there. That pavement
would have run with gore! The facades of those splendid edifices would
have been polluted with shreds and fragments of human flesh, and
spattered with human blood. Yet dreadful would have been the sure
retribution! Indiscriminate massacre of all unfortunate souls within
that Royal palace would have been inevitable and instantaneous. Yet,
such a catastrophe might be precipitated by a single word!--the
avalanche might be started by a single breath; and blood once shed,
Paris would be deluged!

"In the name of the people I demand to speak with the commandant of the
Tuileries!" shouted a young man in the uniform of an officer of the
National Guard, advancing to the iron railing of the court near the Rue
de Rivoli.

It was Lieutenant Aubert Roche. The commandant was sent for and
immediately arrived.

"Monsieur, you are lost!" cried the young man.

"You are surrounded by sixty thousand men of the National Guard, and one
hundred thousand of the people of Paris!"

"What is demanded?" was the trembling response.

"That you evacuate the Tuileries!--resign it to the National Guard!"

"The troops shall be withdrawn, Monsieur. Orders for their retirement
to the palace shall be issued instantly."

"That will not do! The palace must be evacuated," insisted the
Lieutenant, "or the people will raze it to the ground!"

"Come with me, Monsieur," said the commandant.

The gate was immediately opened, and Lieutenant Roche, accompanied by M.
Leseur, chef de bataillon, bearing a flag of truce, followed the
commandant to the Pavillon de l'Horloge, where stood the Duke of
Nemours, pale with excitement, surrounded by generals.

"Monseigneur," said the commandant, "suffer me to present a deputation
from the people."

"Messieurs, what do the people demand?" asked the Duke in trembling
tones.

"The evacuation, this instant, of this palace, and its delivery to the
National Guard!"

"And if we do not comply?" asked Marshal Bugeaud, calmly.

"Then, Monsieur, you all are lost!" was the bold answer. "This palace is
surrounded by one hundred and sixty thousand men. The combat once begun
must be exterminating--must be a massacre! The 5th Legion of the
National Guard, to which I belong, is, at this moment, sacking the
Palais Royal. It may be here before we part!"

"The troops shall retire, Monsieur," said the Duke; and on the instant
orders for the retreat were issued.

The artillery went by the railing of the pa