ress
yourself; fly to the King's apartment!" The terrified Queen threw herself
out of bed; they put a petticoat upon her without tying it, and the two
ladies conducted her towards the oile-de-boeuf. A door, which led from
the Queen's dressing-room to that apartment, had never before been
fastened but on her side. What a dreadful moment! It was found to be
secured on the other side. They knocked repeatedly with all their
strength; a servant of one of the King's valets de chambre came and opened
it; the Queen entered the King's chamber, but he was not there. Alarmed
for the Queen's life, he had gone down the staircases and through the
corridors under the oeil-de-boeuf, by means of which he was accustomed to
go to the Queen's apartments without being under the necessity of crossing
that room. He entered her Majesty's room and found no one there but some
Body Guards, who had taken refuge in it. The King, unwilling to expose
their lives, told them to wait a few minutes, and afterwards sent to
desire them to go to the oeil-de-boeuf. Madame de Tourzel, at that time
governess of the children of France, had just taken Madame and the Dauphin
to the King's apartments. The Queen saw her children again. The reader
must imagine this scene of tenderness and despair.

It is not true that the assassins penetrated to the Queen's chamber and
pierced the bed with their swords. The fugitive Body Guards were the only
persons who entered it; and if the crowd had reached so far they would all
have been massacred. Besides, when the rebels had forced the doors of the
antechamber, the footmen and officers on duty, knowing that the Queen was
no longer in her apartments, told them so with that air of truth which
always carries conviction. The ferocious horde instantly rushed towards
the oeil-de-boeuf, hoping, no doubt, to intercept her on her way.

Many have asserted that they recognised the Duc d'Orleans in a greatcoat
and slouched hat, at half-past four in the morning, at the top of the
marble staircase, pointing out with his hand the guard-room, which led to
the Queen's apartments. This fact was deposed to at the Chatelet by
several individuals in the course of the inquiry instituted respecting the
transactions of the 5th and 6th of October.

[The National Assembly was sitting when information of the march of the
Parisians was given to it by one of the deputies who came from Paris. A
certain number of the members were no stranger