of Louis XVI., and filled with very
powerful arguments in favour of the advantages to be derived from adopting
the principles of the constitution, was confided to me by the King, who
desired me to make him a copy of it.

At this period M. M-----, one of the intendants of Monsieur's household,
obtained a passport from the Assembly to join that Prince on business
relative to his domestic concerns. The Queen selected him to be the
bearer of this letter. She determined to give it to him herself, and to
inform him of its object. I was astonished at her choice of this courier.
The Queen assured me he was exactly the man for her purpose, that she
relied even upon his indiscretion, and that it was merely necessary that
the letter from the King to his brothers should be known to exist. The
Princes were doubtless informed beforehand on the subject by the private
correspondence. Monsieur nevertheless manifested some degree of surprise,
and the messenger returned more grieved than pleased at this mark of
confidence, which nearly cost him his life during the Reign of Terror.

Among the causes of uneasiness to the Queen there was one which was but
too well founded, the thoughtlessness of the French whom she sent to
foreign Courts. She used to say that they had no sooner passed the
frontiers than they disclosed the most secret matters relative to the
King's private sentiments, and that the leaders of the Revolution were
informed of them through their agents, many of whom were Frenchmen who
passed themselves off as emigrants in the cause of their King.

After the acceptance of the constitution, the formation of the King's
household, as well military as civil, formed a subject of attent