his
description told the Queen that she must now remove far from her all such
courtiers as ruin kings, and that she must love the inhabitants of her
good city. The Queen answered that she had loved them at Versailles, and
would likewise love them at Paris. "Yes, yes," said another; "but on the
14th of July you wanted to besiege the city and have it bombarded; and on
the 6th of October you wanted to fly to the frontiers." The Queen
replied, affably, that they had been told so, and had believed it; that
there lay the cause of the unhappiness of the people and of the best of
kings. A third addressed a few words to her in German: the Queen told her
she did not understand it; that she had become so entirely French as even
to have forgotten her mother tongue. This declaration was answered with
"Bravo!" and clapping of hands; they then desired her to make a compact
with them. "Ah," said she, "how can I make a compact with you, since you
have no faith in that which my duty points out to me, and which I ought
for my own happiness to respect?" They asked her for the ribbons and
flowers out of her hat; her Majesty herself unfastened them and gave them;
they were divided among the party, which for above half an hour cried out,
without ceasing, "Marie Antoinette for ever! Our good Queen for ever!"

Two days after the King's arrival at Paris, the city and the National
Guard sent to request the Queen to appear at the theatre, and prove by her
presence and the King's that it was with pleasure they resided in their
capital. I introduced the deputation which came to make this request.
Her Majesty replied that she should have infinite pleasure in acceding to
the invitation of the city of Paris; but that time must be allowed her to
soften the recollection of the distressing events which had just occurred,
and from which she had suffered too much. She added, that having come
into Paris preceded by the heads of the faithful Guards who had perished
before the door of their sovereign, she could not think that such an entry
into the capital ought to be followed by rejoicings; but that the
happiness she had always felt in appearing in the midst of the inhabitants
of Paris was not effaced from her memory, and that she should enjoy it
again as soon as she found herself able to do so.

Their Majesties found some consolation in their private life: from
Madame's--[Madame, here, the Princesse Marie Therese, daughter of Marie
Antoinette.]--ge